too much to think about

first off, i gotta say i am sorry for not posting in 11 days.
i was concentrating so hard on what the Boys needed to do and the best
way for them to do it i just couldnt get loose to actually type anything.
well..that , and putting up the outside Christmas lights, practicing a Christmas
play, and the other 2 million things going on this time of year.
I hope everybody had a Happy Thanksgiving....i did until about 6:30 when that
guy from the Broncos , who had been released by the Giants, all of a sudden
turned into Superman and and just ripped my heart out in over-time at the Tabernacle.
It was a great day for Thanksgiving at Texas Stadium, not hot, not cold, plenty
of good food (cooked by my wonderful wife ), steaks, sausages, brocoli-rice casserole, jalepeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon.
You know..traditional Thanksgiving food ( for me anyway..i hate turkey.)
I'm sure if you told me on Nov. 13th that the Boys would win 2 of 3 games
played in 11 days i would have been very happy knowing that.
BUT...when we won AT Philly, then beat Detroit in a sloppy manner I guess I
let my hopes get too high. I got greedy. I wanted that 3rd win !!!!!!!
It was a great game to watch, they score, we score, they score, we score,
they score, we score. ( 21-21 at this point for all ya'll to lazy to do the math)
Then the sun peeked out from behind the clouds....the throwback uniforms were
beautiful....we had a chance to get a field goal and go ahead for the first time.
And we had Billy the Kid back..fresh off a 56 yard kick last week. This 34 yard
kick was gonna clinch the Happy Thanksgiving part.
But not Thursday, it wasnt gonna happen. Billy missed, wide left , not by much
but does that really matter ? He missed. It was at that point that i got a real
bad feeling in my stomach. ( and it wasnt the aforementioned menu items either)
The rest is just bad news and a couple days late so no sense in mentioning what took
place after that. Time to lick our wounds, and get ready to beat the New York
football Giants. ohhh yeah and finish getting those Christmas decorations up.
i will return with much more enthusiasm but that was just a tough loss to take.
later Poke

Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus...Christmas in November

i so wanted to write this last night. i was just so wound up i couldn't figure out
how to do it without just rambling and ranting and raving about last nights game.
WHAT an ending to a big BIG game.
First off, our Boys came out flat, played uninspired, sloppy and weak football.
We were lucky to only be behind 14-7 at the half. That mistake by Bledsoe where
he tried to Brett Favre a dump pass to Barber when Barber was busy blocking could have been the end of our hopes to keep the Philly crowd out of the game.
Then we came out for the second half and it seemed we had made no adjustments to
Phillys newfound ability to run the football.
Like Madden said, and i paraphrase because i cant be expected to accurately quote
someone.......when the green shirts are pushing the white shirts backwards on both sides of the ball your team isnt doing good. And thats what was happening. Our lines
were getting whipped. Bledsoe was hurried, hit, harassed, harried and basically
not getting much time to throw. As i watched the game i felt like Drew just wasnt
"on " his throws. Then when i looked at the stats i see Drew was 17 for 24 for 196
yards with a 91.7 QB rating. I guess my eyes were playing tricks on me. I am not
an expert, i go with my gut feeling. Luckily i waited until i could check the stats
before i started writing this thing.
I was starting to think our defense would never stop the Eagles, then we make a
good stop at the goal line and hold Philly to a field goal . That turns out to be a huge difference.
All of a sudden, with only 3:44 left and the good guys losing 20-7 that same listless, uninspired bunch of players start to do something..away from home, at a field known for its "home field advantage ". A 20 something yard run from an offense
that only had 58 yards running the whole game. Then good old Terry Glenn ( not Aaron
like Madden kept saying ) slips past the Eagles and scores on a 20 yard pass.
Okay, cool..showing a little life. Too little too late probably but hey hold your heads up and play hard. Good to see even if you dont win the game.
Then a short kickoff and the Eagles have the ball on the 35, all they need is to get
a couple of first downs and we are finished, through ,kaput, finito.
2nd and seven, we havent really stopped them rushing the ball very good all night.

This is where Santa Claus comes to the rescue, in NOVEMBER!!!!!



The Eagles do the unexpected..a short pass, to the outside. To a WIDE-OPEN ROY WILLIAMS !! a 46 yard interception return for a TOUCHDOWN !! throw in a block
by Bradie James # 56 ( not scott shanle # 58 like Madden and Michaels announced )
---side note here----the players have numbers and their NAMES on their jerseys
so it shouldnt be that hard to get it right John and AL.
and oh yeah, also James is black, Shanle is white so if the
names and numbers dont help use that information to help.

sorry...i just get tired of those guys. i realize the play on the field was interfering with their ongoing diatribe about the " T.O. thing ", but try and give
us accurate info if you do talk about the play.

Anyway, thank you Santa McNabb. i now do believe in miracles.
Congrats to the Cowboys who didnt play their best but never quit and found a way
to win, on the road, from behind. Thats a good sign.
Man arent ya'll glad i didnt rant and ramble ?? later Poke

Is this Heaven or What ??

WOW...15 days since the Boys played a football game. Thats a long time,
too long. I have been going thru major withdrawals. I enjoy watching other
teams, high school, college, pros, but come on now. It's time to get cranking
again on the way to SUPER BOWL XL (40 for those who don't know their Roman numerals.)
Sure i enjoyed watching the Colts beat the Pats Monday night. Seeing Texas beat Baylor saturday filled an hour or so of my time. Watching the Eagles and Redskins
play was torture...how can you enjoy a game when you hate both teams ?
The TO fiasco was interesting for about..ohhh 20 seconds but its not like it
was anything unexpected.
But now.....the wait is nearly over. This is fixin to get good..really good.
The Cowboys play 3 games in 11 days !!!!!!! I may OD from all the excitement.
November should show us what to expect from our beloved team. It's not an easy
task playing 3 games in 11 days. Most coaches would never choose to do it if they didn't have to. But...BUT...if we can get thru this trial with some good wins(plural)
it puts in a good spot to do something this year.
Those 3 games in 11 days are the only games we play in a 34 day span. That should give the Boys time to regroup, re-energize, repair and get ready to finish the season
strong. Coach Landry always seemed to get the Boys peaking at the end of the season,
it sure would be nice to see it happen again.
So i am getting ready, got the yard cleaned up, havent started the Christmas decorating yet...got those 11 days penciled in for nothing but worrying and
writing about the Cowboys. now...lemme make sure i got the number for 911
just in case. later Poke

No Bye Weeks for Bloggers

aahhh, the Cowboys bye week. i can relax, take it easy and clear my head
for the big push to the playoffs. NOT !!!!
nope i have discovered that there is no bye week for us creative writer types.
the ideas just cant be bottled up. its like trying to stop the waters of Lake
Ponchatrain from spilling over the levees of New Orleans.

I like football fans in general, Cowboy football fans in particular but I have a
huge gripe with a lot of them. They tend to think that THEY could do what the players
do, and do it sooo much better. They think that there should never be any mistakes,
no fumbles, nary an interception, no one should ever complete a pass against their
team and when the other team scores its just totally unacceptable. so in order to
teach a lesson in reality i have come up with a plan.

This week i want any of you who think this football stuff is so easy to try some things for me.
Go outside..i know this means getting out of the recliner but hey work with me here.
Get a football, a real football not one of those tiny, soft, easy to grip ones your
kids have but a real one. Now pace off about 15 yards from the tree in your yard.
Now, with no one chasing you or trying to tear your head from your body throw the
football at the tree. See how many times you actually hit the tree. Now move back
10 more yards, try it again...and be honest about how many times you hit the tree.
If your percentage equals your favorite QB's completion percentage i will be greatly
surprised, but remember nobody is trying to keep you from throwing the ball either.

Next step..go back to where you started throwing ( 15 yards or so ). Now, turn around
facing the opposite direction from your tree, bend over and try snapping the ball
at the tree. Okay now wipe the dirt from your face from where your head hit the ground when you tried this and record your results. Did you even come close to the tree ??

For our next experiment you may want to go the park. Lots of room to run there you
know. Okay..take off running as fast as you can....after 20 yards while still running
as fast as you can just turn your head around and look up just like you are looking
for a football..did that slow you down any at all ?? did it make you a little uncomfortable ?? were you at least a little worried about running into something ?

Now this next test may get you into a little trouble with the wife so wait till she
has gone to work or something. Move that big recliner into the middle of the living
room floor. Put all your kids in it, or the dog or something really heavy. About
300 pounds worth of heavy. Now get into a 3 point stance..say " HUT HUT " really
loud ( the snap was on 2 ) and charge into that chair. Push it around as much as you
want to. Drive it back..cmon..harder..faster. Now, do that 50 or 60 times. are you tired yet ?? arent you glad it wasnt pushing you back ?? now remember..a real
defensive lineman isnt going to just passively let you do that but maybe now you
have a sense of what those big uglies (offensive lineman ) do for a living.

Lets see...we have been a QB, a long snapper ( without the 2 big mean guys hitting us), a Defensive back, an offensive lineman..whats next ??

Oh yeah..field goal kickers. Nahhh if you arent convinced by now there is no sense
in embarassing ourselves any further.

Anyway i hope this helps. Now maybe next game you will be a little less critical
of your team. If you still think you could do it as good or better please contact
your local mental health professional. mention the words " delusions of grandeur".
also mention you read it here for 25% off. plus maybe i will get a referral fee or something. later Poke