Sports Then and Now

On April 22, 1990 – after the Dallas Cowboys selected him with their first-round pick in the National Football League Draft – Emmitt James Smith III arrived in Dallas for the first time ever as a Cowboy wearing a brown and yellow jump suit with polka dots. Smith, the 17^th pick overall, wore the same thing at his introductory press conference. Soon, the legendary running back will be wearing the famous gold jacket.

Can you say extreme makeover? Absolutely. Smith’s attire has not been to shabby since that polka-dotted jump suit. Outfits such as the uniform of America’s Team, striped suit coats at press conferences, and his silky smooth green sleeveless shirt he wore on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars have dotted his wardrobe over the last 20 years. However, the gold jacket is in a class by itself.

In coming full circle, Smith has earned much respect for his on and off-the-field achievements. The National Football League’s all-time leading rusher with 18,355 yards, Smith is on the doorstep of football immortality with only the formal and official festivities left to secure his place in history.

Smith displays his new jersey while decked out in his polka dotted jump suit at his first press conference in Dallas in 1990.

Smith is one of seven players, the maximum allowed in one year, that will be inducted into The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio on Saturday Aug. 7 in a ceremony starting at 7 pm EST. Smith joins Jerry Rice, John Randle, Rickey Jackson, Russ Grimm, Dick Lebeau, and Floyd Little in making up the Class of 2010. Smith and Rice are both first-ballot inductees while Lebeau and Little were elected as senior committee nominees.

Smith’s journey to football’s ultimate honor started with some bold aspirations. Heading into his rookie year in Dallas, Smith made a list of goals he wanted to achieve during his pro career. Among things like leading the team in rushing and being a pro-bowl player, Smith also stated that he desired to become the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.

Considering he stated this just two weeks after being drafted, before he had signed a contract, before he had ever been in an NFL training camp, and before he had ever touched the ball as a pro, he had his critics. Yet Smith had heard criticism before. NFL head coaches, scouts, personnel directors, and pro football media people did not have him rated as the best running back available heading into the draft. They claimed he lacked speed, was too short, too small, and not strong enough for the pro game. Read the rest of this entry →

Michael Irvin wore number 88 during his Hall of Fame career for the Cowboys.

The Dallas Cowboys made a nice move becoming the first NFL team to have their first round pick from the 2010 NFL Draft signed and ready to start training camp following the signing of wide receiver Dez Bryant to a five year, $11.8 million contract.

Too often in recent years, talented college wide receivers have hindered their NFL development by holding out for additional dollars. Being able to get Bryant’s contract out of the way should be a positive for both the team and the young receiver.

Playing in Dallas and for Jerry Jones is pressure enough, but Bryant will be under extra pressure in 2010 as he is joining a team that expects to be playing for a championship next February.

Depending on how you look at it, the Cowboys either put even more pressure on Bryant or gave him an amazing vote of confidence (or perhaps both) by announcing that he would be wearing the number 88.

Most teams with a storied history have certain numbers that are special to the franchise. Some teams have chosen to retire many of those numbers, but others have instead been strategic in which players they let wear a number that a previous player in franchise history wore while performing at a special level.

For the Cowboys, number 88 is one of those numbers. It is a number that has been worn with distinction not once, but twice by special wide receivers. Read the rest of this entry →

Jerry Jones seems bound and determined to ruin the NFL.

Boy there seems to be a lot of sports news these days about players, coaches and owners who seem to think they are exempt from the laws of common sense to which the rest of us must live. Of course, when our own Congress doesn’t seem to understand where sports should be among our national priorities, how can you expect anyone else?

Goodbye NFL

With their decision this week to discontinue the revenue sharing plan among NFL teams and the seeming likelihood that the NFL will play the 2010 season without a salary cap, I think it is now safe to say that the golden era of the NFL is officially over.

For decades, the league was able to fend off the attempts of owners such as Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys to hoard as much money as possible and put smaller market teams at a disadvantage.

However, with the union seemingly vulnerable and owners looking to take back some of the concessions they have given over the years, this seems to be a perfect opportunity for Jones and company to ensure that teams like St. Louis, Buffalo and Kansas City stay down. Read the rest of this entry →

Aaron Rodgers threw 348 yards and 3 touchdowns on Turkey Day.

Yes Fantasy Football ruined my Turkey Day.

My opponent didn’t give me any thanks at all. I guess that’s what happens when you go against Donald Driver, Aaron Rodgers, Ryan Grant, and Miles Austin when they play the pathetic Lions and lowly Raiders.

No favorable matchups for me!

After a painful loss last week by 2.3 points, I am now only 1 game up in the division at 7-4 after losing 2 out of 3 games.

Thanks to Kris Brown for botching his tying field goal versus the Titans. If you made it, I would have won and could have enjoyed my holiday more.

Kickers even ruin fantasy football when they miss a kick!

Thanks for nothing!

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Football has been a Thanksgiving tradition for more than a century.

Ever since the first professional football league was formed in the early 1900s, football has been as much a part of Thanksgiving Day as pumpkin pie, turkey and dinner at Grandma’s.

Upon creation of the NFL in 1920, the league initially played multiple games on Thanksgiving Day.

In 1920 there were a total of six games played on Thanksgiving. Included during that first season were matchups between the Canton Bulldogs and Akron Pros, Daytona Triangles against the Detroit Heralds, and the Elyria Athletics against the Columbus Panhandles.

The first matchup between two current NFL franchises was in 1922 when the Chicago Cardinals defeated the Chicago Bears 6-0. The first regular Thanksgiving rivalry, the Cardinals and Bears met every year between 1922 and 1933.

The following year, the Cardinals played the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving Day while the Bears faced the Detroit Lions.

From 1934-1938 the Bears and Lions played annually on Turkey Day.In 1939 and 1940 the only Thanksgiving Day game was played between the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers.

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Is the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium a model for how to build a sports venue or a temple to greed and gluttony?

Are the Dallas Cowboys still America’s team, or are they America’s bad dream?

I recently watched Jerry Jones show off the monument he has built to American excess on the Today Show. It struck me as hauntingly ironic that Dallas, one of the demographic icons of the excesses and extravagance of the recent bubble, is opening a billion dollar stadium, in the middle of the debris of the bubble burst, and that Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, is chatting it up with Matt and Al on what is supposed to be a morning news program.

It is news of course, but not in the way it is being covered.  NBC is just whoring their Sunday Night Football coverage in an infomercial disguised as news. And to think the Today Show used to be serious about journalism. But that’s another topic.

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