well that wasnt what i expected

wow
who would have thought that
bill parcells is our worst coach since the jimmy johnson era ended ??

flozell adams would be our worst offensive lineman ?

drew bledsoe would be our worst quarterback ?

mike vanderjagt would be our worst kicker ( even though he didnt even suit up )?

terrence newman would be our worst cover corner ? ( even though i do still like him )

troy aikman would be one of the worst guys to broadcast Cowboys games ? ( not all games i just hate him doing Cowboy games )

the Cowboys run a weak draw play on 3rd and 14 ?

that roy williams agressive play would hurt us more than it helped ?

that all the money (EXCEPT the money spent on Owens) that Jerry spent would be wasted?

that i could be sooooo disgusted after just one stinking game ??

later Poke

THIS YEARS PICK EM GAME

HEY COWBOY AND COWBOYETTE FANS

the fine folks at CowboysZone have this years pick em game up and running !
all you have to do is register and make your picks, then sit back and watch the games hoping that you pick the winners better than your friends and enemies so you
can gloat and brag about how smart you are.

to register just go here : pick em

see how easy that was...good luck and remember you always have to pick the Boys to win or you are not a " real" fan. hmm maybe thats why my record isnt any better.
later Poke

is Sunday ever gonna get here ???

okay..its happening.
the excitement is just about to boil over here.
i have been holding back, keeping it contained, putting the brakes on...all that sort of stuff. I CANT WAIT ANY LONGER !!!!!!
with sunday still too many days away i am ready for some FOOTBALL .
all the pick em leagues and pick a winner games and even a pick the losers game have
got me primed and ready for some NFL excitement.
i am dying to see how the Boys do against a tough Jags team, on the road.
an opening day win should mean great things for this year, i know i know its just one game, but a win on the road against a team that is expected to be good starts
things off the right way.
and i gotta admit it.......i am dying to see TO take one to the house for us.
and Terry Glenn, and Jason Witten, and Julius Jones, Marion Barber. oh yeah
and Watkins or Williams or Greg Ellis or Newman. it would be wild to see our defense put some points on the board.
my daddy always used to say that if our defense scored points we would win.
we havent done near enough of that lately.
so get the hot sauce made ( not bought), get the recliner all polished up,
the TV tuned just right and pop up the popcorn cuz its time.
later..poke

self imposed exile

well i did it. i took off blogging here for exactly as long as i intended to.
amazing that through all the training camp events, the terrel owens no-shows,
the 3 good preseason games..( is there really such a thing ? ) i managed to avoid
getting on my soapbox and proclaiming my brilliance to the world.
truth is..i wasnt exiled, too busy, or any of that.
i just didnt have, or know, what to say about this years Good Guys.
so i didnt say anything...
but thats gotta change now. the season is HERE!!!!!!!! finally.
so pardon the typos..my fingers are rusty, here we go.
the final roster, what can i say ?? i never saw some of the moves coming.
no way i expected rob petitti to get cut. shame too cuz i liked him
same for terence copper. if the guys we kept are better than them, then i know it had to be done. still gonna miss watching them though.
greg ellis..did just what i thought he would do, learn the new job and keep being a football player.
terrell owens, really would have liked to see him hook up with his qbs but you know he is gonna be good. i am just keeping my fingers crossed hoping this works out good for us. sure i remember him on the star, but now he is wearing one so its a fresh start. what he does now is what i look at.
our o-line. what the heck do in know ?? i played o-line one year in high school
so dont lok for wisdom here. i just hope them big uglies open up some good holes and keep people off bledsoe so he can choose between glenn, witten or owens. if they do that then we ought to be hard to stop.
everybody is expecting big things from our defense. im waiting until i see it in action against first teamers, with a game plan in a game that means something.
time to put up or shut up i guess.
sunday cant get here quick enough. i am looking at 16-0 again like i always do at the start of a season. super bowl here we come. yada yada yada.

thank goodness the drafts over

okay ..we had the draft.
maybe some of these guys will help, maybe not.
who really really knows ??
i watched the draft ( first round anyway).
im glad there is a draft. ( not really i would like it better if we could just
buy up all the best players)
im glad the draft is over. YES YES YES ( now i wont have to read and listen
to all the experts say who the Cowboys should pick )
time to move on, rookie camps, mini camps, and then TRAINING CAMP !!!
first game that counts SEPT 10th.
i will say this, that Carpenter kid we got to play LB better be good, real good.
they gave him number 54 to wear. yeah, chuck howley, randy white good.
no pressure Bobby. good luck.
and no Bill Parcells hasnt contacted me and let me know what he really thinks
of the TO signing either. im surprised he hasnt called me yet.
later Poke

copy of a post i made on a message board

okay so now its like 2 posts here in 2 minutes.
once i get the Cowboys in my head i cant get them out.
actually a person asked a question on cowboyszone.com
that i thought i would answer.
the question was..who are the 10 greatest Cowboys ever ??

hahaha...no way could i narrow it down that far.
so i decided to pick 10 from each decade.
that almost killed me.
anyway i put so much thought into it i decided to post
my reply here also. i hated to see all that brain power go
to waste.
anyway heres what i remember from all the years of watching the Boys.
i guess its not plagarism if you copy your own stuff is it ??
enjoy. later poke




cowboy mark....

ive seen your post here for a couple of days, there is just no way
i can pick 10 players from 40+ years of watching the Boys.

the more i thought about it i figured i could maybe pick 10 from each
decade even though for me thats still going to be hard.

and i have to tell you these may not be the greatest they are just the ones
i liked the most.

and after doing this 10 from each decade isnt enough, i feel like i owe
a whole bunch of guys apologies because i couldnt list everybody i liked.

and these are in no order at all...except Meredith, he is/was and will always be my favorite.

60's
don meredith
chuck howley
don perkins
bob lily
lee roy jordan
mel renfro
ralph neely
cornell green
bob hayes
dan reeves

70's
walt garrison
rayfield wright
larry cole
jethro pugh (had to get him in and ran out of room in the 60's)
charlie waters/ cliff harris ( i always think of them as one)
roger staubach ( right behind meredith for all time favorite)
dave manders
billy jo dupree
hollywood henderson ( in spite of his screw-ups)
preston pearson ( the original 3rd down back )

80's
danny white
tony dorsett
drew pearson
ed too-tall jones
everson walls
robert newhouse
dennis thurman
jim jeffcoat
mark tuinei
randy white

90's...this is impossible..the team roster could be listed here as far as i am
concerned, but im trying to stick to 10.

troy aikman
bill bates
michael irvin
nate newton
emmitt smith
daryl johnston
leon lett
mark stepnoski
russell maryland
erik williams

*** george teague gets a mention for you know what !!
** dale hellestrae gets a mention for years of not worrying about bad deep
snaps.
* one star for our hired guns..deion sanders and charles haley
cause yes they did make a difference and i ran out of room.

and yes i know i left off ken norton jr, kenneth gant, jay novacek,
kevin gogan, alvin harper, chad hennings, tony tolbert and way too many
more to list. this was not a fair request !!

2000's

larry allen
darren woodson
flozell adams
dat nguyen
greg ellis
la'roi glover
roy williams
jason witten
terence newman
julius jones

i reserve the right to change this as the decade moves on....

i gotta start typing and i sure do dread it....

well i cant put it off any longer. ive been dreading it,
fighting it, worrying it to death and just generally
avoiding it as long as i can.
its been at least a month since i was real serious
about worrying about the beloved Boys.
sure i been keeping one eye on them.
i know we have let go of the last player who played with
a super bowl team here in dallas. (larry allen..duh).
i have already written here about the other departures from
last years team..although i forgot to mention laroi glover,
and that just shows i wasnt really thinking hard about the GOOD GUYS
because i always liked him as a player . im pretty sure we will miss
him at some point next year when we need a play made.
but this time of year i really like just enjoying the sunshine before
it gets so hot you cant breathe. sadly that only lasted till mid-april
when it broke the 100 degree mark twice here in the df&w metroplex.
i like catching a baseball game or two after working out in the yard.
i loved being in florida for 3 weeks.
i am already getting the boat ready so i can go scoot across some water
now that we finally got some rain and the lakes have water in them.
its just doesnt seem right to worry about football right now.
thats what i pay jerry jones and bill parcells to do..at least i guess
thats what those outrageous ticket and parking prices cover. im pretty
sure they make enough money off of alcohol and cokes and $6.00 hot dogs
to pay Drew and Julius and Terrell and everybody else their money.
but my hand is being forced..........
its in the newspaper, its on tv, its all over the world wide web.
its draft time. like this weekend. my vacation is over.
somehow or another i have to wade through about 4 gazillion predictions
from people who dont have a clue and figure out who i want the Boys
to draft. like i really know !!
i dont study college game films, i dont know what the "braintrust"
at Valley Ranch is thinking. i sure as heck dont understand salary cap
ramifications and all that stuff.
then when i figure out who i want us to choose i have to do some serious mind bending
and get my thoughts into the heads of those who actually make those decisions.
what really makes that hard is that im pretty sure i dont have that capability.
oh well..it ought to be fun to see , maybe we pick a linebacker, or an offensive
lineman or maybe a wide receiver. doesnt really matter though. as soon as we pick them
my mind goes into auto pilot and i like them. right then...before they even get their
star from bill at training camp.
oh well maybe the time off was good for me...i still have plenty of time to get into
full blown football craziness.
besides i gotta see if i can help the astros get back to the world series.
see ya after the draft so i can tell you how great all the guys we chose are !!
later..poke

The Sky isn't Really Falling

okay..so i am not really back yet.
but so much has happened ..so quickly.. that i feel the need to calm the masses.
sure we released Larry Allen...okay look at my blog from Jan 9th, not unexpected here.
and yes Dan Campbell is now a Detroit Lion...but to be honest he wasn't the same
blocking force last year that he had been and pass catching was never his strong suit.
Keyshawn is a Panther...and that bugs me more than a little, he did so many things
and he did them all well. We will have to find a guy that will catch balls across
the middle and blocks downfield .
On the plus side we now have "the idiot kicker, who got liquored up and ran his mouth" . Who cares what he says if he makes the kicks !!!!
NOW...on to the thing we are all worrying about..obsessing about and just plain
mortified about. T.O. Terrell Owens The guy who danced on the STAR George Teagues
tackling dummy....
What can I say...I was out of touch when they signed him...didn't read all the
reasons, the logic, how it came to be.
But hey... we do have Parcells. Surely ol Bill has a plan, an idea, some way that
he feels will work with TO. Time for the "jock whisperer" to show his magic.
IF....a big IF..it works won't the Cowboys look smart ??
besides last time i looked we were 9-7 last year, not in the playoffs...so maybe
drastic measures were needed.
i loved the guys from last year, I will love the guys we have this year.
i tend to root for the Laundry..whoever is wearing it is okay with me. its not like
any of them come over for dinner and hang out with me.
so lets keep our eyes on the prize ( SUPER BOWL ONLY ) and hope its a great year.
now the battery on the borrowed laptop is low and like i said...i am not really back yet. enjoy spring training and get ready for opening day. and the draft.
later...Poke

Spring has Sprung

new grass is growing, i got my garden started, the yard fertilized
and the roses have been cut back. all we need now is rain and sunshine
in just the right amounts and then a little patience.
free agency is just around the corner for the Boys.
please let us get an offensive lineman somewhere.
Baseball is getting oh so close, especially the World Baseball Classic.
March Madness is upon us ( even if it is the only time i watch college basketball).

and i am going to take 3 weeks off from blogging.
going to check into a 12 step program to cure my addiction to the Cowboys.
the one step program didnt work at all when Meredith retired .
the three step program failed miserably after Staubach left.
the six step program never had a chance when Father Tom was relieved of his duties.
the nine step program should have worked when the Triplets left but then Parcells
showed up and actually got us into the playoffs his first year.
so i am going to trot out a 12 step chance and see if 3 weeks of not worrying
about the Cowboys will cure me of this lifelong affliction.
I BET IT DOESN'T WORK.
anyway i wont be around here till after March 25...so any rude comments
will go undefended.
and hey its only a few months till training camp and soon i will have baseball
to occupy my mind so its okay. the Astros and Rangers and yes the Yankees need me.
later Poke

I can't seem to stop

okay its still february.
no football.
the olympics have been boring to watch because i don't like tape delays.
baseball is off to its leisurely stroll through spring.
the rumbling in Cowboy Land has started about who to draft, which free agents
to sign....( why are they called "free" agents when everybody knows they are
very expensive to sign ??? )and other assorted worries .
this should be the time of year to relax, stay inside and think of things
not related to the Boys.
cant do it.
i have no "news" to report. i have no earth shattering opinions to share right now.
i am drawn here like a june bug to a porch light.
i scour the internet daily in hopes of seeing something that might..just might
say something about the Cowboys. the little tidbit of information that might
give me great insight into whats going on at Valley Ranch.
not much out there.
sure there are columns in the newspaper, local writers pontificating about who
the Boys might draft.( too bad none of them will be right)
luckily there are message boards where i can read other fanatics ( no sense using
the nicer sounding "fans"...call us what we are ) concerns and worries. none of us
know anything but its nice to know you aren't the only person who actually knows
when free agency starts, when the draft is, when mini camp is, which players
are in NFL Europe, when training camp is and the cap room the Cowboys have for the
upcoming season.
so..i crawl back here. posting rambling thoughts in the same manner that got me
such 'great' grades in school. heck if i had known there was going to be this thing
called the "internet" and "blogs" i might have payed more attention to writing skills in school. I would have definitely actually learned to type in typing class
instead of just using the two finger method so popular amongst the atheletes in that
class.
anyway..i guess i will mosey on out of here..just had to stop in and let ya'll know
i am still around. later Poke

ps. yeah brother the curling is cool. our hockey team isnt. our mens downhill skiers
didn't show anything.
speedskating is good to watch...the short track stuff is WILD...and i never
thought i would say it...but i am ready for the figure skating !!