Views from the Loon: The calm before the blue and silver storm?
By Tonni Shook
Growing up in Oklahoma, I have seen a few tornadoes. As a kid, my dad drove through one in our Pinto station wagon. Probably not the brightest idea at the time. Thank God nothing happened, we survived. When those tornadoes hit the ground, all hell breaks loose. They destroy everything in their path. I can’t help but wonder if this calmness surrounding the Dallas Cowboys is about to break into a frenzy. With just a few headlines reported in the news, I can’t help but think this off-season is a bit too peaceful.
We have all read about the various going-ons around the league on twitter feeds or facebook postings. And all the while, the Dallas Cowboys lay low. Dez Bryant made the news hours after the Super Bowl, but that ended up being a waste of bandwidth. Ever since, Dez hasn’t made a peep. A few weeks ago, news broke that Jerry Jones and the Washington Redskins general manager, Bruce Allen, bent the rules to benefit their respective organizations. This could cost Jerry, $10 million, and Bruce, $36 million in salary cap space. It won’t put old Jerry in too much of a bind, but he’s put in an appeal to squash the deal. Knowing Jones like we all do, he’ll work his devilry, throw a few hexes on some folks, and watch the whole situation disappear.
Could be worse though. At least the Cowboys don’t have the Manning family behind the scenes orchestrating every single move for the National Football League. Archie Manning is a controlling dictator, first telling the New York Giants to draft Eli Manning instead of Philip Rivers, and now interjecting his ideas on the Indianapolis Colts and their #1 draft pick. He basically influenced the decision to release Peyton because he won’t play in the sandbox with Andrew Luck, Stanford quarterback expected to go #1 in the draft. Good thing the Cowboys don’t have such a tyrant.
With the release of Manning, sports writers across the globe speculated where he would land. Cowboy fans screamed “we want Manning!” Google Dallas Cowboys Manning and you find 33,400,000 results. Wouldn’t it have been exciting to watch Eli vs Peyton in that first Wednesday (not Thursday!) game of the season? Tony Romo supporters need not worry. The Denver Broncos swooped in and made him an offer he could not refuse.
Once the news hit the airwaves that the Broncos had their man, Tim Tebow supporters went berserk. How could the powers-that-be possibly get rid of their chosen one? Did they not know that God has His hand on this one? Opinions of where Timmy T would relocate became the topic of the week. Jacksonville or New York seemed to be the two teams battling for position. A darkhorse had entered the fray – or at least in the mind of our very own Steven Mullenax. Now google Dallas Cowboys Tebow – 31,600,000 results. The Cowboys did not make a bid on the mile-high messiah, so he ended up with the New York Jets where he will now be known as the Big Apple Apostle.
In the midst of all this player shuffling was a little story going on about the bounty hunting New Orleans Saints. Malicious hits on their opponents for a little extra pocket cash. Isn’t that what the fans want though, hard hitting, smash mouth football? You would be hard pressed to attend a football game and not hear an audible “OOOOOHHHH” when a wide receiver gets laid out. The Cowboys defense might need to take some lessons from the Saints, that is after they serve time for trying to maim and injure other players.
In addition to the $36 million dollar penalty the Redskins reap for what they sowed, they gave away nearly every draft pick for the next ten years for that former Baylor Bear??!! To say Robert Griffin the III better win a super bowl within three years is the understatement of the century. And guess what Cowboy fans – that’s not happening! Robert is the good to Michael Vick’s evil, but they are of the same style of quarterback. Time will tell if he pans out in the NFL, but I suggest to the Dallas Cowboys – watch every game he played versus the Oklahoma State University Cowboys. That defense knew how to stop RGIII and his socks.
As we count the days until the Cowboys kick off against the New York Giants, all is quiet in Big D. Is it the calm before a tumultuous storm or is it setting us up for the biggest season since 1995?
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