Oh yeah...I'm gonna like this guy...

New special teams coach Joe DeCamillis was running special teams drills out at OTAs today. No big deal except the guy was wearing a huge neck brace since he just happened to have a building fall on him two weeks ago which broke a vertabrae in his back. He just had surgery and got out of the hospital last week. As the title to this posts says...I'm going to like this guy.

This...is American Idol (Finale Night)

I've never wached a single episode of American Idol...until this season. It's always tough to find evening programming we can watch with DC Girl, though I'm not sure whether that has to do entirely with the selection out there or with our own tastes. The shows at the top of my list include LOST, The Office, 30 Rock, Castle (new, but good) and, this year, American Idol. We like it for sure, but it's also nice to sit with her and watch something that's generally family friendly and that she can talk to us about. Did you like that song? (The answer is always yes) Who is your favorite? (All of the girls) What do you think of Adam? (He's a weird boy - he has black nail polish on).

I've had many discussions with folks about whether Kris or Adam is better and I think it comes down to this. Both are good. Adam is more vocally talented. Kris obviously does not have the same range, but he's got a lot of musical talent (guitar, piano) and he's sings the kind of music I like to listen to. For me (now I sound like Randy) he's in the same range as Jason Mraz, John Mayer, even Dave Matthews and I have a lot of those guys' music on my IPod. I recognize that Adam's great and I can see why some folks like him, but it's just not my bag, man. I wanted to shave off the hair at the start of the season, but I've come to terms with it. I think he's using the Adam scream as a crutch a bit and, while he has the most range, that scream as made him seem really one-note over the last few weeks. He's going to have a big career, I'm sure, I'm just not likely to buy any of his music. So, for me, I'm pulling for Kris.

What do you think?

4th and Long

So I watched the debut of Michael Irvin's "4th and Long" tonight on Spike TV. It's not a great reality show, but the winner gets the 80th spot on the roster for training camp so you know I had to watch it. And I got to say...I'm in. Irvin's radio show is not that great and I was very underwhelmed by his ESPN GameDay work, but listening to him yell at these guys about becoming a Cowboy is makes me want to put on a helmet and run throught my living room wall. It was awesome. It reminds how much I loved his passion for being a Cowboy.

Anyone else see it. What did you think?

What I Read Today...

I thought I would try a nightly post with a recap of a few of the items I read today. Some will relate to the Cowboys...some won't. Here you go:

Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback. A little bit about an Indy assistant coaching change (don't care). A little bit about the NFL Network/Comcast deal (I care).

Gruden replaces Kornheiser on Monday Night Football. Hey, he's annoying but he's a UD alum.

This Cuban/Kenyon Martin thing is getting ugly.

I know I'm going to get burned, but I'm biting on David Buehler hook, line and sinker. Can he get 80% touchbacks and keep McBriar's leg safe.

James Harrison on why he turned down the chance to meet the President with his teammates...come on man:

"If you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don't win the
Super Bowl. As far as I'm concerned, he would have invited Arizona if they had
won."

Uh...yeah James. That's how it works.

Ezra's got a new home. If you care about politics at all, you should read him. He's wicked smart and a good writer to boot.

New name...Dallas Cowboys Dad

So...I originally picked Post Modern Me last fall because I couldn't think of anything better and it sounded kind of catchy. It didn't really have anything to do with anything--just thought it was a funny derivative of Postmodern Methodist's blog.

So I've been stewing over what to change it to so that it better reflects my personality and, thereby, will encourage me to write more. The answer was, of course, staring me in the face all along. I settled upon a way to write about my two biggest obsessions...my family...and the Dallas Cowboys. They know what order those come in, but I'll leave it to you to hypothesize. We'll talk about other stuff (other sports, politics, etc.), but those two seem like a good starting point.

BTW, for anonymity purposes, references to the family will be to DC Mom, DC Girl and DC Boy. For those of you out there who find yourselves involved in future stories chronicled here, your pseudonyms are pending.

I hope you'll provide some comments and if you read anything good about (a) being a dad/parent or (b) the Dallas Cowboys, send me a link and I'll post it. Hope you like the new look and title. Till next time.

Smash, Dash and Tash [UPDATED]

While we're on the Cowboys tip (as it we ever get off), check out this interview with Tashard. [UPDATE] Looks like it's "Smash" not "mad." That works better. Cool art created by DCFanatic:

Ranger's Fever on a Sunday Afternoon

So I was in Arlington yesterday afternoon when the Ranger's swept the Angels to take a 4 1/2 game lead in the division. Exhilerating, huh?

Well, it was exhilerating and I was in Arlington, but truthfully, I was standing outside the new Cowboys Stadium at the time staring up at it with a completely awestruck look on my face. You know the one with the mounth wide upon and saliva dripping on your shirt. That was me.

We stopped by on the way back from taking the kids to the Fort Worth Zoo. DC Girl said "The stadium is a lot bigger than I thought it would be, Daddy." I gave her a knowing nod and retorted "Yes, it is baby. Yes, it is." My pride grew when she asked if she could wake up the sleeping DC Boy to show him. Good girl.

This place is massive. I am so geeked to watch (both on TV and in person) a game played in there I can't stand it. Only TWO MONTHS to training camp! It's in San Antonio again and we are there this year.

It was also a beautiful day for the zoo (and for admiring Cowboys Stadium). The kid's loved it, the weather was perfect and we got there early so we avoided most of the crowds. We decided that DC Boy is destined to become a zoologist. He's obsessed with animals, particularly those that appear in the Madagascar movies.

And two additional bonuses. First, we also got to have lunch with some of our favorite Fort Worth residents, postmodermethodist (Yes, I stole the name from him) and his family. Second, it was the first road trip in the new car. Check out a picture above--it's not the real thing but it looks like that one.

The Romo Playing Golf Thing...

Look. Romo drives me crazy too. I hated his comments after the Eagles loss. I wasn't too thrilled with his interview with Babe a few months later. It's ridiculous that he can't hold on to the football better. I don't accept the argument that the way he fumbles the ball is a necessary evil that comes with gunslinger style. A few bad interceptions, yeah, but not the fumbles. It pisses me off when he sits on the bench by himself after a bad series. I don't care if he wants to be my himself, he's the leader of the damn team and he need to act like it. He needs to embrace the leadership part of being the Dallas Cowboys Quarterback as much as he does the celebrity part.

So, I'm not immune to his flaws. Notwithstanding the foregoing (I am a lawyer after all), I will still have my #9 jersey on when I get to training camp this year and every game (preseason and regular season) this year. I think the guy does some amazing things with a football. I have seen the guy (and so have you) make some unbelievable escapes, jaw-dropping throws, and gutsy plays. The very first time we saw Romo was in a preseason game his very first year when he ignored Parcells call to spike the ball on the goalline as time was running out and call a QB sneak to himself that won the game. The 40-yard strike he completed to Witten while rolling left to win the Giants game in Giant Stadium three years ago was one of the best plays I've ever seen a quarterback make.

And while she annoys me, I do think the guy gets unfairly criticized for dating Jessica. But what really drives me up the wall is this "Romo needs to stop playing golf and concentrate on football thing."

This post from DC Fanatic covers the recent criticism pretty well and he offers a good response.

Just shoot them.

And we're back. Let's try this thing again, shall we. In the interim, I've facebooked and I've twittered (and they have their place) but they don't exactly allow the long-form expression that serves me best (at least in my own mind).

Anyway, we watched Taken tonight and i have to say that it's refreshing to see the hero in an action flick finally do what I've been yelling at the screen for year. If they won't tell you what you want...SHOOT THEM in each of the their extremities until they talk. When they tell you to put your gun down...SHOOT THEM. When you beat a bad guy up...SHOOT THEM so they don't get up again. What a satisfying movie.

Admittedly, it was hard to watch that film without feeling sadness for Liam Neeson and his loss. What a terrible thing.

Most Things in Here Don't React Well To Bullets...Yeah Like Me.

Perhaps this seems a bit out of left field but I just happen to be watching the The Hunt for Red October tonight. I am a huge Tom Clancy/Jack Ryan fan, having read every Clancy book that primarily features Ryan. I can't tell you how many people I've gotten into an argument with this about, but I continue to believe that Alec Baldwin is a MUCH better Jack Ryan then Harrison Ford. Let's start with the fact that Baldwin matches the physical descriptions of Jack, but not only that, he just seemed to offer a better sense of who Jack is--brilliant, great sense of humor, confident, self-deprecating. Not only was Ford too old for the role, but he never quite captured the personality of Jack, never quite understood that Jack was an academic thrown into these action situations--he was always too emotional to me - overplaying the "everyman" angle at every turn (e.g., "How dare you, sir"). I've discussed this theory many times and I've never met anyone who agreed with me on this point. But I'm definitely right about this.

In fact, while I didn't think much of the movie (though the book was great), I thought Ben Affleck (who gets a lot of unwarranted crap, but I generally like) was a decent choice to play a young Jack in the Sum of All Fears--perhaps it's the fact that he looked a lot like Alec Baldwin, but also because he played Jack much more like the analyst he is at his core.

On the movie front, I was out late Friday night seeing The Dark Night and it was ...wait for it...AWESOME. I highly recommend.