priorities

okay i loved the game sunday. it got my heart rate going enough i skipped
my usual 10 mile jog monday morning. yeah right like i ever jogged 10 miles
in my life. anyway i loved watching the Boys come back and win one after
falling behind away from home. takes a little of the sting away from last mondays
disaapointing loss.and as far as routine goes...this week about the only thing
i did that i usually do was to remember to go put on a cowboys jersey right
before the game started.
see...i was a little distracted. i had a house full of people. not just any people
but family . now my family knows me well enough to not bug me too much during
a cowboys game, they dont usually call, we live 5 hours apart so they cant just stop
by. but this week was a lot different.
a thing called Rita had decided to hit land really close to all their houses.
they all live in beaumont or just north of there. wednesday and thursday they had
wisely (as my old dad used to say ) " hooked up their hiney wagons " and blasted
off to my house. everybody made it without the well known "14 to 24 hour drive "
that usually only takes 5 or 5 1/2.
so instead of watching with only my wife and a few (very few) friends i had a
72 yr. old, a 5 yr. old, a couple of 20-somethings, (one of which is pregnant),
my older brother,( who often comments on this page ) and 3 dogs (one being a
beautiful 8 week old puppy ). man talk about a change in routine !!!!
and after last weeks blog about how it didnt really help i guess this just reinforced
that lesson.
and even as the Boys looked terrible, and the score got worse, and the 49'ers
looked totally unstoppable....i was gonna be okay with it. i really was, the people
i love and who loved me were all okay. they were safe, comfortable ( as much as that
diverse and large a group can be under one roof anyway ) and definitely alive.
when the Cowboys won this week it was just a bonus. we had already had our blessing.
later Poke

A REVELATION

well it has happened again. 2 games into the season and i am slammed with a revelation. i followed my game day routine perfectly. i wore only dallas cowboy
clothing all day long, roy williams jersey, cowboy socks,shorts and even the lucky
underwear deal. i got out my emmitt smith record setting game day cap and wore it knowing it would get sweat saoked. i thought about the game all day long. i had the perfect pre game snacks and drinks for the tailgate party picked out. i got to the
stadium early and parked in my traditional lucky section C. i set up the pop up shade and got the table set. it was heaven . Texas Stadium was rocking even early which isn't always the case. Our little group(4) of fans whooped, hollered, waved towels, stood up a lot, slapped high fives...we did it all. we gave it everything we had.

even when the deadskins scored late we stayed positive but not over confident.
we STAYED FOCUSED....except for a late run to get a lemon chill to keep from
overheating. My son and I even turned our caps around backwards, inside out,
upside down, sideways...every which way but loose. we were 110 per centers.
i can't even talk today im so hoarse, my hands hurt from clapping so hard,
and my head is still roaring from all the noise. WE NEVER GAVE UP !!!!!

BUT...here it is, my latest revelation, which happens at least once a year
but i always forget it from year to year, heck even from game to game.

WHAT I DO HAS NO EFFECT ON THE OUTCOME OF THE GAME !!!!!!! AAAAAGGGHHHHHHHH
occasionally the crowd can really make a lot of noise and upset the other teams
offense, get your own team pumped up, but in the end the players have to make the plays, the coaches have to coach and you have to remember that the other guys in different colored jerseys are trying their best to upset what your team is trying to do.
It was still a blast being there, and yes i will do the same thing next time i get
a chance and the Cowboys are still my team. I may have to think about some new
underwear though........later Poke

Tribute to the Triplets

okay its 8 am monday morning, the Cowboys play at 8 pm. im ready for the game.
the car is loaded, my clothes are picked out, binoculars , camera, towels,
hats, ugly cowboy face mask, flags for the car windows...all sitting there
ready to go. this is a sickness...i only live 30-40 minutes from Texas Stadium.

But tonight is going to be something special. we play the redskins and its Monday
Night Football. and...the triplets are going into the Ring of Honor. I will tell
you right now that sometimes after a game I am not always in a good mood. things happen, bad things ..things i will not even allow myself to think about. soooo
i thought that before the game i would write something nice and level headed about
these guys. for one thing i loved watching them play together..they were beyond good.
you just expected them to come out and win and win handily. and they did, a lot.
3 Super Bowls in 4 years. you knew Irvin was going to make a great catch, Troy
was going to throw some great passes and Emmitt was going to give you every thing
he had running the ball. you just knew it. and i could go on and on about what they did and how they did it and just ramble but like they say " a picture is worth a
thousand words." so heres a picture. thanks to one of the many guys at
http://cowboyszone.com/forums/index.php? for this picture...i think it belongs to Jacs...if not sorry but it fit
my thought about them perfectly. 3 guys, 3 Super Bowls, 3 Rings.


i have done my piece on the triplets. now i can
concentrate on getting this years Cowboys to beat this years Deadskins. i feel better already. only 11 1/2 hours till gametime...gotta go .
oh by the way....Happy Birthday Big Brother !!! later Poke

Lets Dont TCU

wow......what a game !!! i almost died 4 times at the end of the game.
thank you Coach Marty for not using LaDanian that close to the end zone.
its a good week when your biggest worry is how to improve your kickoff
coverage. well, that might not be the biggest worry.
last week i watched in awe as TCU went to Norman OK. and the pretty boys
in purple uniforms beat those big bad red clad brutes on their home field.
unreal, a Mountain West team whipping a Big 12 powerhouse. but it happened.
then this week TCU went east 20 miles to take on a team that hasn't been a
powerhouse since the early 80's when the NCAA dealt them the death penalty
for violating a few too many rules. yep the good old SMU Mustangs from that
super tough Conference-USA. and TCU lost..21-10 not even close . TCU holds
Oklahoma to 10 points and then gives up 21 to SMU ????? How ? Why ?

that's what I love about sports..its not scripted. if you dont show up ready
to play your hardest you may get surprised. TCU sure did.

and that may be my biggest worry this week..I'm sure Parcells has thought about it.
all the experts ( most anyway ) picked San Diego to beat the Cowboys.
didn't happen though. Now this week I imagine most of those same geniuses will
pick the Cowboys to beat the Redskins. I mean the redskins put on an offensive
show against the Bears.......3 field goals and won 9-7. So I'm just guessing
that since the game is in Dallas, on Monday night, with the triplets going into
the Ring Of Honor, after winning a tough road game that the Boys will be favored
to win. And since I am a TOTAL HOMER I'm picking them to win too.

but please, please just don't do a TCU on us..........later Poke

a total HOMER

i have watched the Cowboys all my life, so long that i dont even remember exactly
when i became a fan. just to make it easy im gonna say 40 years. so its just an estimate but i have watched 500 of their games i'm sure.
people who know me know how much i like them so they are always asking me if i think
they are going to beat " whoever ". i always try to act like i have a great analytical mind and i list all the reasons why i think they will or will not win
that particular game. it makes great conversation and it beats griping about how
much gas costs or how hot it is and stuff like that.
BUT...i have a confession to make. I am only telling you folks this so you dont
all run out and make outlandish bets and lose your rent and grocery money.
I HAVE NEVER STARTED WATCHING THE COWBOYS PLAY A GAME THINKING THAT THEY WERE
GOING TO ACTUALLY LOSE !!!!
no matter what i may have said during a conversation or on a message board
down deep in my heart i always think the Cowboys are going to win. always.
thats why i am not a gambler. when i was a kid at school and some kid started
spouting off and wanting to bet their team would beat the Boys i always took
my lunch money and bet on my team..the Dallas Cowboys. you cant tell by looking
at me now but i sure did have to skip lunch a lot in those days. so i learned
early on not to bet on them. but i never learned and i dont guess i ever will
that they probably arent going to win every time they play. i mean i know it..
but i never quit hoping, wishing.
anyway since the season starts thursday (cowboys play sunday )i just wanted
to let ya'll know not to take the brilliant, insightful and extremely informative
information i put forth here and take it to Vegas and try to make a killing.
if you do its your own fault now . having said all that and in spite of the lessons
i learned at an early age i now predict the COWBOYS RECORD WILL BE 9-7.
(i also just learned how to edit these posts so if you are gonna make me eat those
words you better figure out a way to save this page somewhere )
anyway im ready...bring on the chargers...later Poke

Better Buy a Program

yep you better get you a program..this ain't last years Dallas Cowboys.
by my best count there are 18 new names on the 53 man roster this year.
and i am pretty sure Parcells isn't through making moves yet. of the 18
10..count em..thats 10 (ten) are ROOKIES. add those to the free agents
(bledsoe, ferguson, henry , rivera ) and then the trades (fujita) and
the signing of players released by other teams ( cortez, pile, peerless price)
and its easy to see this is going to be a different team.
better ?? i dont know, on paper i think we are better but until they actually
play the games who knows ??
heck im not even sure i got all the new names listed and i try really hard to
keep up with what they are doing on a daily basis. i would feel bad but
on the cowboys official website they still have a guy listed on the depth chart
that got cut at least 10 days ago, so this is as good as i can do.
besides at about $10 for a program ole Jerry might make enough money to sign us
some more new players. we still need another safety and it wouldnt be a bad thing
to have another offensive tackle too. so get out there...........buy a program
you are gonna need it. later Poke

One Mans trash is another mans Treasure

okay so i have been waiting patiently for preseason to end so i can get excited
about the Cowboys season. i am running out of patience so i decided to write
something..anything here just to clear my mind.
First things first..we played houston saturday night, beat them..nobody got hurt.
i didnt even watch the game because i was in galveston and i couldnt stand
listening to the houston announcers, plus there was a lighting storm going on
and the waves were getting bigger due to Hurricane Katrina so i just sat back
and enjoyed the moment with my wife.
Now...about THE TEAM. its cut time in the NFL. all the teams have started making
up their minds about who stays and who goes. So far the Boys havent really surprised
me with any of their cuts because mostly they got rid of guys i expected them to
except for a couple, Rogers and Cundiff, OT and PK. both of them were hurt so
even that was no surprise.
Here comes the fun part...looking at the other teams and seeing who they released
and deciding if they let anybody go that might help us. hey its a crapshoot for sure
but sometimes a change of scenery really does make a difference. and its a numbers
game, maybe a team is overloaded with lineman and you need one. maybe their castoff
is better than your 3rd team guy. heck maybe their castoff is bettter than your
1st team guy...i surely hope not but after a 6-10 season its possible.
i mean look closely, our entire starting backfield from last years, and the year
before that, and i think the year before that is TOTALLY out of the league.
gone..cut..not signed..by anybody !! of course that doesnt count Julius Jones but
he was not our starter on opening day (injured ).
its like taking a load of junk to the dumpyard, emptying out your trailer...then spotting like some totally perfect half sheets of plywood that you just know you
can use to make something out of..and hey those bricks in that pile over there
would make a perfect walkway if you can just knock the mortar off. surely i am not
the only person to ever come home with more junk than i left with am i ??
hmmm that might be the redneck in me peeking out... but why else would there be
all these yard sales ???
Maybe, just maybe the ole Jock Whisperer Bill Parcells can get something out of
one of these guys that their previous coach couldnt. anyway it gives me something
to watch for until 9-8 when thankfully the real season starts. i feel better already.
later Poke

exhibition games

yeah so i am probably dating myself a bit here. when i was a kid that is what
these games were called. they werent "preseason " , they didnt count for much
and you were lucky if they put one on TV. then the owners decided they could sell
their tickets ( for the same stinking price as a regular game ) and the networks
figured out they could sell ads and lo and behold now these games are " important ".
i gripe about them, im sure the players gripe about them ( they dont get their regular paychecks for these games ) and even though the coaches dont gripe about
them in public i just bet you that they would prefer to just keep having practices instead of having to disrupt their practicing to "game plan " for an exhibition . anyway...the cowboys played the seahawks monday night in one of these "games ". our first team offense and defense looked better this week than last week. thats what you want to see. then about halfway thru the 2nd quarter both teams started putting in 2nd team players.
after that it gets a little harder to tell just who is doing great or if they are just beating up somebody who will be looking for a job this fall . if you really want
to know just how great some of our players are, and how bad some of our players are and how smart our coach is or how dumb our coach is then go to one of the many
"message boards " or "fan forums " that the Cowboys have. there you will find
so many experts and genuises that know so much about this team you will wonder
why Jerry Jones doesnt just read them, and run the team using their analysis and
save all that money he pays out for training camp,coaches, scouts, film teams
and all that other stuff.
to be honest there are great fans there, but thats all we are....fans ( short for fanatics by the way ) . you just have to keep telling yourself that those people
actually associated with the team might..just might know a little bit more than we do. anyway the Cowboys beat the Seahawks on the scoreboard 18-10. The cowboys
didnt suffer any serious injuries that i can find out about. it was fun to watch.
but it was still just an exhibition game to me. later Poke

keeping my promise

you see..i am already falling into my old habits. i havent posted here
in 10 whole days. i do that to keep from boring ya'll with unimportant
thoughts and ideas. good stuff that actually deserves to be written down
doesnt pop into my brain all that often.
okay so i promised i would tell you whats important in Cowboys world as it
develops. i wont go into how bad our offense looked because its the 1st
preseason game. i wont go into how weak our pass rush looked against
those mighty cardinals from arizona. i wont mention that Bledsoe did
look a little slow getting rid of the ball. i wouldnt dare remind any of
you who are old enough to remember that our right tackle (torrin tucker)
brought back so many memories of that fan favorite (Phil holding # 75 Pozderak).
see all those things dont bother me at all because its our 1ST PRESEASON GAME !
SO..PAY ATTENTION HERE..THIS IS THE IMPORTANT THING FROM SATURDAYS GAME
Nobody that is going to make this team and contribute got HURT !

there it is..real simple..NFL football is as much about attrition as it is X's and O's. Since nobody got hurt ( actually a safety we just picked up did mess up his shoulder but i didnt think he would make much impact anyway ..) i chalk up Saturday
as a good game. Now Coach Parcells can take the team back to camp, chew their butts
off, work them really hard and they cant complain much because they know that
saturday night in arizona they played like crap.

So there you go..nothing to worry about..things will get better..time heals all wounds..what doesnt kill you makes you stronger..save those Prozacs for the regular season. later Poke

Out of the Closet

hah !!!! got you with that title i bet. different closet though.
i just cant stand it any longer, i have a secret to tell.
i want to get it off my chest before the season starts because it really
has nothing to do with wins and losses. okay...here it goes.
I DONT LIKE BILL PARCELLS. Ahhhhhh i feel so much better now.
sure he's the coach of my favorite football team. sure i even think he is
the best coach for us right now. after years of incompetence and yes men
jerry jones had to get a real coach. bill parcells is definitely a real coach.
until jones proved he could butt out and let a coach be the coach we were not
ever going to get anybody here worth a dern. parcells is a good coach, a winning
coach, a smart coach....but it still doesnt make me like him. Im not sure why.
it probably comes from the fact that for years he was the coach of the NY Giants
and we played them twice a year and sometimes they beat us. or it could be that its
because he is a yankee..you know..the whole speech, mannerism attitude thing. just rubs me the wrong way. for too many years we had coaches who at least acted like they
wanted to keep the fans happy, the media informed and project a whole "one big happy family " theme. he doesnt do that. or at least not very well.
do i wish him ill will ?? of course not, i am pulling for him all the way, i hope he
gets us to another super bowl win....soon really soon. and then i hope he takes his
grumpy, sarcastic, joisey sounding , condescending , smart aleck butt back up there.
its just a personal thing , if you dont agree i understand completely..later Poke