Footbacalypse in Dallas?

I came across this article a few weeks ago and after dragging my feet on finishing a post about it, I now read it with a different perspective. The focus was the Paul Quinn College football program folding for financial reasons (a yearly savings of $600k for the school) and transforming the gridiron into a 6,300 square-yard...organic farm. The school even partnered with the Dallas Cowboys to provide 17,500 pounds of food for their concession stands during home games this year.

My immediate thought was, this is pretty cool. The trendy thing in Foodville is local, organic, and the idea of self-sustainability. Everyone likes a success story. Turning lemons into lemonade, or a football field into farmland, whichever you prefer. But when I started to look at the photos, a part of me couldn't ignore an eerie, Walking Dead-esque, feeling with the goal posts, scoreboard and bleachers still standing.

Is the once known "America's Team" showing signs of an apocalyptic collapse? From Owner Jerry Jones's iron-fist'd clubhouse rulings, to NFL's worst defensive squad, and the ups and downs of Tony Romo, Cowboy fans have every right to start building dooms-day shelters and stock up on canned beans and batteries.

Change comes from the top and until Jerry Jones lets go of the day-to-day football operations, the Cowboys are going to continue to be the Cowboys of late. There is no question Mr. Jones is a successful and savvy businessman. He is a pioneer for in-stadium experiences and with having more money than he knows what to do with, he can make pretty much anything happen...like hanging the equivalent of nearly 5,000, 52" plasma TV's (per sideline) from the ceiling of his $1.2 billion stadium. Who can blame him though? He is doing what an owner should do - find ways to get butts in the seats and increase revenue. What he shouldn't be doing his what he is paying the coaching staff to do.

There isn't much to write about regarding the Cowboy's defense...seriously. When you lead the league in; most first downs allowed, most passing first downs allowed, most total yards allowed, and most passing yards allowed, you're on the wrong side of the record books. If the first couple second-half collapses this season weren't bad enough, the recent 36-37 loss to the Packers after leading 26-3 in the third quarter solidifies talks of change. Needless to say, the only group benefiting from the Cowboy's defense is the opposing teams.  

Tony Romo. You either respect his game or you think he is the worst QB ever. Is he the reason for the Cowboys disappearance in December? He gets the blame but that comes with the QB position, not necessarily him. Sure there are a few big-time plays that if Romo successfully completed their season would be different, or some timely interceptions not thrown that would shine brighter light on his career. Look up his stats, his numbers are pretty solid throughout his career, even approaching playoff time. 

It will be interesting to see what happens in Dallas over this upcoming off-season. Are there coaching changes coming? Will Jerry let go of some football decisions making? Will the Cowboys just fold up and turn their stadium into a state-of-the-art eco-dome and feed the US when the zombies takeover? Only time will tell, but let's hope change doesn't come too late for this storied team.

       

  
 

Enjoying the hole-y and little things in life

so happy

Life is ever-changing and moving as fast as it ever has in the history of man. There is much work to be done with little time to do it. Once we learn how to do one thing, it seems the process changes and we have to learn a new way without getting much of the work done in the meantime.

Sometimes it can be overwhelming if we don't slow down and take a break every once in a while. We have to look around us and savor life. There are many little things that get lost in the hustle of everyday life. I'm here to tell you about one of those things, which I enjoyed this morning.

As soon as I got to work this morning, I was busy trying to accomplish many tasks which seemed to stack up faster than I could knock them out. It was quite devastating to my overall morale Then everything changed. My co-worker, who comes in about an hour after me, brought me a simple, white sack filled with joy: three glazed donuts. It's a little thing.

Can Texas pry Nick Saban away from Alabama?

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Reports are that Mack Brown will step down as head coach of the Texas Longhorns football team by the end of the week, we think. At one point on Tuesday, I got a text alert from ESPN saying Brown was going to resign, then got another alert saying Brown had denied that he was stepping down, and then a last text that said he was going to be out by the end of the week. It does appear at this point, the Longhorns will have a new coach.

With all that talk has come talk that Texas will pursue Alabama head coach Nick Saban to fill the void. Why wouldn't they? He's been the best college football coach in America for a few years now, and is on his way
possibly to going down as the greatest ever.

Would Nick Saban entertain the idea of leaving the powerhouse that he's built at Alabama to rebuild a once-proud Texas program? Justin @jwmillion and I @weltmoney discuss.

Setting up the imaginary 2013 College Football Playoff

After the BCS National Championship game is played on January 6, 2014 between the Florida State Seminoles and the Auburn Tigers, it will mark the end of one era and the beginning of a new era in major college football. Most fans are excited about it, saying a playoff will be a fairer system in determining the National Champion. I can see its merits and understand that it will certainly add to the excitement of the sport, but I don't necessarily agree that it help determine a true champion. Oh well. Nevertheless, the playoff format is set to take place next season, so I thought it would be fun to share how I would think that playoff should look if it was happening this season.

Let me start by saying that every conference should be forced to crown a champion in the same way, whether it be by a conference championship game or by overall regular season record. It matters not to me, but every conference should be the same. It just seems weird that Big 12 teams only played 12 games while pretty much everyone else played 13. I very highly doubt that conferences with a title game would stop doing that, so making every conference have a title game seems the most feasible. Apparently there's some NCAA rule that says there have to be at least 12 teams in a conference in order to host a conference championship game, so either that needs to change or the conferences not in compliance should add some teams and get up to speed.