PICKING 'BOYS BONES by The Fish
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PICKING 'BOYS BONES by The Fish
The Cowboys are among the top stories in the NFL right now, and the Dallas Morning News is the local paper of record (that's still right, right?). So we're looking to the gang at the DMN to provide analysis, insight and proper usage of words.
And we have just three bones to pick today. Very gently, we pick. With love, we pick.
Bone No. 1: We open up Monday's News to find NFL writer Rick Gosselin's ranking of the 32 teams. Up top are Indy, San Diego, Baltimore, New England and Chicago. Ranked sixth are the New Orleans Saints. Ranked seventh are the Dallas Cowboys.
Now, maybe Gosselin is attempting to avoid being labeled a "homer.'' Or maybe we shouldn't take these rankings at all seriously. And certainly we get a better answer come Dec. 10, when the Saints come to Texas Stadium for a meeting deemed so important that the NFL has moved it from a noon start to the prime-time, nationally-televised evening game. But why, exactly, are the Saints better than the Cowboys? Both teams are 7-4, so that's not it. Dallas has scored 309 points to New Orleans' 276 (a 33-point Cowboys edge), so that's not it. Dallas' defense has allowed 198 to New Orleans' 241 (a 43-point Cowboys edge), so that's not it.
I dunno. Maybe Rick likes the Saints' uniforms?
Bone No. 2: The whole world wants to know more about Tony Romo, so in Sunday's News, beat writer Todd Archer puts together a serviceable (if innocuous) piece on Romo's sudden popularity in regard to magazine covers and the like.
Buried in the story -- in the 21st paragraph of a 23-paragraph story -- is this nugget: Tony Romo is a Mexican-American.
He is?
Si.
Born Antonio Ramiro Romo, Tony is the grandson of Mexican immigrants. He doesn't speak much Spanish (it apparently doesn't come in as handy back home in Wisconsin) but I would suggst he is nevertheless poised to become an international celebrity because of his heritage. Romo joins a very short list (Jim Plunkett and Tom Flores and anybody else?) of successful Hispanic QBs in the NFL.
This is a huge story. Not just Tony Casillas-huge. Or just Eduardo Najera-huge.
The suddenly beloved quarterback of America's Team is a Brett Favre-mimicking/small-school-and-undrafted non-prospect/military offspring/undersized overachiever/humble-yet-cocky kid who happens to be Hispanic?
This could be Yao Ming-huge. Heck, it could be Yao Ming-meets-Roger Staubach huge. Which, to me, elevates it above paragraph 21.
Bone No. 3: I recently emailed new lead columnist Jean-Jacques Taylor a congratulatory note, telling him how much this market needs somebody to stir things up. I trust that JJT is trying, and maybe this is just my personal bugaboo, but. ...
It seems like any time JJT's columns stray into the 25-Cent Word Dictionary, they somehow mangle the meaning of said 25-cent words.
Monday's example comes from a flattering featurette (disguised as a column, which means this doesn't quite "stir things up'') on Cowboys assistant Tony Sparano. In the article, JJT tries writes of the importance of quarterbacks and receivers being on the same page, in sync, in tune, bonded, whatever.
Except JJT calls that QB/WR connection "karma.''
"Karma'' technically means "a person's actions and how they determine his destiny in his next incarnation.'' "Karma'' has come to be used as a synonym for "good luck'' and "good destiny.''
There is no "karma'' between the Cowboys' QBs and wide receivers. ... unless they all plan on playing football together again in another life.
Again, I'm being picky. I mean to stay positive. So Go Cowboys! And Go Dallas Morning News!
PICKING 'BOYS BONES by The Fish
The Cowboys are among the top stories in the NFL right now, and the Dallas Morning News is the local paper of record (that's still right, right?). So we're looking to the gang at the DMN to provide analysis, insight and proper usage of words.
And we have just three bones to pick today. Very gently, we pick. With love, we pick.
Bone No. 1: We open up Monday's News to find NFL writer Rick Gosselin's ranking of the 32 teams. Up top are Indy, San Diego, Baltimore, New England and Chicago. Ranked sixth are the New Orleans Saints. Ranked seventh are the Dallas Cowboys.
Now, maybe Gosselin is attempting to avoid being labeled a "homer.'' Or maybe we shouldn't take these rankings at all seriously. And certainly we get a better answer come Dec. 10, when the Saints come to Texas Stadium for a meeting deemed so important that the NFL has moved it from a noon start to the prime-time, nationally-televised evening game. But why, exactly, are the Saints better than the Cowboys? Both teams are 7-4, so that's not it. Dallas has scored 309 points to New Orleans' 276 (a 33-point Cowboys edge), so that's not it. Dallas' defense has allowed 198 to New Orleans' 241 (a 43-point Cowboys edge), so that's not it.
I dunno. Maybe Rick likes the Saints' uniforms?
Bone No. 2: The whole world wants to know more about Tony Romo, so in Sunday's News, beat writer Todd Archer puts together a serviceable (if innocuous) piece on Romo's sudden popularity in regard to magazine covers and the like.
Buried in the story -- in the 21st paragraph of a 23-paragraph story -- is this nugget: Tony Romo is a Mexican-American.
He is?
Si.
Born Antonio Ramiro Romo, Tony is the grandson of Mexican immigrants. He doesn't speak much Spanish (it apparently doesn't come in as handy back home in Wisconsin) but I would suggst he is nevertheless poised to become an international celebrity because of his heritage. Romo joins a very short list (Jim Plunkett and Tom Flores and anybody else?) of successful Hispanic QBs in the NFL.
This is a huge story. Not just Tony Casillas-huge. Or just Eduardo Najera-huge.
The suddenly beloved quarterback of America's Team is a Brett Favre-mimicking/small-school-and-undrafted non-prospect/military offspring/undersized overachiever/humble-yet-cocky kid who happens to be Hispanic?
This could be Yao Ming-huge. Heck, it could be Yao Ming-meets-Roger Staubach huge. Which, to me, elevates it above paragraph 21.
Bone No. 3: I recently emailed new lead columnist Jean-Jacques Taylor a congratulatory note, telling him how much this market needs somebody to stir things up. I trust that JJT is trying, and maybe this is just my personal bugaboo, but. ...
It seems like any time JJT's columns stray into the 25-Cent Word Dictionary, they somehow mangle the meaning of said 25-cent words.
Monday's example comes from a flattering featurette (disguised as a column, which means this doesn't quite "stir things up'') on Cowboys assistant Tony Sparano. In the article, JJT tries writes of the importance of quarterbacks and receivers being on the same page, in sync, in tune, bonded, whatever.
Except JJT calls that QB/WR connection "karma.''
"Karma'' technically means "a person's actions and how they determine his destiny in his next incarnation.'' "Karma'' has come to be used as a synonym for "good luck'' and "good destiny.''
There is no "karma'' between the Cowboys' QBs and wide receivers. ... unless they all plan on playing football together again in another life.
Again, I'm being picky. I mean to stay positive. So Go Cowboys! And Go Dallas Morning News!
posted by The Gryphon at 6:53 PM
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