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OXNARD, Calif. - This place is ready, and what's not is getting ready.
The two practice fields at the River Ridge Sports Complex look immaculate, and why shouldn't they with the temperatures here back to their old tricks from past training camps - highs in the mid-70's during the day and the lows in the mid-50's at night. What a novel idea, working in your room here with the windows and door open.
The surrounding grounds are being prepared for the fan interactive areas. The merchandise truck is here. The Cowboys Hall of Fame truck is here. Food vendors will soon arrive.
You can almost feel the anticipation:
The Cowboys are coming to town.
And yes, the Dallas Cowboys will be here for the start of Training Camp 2008 on Thursday, with the opening ceremony scheduled for 1:30 p.m. (PDT) Friday and the first practice at 2:15 p.m.
Let the football begin.
This, though, normally is a time of high anxiety for most teams around the league. They work all offseason in the draft and free agency, maybe in the trade market, too, to restock themselves, and then right at the threshold of training camp come all these last-minute worries.
And that's how you judge a team heading into training camp, by how many critical questions they must answer over the next six weeks before the season opens. More questions generally means less wins.
The Cowboys appear fortunate, or good, however you want to look at it. They will begin camp here on Friday with very few critical roster questions to answer. Oh sure, there is the Terry Glenn issue, but I'll be surprised if that is not settled by the end of the week.
But after that, what are the worries? Depth? Are you kidding me? If the team's biggest worries are about backups then these Cowboys are better off than 90 percent of the teams in this league. Yeah, you want more at safety. You want more experience behind the starting offensive line. You want more experience behind your Pro Bowl tight end. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Still, tell me this: What starting positions scare the devil out of you? I mean, where you got nothing or don't know what you have. Most teams will have three to five of those. The Cowboys?
Now don't tell me eight just because this club returns only 13 Pro Bowlers. Remember, you can't have a steak at every position. But with this team, there is at least enough ground round to go around.
And this is not just me. People who make a living at doing this stuff must agree. Having just passed through Las Vegas on our Cowboys Bus trip out here over the past four days we felt obligated, for research purposes only, of course, to check out a couple of the sports books at the casinos. You know, check the odds for this coming season.
Let's see, the one from the MGM and Mirage has set the Cowboys' over-under for wins at 11. Only the Patriots at 12½ are higher. That means someone out there thinks the Cowboys, coming off a 13-win season last year, can win 12.
And this other sheet, picked up at Caesars, lists the odds to win this year's Super Bowl at Raymond James Stadium, Feb. 1, in Tampa, Fla. New England is 7-2.
Indianapolis is 7-2.
And the Cowboys are . . . 7-2.
But check this out: The Cowboys were listed as 7-2 when the line first opened Jan. 18, following their playoff loss to the Giants. And as of July 16, it's still 7-2.
Why, the Patriots opened at 8-5, and the Colts 5-1. The Cowboys? Steady as they go. The Cowboys also are 8-5 favorites to win the NFC, followed by the Packers at 4-1.
So see, someone out there evidently thinks, along with a lot of other people's money, that the Cowboys are pretty darn good. Right now . . . before they even practice a down in pads. And that stems from trotting out nearly the exact same team on Friday for that first practice which finished last year matching the team's single-season high of 13 victories and earning the NFC's top seed.
But here is the catch, for those of you who just need something to worry about:
They do not grandfather you back into the playoffs off your past success. You got to win these games all over again. Go ask San Diego. The Chargers started off the season being reminded of that the hard way last year. After going 14-2 the previous season, they got off to a 1-3 start in 2007, and that nearly was 0-4, opening with just a 14-13 victory over the Bears.
(Man, the noise . . . they are drilling fence-post holes right outside my window here, accentuating the part about getting ready I previously mentioned.)
Now, with everyone coming down on the Chargers after the first month of the season, they righted the ship, finishing the season off with a six-game winning streak to get to 11-5 and another AFC West Division title. But this time, finishing three games off the previous year's pace, they advanced to the AFC title game, advancing further than they did in 2007 when they had a better regular-season record.
Tuck that away. Because have you looked at the early part of the Cowboys' schedule? Don't worry so much about winning in December. They had better win in September otherwise December might not mean a thing. I mean, they open at Cleveland, a 10-6 team last year. Then meet Philly (8-8) at home but must go to Green Bay (13-3), where they have never won a game in franchise history. After that, it's only Washington (9-7) at home, a team that has beaten them now four of the past six meetings.
And, how's this for the start of October? The Cincinnati Bengals, and yeah, I know they went only 7-9 last year, but they've got a better team than that. The Bengals' season was destroyed last year by, uh, a four-game losing streak in the opening five.
So to me, the Cowboys' biggest worry heading into training camp will be a mental one, not a physical one or a personnel one. Last year's 13-3 doesn't guarantee them anything, and I think they realize that. This coaching staff certainly realizes that. The bar must be raised, otherwise complacency could grow. So I'm convinced there will be no big-head syndrome affecting this training camp. This team still will work hard.
But winning in this league is so hard. I remember Troy Aikman telling me that time and time again. I remember Norv Turner telling me that time and time again. And this is when they were winning. And it's kind of funny, but when talking to Hudson Houck last month for our new assistant coaches' series, he reiterated how "hard" it is to win games in this NFL.
So, with training camp about to commence, the Cowboys' biggest worry, and I'm serious about this, is making sure they keep the entire season in perspective, realize it is a 16-game marathon not a one-month dash. They also must realize the goal is to qualify for the playoffs to give themselves another shot at the big prizes.
Sure you'd like the best record in the league, but guess what? As I've also pointed out, no Cowboys team ever has gone at least 13-3 in back-to-back seasons, not even the best of the best. And in the NFC, the same team has not earned the top seed in consecutive years since Philadelphia did so in 2002-04. And at that, the Eagles were the only team to accomplish that in the past 14 seasons - ever since the Cowboys went back-to-back in 1992-93.
Just a little historical perspective as we reach the start of training camp because as I remember from last year, the only thing that matters is winning a playoff game, which the Cowboys didn't last year. The regular-season record was but fluff to many.
Wonder if that same philosophy will apply if the Cowboys only win 11 regular-season games this year, or if the fans and media will be all over their backs for not having the best record in the NFC . . . again. Ask the Chargers. They know what they went through last year in Norv's first as the head coach.
They got buried early in the season.
So, the Cowboys' biggest challenge as training camp is being teed up?
Don't get buried, not by yourself or anyone else.
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Mickey Spagnola - 
