Howe's Treasured RecoVery

Isn't if funny how one little florescent light can symbolize something and bring such great feelings to one community?  The victory light in Howe is merely just a florescent light bulb hidden beneath a panel tied to just a simple breaker box in the old rickety press box of Bulldog Stadium.  It didn't cost that much to install, and it doesn't cost that much to maintain.  But the smiles that it creates as the August sun turns to the cold November rains is priceless.

The victory light was introduced to Howe in the fall of 1977 by Howe's new head coach James "Blackie" Wade.  The original light was eight simple light bulbs up and one at the bottom (seventeen in all) pieced together to form a V.  It was simple, much like our little town.  But it was extremely bright, much like our little town.


The tradition of the victory light is to turn it on immediately after the Howe Bulldogs varsity football team wins a football game on Friday night.  The light stays on all week until the Freshman/J.V. games start the following Thursday.  It's a simple tradition.  In a good year, the light burns for seven weeks.  In a great year, such as 2010, it burns for nine.

When I was a little kid, I grew up near the elementary school and the victory light served as my internet.  I couldn't ride my bike to Whitewright and see the Dogs play on Friday night, but I could sure ride my bike across town to see if that light was on Saturday morning or not.  Fortunately, back then it was on a lot.  The victory light was in it's most used stage from 1984-1991.  During that seven year period, the light was on a total of 64 times.  Howe was 62-28-3 (and of the three ties, two were playoff advances).

I became a Howe Bulldogs fan about 1984.  I remember Randy Geer and his amazing speed and superb long TD runs.  But in 1985, everything changed.  Howe went to the Regional finals and were led by a short running back with a rocket on his back named Stephen Ogle.  I rode my bike across town and saw that victory light on Saturday morning 9 times that year.  This 6th grader would never be the same.  Winning programs feed the younger kids that are watching and becoming fans.  It was then, that the game changed.  My classmates and the classes ahead of us had the bar set for us.  We knew how much excitement the town shared during that 1985 run.  We wanted the same thing and we didn't just want to be good.  We wanted to be great.

Thankfully, I was able to be a part of that great seven year ride.  I was able to play in 7 playoff games (more than anyone in school history apart from my teammate Jon Norwood who also played in 7).   I was a part of the 1989 District, Bi-District, Area Champions, 1990 Bi-District, Area Champions, and 1991 District Champions.

When we beat Bells by 5 points in the last game of the season to become District Champions in 1991, no one thought about the victory light being turned on for the last time.  The light had taken 15 seasons of wear and tear and needed to be replaced.  Instead of replacing the V, Howe chose to replace it with a boxed panel with the picture of the Bulldog logo inside it.  The tradition was lost.  The light in the panel would stay on even after losses.  It was a bit sad to drive by and see something that used to be such a community bonding mechanism mishandled.  The original V that was in place for 15 seasons was lit up 98 times for Howe to see and be proud of (6.5 wins per year).  Without the V, Howe played as if it didn't exist either.  They went 16 years without the V and during that time, Howe won 66 games (4.13 wins per year).

After noticeable wear and tear of 16 years, the panel with the Bulldog logo had become old and decrepit.  It was about to fall down.  It was needing to be replaced as the panel itself had a crack in it and was broken.  I kept a keen eye on it hoping that it would eventually just fall down and we could reinstall the victory light in our town.  And when I got word it was coming down, I made a phone call to the superintendent Kevin Wilson.

I stated my case to have a V on the back of the press box and I remember him asking me, "a V ?  Why a V? Why not an H?"  I went on to tell him the significance to what the V stood for around Howe for many years as a symbol of community pride, a symbol that people actually care about.  I told him of my friends that shared the same sentiments as I did that the great tradition had been lost.  I even offered to pay for it.

I thank Mr. Wilson a great deal for having an open mind and seeing that through.  It was remarkable to be able to have that V put back in place.  I was there taking pictures when it was being installed.  I felt like I had just ridden my bike from all away cross town to see if it were on.  It was just cool to see.

On August 29, 2008 Howe defeated Blue Ridge 49-14 and were set to turn on the victory light for the first time since that 1991 game vs. Bells.  In true fashion, Howe chose two legendary former players to flip the switch.  L.B. Kirby was a player on the 1942 District Champions that had to play without a head coach due to war time.  Mac Davis also played in the 1940's and has had numerous family members be standout football players for Howe over the years including son and grandson.  Coach Steve Simmons guided all fans back behind the stands and have a celebratory countdown to flipping that switch.  In a small Texas town's version of the ball dropping at Time's Square, after a 10 to 1 countdown, the two gentlemen flipped that switch and a giant roar came from the crowd and the team.

At homecoming this year of 2010, being the president of the Howe Ex-Students Association, I was allowed to flip the switch in that old breaker box if Howe won.  It was a great feeling for me to in a sense of coming full circle with that old V.  I put many blood, sweat and tears on that field just to light that thing after a win on Friday night.  And 16 years later, I was still putting sweat in to get that V back up there and get it turned on again.

I've been so proud of watching these 2010 Howe Bulldogs turn that light on.  Their deep playoff run galvanized this community like it hadn't been in quite some time.  It's a very special thing.  And somewhere, I guarantee you, a 6th grader will never be the same.

Twenty Years Ago Tonight, We Shocked Them All!

It's hard to believe it's been 20 years.  That night, I didn't even know what 20 years was.  I was only 16 years, 6 months and 2 days old.  But that night may characterize and symbolize my entire attitude on life.  Just tell me that something's too big to achieve.  Just tell me that there's someone better.  Just tell me that there's no hope.  Just tell me that the fat lady is warming up.  Just tell me that.  I dare you...

Twenty years ago  tonight, me and my teammates gave north Texas a dose of "Know Howe."  We pulled off something only a small circle within the decrepit confines of the Bulldog Stadium Field House thought could.  That night we overcame being 17 point underdogs and knocked the 8th ranked District Champion Celina Bobcats out of the playoffs in the first round.  We believed, and we achieved, together, undivided, as one.

We had lost Howe's most successful head coach in Howe history in Jim Fryar who left for a similar position in Jacksboro.  We had a second-year head coach in Joey McQueen.  I was a slot receiver the previous year as a sophomore on a team chalked with more talent than anyone could imagine.  We shattered every passing record Howe had seen.  We finally lost in the regional championship and carried our District, Bi-District and Area championship trophies with us to the football banquet.  All of that was gone.

Our new head coach wanted to symbolically get a head start to the 1990 season.  So we started at midnight of the first day eligible to practice 2-a-days.  Coach McQueen was at Howe two years prior for one year before taking a head coaching position at Bells.  I knew Coach McQueen pretty well since he ran the offense on JV my freshman year and I was the starting fullback and carried the ball 20+ times per game.  He knew what I could do running the football so when Coach Fryar left, I wanted Coach McQueen.  I even called him at Bells and tried to lure him back to Howe.  My teammate Jon Norwood who was at Bells High for some academic contest even left a letter on his desk from what I recall trying to lure him back.  And when I heard he was going to come back, it was a tremendous feeling.  It was nearly the same feeling I had when the Rangers signed Nolan Ryan.  However, I had no idea that the Coach McQueen we were getting was totally different than the one we had two years prior.

Coach McQueen demanded us to be gentlemen.  He demanded us to say Yes Sir and No Sir.  He demanded us to do things the "right way."  Everything changed when Coach McQueen showed up.  We ran sprints before and after every practice.  Coach McQueen laid out the ground rules that we would be running 25 40's after every practice.  It was exhausting.  It was what we thought, cruel and unusual punishment.  Even our offensive scheme changed to what I likened to going from a Corvette to at Corsica.  I had been a starter in the high-flying runnin'-shoot the year before.  It truly was one of the first if not the first spread offenses in high school.  We were electric.  Now we're going to a wing-T.  Uughh.

We had a steep learning curve with our new roles and new coach and we didn't execute very well at first.  We had lost 3 of the first four games to Leonard, arch rival Van Alstyne, and Pilot Point.  But our defense was really good.  It kept us in every game.

Things shifted in week 6 that rocked our season.  We lost at Aubrey 14-7 in a game we had no business losing.  Before that game, in practice that week, I had gone to Coach McQueen and stated my case to get more carries.  I wanted to carry the load just as I did on J.V. my freshman year and we had success.  So Coach McQueen gave me that opportunity in Aubrey and I was to get the majority of the carries.  In the first quarter, I got just that...and I fumbled twice and didn't hustle on another play and was ripped at the film session on Saturday morning.  We had major changes coming, and I was sick to my stomach.

We were built on defense, so we didn't have to make changes on that side of the ball.  We were good and we we knew we were good.  It was the offense that we had to change.  The coaches made those changes and I was moved to tight-end.  Domingo Rivera was our new fullback and the move that punched our ticket to the playoffs was the one that moved Michael Bailey into the lead running back role.  Michael Bailey was a microcosm of our entire team.  He was about 5'5, 155 pounds and he never quit.  He never took a play off.  He never stopped until the whistle had blown.  Coach McQueen once said in a team meeting, "Michael Bailey can cut on a dime, spin on a nickle, and twist on a penny."  At Van Alstyne early in the year, the P.A. announcer didn't have a jersey number that matched up on the roster for Bailey, so when Bailey would run, the announcer would say, "He has moves like Elvis so we'll just call him Elvis."  From that point on, for about another quarter, people around town could hear, "Elvis on the carry."  When Bailey got tackled, he would pop up on his feet from laying on his back.  And the harder he was hit, the faster he popped up to his feet.  It was almost as if he was telling the defense, "I'll always be here no matter how hard you hit me."  His heart was an inspiration to all of us.    And it kind of gave us the same mentality.  We weren't going to take a play off, we weren't going to stop until the whistle blew, and we would never quit.  Michael Bailey as our lead Dawg gave this team mouth-to-mouth. I am so thankful that I fumbled twice in Aubrey and was a big reason we lost that game.  Because it was the last time we'd lose that season until we were three games away from the state championship.

In order to secure a spot in the playoffs, we had to outright beat a very talented Bells team in the last game of the season at Bulldog Stadium.  Coach McQueen had come to us from Bells in which he took them to the regional finals the year before by virtue of tying everyone winning via penetrations or first downs.

We quickly found ourselves down 11-0 at the half.  Three big plays won the game for us (outside of our shutdown defense).  Joey McMillion caught a 64-yard TD from Wade Carson in the 3rd quarter.  Then in the 4th quarter,  Carson threw a tight-end throwback that I was able to catch and take it deep into their side of the field for 47 yards to their 29.  The very next play, Michael Ross scored.  That come from behind 12-11 win propelled us into the playoffs.


11/17/1990


That's where we get to 20 years ago tonight.  Our motto all year had been "Bulldog Magic."  It seemed a little quirky at first, but it became a staple before it was all said and done. We felt after coming from behind so often, that we had a little of that magic.  Since we were runners up in the district to Pilot Point, we had to take on the district champion Celina Bobcats and their head coach G.A. Moore in the first round.  The year before, on our ultra-talented team, we manhandled them in their own backyard in route to our very own district championship.  But most of our guys from that team were now in college and most of their guys were still playing.  Celina, as I mentioned earlier were ranked 8th in state.  They were better than we were.  Everyone said so.  Even they would tell you so.  As a matter of fact, it was pointed out to us by our head coach that he heard Celina had already printed some t-shirts that read Bi-District Champions.  Assistant coach Steve Simmons showed up at the pep rally with a white shirt that read in orange type, "Celina Bobcats - 1990 Bi-District Champs."  We saw that shirt and destroyed it.  Each player wore a strip of that shirt on our uniform that night.  I had mine tied to my belt at the hip pad dangling down.

We were the home team so we got to wear our black uniforms, but I remember my teammates complaining that our black pants were too short at the knee and it might be better on us to wear our new white pants that Coach McQueen introduced (he was a fan of the Odessa Permian look and wanted us to be all black and white like them and eliminate the gray/silver look).  No matter what we were wearing, we knew we were in for the fight of our lives.  On our way down to John Clark Stadium, we were given a letter by then Superintendent Pete Simmons.  It was an intense encouragement letter written by a guy who was once head football coach and not by a guy who was just the current Superintendent.  It was extremely motivational and it gave us an extra edge.  The fans showing up to the send-off was incredible.  The mom's had painted the streets and the police were giving us an escort to the city limits.

Once we got to John Clark Stadium, we entered the dressing room as we always did....very quietly...very business-like.  And as soon as the game started, we found ourselves in a hole again early.  This was the theme of our team.  We were behind with a 2-4 record at one time and came back to save our season.  We were down 11-0 to Bells and we came back to save our season.  And here we find ourselves down 14-0 going into halftime.  But, when you have an attitude like we did...when we got knocked down, we popped back on our feet from our back like our little running back.  We didn't know how to quit.  We didn't know what it felt like to give in.  We didn't have one standout player, but we had a ton of players that played together and we all played as one.  Desire beats talent everytime.  And we had desire.

Coach Steve Simmons once again found himself in the middle of a 'Dawg Pack" in the halftime locker room.  Very rarely do you get a movie-like halftime speech.  Those things just don't happen in football like most people would like to believe.  But this night, it happened.  Coach Simmons came from around a corner with a balloon in his hand and was screaming and then he screamed something loudly and popped that balloon at the exact moment and the whole place went nuts.  We not only had a pulse, but we had momentum.  What Coach Simmons did was burst all of the air from Celina when he popped that balloon.  We challenged ourselves and we stepped forward.

Thanks to our little "Elvis", we churned all the way down the field in the 3rd quarter.  Bailey carried the ball and put us on his shoulders.  We had a first and goal at the 9 yard line, which ironically turned into a 4th and goal do-or-die situation.  Our quarterback Wade Carson had heavy pressure and literally just heaved the ball up in the air as he was being thrown to the ground.  The ball in the air hung for what seemed like forever.  Then out of the sky came Damion Horton on what looked like a Dennis Rodman post-up reboundand  and came down for the touchdown.  I kicked the extra point and now it's 14-7 Celina.  We are back.

We go to the 4th quarter and we realize that we are dominating them.  They had only 4 first downs the entire 1st half and none so far in the 2nd half.  Our defense was led by coordinator Billy Hill who we believed so much in.  We knew that if we listened to him, we'd give our offense a chance to win the game.  And we held them to punt after punt after punt.  Michael Bailey took over again as he cut and cut and flipped and churned for every last inch he could muster.  Late in the game, Carson connected with Shawn Stephenson and Micahel Ross scampered around and made a great cut himself and scored the tying TD.  Everyone of us went crazy.  Everyone except me.  I had to kick the extra point to actually tie the game.  We were on the net side of John Clark Stadium and before the game I was easily kicking them over the net and into the parking lot.  I just wanted to do the same thing here.  And in "this" particular game, I did just that. And we were tied 14-14.

In those final moments of the game, much chaos occurred.  Coach McQueen and Coach Hill were explaining the rules to us in this situation because there were no overtime in high school football at the time.  We had never been in a tie game, muchless one in the playoffs that had so much riding on it.  We understood that we were tied in penetrations (getting to the opponents 20 yard line) and we were ahead on first downs (the next tie-breaker).  We had a large lead in first downs thanks to our defense that held Celina to 14 total yards of offense in the 2nd half and one first down.  I remember our defensive captain and fellow linebacker Jon Norwood screaming out as we're lining up, "THEY DON'T GET TO OUR 20!"  And they didn't.  We took over possession and by virtue of the stats, we were going to be Bi-District Champions!.  All we had to do was run out the clock.


This is where what was to be a joyous post-game celebration turned a bit grim.  We rotated plays in and out with our wingbacks Shawn Stephenson and James Fulenchek.  We had just taken a knee and only needed to run one more play to win.  Everyone in the stadium knew what was coming. We were going to take a knee right?  Well, that was the plan....   Coach McQueen told Shawn Stephenson the play of, "Tell Wade to drop back and take a knee."  I guess with all of the excitement and commotion and loudness of the crowd, Shawn heard, "Tell Wade to drop back and throw it deep."  When Shawn said that in our huddle, Wade made him repeat it.  And he looked at me and said, "be ready."  I ran a short flag pattern and Wade hit me in stride and I nearly scored on it.  We definitely caught Celina off-guard...because it looked horrible to the eyes of Celina I'm sure.  We had taken a knee the play before and then come out and try and score?  Yeah, that could be perceived as bad sportsmanship.  That's where the post-game went south.  Coach McQueen showed extreme displeasure for Wade and even though he told Coach about Shawn's interpretation, Coach McQueen was furious...which made everyone a little sour.

But in the end, we had done something no one in North Texas thought we could do.  We overcame the odds and started the 8th ranked football team in the state's basketball program just a little earlier than they anticipated.  And they had some shirts to throw away.

That night put the reinforcement stamp on my life of positive thinking and never say die.  Never quit and when people tell you something can't be achieved, try me.

Of course we were down 10-3 to Olney the next week in the Area Championship and had to come from behind in the 4th quarter with an 80-yard drive in which Michael Bailey carried us on his shoulders.  Of course it came down to a do-or-die extra point to tie the game, in which I missed.  But as fate would always have our backs that year, Olney jumped off-sides and I got another crack at the extra point and barely squeeked it through.  Of course we finished the game with a tie 10-10.  Of course we also tied in penetrations.  And of course we led on first downs thanks to our amazing defense.  It's called Bulldog Magic.

We went on to play in the Regional Championship game which was the same place I was a year before with the ultra-talented world beaters that were the 1989 Howe Bulldogs.  Here we were...our little old practice-squad, scaled down version of that team.  We were in the same place.

We lost Shawn Stephenson and Chris Hartwell to season-ending injuries the week before and when we played Mart for the regional championship, we were just too banged up.  We even lost our quarterback Wade Carson to a torn ACL early in the game.  The headlines in the paper were "Mart Beats Howe on Points."

I'll never forget 20 years ago night when we gave everyone a little "KNOW HOWE."  We were a story of a group of guys that didn't accept losing.  We had a lot of individuals with heart and it spread like a cancer.  We were accountable to each other.  Coach McQueen told us everyday that he loved us.  I can still hear him as plain as day saying, "I love each and everyone one of you."  We thought that it was a little strange for him to tell us that everyday, but tomorrow, I sit 36 years, 6 months, and 2 days old...I tell my son everyday that I love him.

Thank GOD for 1990 and that team and those guys.  Thank GOD for the heart of Michael Bailey who symbolized our character by flipping up when knocked down.  Thank GOD for Coach McQueen who made us do things we didn't want to do in order for us to achieve things we wanted to achieve.


Radio: Howe vs. Celina 11/17/1990 on KMKT-FM
Video: 1990 Howe Bulldog Highlights Part 4

Death Star Could Be Just That

My what a week at Valley Ranch.  We all knew it was coming.  Everyone except Jerry could stomach what was inevitable.  He had to admit he was wrong.  When he hired Wade Phillips as his head coach back before the 2007 season, he made the statement, "I have to get this right."  It worked perfectly for about 16 games in 2007 and has been just full of disappointments since.  


First of all, Wade Phillips is a very likable guy. I would love for my son to go fishing with him or learn techniques in football from him.  I personally think he's a great defensive coordinator in the NFL. That said, great coordinators don't often have the persona to be a great head coach.  


"Military leaders aren't made. They are born. To be a good leader, you have to have something in your character to cause people to follow you. " - Jimmy Johnson.  


In other words, some people just don't have the qualities.  They possess the knowledge and work ethic...but they don't have "it."  That "it" is the ability to command the room.  That "it" is the ability to make people feel just a little uneasy.  Wade Phillips has an entirely different approach to that style of coaching.  He's the kind of guy that wants to treat each individual like a grown man and hopes that doing so will earn their respect.  That's all great until something happens and they don't respect you.  Then you're lost without a team to fight for you.


Jimmy Johnson - "The problem with the Cowboys is you're not really sure who the leader is — and therein lies the problem. Their players haven't answered to the head coach, and I think that's a problem."


Barry Switzer - "Everybody can get the mental and the physical down, but it's the emotional part," he said. "That's why coaches know they've got to go if that arrow is pointed down. And it was pointed down for Wade, big time. He knew he had to go."


Not to be a Wade basher, but if I were a player and hearing from him the same that I heard in press-conferences, I would not feel like I had to be accountable for anything.  Each press conference was the same rhetoric with excuse after excuse and thin-skinned past resume-touting and fuzzy stats to try and overshadow a loss.  Never once did I hear that something was unacceptable.  Never, until it was too late.


I really like Wade Phillips, but I don't like Wade Phillips' style of coaching.  It's just not for me.  I'm a guy that likes a clean crisp no grey area kind of football coach.  I want someone that will make me fear to watch the game film in hopes that he doesn't call me out on something.  I'm a fan of a coach that will not accept tardiness, laziness, or anything that can cause a team to not focus on the main goal.  I'm a fan of a coach that will make me do things that I don't want to do in order to achieve something I want to achieve.  That's what great football coaches do.  They aren't your best friend.  They aren't someone you would feel comfortable asking to take your kids fishing...not while playing for them anyway.  


It's much different than business.  Business leaders thrive every day with Wade's style.  But football is much much different.  Jerry Jones thrived as a shrewd businessman.  In business, you can cut corners and be called smart.  If you cut enough corners and still produce the goods, you're a genius and a lot of times filthy rich.  In football, you can't cut corners. If you do, you'll lose.  Every time.  This is why Jerry Jones has not been successful as a hands-on owner since he took over the franchise in 1989.  He will bring on ultra-talented athletes with extreme character flaws and thinks that it won't affect the team.  He's stated publicly that he doesn't believe in team chemistry.  He believes that winning cures all chemistry problems.  But first thing's first Jerry...you have to become a winner...and people with bad character don't tend to make great winners.


When Jones bought the team and named Jimmy Johnson the head coach, he also might as well have labeled him the General Manager as well because Jimmy was the football guy.  Early on, when anyone addressed the two and a football question came up, Jerry would always defer to Jimmy to answer any football question.  All of that changed when success came.  A lot of the success was credited to the Herschel Walker trade midway through the 1989 season.  And when most people credited Jimmy for that trade, Jones went nuts. He couldn't take it.  He made the famous drunken statement, "Any one of 500 coaches could coach this team to a Super Bowl."  That was it.  Jimmy was out.  And for good reason.  Jerry was then left to prove he could do it by himself without Jimmy and eventually hired Barry Switzer.


In walks Switzer and they won a Super Bowl in his second year and should have won two straight if it weren't for an awful 1st quarter in the NFC Championship game in his 1st year at San Francisco.  But nonetheless, Jerry had won a Super Bowl without Jimmy and expected everyone to rave about how brilliant he was.  Well, not so much.  Everyone still credited Jimmy for building that team.  Jerry grew more and more frustrated and saw that team dwindle away and grow old right in front of his eyes. The team that was a bunch of thugs with tremendous athletic ability had been hard-nosed coached into champions by Jimmy.  Jimmy also believed in ultra-athletic players even if they had bad character.  Because Jimmy knew that he could mold them into team players. Now, without Jimmy commanding their attention, the thugs were allowed to exist without penalty under Switzer and it cost them several more years of mastering the NFL.  I know...free agency and salary cap also depleted the greatest team known to the NFL, but also a lack of accountability to each other led to their demise.


"Jerry's talking about what we've got to do next year," Switzer recalled. "I looked at him — we'd already had a bottle of wine — and said, 'If we don't beat them tomorrow, the first thing you'd better do is fire my [butt] and hire yourself a new football coach.' It just shocked Jerry that I said that. I was serious. The arrow was pointing down."


Jerry went several years trying to find an answer that would give him the credit if they won and not have to turn over the keys over to someone that could eventually get all of that golden laced credit.  Chan Gailey, Dave Campo ran their course.  But everything changed when the Cowboys went to Houston.  And I mean, it ALL CHANGED.  I remember all Jerry could talk about for a month was how incredible Houston's new Reliant Stadium was and how he wanted that for the Cowboys.  It made him jealous and stir crazy and he had to have it or go broke trying to get it.

The envy of that stadium made him break down and hire Bill Parcells as head coach and turnover a lot of power to him.  If he were going to get the support and backing for a stadium like that, he had to have a winner.  So he made a deal.  And sure enough, by turning over the keys to a football guy for the first time since Jimmy, a new Dallas Cowboys had emerged from the scrap heap.  Parcells' drafting and signings still echo all through Valley Ranch to this day.  He was directly responsible for guys like Romo, Witten, Ware, Barber, Jay Ratliff who are virtually the cornerstones of this franchise still today.  Parcells had "it" and created a model of accountability and it was very successful in the direction it was headed.  I still say, if Romo got the snap down in Seattle, Wade would have never been hired.  But the ball sailed through his hands and Parcells sailed out of Valley Ranch.


But by turning the franchise around and making them competitive, the fanbase now would give Jerry support to build his dream football castle.  And in Arlington, they welcomed him with open arms.  And with the new stadium in the works, Jerry could now go back to running the entire organization again.  And that always spells trouble for Cowboys fans.


Phillips was hired and the accountability went out the window.  Players got lazy.  And here we are.  Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett will now be the interim head coach, but if you ask me...he'll be the last head coach Jerry ever hires for two reasons.  1.  Garrett is a fundamental accountability guy that will be successful here.  2.  Jerry has been hinting that his time is running out.  He's said on several occasions now that he doesn't know how much longer he'll be able to be a part of the Cowboys organization.  That can mean health, or that can mean finances.


You see, Jerry's new stadium, as grand as it is, comes with a hefty note payment.  Jerry has been doing all he can to fill it with college games, concerts, boxing events and anything else to try and bring revenue to pay for it.  And when you go 1-7 and no one shows up...you're in trouble.  Possibly BIG trouble.  It was greed and coveting that brought that stadium.  And success stories based on those elements are few and far between.

People say that Jerry will be forced to hire a big named head coach to ensure that people will be enticed enough to come to the games and spend money.  But I think they have just their big-named guy in Jason Garrett.  He's not big-named in 2010...but in 2020, he'll be either heralded as one of Jerry's greatest moves in keeping him or one of Jerry's list of growing blunders in getting rid of him to save the stadium.

Never underestimate the power of Jerry's ego. The only thirst he has greater than winning is being able to tell people he was right and should get credit. He hired Garrett before Wade and if he is successful, he can say his model still works. If he turns it over to Cowher or Gruden, he essentially admits his structure doesn't work. That's why Garrett will be here forever. He'll even rebuild with Garrett if need be. But he will not let his model of structure take the blame.

Now, with that knowledge, we must just hope that Garrett will take advantage of seeing first hand how to succeed and fail as a Jerry head coach under this odd structure of no chain of command (except for all roads lead to Jerry).

It really doesn't matter what Garrett has done as an offensive coordinator. It really doesn't...(BTW, he's been REALLY successful in his first three years here). He's being hired to be the head coach which has little to do with x's and o's football. It has everything to do with a mindset...an accountability manager. That's what his job is now...along with still having to be the OC.

I believe this is going to work and work really really well.  If it doesn't, the star could fall.

Head Coaches Must Have Control

Very rarely in sports do we see an owner of a sports franchise interviewed after a game or work his way into the pregame show on Sunday Night Football.  But, in Dallas, there are no rules when it comes to Jerry Jones.  When Jerry bought the team, he made an immediate impact in putting his name front and center when he fired Tom Landry, the longtime Cowboys head coach of 29 years.  He brought in a hot-shot pistol firing college head coach named Jimmy Johnson.  One disaster of a PR move, but as we all now know, it was the right football move.

Sometimes head coaches voices aren't simply heard anymore.  Sometimes they over-evaluate players that they developed and feel a certain connection to.  It happens.  Coaches are human.  Not everyone that is a great coach is cut out to be a head coach.  The number one way to fail as a head coach is to lose respect from your players.  There are so many ways this can happen, but the first way to lose that respect is to not have that ability to lead men in to battle.  Wade Phillips does not have that personality to lead men.  Especially young rich men.

This team has reverted back to the days of Dave Campo before Bill Parcells was hired to pull this franchise out of the stink.  If Romo gets the snap down and Gramatica kicks the FG to win the game in Seattle, Parcells' tenure as Cowboys head coach would look very differently.  But, it didn't happen that way and now I think that Bill Parcells doesn't get near enough credit for breathing life and then putting the Cowboys franchise on his back and standing it up just in time for Jerry to knock it back down.  Everyone feared their job when Bill Parcells roamed Dallas.

Jerry Jones has had a formula that has worked very successfully twice in his 21 years as Owner, President, General Manager, Jocks & Socks Coordinator, etc.  That model is a dogmatic head coach that players fear.  Not fear as what that coach might to do them, but fear as to what that coach might take away from them.  It is a model that sets the standard of accountability.  As I heard Troy Aikman talk today about Jimmy Johnson, he said that every player gave or tried like crazy to give 100% because if he didn't, Jimmy Johnson would give you a price to pay.  That is not happening at Valley Ranch in 2010.  As a matter of fact, quite the opposite is happening out there when I hear him in a press conference two weeks ago after, yet, another loss and explain that his team gave great effort. I'm sorry, but the team quit and has quit on him.

I can't fault Wade Phillips at all.  He's a great Defensive Coordinator and knows more about defense than I ever will.  But that doesn't make you a leader of men.  A head coach in the NFL has to be able to control the room of young millionaires.  That's not happening.  A report confirms that while Phillips was giving a speech about discipline, a player's cell phone went off in the meeting.  Instead of seizing the opportunity to make such a disciplined statement, nothing was said.  I'm sorry, but if there is no fear, or at least the fear of consequence of something meaningful...there is no respect.  But again, I can't fault Wade Phillips.  He's purposely put in that spot by a man that absolutely cannot give up control to a dogmatic individual.  Well, he can....but it nearly kills him.

I had the luxury of having plenty of coaches while playing several sports in high school, middle school and summer leagues.  I had two very different head football coaches on varsity.  One was a "player's coach" and one instilled the fear of God in you by running 40's.  The first coach, in my mind, coddled a few of his favorite players, while the second coach treated everyone equally.  I had ultimate respect for both of them, but I respected the one more that made me work.  Believe it or not, players WANT to be coached.  They will say they don't.  But they do. You only experience great things when you're forced to do things you don't want to do.

The ultimate grade for a head coach in my mind is ---- Did they get the ultimate maximum ability out of the team that they were given.  How much was left on the table.  When you grade your head coach like that, it doesn't matter how much or how little talent his team has.  Some say that the Cowboys players just simply aren't that good. Well, it's true that some of the individuals may have been over-rated. But I've seen teams with not much talent play their tails off and beat teams with more talent.  They are formed and united together.

I had a defensive coach in football that I didn't like very much at all.  He caught everything I did wrong on film and pointed it out to me in front of everyone.  He constantly rode me until I was frustrated enough to do something about it.  He was NOT my favorite coach while I was playing, and I might have told you then that he ranked near the least favorite of any coach I'd ever had.  However, there was one thing I knew.  If I listened to him and did what he told me to do.  We'd not only win on the defensive side of the ball...but we'd dominate.  I believed in what he wanted us to do, because I respected him.

And if a coach loses his team, he loses his desire to coach that particular team.  I also had a coach that told us every year that he didn't want to coach us in basketball but was being forced to so he'd make the best of it.  That was the first team that I was ever on in any sport my life (starting at age 5) that didn't end with a winning record.  That yearly speech wasn't quite the tone-setter for us kids wanting to and initially expecting to win basketball games.

You see, a head coach CAN make a difference in a team's performance on the field.  It starts way off of the field.  It starts with respect.  Wade Phillips is hard not to like.  The players all love him.  He's a great guy.  That's the number one problem.  I would love for Wade Phillips to be my neighbor and someone who would take my son fishing and stuff like that.  I'd even love for him to be my defensive coordinator on my football team.  But I can't have a guy like that being the man in charge of a football team.  It just doesn't fit the model.

My World Series Experience

The World Series is something that happened around the country and I never really actually thought about it coming to Arlington.  I really never did.  I had hoped one day it would happen, but I never really put too much faith in it.  Besides, I'm a life-long seamhead and a tried and true Rangers fan no matter what they do.  Baseball, as I knew it, changed in a HUGE way this October 2010.


Even I, as self-proclaimed "greatest Rangers fan of all-time" had no idea what postseason baseball can do to one's emotional inner-being.  It all happened so fast and all I can remember was the ups and downs and the knots in my stomach, the dizziness and uncontrollable laughter, and then the sudden hault.  It was a roller-coaster...and I want back in line.  I was so very blessed to attend not one, but two World Series games thanks to old high school friends.  My friend Todd and I had previously talked about a plan if the Rangers got to the World Series and he was able to purchase tickets first, so he reserved two tickets for me and my Mom.  And when the Rangers clinched the American League with that marvelous emotional moment with AROD at the plate, I knew at that moment that I was going to the World Series!!!!!!!


Game 3 was incredible.  Todd had printed the tickets from his house and gave me my two tickets that were on a normal sheet of paper.  I took them home and scanned them into the computer so that I could laminate them and then have the original tickets on paper as backup incase I had problems with them letting me in with my laminated tickets.  I took Mahlon to FedEx and perfectly had my tickets laminated before the game. My Mom and I rode down with some other hometown Rangers fanatics and it was great to talk baseball all the way down there.  When we got in line I handed my Mom her laminated ticket and her paper ticket just incase the laminated one didn't work with the barcode.  I reached for my paper ticket and at that moment, my heart dropped.  It wasn't in the folder...I had left it in the scanner.  Now all I had was my laminated ticket and I wasn't sure it would even scan.  I was FREAKING OUT!!!!!  

But in the meantime, we had some fun to calm the nerves. Three Giants fans walked up to me and asked me to take their picture in front of the Ballpark in which I did politely.  And then, I told them that the fee for such act was to let me take their picture while doing the Claw and Antlers sign. They were so cool and did so and we all had great laughs from that.  While the hippie stuff is very annoying as we saw the Giants fans getting off the bus, it's hard not to like that team.


Mom went first in the ticket line because we were going to see if her laminated ticket would work.  She had a backup paper ticket just in case. She was so nervous...far more than me.  She was acting like she had fake tickets and was trying to sneak in.  I had to tell her once, that there is nothing wrong with the ticket. It's real.  Don't freak out...because that would freak me out.  In the long run, hers scanned fine and she was even complimented by the ticket taker what a great idea it was to laminate it.  I then, with my chest stuck out, proudly scanned my ticket and we were at that moment, in baseball heaven.  I can imagine when my time comes and I meet St. Peter at the gates...it'll be a similar experience.  Those gates may be ballpark green in stead of gold...but this was as close as it gets for me.


I really had to tell myself over and over that this was actually the World Series.  I've been to the Ballpark in Arlington hundreds of times and was there for the first game ever, and the All-Star game, the ALDS, ALCS and so many great moments...but never such an event like this one.  It was kind of similar to the notion of being a kid and having President Reagan give the State of the Union from Bearcat Stadium in Sherman.  Can this be real?

I dressed in my all red Rangers gear as I always do.  We took lots of pictures and I could see the big smile on my Mom's face as this was a dream of hers too.  What a moment it was just to soak it in.  Seeing the words "Welcome to the World Series" on our diamond vision above the right field home run porch was just surreal.  Our seats were down the right field line in section 41, row 43, seats 7 and 8.  I was in 7...Mom was in 8. 


The game is well documented so I won't go in to great detail about how Colby Lewis was tremendous and the Mississippi kid Mitch Moreland made us all go nuts.  His home run made for possibly the most deafening moment in that Ballpark's history.  It was like nothing I've ever experienced.  Laughter overtook me as if I were on a roller-coaster ride.  The type of home run was very similar to the very first home run hit in that Ballpark back in '94 that I got to witness.  Dave Nilsson for Milwaukee hit a low line drive shot that landed in the lower home run porch and very similar to this one.  It's like everything had come full-circle.  I had just witnessed the first ever World Series home run at The Ballpark.  And it was WAY more exciting than Dave Nilsson's.  


Neftali Feliz slammed the door on the Giants and we left that place ecstatic.  Before leaving, the concourse was filled with "Lets Go Rangers" chants well after the game.  There was a buzz in the air that I've never heard at the Temple before.  It was so loud out there.  It was amazing to see that many thousands and thousands of people in sheer joy and giddiness.  I was on cloud nine all the way home and was so thankful that our friends had been kind enough to drive us because I was so wound up, I'm not sure driving would have been a great thing.


That was Game 3.  Game 4 I watched on TV.  After the game, I was told by an old high school friend Jon Norwood that he had an extra standing room only ticket for Game 5 that he'd let go for $100.  I was ALL OVER IT!!!!  Game 5 was the last game at The Ballpark no matter what happened.  It was a baseball fan's dream.  It was their stud pitcher vs. our stud pitcher.  It was them trying to achieve the pinnacle of success and us trying to fight and CLAW just one more day.  Cliff Lee vs. Tim Lincecum. It just doesn't get any better than that.  


Since the game was on a Monday and I now had tickets, I had to scour around and look at how many vacation days I had left.  I just so happened to have two days left. So on Monday morning, right out of the chute, I turned in an emergency half day vacation for that day.  Once cleared with my group, I was once again on cloud nine.  I was going to the World Series AGAIN!!!


I got there fairly early and met Jon at the first base gate and gave him the money for my ticket and we walked in.  He went to the gift shop and it cost him two hours of waiting in line to get two remarkably awesome Cliff Lee official jerseys.  I was highly impressed with his new game attire.  While he was in line, I roamed the Ballpark looking for good SRO (standing room only) "seats".  I parked myself on a picnic table for a few minutes and thought about staying out there for the whole game.  And then I thought I'd look elsewhere and chance it.  I found myself behind section 9 (down the left field line near the foul pole) behind all of the seats.  There were picnic tables out there, but all of the places had been reserved by blankets and bags and such. So I moved along.  I went over and stood behind section 11 which is a little closer to the action and stood there for the rest of the time until gametime.  I was the first one there and had a pretty good view of the action.  Jon later met me over there and we took turns saving our spots while the other went for refreshments.  When the game started, the entire row of seats in front of us were not being used, so I looked back at the guys standing behind me and said, "Here's the deal.  Me and my buddy here are going to move in front to these seats and you can stand right where we're standing.  But if we get kicked out of these seats, we want our spot back.  Is that a deal?"  They said heck yeah, and we moved up and actually got to sit for a tiny bit when everyone else sat down.  But for the most part, the house was rocking and we were on our feet most of the game anyway.  


The matchup turned out to be exactly as advertised this time around.  It was a very quick pitchers duel with both of them going toe-to-toe.  It was a baseball purist's dream for a game.  I told everyone around me at least 5 times, "the first one to one wins." Another old friend from high school Michelle Smith Fabacher had found us and came and visited for a little bit.  She was there when all hell broke loose and I somehow came down with a disease I'd never heard of before called "Rentaria."  I seriously remember thinking, "walk him."  No such luck.  BOOM! I had a great view of David Murphy going back and back and back.  It seemed like it was in slow motion.  In my mind, "he's going to catch it.  Oh no!  No, he'll get it. Crap!, Here comes a Greer like wall-banger!  Dang that ball is carrying.........."  silence...mouth wide open....eyebrows lifted.  In my head, "OMG...they were the first one to one."


Nellie Cruz made it interesting with a bomb of his own that rocked the Temple, but it wasn't enough.  The beards were to be feared afterall.  I watched as they ran out of the dugout and jumped on each other.  My initial thoughts were about our fans.  I thought to myself, "Please don't start booing!  Please!."  And with that thought, I started clapping.  I clapped for the Giants as they were a tremendous team with a tremendous story of misfits banding together to make something special.  But I also was clapping, hoping our fans would follow suit.  To my amazement, I wasn't the only one that had that same idea.  Everyone around me busted out clapping.  I realized that there is good in this world.  This earth may not blow up afterall.  There are good people all around.  And then, Rangers fans started chanting, "Lets Go Rangers" very very very loudly.  It may have been louder than at any point during the game.  We were all so proud of what our little team from the prairie had accomplished.  


I left the Ballpark that night, I stopped to take a picture of the banner that said World Series hanging from the beautiful entrance of the first base gate. I then got choked up.  I was fighting back tears of mixed emotions.  They weren't tears of losing, they weren't tears of joy...they were tears of how just dang awesome this summer of '10 was...and it was over.  That's what made me tear up.  And then I thought of my little 4-year old boy and how I want so badly for him to be with me to experience this with him, when he's 10 or 11 or 48.  And at that moment, I realized how my mom must have felt two days before.  I never thought about that until I looked at it that way.  That's what makes this so special.  Baseball, in its purest form is a bonding mechanism.  It's not about 13th century warrior combat and blood and guts and people with A.D.D.  It's about family.  It's about time...quality time.  It's to be savored, not gulped.  There's time to discuss everything between pitches or between innings.  Say this much for big league baseball - it is beyond question the greatest conversation piece ever invented in America.  


The other sports are just sports.  Baseball is a love.  ~Bryant Gumbel, 1981




This game is not for everyone.  It's intricate, it's a riddle, it's simplistic, it's beautiful, and it's addictive.  It's fathers and sons, fathers and daughters, and yes, moms and sons.  


I thank GOD for the Summer of '10.  I'm no longer sad that it's over.  I'm happy that it happened.

The Summer of '10 - I'll never forget you!