well that hurt

aww Cowboys.  did you have to pick today to have a game like this ?
actually i should just say congratulations to the vikings, they played a great game.  they played hard,fast and inspired.  their guys beat our guys..
you cant blame just one guy when you get beat like this.  its a team sport and this was a team loss.
i may or may not be back with a more detailed description of this butt-kicking but for now butt-kicking says it good enough.
thanks Cowboys for a good year.  i really like this team, its players and coaches and yes even the owner.  it was a pretty good run at the end of the year.  next year a more consistent showing would be nice.
okay Brett i dont blame you a bit for throwing a TD pass ahead by 24 points.  now i hope you dont blame me for hoping the saints rip your lowlife classless head off your body.  later Poke

Can we just play the Game ?

I feel a bit like Wade Phillips this morning.  After practicing this week with crowd noise pumping at the Cowboys Wade said his ears were ringing.  Mine are too but its not from crowd noise.  It’s from listening to all the sports radio and television “experts” scream why team A will beat team B.  My eyes are burning too from reading all the print medias opinions and analysis on the same subject.

Can Ware beat the Vikes tackles and get to Favre ?  Can the Good Guys secondary cover the Vikes speedy receivers ?  Can Jared Allen get past Flo and sack Romo ?  Can the trio of running backs our Heroes use gain yardage against the Vikes defensive line ?  Will Favre or Romo play the best at QB ?  On and on the questions go with so many different opinions screaming at us.

This is football not math or chemistry.  There are no absolute formulas.  No set predictable reactions to constant effects.  This is about one on one contests that will be decided by how each player performs today, not how he did in week 4 against a totally different player.  This is about how a team reacts to losing some of those contests and then either finding a way to overcome those individual defeats or falling behind in their quest to advance.

On film maybe Flo looks too slow, too old or too weak to keep up with the faster, younger and strong Jared Allen.  That doesn’t mean that come game time Flo can’t find a way to stop him.  Effort, desire, experience, HEART all find a way to become more than words on a football field. 

After watching the Good Guys all year, after seeing how every week a player with a Star on his helmet surprise me with a play I wasn’t expecting them to make I feel like this game is going to be one of those games that go to the end.  The crowd noise, the overall quality of the Vikes, and the fact that Favre is their QB make me think this will be a hard fought, back and forth kind of game. 

At the end I feel like the Heroes of Our Youth pull it out and leave the big blow up stadium headed for home with a Win.  Maybe then my ears will quit ringing.  later Poke

Legends of the Fall (SB 45 Event)

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warning: this is long
So everybody knows SB 45 will be at Cowboys Stadium. To ramp up fundraising and awareness there are going to be a lot of events in the DFW area.
Today they had one called Legends of the Fall, to honor all the great football played in North Texas over the last 100 years.
They are going to pick the Top 100 moments in football, high school, college and pro for the North Texas Area by letting people vote out of 250 moments assembled by a panel.

I went primarily just to see the Cowboy greats of old but was interested in the other former players of this area. The event was held at Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas, the only public high school in the country that can boast of having 2 Heisman Trophy winners, Tim Brown and Davey O'Brien.
Brad Sham was the MC so you already know it was great.

They had some true greats on the stage and they discussed their memories of playing football in this area.
There was Mean Joe Greene representing the University of North Texas; Sooner legend Billy Sims, whose exploits in the Texas-OU rivalry cemented his legacy; Abner Haynes of the AFL’s Dallas Texans, by way of UNT; One half of the Pony Express, Craig James of SMU; Woodrow alum Tim Brown representing North Texas high school football; and Davey O'Briens son.

The Cowboys who were there were Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, Tony Dorsett, Michael Irvin and Daryl Johnston.
All-in-all, that group tallies 16 Super Bowl rings, four Heisman Trophies and five Hall of Fame busts (with Tim Brown eligible to join that HOF group for the first time this year).
Abner Haynes talked about the racial struggles he faced playing football in that era and said how it made their UNT team closer. His was the most serious talk of the day and was very good.
Brad Sham asked Tim Brown of his memories of playing football at Woodrow Wilson and the crowd cracked up when he said they were horrible, 4-25-1.
Brad Sham who had been talking about the 1912 UT-OU game being the first of those played in Dallas, was teasing Staubach about the 1964 Cotton Bowl, which Navy lost to Texas and Staubach joked back at Sham, " how did you like that 1912 game". There was great banter between the two of them and you could tell they were comfortable with each other.
Another interesting note, Mean Joe Greene who grew up in Texas said he grew up a Cowboy fan ! I never knew that. Brad Sham said in spite of his nickname Joe was a great guy and Tony Dorsett stated "sure he was, he gave that kid his jersey" in reference to the famous Coke commercial.
Mean Joe told a story about how he once creamed Fran Tarkenton after chasing him all day along the sidelines and then said something like (how do you like me now) and Fran just replied back, " Look where we are Joe" (out of bounds) and then Joe saw the flag flying.
Moose Johnston got his "moose" call when he was announced.
Troy said the first Super Bowl win was his favorite because of how far down they had been and then won it all. He also said it was a huge advantage for him for the Cowboys to practice at UCLA and then play at the Rose Bowl because he was already comfortable with both places having played a lot of his college games at those stadiums.

The event was held in the high school auditorium which of course had those hard wood back folding seats. This created my best moment of the day.
I was seated across the aisle from Rayfield Wright. After Brad Sham introduced him he had to work really hard to get back into that little folding seat and as he was sitting down he looked at me and shook his head and laughed. When the event was over I said " Mr. Wright they shouldn't make grown ups sit in these", he started laughing and said " Nate Newton wouldn't ever fit in there". I was cracking up.

It was a great thing to be at. There were a lot more stories told by each of the players and it was almost like sitting in a living room and listening to the greats I watched on TV just talk and cut up. If you are a football fan it was heaven on earth.
All those guys looked great and seemed happy. Sorry this was so long but trust me it could have been even longer.

Here is what Tim Brown and his Heisman arrived in

The group representing the various categories of the greatest moments
bottom row, left to right : Tony Dorsett, Troy Aikman, Roger Staubach, Tim Brown and Davey O'Briens son.
top row left to right : Billy Sims, Joe Greene, Daryl Johnston, Michael Irvin, Craig James and Abner Haynes

A plaque presented to the school by the committee honoring their 2 Heisman winners.

Troy, Joe, Moose and Roger are listening to Tony Dorsett talk about going to the Super Bowl as a rookie.

Brad Sham talking with Charean Williams and Rich Gosselin about how the 250 moments were chosen, Sham also managed to put in a plug to get Charles Haley into the HOF. They are both voters. Sham is a very funny guy and a great MC.

The 2 great Cowboy quarterbacks were so relaxed I had to include this shot. Thats pretty much how it felt there and I loved every second of it.

Sorry this was so long winded but I had to share this with other football fans.
For the official version of the event go here http://www.northtexassuperbowl.com/news/legends-fall

It Got Better

So last weeks game wasn’t good enough for ya huh ?  I gotta tell you that was impressive.  It’s hard enough to beat a team twice in a season much less 3 times.  In back to back weeks makes it even more amazing. 

Sure I always pick the Cowboys to win but I would be lying if I said I never had any doubts this past week.  I knew The Heroes of Our Youth were good enough, talented enough and coached well enough to win 3 against the iggles.  I am also smart enough to know that it’s football.  That whole “any given Sunday” deal may be trite but it’s true. 

The Good Guys went a long way toward erasing that bitter taste that still lingered from the 2007 season that ended in a loss to the giants in january of 2008.  That as you well know was another time we had already beaten a team twice in one year.

I also still suffered occasional nightmares from the finale of last season where we went to filthydelphia and got our butts handed to us in a game that could have put is into the playoffs.  Beating the iggles last week was good but since it didn’t knock them out it didnt quite wipe out that bad feeling.  This week took care of that.

I was so sick of hearing that Romo and Wade couldn’t/hadn’t won a playoff game I quit listening to national sports talk on that 4 letter station from up north.  Now those guys can brush that off and concentrate on just winning the next game.

That brings me to here, plug your ears, unplug your TV or be prepared for all the Lord Favre talk I am sure we will hear from the people who get paid to talk about that stuff.  You have been warned.

So stay tuned, buckle them chin straps and I will be back later, until then, in the immortal words of Jimmy, “ how bout them Cowboys “ !

later, Poke

Close Enough to Perfect for Me

What a day.  From setting up for the tailgate to walking out of the Crystal Cathedral things just couldn’t have been much better. 

Sure it could have been warmer, but then I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy standing by a fire and warming my hands.

And of course I would love to have this scooter but then I think of how many games I would miss when I wreck it and break bones.

I always seem to “almost” get a great action shot, I will have to settle for good on this one.  You can’t blame people for jumping up and waving their arms when the Good Guys score !

Even on good days, “stuff” happens.  The big screen went dark late in the game for about 45 seconds but hey if it hadn’t I would have never seen what it looks like.

This next picture sums it up, it is a little blurry but you gotta love the score.  Like I said , close enough to perfect for me.

So next Saturday the heroes of our youth have to play with even more intensity because the iggles just might not drop as many passes or overthrow some open receivers.  They may not fumble a snap or miss a 53 yard field goal.

The Boys need to score early and often just like this game and then start beating on McNabb.  The difference between this years team and the ones in the past will become more evident after they take care of business Saturday.  later Poke