FANS' INSIDER
A liberal dose
July 25, 2007
First, I would like to thank the Rangers for getting us to this point. You performed admirably your assigned task of playing well between the end of the Mavs' season and the start of Cowboys' training camp.
Yes, I know that the Mavs' season ended May 3, and the Rangers didn't get hot until mid-June.
But no one -- not even David Stern -- knew in May that the fix was in on the Mavs' postseason, so the Rangers weren't prepared to take over the headlines so soon.
But now Camp Happy has arrived.
Cowboys Training Camp 2007: San Antonio -- with no Tuna on the menu -- kicked off Tuesday with, of course, Jerry Jones behind a microphone. Then there was the big pep rally -- how 'bout them Los Lonely Boys!? -- complete with head coach, players and cheerleaders, plus the senior class presenting a wreath to a fake Peyton Manning to fire everybody up even more for the Cowboys-Colts preseason opener that is only 15 days away.
The players hit the Alamodome field for the first time this afternoon, and they'll do so after an off-season filled with talk of making a deep playoff run like hasn't been talked about in these parts since last off-season.
Jones was, naturally, saying similar things Tuesday, just as convinced as he was with Bill Parcells, Dave Campo and Chan Gailey that his new coach is the one who will lead the Cowboys back to playoff victory.
Give Jerry credit for one thing: Like the old Weebles, you just can't keep him down.
Wade Phillips, they say, is a players' coach, which means he isn't a coach who will call 'The Player' only 'the player.' So, forecasts out of San Antonio say to expect to see wide receiver Terrell Owens spending more time during this camp in his Team Cowboys jersey rather than his Team Discovery jersey.
After four years of Parcells, there definitely will be a lighter mood around training camp. (Side note: When you see TV reporters smiling during their live reports from Camp Happy, it's just not the River Walk that's making them smile.)
Switching to a players' coach, however, does not guarantee success. But at least if the playoff victory drought continues, the players will enjoy it more this season.
Early results of this new atmosphere are already encouraging. Roy Williams apparently is so motivated by his new defensive mastermind of a head coach that he has volunteered to tag along for bed checks each night of camp and tuck in every single receiver, just to prove that he can cover them.
The only real question to be answered over the next two weeks in San Antonio concerns, unfortunately, starting quarterback Tony Romo.
It's not whether Romo is still sleepless from Seattle. Or whether he'll get a contract extension before the season begins, and whether that is a distraction.
Instead, we really need to know whose purse he's holding these days.
But, be assured, whoever's purse it is, if she visits Camp Happy, she'll be smiling.
David Thomas' sports humor column appears Wednesdays and Sundays.
July 25, 2007
First, I would like to thank the Rangers for getting us to this point. You performed admirably your assigned task of playing well between the end of the Mavs' season and the start of Cowboys' training camp.
Yes, I know that the Mavs' season ended May 3, and the Rangers didn't get hot until mid-June.
But no one -- not even David Stern -- knew in May that the fix was in on the Mavs' postseason, so the Rangers weren't prepared to take over the headlines so soon.
But now Camp Happy has arrived.
Cowboys Training Camp 2007: San Antonio -- with no Tuna on the menu -- kicked off Tuesday with, of course, Jerry Jones behind a microphone. Then there was the big pep rally -- how 'bout them Los Lonely Boys!? -- complete with head coach, players and cheerleaders, plus the senior class presenting a wreath to a fake Peyton Manning to fire everybody up even more for the Cowboys-Colts preseason opener that is only 15 days away.
The players hit the Alamodome field for the first time this afternoon, and they'll do so after an off-season filled with talk of making a deep playoff run like hasn't been talked about in these parts since last off-season.
Jones was, naturally, saying similar things Tuesday, just as convinced as he was with Bill Parcells, Dave Campo and Chan Gailey that his new coach is the one who will lead the Cowboys back to playoff victory.
Give Jerry credit for one thing: Like the old Weebles, you just can't keep him down.
Wade Phillips, they say, is a players' coach, which means he isn't a coach who will call 'The Player' only 'the player.' So, forecasts out of San Antonio say to expect to see wide receiver Terrell Owens spending more time during this camp in his Team Cowboys jersey rather than his Team Discovery jersey.
After four years of Parcells, there definitely will be a lighter mood around training camp. (Side note: When you see TV reporters smiling during their live reports from Camp Happy, it's just not the River Walk that's making them smile.)
Switching to a players' coach, however, does not guarantee success. But at least if the playoff victory drought continues, the players will enjoy it more this season.
Early results of this new atmosphere are already encouraging. Roy Williams apparently is so motivated by his new defensive mastermind of a head coach that he has volunteered to tag along for bed checks each night of camp and tuck in every single receiver, just to prove that he can cover them.
The only real question to be answered over the next two weeks in San Antonio concerns, unfortunately, starting quarterback Tony Romo.
It's not whether Romo is still sleepless from Seattle. Or whether he'll get a contract extension before the season begins, and whether that is a distraction.
Instead, we really need to know whose purse he's holding these days.
But, be assured, whoever's purse it is, if she visits Camp Happy, she'll be smiling.
David Thomas' sports humor column appears Wednesdays and Sundays.
posted by The Gryphon at 6:31 PM
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