Susanna Kim of ABC News has written a sad, sorry story about former NFL sensation Terrell Owens.

Terrell Owens was despised by almost every fan of every team on which he did not play and by many on the teams on which he did. He was seen as selfish, self-centered, a Prima Donna. In San Francisco and Dallas, he was ultimately perceived as a team cancer. In Buffalo and Cincinnati, he was mostly a non-factor.

But Owens was bright. He was innovative. He was a showman. From dancing on the midfield star in Texas Stadium to hauling out a sharpie and signing a football after scoring a touchdown, Owens incensed the opposition and entertained the masses.

Owens possesses an infectious smile and a quick wit. He is also a special, Hall of Fame–caliber talent. He has all the traits that could have made him beloved by all.

All but one.

Owens never bought into the notion that there is no “I” in team. He always figured the best thing for whatever team he was on was for him to be the focus of the offense and the center of attention.

On the sidelines during one Dallas Cowboys game, Owens was captured screaming, “I love me some me!”

And he did love him some him, but apparently few others do these days.

Kim opens her article, Terrell Owens, the former NFL star receiver who has signed to play for and co-own an indoor football team, is friendless and nearly broke, he told GQ magazine. “I’m in hell,” Owens, 38, said he tells people who ask about his well-being.

Hardly the picture of a man reaping the rewards of an NFL career that garnered him a reported 80 million dollars in earnings.

Hardly the expected testimony of the man who once said, “Getcha popcorn ready, because it’s gonna be a show.”

Kim concludes her article, “I don’t have no friends,” [Owens] told GQ. ”I don’t want no friends. That’s how I feel.”

The sadness of this man is palpable. What a tragedy!

Did you ever hear the term “Good-Time Charlie?”

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a “good-time Charlie” as  a happy-go-lucky convivial man given to fun making, hilarity, and the general pursuit of amusement.

Terrell Owens was the NFL’s most colorful Good-Time Charlie. And what is wrong with that, really? There is nothing wrong with enjoying the ride.

Get ready. Here comes my analysis.

Someone has to be the life of the party and if you are that person to whom others naturally gravitate, more power to you. You make them laugh. You make them cry. You leave them wanting more. They all want to be you.

Cool.

But be careful, shining star, of listening too closely to the accolades. Be careful of making yourself the focal point of your own attentions. The crowd is fickle and glory fleeting. When the lights go out and the party ends, it will be those people you loved, those people in whom you invested, those people you made feel important that remain.

Be careful how you party, party hound.

Or, you may end up a party of one in a forsaken dive Owens called “Hell.”

Sam Hurd, that is.

By now, you know the story. Hurd was busted allegedly trying to set himself up as a major player in the Chicagoland drug distribution business.

The following is an excerpt from a Washington Post report on Hurd’s arrest:

“Hurd told the [undercover federal] agent that he was interested in buying five to 10 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana per week to distribute in the Chicago area…”

This goes way beyond the recreational drug use of a young, spoiled, rich athlete. This is a man intent on a significant illegal business venture.

All over the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and around the country, Dallas Cowboys fans heaved a sigh of relief that this happened on another team’s watch. Those of us old enough to remember the “White House” days of the early ’90s when, along with other teammates, Michael Irvin maintained a party house where hookers and cocaine could be had in ample supply know this is news better brought from afar than from your own backyard.

ESPN.com has this little tidbit to remind us all of those halcyon days:

Irvin celebrated his 30th birthday with former Cowboy Alfredo Roberts. According to Texas Monthly, “Party favors included 10.3 grams of cocaine and more than an ounce of marijuana, assorted drug paraphernalia and sex toys.” He was also a regular at the “White House,” a private pleasure palace near the team’s training facility, where he and many teammates enjoyed their R&R, which apparently included just about any wanton activity you could imagine.

Sam Hurd, however, is just the injury that was added to the insults former Dallas Cowboys have brought to the windy city and their beloved Bears.

Let’s not forget Roy Williams and Marion Barber.

Roy Williams is a supremely gifted athlete, physically. He has all the tools that seem to point to great success in the NFL. This is why Cowboys owner Jerry Jones felt confident in forking over a first-, a third- and a sixth-round pick in the 2009 NFL draft to acquire the receiver from the Detroit Lions.

Three years later, Jones admitted it was a mistake, cut the underachieving receiver and the Bears scooped him up.

How has Williams panned out in Chicago so far? About like he did everywhere else. He has caught, to date, 26 passes for 357 yards and one touchdown.

The Bears also snatched up RB Marion Barber when the Cowboys released him this past offseason. The man Cowboys’ fans once called “the Barbarian” has repaid his new team with a pedestrian effort most of the time and a disastrous meltdown Sunday past.

When the Bears faced off against the NFL’s version of Clark Kent, rising superstar Tim Tebow, and his mighty Denver Broncos, it was not Tebow that was most responsible for the unlikely Broncos comeback victory.

It was Marion Barber.

The game was won. The Bears had the ball and needed but to run out the clock and go home mile high victors. But Barber committed the cardinal sin of running out of bounds and killing the clock, leaving Tebow just enough time to captain another comeback.

The Broncos sent the game into overtime and it appeared barber might redeem himself on a breakaway run, but he fumbled at his own 34 and cost his team the game.

Williams and Barber deal the Bears misery on the gridiron. Meanwhile, Hurd deals drugs on the side…and deals the franchise and the NFL a huge black eye.

While the Chicago brass contemplate the wisdom of signing Cowboys castoffs, somewhere far away, Jerry Jones is sighing his relief.

ESPN Video link: Roy Williams, Lance Briggs, Brian Urlacher react to news about Hurd

Tony Romo is a lightning rod.

When Romo first burst onto the scene in 2006, replacing an ineffective Drew Bledsoe after halftime of a Sunday night game, almost every Dallas Cowboys fan was excited.

But that was then. Now, we are in December of 2011 and the Romo defenders are much fewer and far less vocal than the Romo haters. Or, at least that is the perception.

The reason the seat Romo sits in is so hot is simple: this is the Dallas Cowboys. The Standard for QB in Dallas is Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman and Lombardi trophies. Nothing less will do.

But even when guys named Staubach and Aikman are at the helm, the Cowboys are susceptible to the backup quarterback infatuation that permeates the NFL.

Just ask Danny White.

For years, White waited patiently behind Staubach. He served as the team’s punter and backup quarterback and was a fan favorite.

Then, Staubach retired and Danny ascended the throne. He was as good as advertised, too. His numbers were extraordinary. He set a number of team records. He guided his Cowboys to three consecutive NFC title games.

Guess what Danny White did not do?

You got it! Danny never won a Super Bowl. In fact, he never won an NFC championship game. By almost any standard, Danny White forged a highly successful career for himself.

But this is not almost any standard. This is the Dallas Cowboys.

Now, back to Tony Romo and some fun facts regarding this quarterback so many Cowboys fans and Cowboys haters love to deride:

• Tony Romo is 46-28-0 as a starter. That is a winning percentage of 62%, which means over a 16-game season, you can expect his team to win 9.92 games.
• Romo has thrown 144 touchdowns and 71 interceptions. This is a TD/Int ratio of better than two-to-one.
• Romo has an average QB rating of 96.4.
• Romo has led nine fourth quarter comebacks.
• In six years as a starting QB, Romo has thrown for 20,296 yards.
• Tony Romo was an undrafted free agent.

By comparison, Troy Aikman posted these numbers on his way to Canton and the NFL Hall of Fame:

• Aikman’s record as a starting QB was 94-71-0. That is a winning percentage of 56.9. On average, his teams won 9.12 games per season.
• Aikman threw 165 touchdowns and 141 interceptions. That is much closer to a one-to-one ration than Romo’s two-to-one mark.
• Aikman had an average QB rating of 81.6.
• Aikman threw for 32,942 yards during his 12-year career.
• Troy Aikman was the first player taken in the 1989 NFL draft.

Now, why do you hate Romo?

There is only one reason that makes any sense at all. While Aikman was 11–4 in the playoffs with three Super Bowl wins, Tony Romo is 1–3.

With all of this said, I have a very good reason for Cowboys fans to hate Romo less. It is a simple one that only asks you to remember. Just…remember.

I am suggesting that a bad memory is a big problem with Romo haters. So, I would like to challenge you to a quiz. Just click on the link and take the quiz below and then ask yourself this question: How bad do I really hate Tony Romo?

Can you name the Dallas Cowboys Starting QBs Post-Aikman?

How did you do? I suffered brain freeze while taking it and could not remember three of them. When you consider the post-Troy, pre-Tony era of Cowboys football, does it do anything to lessen your Romomisery?

Or is that elusive sixth Lombardi trophy the only thing that will cure it?

Kick 'im!

Joe Theismann has Tony Romo squarely in his sights. The former Washington Redskins quarterback-turned-TV analyst shared his unfiltered thoughts on the embattled Dallas Cowboys QB on NFL.com:

“He doesn’t understand how to play the quarterback position. Somebody had to say it, and I just said it. Tony, you have to start proving to everyone you understand football. You’re doing things that Pop Warner kids would get benched for.”

Just in case you would wonder whether Theismann really meant what he said or if he might think about it and throttle back, he added the following declaration to go along with the indictment:

“I think the Cowboys seriously have to start looking to the future. We’ve seen Romo do a lot of different things, and he was very courageous with the ribs (which were broken in Week 2), but this game was unforgivable, at this level or even on a college level.”

Many Cowboys fans have  screamed exactly those same sentiments, but it smarts more when it is flung from the lips of a hated Redskin.

But then here is former Dallas Cowboys great Deion Sanders pulling no punches and landing one hay-maker after another on Romo‘s exposed chin:

“Sooner or later, we’ve just got to quit guessing and assuming that this guy is the guy to get you over the hump, and say, ‘You know what? This guy is always going to be great statistically, but he’s not that guy that can take you to where you want to go.’ And that’s the Super Bowl.” Sanders said Sunday on NFL Network. “I’m sick and tired of it. I am. …

“Dallas Cowboys fans are sick of it. We had (Romo) on our shoulders last week. ‘Oh, Tony, he’s our king!’ But now we want to stone him. I’m serious, that’s the way (fans) feel about him because you can’t trust him. I like him. Statistically, he’s great, but you can’t trust him.”

Granted, as an analyst, Deion makes a great shut-down corner, but still…a former Cowboy and Hall of Famer taking such shots at the Cowboys quarterback on national TV?

Ouch.

Add a current NFL member of the Washington Redskins to the merry band of Romo bashers. In a day when pregame and post-game interactions between teams look like school dances with all the hugs and love between the combatants, tight end Christ Cooley has no warm feelings for Tony Romo:

“It’s so good,” Cooley said. “… It’s amazing, amazing to watch him choke like that. I’m just saying, I’m up 24 points in the third quarter, if I’m the head coach, I feel like I could probably just take a knee for the rest of the game, punt it away and there’s no way that Detroit’s going to drive on you that many times. The only way you’re going to give up that many points is turnovers, right? It’s hilarious to watch him throw pick sixes, too, back to back. I loved it.”

So much for player solidarity and all that. Guess Tony can scratch Cooley off his dance card during the next post-game love-in.

And so much for Tony Romo getting the benefit of the doubt. He has but one way to shut up the critics, prove this unlikely trio wrong and avoid future roasting by players, former players, fans and pundits: He has to win big now and in the postseason. Nothing else will do.

Here’s hoping Romo can somehow make Theismann, Sanders and Cooley look like the Moe, Larry and Curly of football opinions.

On a day when I would like to give Jerry Jones credit for making a good call by placing Drew Pearson in Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor, I find myself instead a little miffed that it took him so long. As the sole Keeper of the Keys to this highest honor bestowed by the team on any of its players and coaches, Jones has contributed to the NFL Hall of Fame committee’s oversight of Pearson by not bestowing upon the man the credit he deserved years and years ago.

By today’s standards, Drew Pearson’s numbers were not flashy. But by 70’s standards – the era in which he played – they were outstanding. So much so that he was named to the NFL’s All-Decade team for the 1970s. Pearson had 489 receptions in his career, which is enough to rank him second all-time in Cowboys’ history. He also scored 48 touchdowns, good for third in team history and amassed 7,822 yards, also good for third in franchise history.

Pearson perfected the sideline catch. Few have ever caught passes while dragging that second foot as well as he did. He was the recipient of Staubach’s famed Hail Mary pass in the 1975 playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings.

Back in January, during Super Bowl week, Drew’s quarterback, Roger Staubach, the greatest Cowboy of them all, was quoted as saying, “Drew Pearson is a Ring of Honor player if there ever was a Ring of Honor player and Jerry has told me that too. I’m hoping whenever we continue the Ring of Honor … that Drew will be right there. I would be surprised if he wasn’t.”

Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com offers the theory that it was pressure from Roger Staubach that finally prompted Jerry Jones to pull the trigger and place Pearson into the Ring of Honor. He mentions hat Jerry owes Staubach a huge debt of gratitude for heading up the effort to land the 2011 Super Bowl inArlington.

MacMahon writes, “Pearson has butted heads with Jerry throughout the years, whether it’s been because of business disagreements or the blunt criticism of the Cowboys that makes the Original 88 such a great fit on ESPN 103.3’s postgame coverage. If it takes Jerry scratching the back of a business partner to finally put Pearson in the Hall of Fame, so be it.”

Amen, Tim. Amen.

Now, let’s get to work on Darren Woodson. He is my next choice for the Ring of Honor.

Who is yours?

True Grit

In the past month, I have been privileged to talk to such legendary Cowboys as Randy White, Emmitt Smith and Jimmy Johnson. To a man, when the conversation turned to what went wrong with the 2010 Cowboys, the answer was that they were too soft, too undisciplined and just plain sloppy.

Here is what Jimmy Johnson had to say about the 2010 Cowboys: “ Talent-wise, I think the consensus is that the Cowboys were talented last year. I thought they were a sloppy team. They had too many penalties. They had too many crucial turnovers. That’s why they lost some of their close games.”

The great Randy White, Hall of Fame defensive tackle and one of the fiercest competitors ever to wear a star on his helmet, gave me his two cents on last year’s Cowboys team, as well.

“You have to make players work hard,” White told me. “You’ve got to make them accountable. You make them be there on time. Make them wear a coat and tie, like Coach Landry did. Little things like that add up at the end of the day, and it equates to winning on the field.”

White talked about how things were done when he was with the Cowboys.

“Discipline, accountability, work hard in practice. The little things that, when I played football, that’s what you did. That’s the way you did things, ever since I played little league football. You get there on time, you work hard in practice.”

Both Jimmy Johnson and Randy White were excited about the Jason Garrett hire. Jimmy talked about how Garrett has been preparing himself for this opportunity his whole life. Randy talked about the difference he saw in the team’s approach once Garrett took over in 2010.

Never quit!

Emmitt Smith also has high hopes for Jason Garrett. Here is what he had to say:

“I am excited for Jason… What I love is, by watching the Cowboys last five or six games of the season, I saw a different team. I know he implemented a couple of changes to the practice schedule and I think it paid off.

“It showed up in the areas where the Cowboys ran the ball very…um, well, I am not going to say very effectively, but they ran the ball better. Offensively, they started cutting down on some of the penalties. Defensively, they started getting turnovers, which is also important. And they started playing competitive football, which is most important.

“Give Jason Garrett a whole year to make his demands and expectations known to the team, in terms of the off-season training program and the in-season training program, and get them to buy into that, I think you will see a very different football team.

“One thing I can say about the Dallas Cowboys: They have always had talent around them. They have been one of the most talented football teams in all of football. With this type of focus and commitment from Jason Garrett, I think they can turn it around fairly quickly.”

None of these Cowboys legends ever mentioned former head coach Wade Phillips, the man one area writer dubbed Coach Cupcake. But they all implicated him in their criticism of the team’s softness. Thankfully, that era has come to a merciful end and the arrow, at least as far as coaching is concerned, seems to be pointed directly upward.

It took no time for Garrett to put his mark on the team. The change in regimen, wearing pads in practice, honoring the dress code, showing up for meetings on time, and meeting team standards and expectations seemed to breathe new life into the team.

After the Cowboys’ abysmal 1–7 start Under Wade Phillips, Garrett’s Cowboys finished the second half of the season 5–3. His offense averaged 29 points per game, and that was without starting quarterback Tony Romo. The defense, while still giving up way too much real estate, both by land and by air, was nonetheless feistier. They fought for 60 minutes.

The three losses under Garrett were by a combined seven points. The team was competitive.

Compare that to a 35–17 shellacking by the Jacksonville Jaguars under Phillips. Then, remember Jags’ QB David Garrard saying, “It just looked like they weren’t into the game the way an NFL team should be.”

Or compare the way Garrett’s troops fought to the the way the team lay down on Phillips in the game that finally convinced Jerry Jones that his puppet/coach had lost the team. That was a prime time Sunday night nationally televised humiliation at the hands of the eventual Super Bowl champions, the Green Bay Packers.

Final score: 45–7.

If there is NFL football in 2011, the Dallas Cowboys will be a drastically improved team just because of the change in leadership. I do not believe Jason Garrett will accept “almost” as “good enough.” Nor do I believe Rob Ryan will accept his defensive players making “business decisions” and electing not to attempt a tackle. (You have been warned, Mike Jenkins.)

This is Dallas, dadgum it. This is Texas. Football is king. Tackle football is king. We know what a real Cowboy looks like, and we won’t accept the drugstore kind.

We still remember the Landry mile, when Tom Landry would not only make his players run a mile on the first day of training camp: He ran it with them.

We remember an irate Jimmy Johnson’s lack of sympathy for a kicker when the player said he couldn’t run wind sprints because he had asthma.

“Asthma, my ass,” Jimmy barked. He then pointed to the parking lot and snapped, “The asthma field is over there.”

There is no crying in Cowboys football. No whining. No excuse-making.

With this in mind, I have borrowed from that legendary Texas songwriter, the great Willie Nelson, and put these sentiments into song. Sing it with me, now.

One more time now. Slow it down and sing it like it hurts…

Cowboys Team Photo 1979

Bruce Thornton is a big man.

During the Premiere League flag football game, put on by the NFL Players Association the Friday night before the Super Bowl, I spotted him (well, I could not have missed him) in the media bullpen, towering over the rest of us.

It is hard to believe, but I recognized him. He is 52 years old and I had not seen him on TV or anywhere else since 1981, when he was 22 and I was not yet 20. Still, I remembered the face.

As an ardent Cowboys follower, I remember being excited about the eighth round defensive end when he came to the team. I was not alone, either. There were plenty of high expectations for Bruce Thornton. Unfortunately, a leg injury he had suffered in college slowed him.

Then, he suffered another injury in the NFL.

Thornton’s NFL career lasted only four years: Three with the Cowboys and his final year with the St. Louis Cardinals. Like so many before him, the reality had not met his own expectation, nor the expectations of others. He found himself 24 years of age, having to make alternate plans, to find a new career.

Bruce talked about the current players and the expiring Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFL

“It isn’t necessarily the superstars that need improvement, that need the longterm healthcare benefits. It’s the guys whose careers are cut short. It’s the guys that make it in the league, but never sign the big contract.

“I am one of the lucky ones. I can still get around. Plenty of guys I played with can’t. And they have had to absorb their own medical expenses for years.”

While we were on the subject of the looming lockout, I asked him about the proposed 18-game schedule.

“You can’t go to eighteen games without expanding the active roster, and I don’t mean by three or four players,” Thornton said.

I asked if that wasn’t just another way of saying that the two additional games will result in substantially more injuries to player.

“Absolutely! There is no doubt,” he answered.

I asked how much he would expect players’ careers to be shortened in terms of years played in the league. He didn’t know for sure, but had no doubt it would shorten careers.

Bruce Thornton talks about Jerry Jones

Kalen Thornton, a 6’3″ linebacker out of the University of Texas, and Bruce’s oldest son, also played for the Dallas Cowboys, joining the team as a rookie in 2004. His career was cut short, when in 2005, he suffered what would prove to be a career-ending knee injury.

“I love Jerry Jones,” says Bruce Thornton. “The way he took care of my son…he didn’t have to do all that he did. Oh sure, he had to reach an injury settlement with him, but he went way beyond that.”

“What did he do?” I asked.

“He saw that Kalen had the very best care, that he was seen by the best orthopedic surgeons. Then, when Kalen decided he wanted to go to Stanford to get his MBA, Jerry aided him in getting into the program.”

“Jerry gets a lot of bad press, but he cares about his players. You just don’t hear his former players criticize him.”

Bruce Thornton remembers Harvey Martin

I asked Bruce what it was like to play on the ’70s Cowboys, with those players that would become legends in Cowboys’ lore.

He immediately brought up Harvey Martin.

“Harvey was my mentor,” Thornton said. “He took me under his wing, showed me the ropes.”

I said, “They called him ‘Too Mean’ Martin, but I hear he was the nicest guy.”

“He was! Always had that big smile. I loved him. Man, I wept when I found out how sick he was. When he died, it wiped me out.”

The love Bruce Thornton had for his fallen teammate was still palpable after all these years. There was an emotional strain in his voice.

But, as this giant of a man talked patiently with me, a complete stranger that had invaded his private space, I could not help but think that a young man today could do much worse for a mentor than Bruce Thornton.

I also could not help think how much we miss as football fans when we define an athlete’s worth strictly by his on-field accomplishments. Some of these men on whom circumstance did not smile during their career embody a greatness the world-at-large will never know.

Those fortunate to know Bruce Thornton know what I mean.

God bless the lesser lights. God bless the forgotten men. God bless Bruce Thornton, my new friend.

I was invited by the NFL Players Association to cover the first annual edition of the Legends Brunch on Sunday morning. I don’t mean to name-drop, but Deacon Jones, “Mean” Joe Greene (a native Texan, you know), Jack Youngblood, Ronnie Lott, Floyd Little and John Lynch were there…along with others.

Most of these men are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. They are legends…and they were game-changers.

OK, I did mean to name-drop.

Read the article here: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/599081-nflpa-legends-brunch-there-were-giants-among-us

Think I could take him?

(Audio of full Randy White interview at the end of this article. Give it a listen. Good stuff!)

Randy White. For Cowboys fans of a certain age, the very name carries a certain mystique.

He is the Manster— half man, half monster. He is, according to our own list, one of the top five players in the 51-year history of the Dallas Cowboys.

Randy White stands 6’4″. His playing weight was 265 pounds. He was the first Cowboy ever to bench press more than 500 pounds. He was so quick, that he was actually drafted to play linebacker. It was a stroke of Landry genius to move him to defensive tackle, where he forever made his mark on the NFL.

White recorded 111 career sacks.

In his 14 year career, he was named first-team All-Pro seven times and was a nine-time Pro Bowler. He was, of course, named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

I sat down with Randy White at his barbecue place, which is aptly named Randy White’s Hall of Fame Barbecue. The food, like the man, is the real Texas deal. (No, Randy is not a Texas native, but he may as well have fought in the Alamo. He is that much Texan.)

Good stuff!

Randy, along with Fox broadcaster and former Chicago Bear Tim Ryan, was doing a promotion for Tide and their patented Acti-Lift technology— a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

I expected a five-minute interview. What I got was to sit down over coffee with one of the heroes from my youth and talk football for 25 minutes. What follows are highlights from that conversation.

SBB: It would be hard to pick two greater nemeses of the Dallas Cowboys to play in this Super Bowl, Wouldn’t it?

RW: Yeah, if you picked two teams that Dallas would not want to have playing in the Super Bowl in the new stadium, it would be the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

SBB: Jerry (Jones) said the other day that he wasn’t mad about the Steelers being here. He said the one time he went up against them in the Super Bowl, his team won. I’m guessing some old Cowboys like you, that’s probably a little different story?

RW: It really doesn’t bother me. I don’t hate the Pittsburgh Steelers in any way, shape or form. I’ve got a lot of respect for them. I had a lot of respect for the teams we played in the ’70s. Obviously, it was disappointing that we lost. You don’t like the team your playing against and there was a big rivalry there, but you have a lot of respect for those teams.

SBB: Those rivalries back then, they were a lot more intense. Whatever team you came into the league with, you were apt to stay with, if you were a quality player. You had time to build up animosity; whereas, now, with free agency, you might be on that team next year.

RW: Exactly. You might be a free agent and be on that team next year. That wasn’t the case back when we played the Steelers. You had the same guys year after year. It was the Pittsburgh Steelers with the blue collar, you know, the Steel Town against the Dallas Cowboys, America’s Team. So yeah, it made for a great rivalry.

SBB: You lost two Super Bowls to them— Super Bowls X and XIII. Was one of those more disappointing than the other?

RW: They were both disappointing, but Super Bowl X, I was a rookie. The thing I remember most about that game and that year, the memories I take with me, is Thomas Henderson was dating one of the Pointer sisters. And we went to Joe Namath’s Bachelor III Club in Miami. So, we got to meet the Pointer sisters and Joe Namath sat right next to me at the bar, and I had a drink with him. I thought that was the biggest thing in the world.

When the game was over and we lost the game, you know, you’re not in a good mood. The buses were all full, so they put my roommate Burton Lawless and me into a police escort car.

So, I walked to the car and I saw this guy with long hair and a beard sitting in the back seat, so I said, “Burt, you get in the back.”

I never turned around. I was mad.

The Outlaw, Willie Nelson

Then the guy taps me on the shoulder and says, “Hey Randy, I’m Willie Nelson. I’m a big fan of yours.”

You know that was a highlight.

I said, “No! I’m a big fan of yours.”

Randy talked about Jimmy Buffett singing and everybody’s spirits were lifted. before the night was done, Randy was on stage, singing with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Jeff Walker and Jimmy Buffett.

I guess it only hurts for a little while.

Super Bowl XIII was a different story. Having been there once and knowing what it was all about, losing that game seemed to cut a little deeper.

RW: Not winning the world championship kind of sunk in on you.

SBB: Let’s talk about Super Bowl XII against the Denver Broncos. You and Harvey Martin were named co-MVPs of the game.

RW: We had a great game. Ed (“Too Tall” Jones) had a great game. Randy Hughes had two interceptions in the first half. We pretty much dominated Denver that day. There could have been a lot of most valuable players in that game.

This was the first time the league named co-MVPs of a Super Bowl. It remains the only time for it to happen to date. Randy and Harvey were also the first defensive linemen to win the award.

SBB: Harvey Martin’s been gone awhile. How special is it to you to share that with a teammate that is no longer with us?

RW: Harvey kind of drifted away awhile, but he got everything back on track and going the right direction. Then, he got sick. Every year, if I wouldn’t see him for a whole year, around Super Bowl time, we always did a promotion together. Every year around the Super Bowl, I think about Harvey and the great times we had together.

That day, when the game was over. Harvey came up—the picture was on the cover of Sports Illustrated— that wasn’t a pose, and he wrapped his arm around me and said, “Hey man, we’re the co-most valuable players of this game.

Harvey Martin, one of the greatest pass-rushing defensive ends in NFL history, died of pancreatic cancer in 2001. He is neither in the Cowboys Ring of Honor nor the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

SBB: The ’70s team went to five Super Bowls in a decade. If not for the Steelers winning all four of theirs, we are easily calling the Cowboys the team of the ’70s.

RW: Easy! If we win one of those two games, we’re the team of the ’70s.

SBB: A number of you guys are in the Hall of Fame…

RW: We got four guys into the Hall of Fame. Pittsburgh has quite a few more in the Hall of Fame. That would be us if we had won one of those two games. It wouldn’t have taken Rayfield Wright all the time it did to get in there.

SBB: Of the guys you played with who are not in the Ring of Honor and aren’t in the Hall of Fame, who do you think should be there?

RW: Well, let’s talk about guys that are in the Ring of Honor and are not in the Hall of Fame. Let’s talk about Chuck Howley. Who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame more than Chuck Howley? Let’s talk about Lee Roy Jordan. Who was a more dominant linebacker on a dominant defense than Lee Roy Jordan? Lee Roy was a great middle linebacker. As good as there ever was.

My teammates we just talked about. Harvey Martin. Ed “Too Tall” Jones. Ed gets overlooked. He was one of the most dominant players at his position his whole career. His 6’9 frame up there with those big arms batting balls down, people don’t realize how much he intimidated other teams’ offenses. You talk to the guys he played against, and I guarantee you, they will say Ed belongs in the Hall of Fame.

SBB: Well, look at the Steelers. Lynn Swann is in. If Lynn belongs in the Hall of Fame, Drew Pearson does. They’re the same guy.

RW: Exactly. I would never say those Steelers don’t belong. They do. But I think we’ve got guys that belong in there, too.

SBB: I want to get some thoughts on the current Cowboys. What’s your take on Jason Garrett?

RW: I like him. When he came in as an interim coach, I liked the things that he talked about, the things he implemented: the discipline, the accountability, work hard in practice. The little things that, when I played football, that’s what you did.

That’s the way you did things, ever since I played little league football. You get there on time, you work hard in practice.

SBB: That shouldn’t be a novel idea, right?

RW: No. This isn’t reinventing the wheel. This is a foundation that you have to have at any level if you’re going to be successful.

SBB: I don’t want to go back and dig up Wade Phillips, but his was a laissez-fair approach to player management. You know, they’re men and you treat them like men. But doesn’t everything rise and fall on leadership? Doesn’t there have to be someone holding everyone’s feet to the fire?

Coffee with Randy White

RW: You just said what the key was. i think Wade is an excellent football coach, but you have to have a mature, veteran football team to operate under that pretext. You have to have good leaders on your football team and guys with a good work ethic. Wade was waiting for these guys to get it and do it on their own and come together. It just never happened.

That’s why I like Jason Garrett. He’s a very intelligent guy. He knows you have to make players work hard. You’ve got to make them accountable. You make them be there on time. Make them wear a coat and tie, like Coach Landry did. Little things like that add up at the end of the day, and it equates to winning on the field.

You don’t tell guys, “You’ve got your job.”

Every year, when I played, your job was open. You had to earn that job again the next year. It didn’t matter what you did last year. You had a great year, OK. Now, you’ve got to start all over and do it again.

Randy White was passionate about this topic.

SBB: Jerry Jones. He is such a lightning rod. You hear people say that he is a great owner but he’s not a good general manager. Is that even possible? Is it possible to be a great owner, name yourself GM, and not excel as a GM and still remain a great owner? Isn’t the first job of a great owner to hire a man that can put the best product on the field?

RW: That’s a tough question. If I was a player today, I would love to play for Jerry. He pays his guys, he takes care of them, he’s loyal to them. That’s a quality I see in him that I really like.

All of which is owner stuff; not general manager stuff.

If there’s something that has hurt the Cowboys over the last ten to twelve years, it has been their draft.

Ah! Now we are talking general manager stuff.

SBB: Which is why I come back to the general manager…

RW: I’m not sure who is advising him, but if I was him, that is what I would be looking at. He doesn’t make every decision. He takes the input from the people he’s got in place. They’re feeding him the information.

SBB: What do you know about Rob Ryan and how do you feel about that hire?

RW: I don’t know much about him, but I know his dad, Buddy Ryan, was a great defensive coach. Then, look at Rex and the job he’s done with the Jets defense. I’m sure Rob shares the same philosophy.

I really do believe he’s going to be a very positive influence on this football team. Not just the knowledge, but the energy he is going to bring here. You have to have that. Coach Landry had Ernie Stautner. Ernie was tough, hard-nosed.

SBB: Tony Romo is the other lightning rod on this team. There is a constant debate over whether he is the man that can take this team back to that championship level.

RW: That is always going to be a question mark until he does it. Look at Aaron Rodgers. he had that monkey on his back and if he goes into this Super Bowl and doesn’t play well, it’s still there.

That’s a tough one. If you’re going to put guys in the category of an Aikman and Roger Staubach and a Joe Montana and a Terry Bradshaw, you have to earn that. You can’t anoint them.

I think, in Tony’s case, people put him in that league before he got there. That puts a lot of pressure on this kid.

Somebody says, “You’re going to be our next Aikman, our next Staubach. You are going to be our savior.” That is a lot of pressure to put on a guy.

SBB: OK, one last question. Super Bowl XLV: Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers— who are you taking?

RW: I’m taking the Steelers.

He was pretty emphatic with that answer.

SBB: Because…

RW: I think their defense is going to be the difference. I don’t think Green Bay can run the ball on them.

SBB: If Pittsburgh makes you one-dimensional, that is pretty much church, isn’t it?

RW: Aaron Rodgers is going to scramble against those guys and the way Polamalu can hurt you? I don’t think so.

On the other side of the ball, the thing that works in Green Bay’s favor is Pittsburgh’s offensive line. You got that undersized center. They have to give him some help.

The key to Pittsburgh’s success: they have to run the football. If they get Ben Roethlisberger in second and ten, third and ten, now you got that Clay Matthews kid one–on–one against Flozell Adams. Flozell hasn’t been able to block a speed rusher in the last five or six years.

But I think Pittsburgh, at the end of the day, is going to win. Big Ben, he ain’t pretty, but he’s a winner. And he makes plays when the pressure is on.

Go figure. Randy White still believes defense wins championships.

Greatness on the Run

This is the second installment of an exclusive silverandblueblood.com interview with NFL Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith. Smith played on three Super Bowl championship teams and is the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.

I asked Emmitt to talk about the Dallas Cowboys.

Was Jason Garrett a good hire?

Does Jerry Jones know what he is doing as general manager?

Will Deion Sanders and Charles Haley join teammates Emmitt, Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin in the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

Emmitt has opinions, and we’ve got them right here.

[Note: I have truncated the interview for ease of reading and flow. The entire interview is available in an audio file at the end of this article.]

Silver and Blue Blood: Troy (Aikman) and Michael (Irvin) have already weighed in on Jason Garrett. They both seem to be pretty excited about him as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. What are your feelings on it?

Emmitt Smith: I am excited for Jason, also. What I love is, by watching the Cowboys last five or six games of the season, I saw a different team. I know he implemented a couple of changes to the practice schedule and I think it paid off.

It showed up in the areas where the Cowboys ran the ball very…um, well, I am not going to say very effectively, but they ran the ball better. Offensively, they started cutting down on some of the penalties. Defensively, they started getting turnovers, which is also important. And they started playing competitive football, which is most important.

Give Jason Garrett a whole year to make his demands and expectations known to the team, in terms of the off-season training program and the in-season training program, and get them to buy into that, I think you will see a very different football team.

One thing I can say about the Dallas Cowboys: They have always had talent around them. They have been one of the most talented football teams in all of football. With this type of focus and commitment from Jason Garrett, I think they can turn it around fairly quickly.

SBB: Do you think Jerry Jones will give him the kind of authority and freedom to do the things he wants to do and implement what needs to be done in order to succeed?

Emmitt: Well, we are talking about the difference between drafting players and running the football operations and implementing your game plan for practice schedules and those kinds of things. I think Jerry is more likely to afford Jason the opportunity to run the practice facilities and expectations of the team the way he likes, but I still believe…Jerry has a whole lot to say about the players that he brings in.

That’s not a problem, by the way. Think about it: I just said the Cowboys are one of the most talented football teams in all of football. Somebody had to bring that talent in.

SBB: So, you don’t think talent evaluation is a real issue?

Emmitt: I think his talent evaluation has been excellent. It’s been spot on in a lot of cases. Yeah, he may have made some mistakes here and there, but for the most part he has done well.

Emmitt did not mention the influence of Bill Parcells on the current roster. It was Parcells who found the undrafted Tony Romo and drafted perennial Pro Bowlers Jason Witten and DeMarcus Ware.

SBB: Speaking of talent evaluation, we are looking at a top nine draft pick. What area would you like to see them focus on?

Emmitt: Um… (Pause.)

SBB: Or, is that more about taking the best player available at that point?

Emmitt: I think I would make a trade to try and get some more picks. Go down, you know, just to pick up a couple of extra second or third round picks…I think the Cowboys need to focus on some young ball-hawkers, meaning defensive players—secondary guys, safeties, linebackers, etcetera. But I (also) think we need to upgrade somewhere in our interior (offensive) line.

SBB: What about the running back situation? Are you comfortable with where it is?

Emmitt: I think that the trio is pretty solid, but the Cowboys need to figure out who’s going to be number one, whose going to be number two, and then make a decision on the third back. If Marion (Barber) is your number three, can you get a cheaper number three, but an effective number three?

The HoF Triplets

SBB: You and Troy and Michael are all in the Hall of Fame now. We have two more Cowboys from that era among the finalists this year: Charles Haley and Deion Sanders. Seems like Sanders ought to be a shoo-in, what do you think?

Emmitt: I agree. If there is a lock in the group, it ought to be Deion.

SBB: What about Charles Haley? Does he belong in the Hall of Fame and do you think he will get there?

Emmitt: Yes, he belongs in the Hall of Fame. The Dude’s got five rings. He was a force to be dealt with in the National Football League. He deserves to be there. Will he get in? He probably gets snubbed because of the media.

SBB: Because of the perception of character issues and things like that?

Emmitt: Yeah, but the game is not predicated upon character issues. We all got flaws. Some have been exposed more than others.

Charles Haley was a difficult character to deal with for teammates, coaches, and opponents. To my knowledge, however, he never ran afoul of the law. Since his playing career, he has been diagnosed with a Bipolar disorder and now takes medication for it.

SBB: What other Cowboys from that era would you put into the Hall of Fame?

Emmitt: That’s a good question. Larry Allen should be coming up.

SBB: He should be a first-ballot selection, shouldn’t he?

Emmitt: Yeah. Drew Pearson should go in.

I am with Emmitt on that one. Drew Pearson was a game-changer with numbers very similar to those of the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famer Lynn Swann, Pearson’s contemporary and opponent in two of the best Super Bowls ever played.

Drew Pearson was the Cowboys’ original number 88 play-maker.

SBB: What about Darren Woodson? Do you think he will ever be a consideration?

Emmitt: He might be up for consideration. I just don’t know if he will get in. I would love to see as many Cowboys get in as possible, but you know how that is.

For the record, offensive guard/tackle Larry Allen was an 11-time Pro Bowl player and was named to the All-Pro team six times in his 14-year career. Darren Woodson played strong safety for the Dallas Cowboys for 12 seasons. He was named to five Pro Bowls and was All-Pro three times. Woodson was a key defensive player on three Super Bowl-winning teams.

Drew Pearson was named to the all-’70s NFL team.

None of these players have found their way into the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor yet. They really only need one vote for that.

I am looking at you, Jerry Jones.

This Emmitt Smith interview was brought to you courtesy of Hershey’s and their Pro Football Hall of Fame Sweepstakes.

Use the audio player below to hear the full 20-minute Emmitt Smith interview.