Halloween on the Blog

Hello Mr. Sturm,

I submit to you the following proof that it was I who knew of Tony Romo's pending success way back in 2003. See the attached photo from the newpaper dated 5/1/2003 that I have kept in my briefcase since then, from Tony's hometown of Burlington, WI (also my hometown, and my grandmother mailed this to me). Since then, my 92 yr old Grandma keeps sending me the hometown clips everytime Tony makes news there....lately that's about every week.

I'll be in Burlington this coming weekend to visit family, and will going to a sports bar to watch the Cowboys. Should be interesting to see Cheeseheads cheer for the Cowboys.

Take care,

- P1 (& fellow Cheesehead) Jeff Weis in Frisco

Very cool. Thanks, Jeff.

And now, some outdated thoughts on the Stars:

Red Wings still own Stars

Surely, this is a few days old, but the subject matter of “how good are the Stars” has made its way into the conversation quite a bit recently. Although their start certainly has exceeded my expectations (which were quite minimal), there were numbers that I was reminded of after the Friday night loss to Detroit that made me a little crazy:

• Marty Turco is now 1-7-5 against Detroit in his career. This is the only Western Conference team he has a sub .500 record against.

• In 14 games, he has given up 3 goals or more 9 times vs. Det.

• Ken Hitchcock was 13-13-3 versus Detroit in his stay here; Dave Tippett is now 2-6-5.

Detroit may not be the king of the hill anymore, although it is too early to declare their death; but when it comes to Dallas playing them, the days of Hitch and Belfour are not being replaced very well by Tippett and Turco.

LINKS:


Mac looks at the 2nd Romo challenge …

Next up: at the Washington Redskins (2-5) and at the Arizona Cardinals (1-7).
The uncertainty that hung over the Cowboys for a week has moved on. The performance of first-time starting quarterback Tony Romo, and the entire team, was the evidence required to re-instill some confidence that had been shaken.

But the new task facing the Cowboys is guarding against over-confidence. After all, it was just one game.

"There is some demonstrated ability [in Romo] that always fosters that kind of belief. But, you know, anyone can land a lucky punch," Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said. "Or every once in a while, you're standing up there at the plate and they hit your bat. You didn't really hit the ball. They hit your bat."

Translation: Prove that you can hit it again.

Romo's stat line looks more like a hit than beginner's luck. He completed 24 of 36 passes for 270 yards with a touchdown and an interception. That adds up to 1-0 as a starter.

The Romo Effect was obvious: His teammates rallied around their baby-faced quarterback. From the offensive line to the defensive backs, everybody was a little bit better.

They had to be.

"We can't put [Romo] in terrible situations and act like he's going to be Johnny Unitas," James said. "We have to help him manage the game."

Immediately after the game, Cowboys owner/general manager/eternal optimist Jerry Jones did his best to put his child-like enthusiasm in a safe. He said one of the best things Romo did was not make the big mistake. But his own words betrayed him. Jones sounds like a man who thinks he might have stumbled on to something.

"We've got a chance to really do some good things," he said. "Everybody seems to have more confidence and play better when the future looks bright."

Tyson Thompson OUT …

Cowboys running back/kick returner Tyson Thompson will have surgery on his broken left ankle and miss the rest of the season.

Bill Parcells said the Cowboys will look into possibly signing a returner to replace
Thompson.

Veteran Aaron Glenn filled in for Thompson against Carolina and had one return for 14 yards. The Cowboys beat Carolina 35-14 Sunday night.

Thompson, of Irving, suffered the injury on a first-quarter return when he was
tackled out of bounds after a 37-yard return and the play drew an unnecessary roughness penalty. Thompson had two returns in the game for a 33.5 average.

Entering the Carolina game, Thompson was third in the NFC and ninth in the NFL in klckoff returns.

Bodog.com sent me these Mavs numbers:

I thought these Maverick and NBA odds may be of interest to you…They’re courtesy of Bodog.

Team Odds

Odds to win the 2006-2007 NBA Championship
Dallas Mavericks 7/2

Odds to win the 2006-2007 Western Conference Championship
Dallas Mavericks 5/2

2006-07 NBA Regular Season Wins
Dallas Mavericks Ov. 56½ Regular Season Wins -115
Dallas Mavericks Un. 56½ Regular Season Wins -115

How many games will the Dallas Mavericks win against the San Antonio Spurs this regular season?
0 +300
1 +250
2 +160
3 +200
4 +350

How many times will Mark Cuban be fined by the NBA this season?
Over 2 -120
Under 2 -120

Player Performance Odds
How many PPG will Dirk Nowitzki average this season?
Over 26.7 -120
Under 26.7 -120

Who will lead the Dallas Mavericks in APG average by the end of the regular season?

Jason Terry +170
Devin Harris +180
Jerry Stackhouse +250
Anthony Johnson +325
Josh Howard +450
Dirk Nowitzki +500

Who will lead the Dallas Mavericks in 3 point percentage by the end of the regular season?
Dirk Nowitzki +180
Jason Terry +160
Josh Howard +200
Field (Any Other Player) +400

Place your bets now!

Gameday to Aggieland as a part of the huge weekend! …

The award-winning ESPN College GameDay, built by Home Depot, is heading to College Station, Texas, for this Saturday’s (Nov. 4) football game between Texas A&M and Oklahoma. The two-hour show airs on ESPN beginning at 9 a.m. central. The football game is set to start at 7 p.m. central and will be shown on ABC.

More information and the exact location will be determined at a later time.

This marks the second trip to Aggieland for the trio of Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit and the ESPN GameDay crew. The crew highlighted the Nov. 11, 2000, football game between these same two schools.

Cowboys Dark Side correspondent weighs in on Carolina-Dallas …

Bledsoe cracked back by Patriots media …

To this day, Drew Bledsoe believes Bill Belichick lied to him in 2001. It’s obviously been a tough thing for Bledsoe to let go, because he brought it up when addressing the Dallas media last week upon officially losing the Cowboys’ starting quarterback job to Tony Romo.

“The only thing I didn’t like about that situation (in New England), that was different from this one, I felt like in that instance I was treated dishonestly,” Bledsoe said. “In this situation. ... Bill (Parcells) was honest with me. We sat down and had a conversation about it and there was nothing dishonest about it.”

Where’s former colleague Kevin Mannix when you need him? The Professor had a name for Bledsoe and his loyal supporters/excuse makers, and now that Bledsoe has decided to dive back into history, perhaps it’s time to set the record straight with the Boo Hoo Drew Crew.

Let’s say Bledsoe is right and Belichick “lied” to him, telling the former franchise quarterback that he would have all the time he needed to win his job back from Tom Brady in November of 2001 after nearly being killed by the hellacious hit from Jets linebacker Mo Lewis. If Belichick did, in fact, say that, then he certainly didn’t carry it out for long, because within a week of that alleged conversation, Belichick called both Bledsoe and Brady back into his office and told them Brady would be the starter the rest of the year.

Belichick had decided that it was unproductive to split practice reps. He realized you can’t have two starting quarterbacks. Above all -- do we really need to go back over this? -- he knew that Brady was clearly the better player.

NY Times story on Parcells By Michael Lewis …Good story and all, but it is 17 pages!

Youtube:

American Movie Trailer (Mark Borchardt and Mike Schank)



Aggies Beat Oklahoma 2002



Ben Dawg and Dust get us back in the mood for Mavs Hoops: