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From Seattle to Seattle, the true Romo legacy.
From the moment he fumbled that snap all those years ago for the playoff game-winning field goal in Seattle, to the moment a Seattle player broke his back again in a preseason game this year, Tony Romo has been Dallas' lovable loser. Emphasis on 'loser.'
Because no matter what, by hook or by crook, his fault the refs fault Jerry's fault Garrett's fault, or the fault of the flawed system, or fault of other players, the wind, the weather, whatever - Tony Romo spent ten years as the Dallas quarterback and never got the job done. That's the indisputable bottom line.
It doesn't matter the whys or wherefores, the what-ifs and the almost was - the happy go lucky chuckling butt slapping grinning Romo, the "what me worry kid" of football, the "that's okay we'll get 'em next time" wayfarer, never got it done in Dallas.
Objectively, the best that can be said of Romo is he did extremely well for himself. Small school phenom from the heartland, had no chance to crack a NFL roster much less become a ten year starter in the league, Romo parlayed his abilities, moxie and fortunate circumstances into 100 million in earnings over the last ten years. It's really a quite remarkable accomplishment worthy of praise and respect.
But that's where my praise and respect for him ends. For the first few years I cheered him on, rooted for him, celebrated with him and hurt with him. Made excuses for him. Kept the faith. Then one day I know not when, I realized I was being played. Carrot and stick every year. Always some reason or mishap kept Tony from winning the big ones. He was always entertaining - we had a lot of fun watching him - but as the old lady said in the 70s hamburger commercials, 'where's the beef?' With Tony, it was all bread. Only ever and always, bread.
His bread got stale, and the injuries started piling up - adding yet another excuse to the long list of them. If only this, if only that. Then the 2014 campaign happened, and finally it looked to be a team that could overcome it all and finally win big. That ended and of course through no fault of Tony's, (no fault if you just conveniently forget all we needed was 2 yards on that play and he had guys open for that but he chose to throw for the end zone instead) with the infamous non-catch in Green Bay.
But the future was bright, Tony had just finished his best year ever and Boy oh Boy we can't wait until - wait for it - Next year. Yep, We'll get 'em next time.
2015's Romo-less 4-12 debacle finally got the Dallas management to at least pay some lip service to obtaining the quarterback of the future. Try as they might they couldn't trade up to get one of the coveted quarterbacks of the 2016 draft, and finally had to settle in the 4th round for that kid out of Mississippi State, who already had a DWI under his belt - Dak Prescott.
I watched as Dak wowed 'em in preseason, all the while saying to myself, 'yeah but that's just preseason' - and anxiously awaited Tony Romo's debut in that Seattle preseason game. They'd been saying he was healthier than ever. They'd been saying he was stronger than ever, better than ever. He's totally healed, they'd said. He'd looked good in practice, from what video I saw of him.
And then snap, broken back. And in that moment, I was officially done. In truth I said right there I don't want to see him playing for Dallas ever again. We've seen enough. It was fun, it was entertaining, but now it's life threatening. We need to move on even if it means 1-15 or worse. It's simply got to end, like all other good things.
Enter Dak Prescott and ten wins in a row. And now a 13-2 record heading into the final regular season meaningless game vs. Philadelphia. And now it's officially over for Tony. The old war horse has either retirement or another pasture to graze on, maybe another herd to lead. But he's done here.
Let us not mourn, let us celebrate. First let's celebrate that we didn't have to see him crippled or suffer any other permanent mobility-robbing injury. Celebrate that it's a new day in Dallas and the team looks to be in good young hands. And celebrate that Tony walks away with around 100 million of Jerry's money - every penny deserved, every penny well earned. And leave it at that.
Let's not feel sorry for him - our pity is only self-serving anyway. It doesn't help Tony at all and in fact he neither needs or wants our help. Let's not be saying infantile stuff like, "I feel bad for Tony he didn't get his ring," or, "I hope he gets his ring on some other team." No. That's just so you'll feel better. So you'll feel justified in your worship of him. So all the excuses made, get validated. He'll get 'em next year, right? Like always.
Instead let's tip our hats to Tony and thank him for the fun and entertainment he gave us. But above all, let's feel very happy to see him actually walking. Happy to hear about him able to play with his kids. Let's be glad to know he didn't lose his mobility in pursuit of "his ring" that was never actually, his.
And let's hope he doesn't get hurt Sunday. Let's hope this idiocy of him playing in a meaningless game just for what, rah-rahs for Jerry? Let's hope it doesn't cost us his backup services in the playoffs, or worse - let's hope it doesn't cost him his health and mobility.
From the moment he fumbled that snap all those years ago for the playoff game-winning field goal in Seattle, to the moment a Seattle player broke his back again in a preseason game this year, Tony Romo has been Dallas' lovable loser. Emphasis on 'loser.'
Because no matter what, by hook or by crook, his fault the refs fault Jerry's fault Garrett's fault, or the fault of the flawed system, or fault of other players, the wind, the weather, whatever - Tony Romo spent ten years as the Dallas quarterback and never got the job done. That's the indisputable bottom line.
It doesn't matter the whys or wherefores, the what-ifs and the almost was - the happy go lucky chuckling butt slapping grinning Romo, the "what me worry kid" of football, the "that's okay we'll get 'em next time" wayfarer, never got it done in Dallas.
Objectively, the best that can be said of Romo is he did extremely well for himself. Small school phenom from the heartland, had no chance to crack a NFL roster much less become a ten year starter in the league, Romo parlayed his abilities, moxie and fortunate circumstances into 100 million in earnings over the last ten years. It's really a quite remarkable accomplishment worthy of praise and respect.
But that's where my praise and respect for him ends. For the first few years I cheered him on, rooted for him, celebrated with him and hurt with him. Made excuses for him. Kept the faith. Then one day I know not when, I realized I was being played. Carrot and stick every year. Always some reason or mishap kept Tony from winning the big ones. He was always entertaining - we had a lot of fun watching him - but as the old lady said in the 70s hamburger commercials, 'where's the beef?' With Tony, it was all bread. Only ever and always, bread.
His bread got stale, and the injuries started piling up - adding yet another excuse to the long list of them. If only this, if only that. Then the 2014 campaign happened, and finally it looked to be a team that could overcome it all and finally win big. That ended and of course through no fault of Tony's, (no fault if you just conveniently forget all we needed was 2 yards on that play and he had guys open for that but he chose to throw for the end zone instead) with the infamous non-catch in Green Bay.
But the future was bright, Tony had just finished his best year ever and Boy oh Boy we can't wait until - wait for it - Next year. Yep, We'll get 'em next time.
2015's Romo-less 4-12 debacle finally got the Dallas management to at least pay some lip service to obtaining the quarterback of the future. Try as they might they couldn't trade up to get one of the coveted quarterbacks of the 2016 draft, and finally had to settle in the 4th round for that kid out of Mississippi State, who already had a DWI under his belt - Dak Prescott.
I watched as Dak wowed 'em in preseason, all the while saying to myself, 'yeah but that's just preseason' - and anxiously awaited Tony Romo's debut in that Seattle preseason game. They'd been saying he was healthier than ever. They'd been saying he was stronger than ever, better than ever. He's totally healed, they'd said. He'd looked good in practice, from what video I saw of him.
And then snap, broken back. And in that moment, I was officially done. In truth I said right there I don't want to see him playing for Dallas ever again. We've seen enough. It was fun, it was entertaining, but now it's life threatening. We need to move on even if it means 1-15 or worse. It's simply got to end, like all other good things.
Enter Dak Prescott and ten wins in a row. And now a 13-2 record heading into the final regular season meaningless game vs. Philadelphia. And now it's officially over for Tony. The old war horse has either retirement or another pasture to graze on, maybe another herd to lead. But he's done here.
Let us not mourn, let us celebrate. First let's celebrate that we didn't have to see him crippled or suffer any other permanent mobility-robbing injury. Celebrate that it's a new day in Dallas and the team looks to be in good young hands. And celebrate that Tony walks away with around 100 million of Jerry's money - every penny deserved, every penny well earned. And leave it at that.
Let's not feel sorry for him - our pity is only self-serving anyway. It doesn't help Tony at all and in fact he neither needs or wants our help. Let's not be saying infantile stuff like, "I feel bad for Tony he didn't get his ring," or, "I hope he gets his ring on some other team." No. That's just so you'll feel better. So you'll feel justified in your worship of him. So all the excuses made, get validated. He'll get 'em next year, right? Like always.
Instead let's tip our hats to Tony and thank him for the fun and entertainment he gave us. But above all, let's feel very happy to see him actually walking. Happy to hear about him able to play with his kids. Let's be glad to know he didn't lose his mobility in pursuit of "his ring" that was never actually, his.
And let's hope he doesn't get hurt Sunday. Let's hope this idiocy of him playing in a meaningless game just for what, rah-rahs for Jerry? Let's hope it doesn't cost us his backup services in the playoffs, or worse - let's hope it doesn't cost him his health and mobility.
