The Case For Tony Romo And Bob Stoops

DISCLAIMER: I am and forever shall be the biggest Dallas Cowboys fan you’ll ever meet, but I am absolutely NOT a Sooners fan. GO POKES!

No two sports figures are more under-appreciated by their fanbase than Bob Stoops and Tony Romo. Every season that Dallas misses the playoffs, or OU loses another bowl game, all I see on my Facebook and Twitter feed, and all I hear about at the office is how one or the other should be fired, that Dallas and OU will never win another championship as long as they are there.

For the record, I am one of the few Romo backers left, despite the atrocious ending to the Cowboys season. His last game against the Redskins did nothing to change that. And for some reason I get very passionate in my reaction when people say Romo sucks and that he should be gone.

Believe me, I am fully aware that he’s not the greatest, nor do I believe he could ever be called that, no matter what happens in the future. So, instead of voicing my opinion, I wanted to just put his stats out there:

• He’s completed 2,097 passes out of 3,240 attempts for a completion percentage of 64.7%,
• He’s thrown 177 touchdowns to only 91 interceptions, with an average of 25 TD’s to 13 INT’s,
• He’s thrown for 25,737 total yards, with an average per season of 3,677, and is 6th all time in Yards Per Attempt at 7.9,
• He’s 5th all time in QB Rating with a 95.6,
• He’s a 3-time Pro Bowler and holds 12 different Cowboys passing records.

I know that everyone will bring up how he folds under pressure, that he can’t win the big game. Sure, I’d agree, if there weren’t 52 other guys on that team losing just as often as he does, or a coach who hasn’t updated his playbook since 2007.

So how is this similar to Bob Stoops? Let’s see. He obviously can’t win the big game either, since he’s 1-7 in his last 8 January bowl games, and his last National Championship was 12 years ago. He’s obviously not the guy for this program. Or is he?

• His overall head coaching record is 149-36, so he wins 81% of his games,
• He’s won 1 National Championship and 8 Big12 Championships,
• He’s won 6 Coach of the Year awards,
• In 14 years at OU, he’s never NOT taken OU to a bowl game.

Now, I’m not saying either one of these men deserve Hall of Fame status (well, maybe Stoops), but I am saying that people need to open their eyes to all the accomplishments these men have achieved for their respective teams.

Romo isn’t the problem. Stoops isn’t the problem. The problem they share is the unrealistic expectations of their respective fanbase.

WTF?

Ummm…

What Is It With Me, Anyway?

Why does every story idea I come up with have to be HUGE?

All I wanted was a 10,000 word short story. What I’m getting is the prologue to a 10 book series…

God help me…

A Bit of a Tangent…

When I finally got the chance to watch the season premier of Game of Thrones tonight, I saw a trailer for an upcoming HBO series called The Newsroom.

I won’t bother describing the show. If you’re interested you can click the link there and check it out. It looks okay.

I’ll preface the rest of this post with this: This post is purely my own thoughts. I have no agenda. I am not trying to change, degrade, or trivialize anyone’s views on anything. I disagree with myself so often that I expect to disagree with others, and I invite anyone reading this to disagree with me as much as they want.

What I wanted to talk about was inspired by a Facebook comment thread between a few of my friends. It started when one of them quoted a fun line from the trailer:

“In case you accidentally wander into a voting booth someday, there are some things you should know. We are 45th in literacy, 20th in science, 43rd in life expectancy, 34th in infant mortality, 2nd in median household income, 3rd in labor force, and 3rd in exports. Now, none of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

The post was made out of an attempt to be humorous, but the comments quickly turned to actual useful discussion. Is the United States of America really the greatest country in the world?

One comment brought up China, and how they rank ahead of us in many categories, yet many cities live at a standard below the average American.

Another brought up the number of student and work visas are requested on a yearly basis.

Another reiterated that the standard of living for our lower class is still higher than most other countries. Many in the lower class have televisions, cars, and cell phones.

I’m not here to determine who is right and who is wrong. I just have a few things to say that I don’t think would fit well into a Facebook comment.

I’ll start by saying that yes, I do believe America is the greatest country in the world, but I say this as a white male raised in a middle class suburb of a smaller city in the midwest. I’ve had every opportunity to succeed in life. Whether I’ve taken full advantage of this is another matter entirely.

Without disclosing too much of my life here, I will say this much: At this point in my life I live below the poverty line in terms of net income. And yes, I own a car (that my father bought for me), a television (that I’ve had for over a decade), and a cell phone (the one extravagance I actually spend any real money on, and the payment is late). So, as you can see, just because people have possessions does not exclude them from the “poor” discussion.

My father always told me that no matter how bad I think I have it, someone else has it far worse. I fully believe that, and have tried my best not to complain about my lot in life. I still feel that I will always have the opportunity to change my status. I still believe in the American Dream, however more difficult it is to achieve today than it was 50 years ago.

Many people around the world, and even some in those countries that “rank higher than us”, don’t have that opportunity, that hope, that dream. Therefore I live a life of privilege.

When I see people bring up all of these statistics and rankings, it just makes me wonder one thing: We, as Americans, have power, wealth, and technology the rest of the world would kill us for, and we can’t even be a top-ten educated nation? We can’t provide for the health and well-being of our own people? That with all our technology, 42 other countries have longer life spans?

What the fuck!?

Now, I don’t presume to have a fix for any of this, but I do presume to make sure people know about it. How can we expect our nation to be the world leader it purports itself to be when we’re more worried about our oil imports, our military, and our pocketbooks than we are our education, literacy, and overall health and well-being. Without education and health, where are we headed?

It appears to me that the Americans are more concerned with holding on to their power than they are actually using that power to make a real difference, a real improvement in our future, but here and worldwide.

I am fully aware of all the charities and outreach programs with the sole purpose of lifting people out of poverty and into a better life. how would things be if those didn’t exist? Well, they’d probably be like most of the other countries with lower quality of life.

I’m no expert, but I’m no idiot either. Throughout history, power has come and gone, and changed hands more times than you can count. I’m not saying that education and health are the game-changers that will keep us on the forefront of the world stage.

But it wouldn’t hurt, right?

Happy Birthday, Mom

In most people’s minds, today is St. Patrick’s Day, a day to celebrate Irish and Irish American culture by getting completely and utterly wasted. This year the holiday falls on a Saturday, so most Americans will be absolutely destroying themselves, since they don’t have work tomorrow.

For me, it’s March 17th, which means my mom would have been 51 years old today. On August 28, 2001, my mom passed away from cervical cancer. I was 19 years old, she was 40. It’s not something I would wish on my worst enemy.

But each day I try to live life the way she taught me it should be lived: To always see the positive side, to laugh when things get difficult, and that it’s okay to cry when laughing doesn’t help. To always be a unique individual, to embrace creativity and change, and to take criticism with a grain of salt.

She taught me to never say “I can’t”, because “Can’t never could”. She taught me to always be supportive of the ones you love, because that was the only way they would achieve greatness.

Above all of this, she taught me how to show the ones you love that you love them, and to show them every day.

All of this I try to pass on to my daughter, whom my mom never got to meet. I’ve made sure that my mom is present in my daughter’s life, and my daughter frequently asks questions about her. It keeps her present in my life as well.

So from all of us left behind 11 years ago; we love you, miss you, and will see you soon.

MMORPG PvP…

…is not my strong suit.

As you were.

Mission Update…

So my girlfriend called me today while I was at work and said that she got tickets to the sneak preview screening of 21 Jump Street. So we made plans to go.

Now, keep in mind, I would never actually pay theater money to see that movie in a theater, but I’m a sucker for freebies.

So we get to the theater an hour early and there’s not an open seat in the theater. Really? For 21 Jump Street? OK…

But all was not lost, for when we got back to the house I was able to continue my mission TO CONVINCE MY GIRLFRIEND THAT STAR TREK ISN’T STUPID.

Months ago I convinced her to watch the new one, thinking that if there’s one Star Trek movie a non Star Trek fan can get into, it’s that one.

And she really liked it.

So, with my geeky foot in the door, I patiently waited for the right time to convince her that it’s been awesome all along. I finally bring it up, and she decides to trust me. We watch First Contact, the next in line for a good old “general audience” time.

And she really liked it.

With both geeky feet fully in the door, I assume she now appreciates Star Trek for what it is, and I begin thinking I can get away with murder. So I tell her about the best, and my favorite, Star Trek movie ever; The Wrath of Khan.

She hated it.

Damn. OK, I’ll give it more time, let the memory of that one fade away. Tonight presented itself as the perfect opportunity to deploy a surprise attack.

Without warning, I popped in the most underrated, and one of my personal favorite, Star Trek Movies of all time; Nemesis.

And she really, REALLY liked it. A LOT.

I’m not going to Bush this and claim “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” just yet, but we’re definitely on track.