remember you getting a citation for repeatedly fishing in a little pond that was off-limits. Come on, man, lay off.
And look, I'm not saying Dez is perfect. Far from it. And does he need guidance? Absolutely. He's young, he's immature at times. But just not sure what purpose it serves to keep answering that same question over and over again. Broken record comes to mind.
You know, had you not befriended him back when he was at Oklahoma State, maybe the NCAA never comes snooping around, asking questions about the legitimacy of that friendship, which appeared on the up and up but ended up causing Dez to panic when addressing the NCAA, telling a little white lie. Too bad he wasn't going to Ohio State. Might have just received a couple-game suspension.
All I'm saying is, just remember what you say to a radio station in Atlanta you to say to the entire world these days. Might as well take out a billboard on Central.
Pulling Back Steel Curtain
OMG!
Can you just imagine what would have happened if it were the Cowboys losing Super Bowl XLV and DeMarcus Ware had called out Tony Romo and Felix Jones five months later in an interview for a national magazine story? Can you just imagine?
Armageddon would have been upon us, along with live trucks with their satellite dishes raised to the heavens, breathlessly broadcasting every movement out here at The Ranch.
And the headlines? Cowboys Crumbling. Jones Loses Control. Garrett Soft. Turmoil In Paradise. Ruptured Ranch. Ware-Romo Imbroglio.
But since it was James Harrison and the Steelers, I'm reading how Mike Tomlin is the perfect coach to handle this, that owner Art Rooney II appropriately will intercede and how some media types are allowing Harrison to backtrack on throwing his teammates and the commissioner rudely under the bullet train. How noble of them all.
Rumor Mill
Here is how rumors spread. A friend the other night told me he spoke to a friend who supposedly lives near former Cowboys defensive tackle Randy White (smile, right), and told my friend the Hall of Famer is now married to country singer Lorrie Morgan.
Yeah, that Lorrie Morgan, who back in the early-to-mid-90s dated Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman. How delicious.
Well, as it turns out, Ms. Morgan is married to Randy White, just not that Randy White. On June 15, 2010, she married Tennessee businessman Randy White, who reportedly at the time owned a private property design and landscape company in Mt. Juliet, Tenn., just east of Nashville, and is the father of four.
Oh well, it was a great you-gotta-be-kidding-me moment.
By the way, you know the stir Romo dating Jessica Simpson caused. Like, what if we fast-forward those couple of years Aikman dated Morgan to today's internet, blog, twitter and whatever else in this instant-info technology age? And that's when the Cowboys were winning Super Bowls, right, quite plural.
OMG!
Reality Cap
One last thing: With the ratification of a new CBA imminent, and as I've been preaching all offseason, a new salary cap is on the way, and a more restrictive one most likely. There have been reports of the 2011 salary cap being right at $120 million.
Please consider the last time the NFL had a salary cap, that being in 2009 and prior to the 2010 uncapped season, the cap hit at $128 million. So we are talking maybe $8 million less two years later, knowing the Cowboys uncapped season expenditures exceeded $150 million.
Now some of that was planned, anticipating dropping funds in an uncapped year. But the point is, the Cowboys will be doing some belt tightening in the next couple of weeks if indeed the cap is no more than $120 million. They still must re-sign Doug Free, a couple of their unrestricted defensive ends, at least one safety (free or strong), a left guard and ... and ... first-round draft choice Tyron Smith, the ninth overall pick.
So better wake up and cease the free-agent pie-in-the-sky dreaming.
Also, word to the wise to guys entering no more than the final two years of their contracts:
Better show up in shape and ready to go. No need to give management the
