Chicago Tribune: Cowboys' Romo stays grounded
Cowboys' Romo stays grounded
QB has fun with fame, but football is his passion
September 19, 2007
Yes, it is good to be king when Dallas is your kingdom, Carrie Underwood is your queen and red carpets are your playing surface.
You couldn't blame Tony Romo if the crown is starting to get a little tight at the temples. Look at him all over TV, hawking Pepsi, AT & T services and even advising us to watch "SportsCenter." To see him throwing touchdown passes, no doubt.
Romo is the most popular Cowboy, which is kind of like being the cutest Beatle. He was almost embarrassed by the over-the-top ovations he would receive when he trotted out for practice every day during training camp in San Antonio.
In Mexico, the third generation Mexican-American (he's also part Italian, German and Polish) is beyond popular, more a symbol of national pride as soccer star Hugo Sanchez once was.
When he and some teammates went out for dinner recently, one female fan recognized Romo and ran at him like a blitzing linebacker. With perfect form, she wrapped her arms around his 6-foot-2-inch, 224-pound frame and drove him to the ground.
"Can I just get your picture?" she implored. "Please can I have your picture?"
He had just finished an off-season in which he had a birthday party at the trendy Ghostbar in Dallas, attended the Country Music Awards with Underwood, played in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in Lake Tahoe with John Elway and flew to Mexico City to judge the Miss Universe pageant.
Joe Montana—the Joe Montana—told him he was his fan, and that he liked watching him play.
He has sipped beverages by a Hawaiian poolside with Bill Belichick, Sean Payton and Phil Simms while telling tales of Bill Parcells.
Romo grew up a Packers fan about 75 miles from Soldier Field, and when the Cowboys play there Sunday it will be the first time Romo has set foot in the place. He already has been to U.S. Cellular Field, though, to throw out the first pitch of a Cubs-Sox game in June.
In many ways, it seems celebrity and its perks have preceded accomplishment for Romo. He has started all of 12 NFL games, not even the equivalent of a full regular season. He has been very good in nine of them.
He has been affected by none of it.
Beneath the helmet with the star is the same kid who couldn't lead his high school team in Burlington, Wis., to a winning record his junior and senior seasons. The big-time schools didn't have much interest in him, but Eastern Illinois took him in. There, he threw a school-record 85 touchdown passes and won the Walter Payton Award, given to the best player in Division I-AA.
It still wasn't enough for NFL teams to want him. They drafted 13 quarterbacks in 2003 and left him sitting on the curb. He was no more than a clipboard carrier as recently as last year at this time.
What took Romo on his unlikely journey to this point is exactly what should keep him here. His has a classic free agent mentality.
"The thing with me is I never feel I'm as good as I maybe play," Romo said. "Anytime I get an award, or something that says you're good, I feel I have to go out and actually prove it.
"Whereas other people might think they've proven something, I feel the opposite."
Despite all the talk of Romo's activities in the off-season, no player on the Cowboys offense spent more time working at Valley Ranch than Romo. Cowboys coach Wade Phillips calls Romo a "football rat" who loves to practice and play the game.
"I don't see how you can take off for months and throw a football two weeks before camp," Romo said. "A lot of guys do it. But I don't see how you can get better from the year before."
In a typical week, Romo spends 20 hours watching tape with Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. It has shown in his play, as Romo has led the Cowboys to the highest scoring offense in football through two games. Of those 13 quarterbacks who were taken ahead of him, the only one who would be drafted ahead of Romo today is Carson Palmer.
He talks as easily and frequently with an American Idol as he does with the maintenance guys and the grounds crew at Valley Ranch. Former Cowboys coach Parcells thought he had to keep Romo humble with jabs both subtle and overt, but Romo appears to have what has happened to him in perfect perspective.
"I'm strong enough with my faith to not put too much stock in things that can be washed away at any second," he said. "I can break a leg and have to go back to the way I lived life five years ago. I'm going to work my butt off and see how good I can be, but this won't be what defines me. I never want to think I'm better than anyone, or anything special.
"It was neat that I was able to go to the Academy of Country Music Awards with Carrie Underwood. But if I didn't go next year, I'm OK."
Here is everything you need to know about how Romo is responding to the pedestal the world is putting him on: In an era when some professional athletes change their cell phone numbers nearly every billing cycle, Romo still has the same number with the Wisconsin area code as when he became a Cowboy five years ago. Go ahead, old friends; give him a ring.
In the players parking lot at Valley Ranch, you will find the usual assortment of luxury SUVs and outlandish sports cars. And you also will find the Ford Expedition that belongs to Romo. He paid $42,000 for it. Until two months ago, he was driving the same Chevy Tahoe he rolled up to Dallas in.
If, as expected, he hits a contract grand slam in the coming months, he won't start traveling to away games in a private jet or show up wearing 16 pounds of bling.
Hardly anyone knew it, but one of the reasons Romo was so excited about judging the Miss Universe pageant is it provided an opportunity to get away for a couple of days with some of his football buddies from Eastern Illinois and the Chicago area, Paul Massat and Justin Penio.
And hardly anyone knew Romo was back at Valley Ranch the afternoon after the pageant, throwing passes and working up a sweat.
In many ways, Romo and Underwood seem ideally suited, and not just because he's the quarterback of America's team and she's the American Idol, fresh faces we can't get enough of.
Yes, they are a real life Ken and Barbie, a People magazine cover waiting to happen. But it's deeper than that. They have so much in common—humble beginnings, a non-traditional rise and sudden fame.
They met during pregame warmups on Thanksgiving Day last year on the field at Texas Stadium. Both were there for our entertainment—him to beat the Bucs; her to sing at halftime.
That day she performed "Before He Cheats," her best-selling single about a jilted girlfriend's revenge.
When asked if Underwood took a Louisville Slugger to his headlights, Romo laughed. No, she did not. He called Underwood "a great girl and a good friend," and said, "We went through similar things in life. We can bounce ideas off each other."
With the way life's riches swirl around Tony Romo these days, he could use that.
QB has fun with fame, but football is his passion
September 19, 2007
Yes, it is good to be king when Dallas is your kingdom, Carrie Underwood is your queen and red carpets are your playing surface.
You couldn't blame Tony Romo if the crown is starting to get a little tight at the temples. Look at him all over TV, hawking Pepsi, AT & T services and even advising us to watch "SportsCenter." To see him throwing touchdown passes, no doubt.
Romo is the most popular Cowboy, which is kind of like being the cutest Beatle. He was almost embarrassed by the over-the-top ovations he would receive when he trotted out for practice every day during training camp in San Antonio.
In Mexico, the third generation Mexican-American (he's also part Italian, German and Polish) is beyond popular, more a symbol of national pride as soccer star Hugo Sanchez once was.
When he and some teammates went out for dinner recently, one female fan recognized Romo and ran at him like a blitzing linebacker. With perfect form, she wrapped her arms around his 6-foot-2-inch, 224-pound frame and drove him to the ground.
"Can I just get your picture?" she implored. "Please can I have your picture?"
He had just finished an off-season in which he had a birthday party at the trendy Ghostbar in Dallas, attended the Country Music Awards with Underwood, played in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in Lake Tahoe with John Elway and flew to Mexico City to judge the Miss Universe pageant.
Joe Montana—the Joe Montana—told him he was his fan, and that he liked watching him play.
He has sipped beverages by a Hawaiian poolside with Bill Belichick, Sean Payton and Phil Simms while telling tales of Bill Parcells.
Romo grew up a Packers fan about 75 miles from Soldier Field, and when the Cowboys play there Sunday it will be the first time Romo has set foot in the place. He already has been to U.S. Cellular Field, though, to throw out the first pitch of a Cubs-Sox game in June.
In many ways, it seems celebrity and its perks have preceded accomplishment for Romo. He has started all of 12 NFL games, not even the equivalent of a full regular season. He has been very good in nine of them.
He has been affected by none of it.
Beneath the helmet with the star is the same kid who couldn't lead his high school team in Burlington, Wis., to a winning record his junior and senior seasons. The big-time schools didn't have much interest in him, but Eastern Illinois took him in. There, he threw a school-record 85 touchdown passes and won the Walter Payton Award, given to the best player in Division I-AA.
It still wasn't enough for NFL teams to want him. They drafted 13 quarterbacks in 2003 and left him sitting on the curb. He was no more than a clipboard carrier as recently as last year at this time.
What took Romo on his unlikely journey to this point is exactly what should keep him here. His has a classic free agent mentality.
"The thing with me is I never feel I'm as good as I maybe play," Romo said. "Anytime I get an award, or something that says you're good, I feel I have to go out and actually prove it.
"Whereas other people might think they've proven something, I feel the opposite."
Despite all the talk of Romo's activities in the off-season, no player on the Cowboys offense spent more time working at Valley Ranch than Romo. Cowboys coach Wade Phillips calls Romo a "football rat" who loves to practice and play the game.
"I don't see how you can take off for months and throw a football two weeks before camp," Romo said. "A lot of guys do it. But I don't see how you can get better from the year before."
In a typical week, Romo spends 20 hours watching tape with Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. It has shown in his play, as Romo has led the Cowboys to the highest scoring offense in football through two games. Of those 13 quarterbacks who were taken ahead of him, the only one who would be drafted ahead of Romo today is Carson Palmer.
He talks as easily and frequently with an American Idol as he does with the maintenance guys and the grounds crew at Valley Ranch. Former Cowboys coach Parcells thought he had to keep Romo humble with jabs both subtle and overt, but Romo appears to have what has happened to him in perfect perspective.
"I'm strong enough with my faith to not put too much stock in things that can be washed away at any second," he said. "I can break a leg and have to go back to the way I lived life five years ago. I'm going to work my butt off and see how good I can be, but this won't be what defines me. I never want to think I'm better than anyone, or anything special.
"It was neat that I was able to go to the Academy of Country Music Awards with Carrie Underwood. But if I didn't go next year, I'm OK."
Here is everything you need to know about how Romo is responding to the pedestal the world is putting him on: In an era when some professional athletes change their cell phone numbers nearly every billing cycle, Romo still has the same number with the Wisconsin area code as when he became a Cowboy five years ago. Go ahead, old friends; give him a ring.
In the players parking lot at Valley Ranch, you will find the usual assortment of luxury SUVs and outlandish sports cars. And you also will find the Ford Expedition that belongs to Romo. He paid $42,000 for it. Until two months ago, he was driving the same Chevy Tahoe he rolled up to Dallas in.
If, as expected, he hits a contract grand slam in the coming months, he won't start traveling to away games in a private jet or show up wearing 16 pounds of bling.
Hardly anyone knew it, but one of the reasons Romo was so excited about judging the Miss Universe pageant is it provided an opportunity to get away for a couple of days with some of his football buddies from Eastern Illinois and the Chicago area, Paul Massat and Justin Penio.
And hardly anyone knew Romo was back at Valley Ranch the afternoon after the pageant, throwing passes and working up a sweat.
In many ways, Romo and Underwood seem ideally suited, and not just because he's the quarterback of America's team and she's the American Idol, fresh faces we can't get enough of.
Yes, they are a real life Ken and Barbie, a People magazine cover waiting to happen. But it's deeper than that. They have so much in common—humble beginnings, a non-traditional rise and sudden fame.
They met during pregame warmups on Thanksgiving Day last year on the field at Texas Stadium. Both were there for our entertainment—him to beat the Bucs; her to sing at halftime.
That day she performed "Before He Cheats," her best-selling single about a jilted girlfriend's revenge.
When asked if Underwood took a Louisville Slugger to his headlights, Romo laughed. No, she did not. He called Underwood "a great girl and a good friend," and said, "We went through similar things in life. We can bounce ideas off each other."
With the way life's riches swirl around Tony Romo these days, he could use that.
posted by The Gryphon at 8:03 AM
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