Ellis on the Block

Talking about Greg Ellis these days is a lot like the conversations everyone had about Dave Campo while he was Coach. First, everyone has got to give an obligatory "He really seems like a decent guy," before they rip him. So consider that said here, but I'm not going to be that broken hearted if the Cowboys let him go...especially if they can get anything back in return. I'm not saying he'll be easy to replace, he won't (hello Anthony Spencer), but his act has gotten really stale.

And, truthfully, I don't think Ellis has taken as much heat as a lot of other athletes do when they act like a complete and total crybaby over their contract. Anyone else acts like him over the last few years (see TO) and they get ripped a lot harder. Add to his annual contract complaining the interviews he gave just after the TO release which just fed the fire, and I've really started to think the team might be better without him. I hate it when people hold the money athletes make against them, but in this case, I think its a good counterpoint to Ellis. This guy is a millionaire many, many times over and all I ever hear him do is complain about the money he makes. And he's very good, there's no doubt. He's a guy you can win with and I would love for him to finish his career as a Cowboy (assuming he would cool it on the complaining). But he's never been a special player in the same way, say, Ware is a special player. He's not a guy you expect opposing offenses to gameplan for. He's been to the Pro Bowl once in 12 seasons, and that year (2007) he was a replacement added just before the game. I don't have all of the salary numbers at my fingertips, but I imagine there's a better-than-decent argument that his been paid right in line with his skill level.

Most of all, after the last two frustrating seasons, I'm just sick of the drama and ready for the Cowboys to get rid of the drama and the complainers. Anybody (who can play and) wants to cut the crap, focus on football and help this team win another title, please step forward. Everyone else, including Ellis and his complaints, can take the first flight out of town for all I care.

Va-ca-tion Tiiiiiiiime

The DC Family and I are taking a few days off around the Memorial Day Weekend. Now, don't worry. That doesn't mean I'll stop blogging....just that it might occur a little more intermittantly. In the meantime...does anyone have anything to say about Kris Allen's win. I feel like my prediction got on the record. Kris definitely benefited from the Danny Gokey crossover vote. I'm glad Kris won, but, in the end, both guys seem like decent people and both are clearly going to do fine so I didn't think it mattered much who won. Still I liked being right.

As I said before, this is the first season I've ever watched Idol, so, consequently, this is the first Idol final I've ever seen. I was really impressed. I honestly thought it was two of the best hours I've ever seen on TV in a long time (not including the LOST finale--which I'm still processing and will get to next week). This was entertaining from beginning to end and I thought they did a FANTASTIC job of matching Idol contestants with star duet partners. I thought Danny was as good as he had been all season long and loved listening to him sing with Lionel. Similarly, I thought the Anoop/Jasom Mraz, Allison/Cyndi Lauper and the Adam/KISS pairings were spot on. Basically, as I said, I liked it all.

Brainwashing Your Kid Carefully

Bob Sturm, the co-host of the noon to 3 pm show on The Ticket, grew up in Wisconsion and is a huge Green Bay Packer fan much in the same way I am a Dallas Cowboy fan. But Bob has taken fandom a little further than I have on a couple of fronts and, since one of these ways relates to a theme of this blog, I thought it worthy of discussion.

First, Bob got a tattoo of the green and gold Green Bay "G" on his shoulder a couple of years ago. Bob, like me, doesn't really seem like the tattoo type and, although I heard the story at the time, I can't recall what led to the decision to do it in his early to mid-30s. This will probably come as a bit of a surprise to DC Mom, but on occasion I've thought it might be kind of cool to do something similar with the Cowboy star. Again, though, I'm not really the tattoo type.

I find the second thing he did fascinating, particularly in light of (1) recent news and (2) my stated purpose of this blog...chronicling my own obsession with the Cowboys and my efforts to brainwash my children. Have no illusions, I consider the brainwashing of children in this manner a worthy and admirable endeavor, but I did not go quite as far as Bob, who named his son Brett, in honor of his favorite player of all time, one Brett Favre.

Brett (Favre, not Bob's son) has been on the athlete retirement yo-yo for the past couple of years and last year he "retired" from the Packers and ended up (after months of drama) playing for the Jets. Now, I imagine Brett playing for the Jets did not cause much heartburn for Bob. The Jets don't play the Packers much (and didn't last year in the regular season) and there's not a rivalry of any kind between the two teams. To me, this was kind of like Emmitt going to play for the Cardinals...a cute little sideshow, but no real betrayal.

But now, Brett has "retired" (again), this time from the Jets and is trying to fanagle himself onto the Minnesota Vikings...the longtime hated rival of the Packers. Bob has openly mocked and ridiculed the Vikings on the air for years. And it appears that part of the motivation for Brett joining the Vikings is to stick to the Packers (who they play twice a year), because Brett thinks the Packers tried to push him into retirement before he was ready. Now, Bob has to explain to his son that his namesake, the very symbol of Dad's favorite team, the team he is teaching his son to love, has betrayed that team, is joining the hated rival and is openly gunning for them.

Bob's essential error here was connecting his son too much to the player, not the team. I mean, if you are young Brett, don't you consider for a moment pulling for your namesake, even though he is playing for the Vikings. And what if, as a result of rooting for big Brett, little Brett starts to kind of like the Vikings...then becomes a fan of the Vikings. What a disaster that would be. I'm sorry, Bob. These decisions have to be better thought out. Tattoo...OK. But the kid-naming thing carries too much risk.

No Boundaries...Idol Style

Well...I can't imagine that at this point those performances changed any minds. I appreciate that Adam sang my favorite of his performances...Mad World...first. And it was another really good performance of that song (which a lot of people didn't see last time because the show ran long). As for the others...meh. It was Adam. It was good. He screamed a lot. The judges were overly-effusive. OK.

I liked each of Kris' performances better, but as I've already stated, I'm naturally inclined to do so. Thought Ain't No Sunshine was better the second time around actually. As opposed to the judges' comments (mostly Simon) I thought What's Goin' On was a terrific performance...really fun to watch. Again, I enjoyed Kris' distinctive take on the song and I really liked the addition of the congo drums.

Last, I can't go on without a word about "No Boundaries"--the Kara co-written song--was (drag it out for emphasis) teeeerrrrriiibbbllleeee. Terrible. Really Terrible. So...I didn't like it. What a stupid way to end the show. Maybe...maybe...start the show with that terrible song, but don't end it that way. I thought it was far and away Adam's worst performance of the season (and, again, still good in comparison to most) and I thought Kris did an OK job trying to make it sound like a real song. Ridiculous.

What I Read Today...5/19

Will Garrett be a genius again this year?

Todd Archer runs down some of the storylines to follow as OTAs begin today. And yes, if you ever needed a gauge on my level of obsession, I think there are storylines to be followed at OTAs in May.

Speaking of...highlights (?) from todays OTAs.

With the risk of angering dog-loving readers...I think we should all just give Mike Vick a break and let him get back to his life. It's unbelievable what we forgive athletes for, but somehow Vick is irredeemamably evil. Shoot up, shoot others, beat up your wife, cheat at the game, get caught naked tied up in a motel room with a hooker and cocaine. That's no problem, just don't hurt any dogs. No doubt, he's an idiot, but I say he's paid (or is paying) his debt. Let's just move on.

CNN lists its best and worst American Idol performances. Would any of tonight's be on that list?

And, last, my alma mater got a new President today that is 8 years older than me. Yea...but does he have a blog?

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.