TERRY MOSHE
TOP OF THE TOWN‑ Some reaction to the 49ers victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday (Jan. 6). I detest the Cowboys for the assumption they are the darlings of American football. That’s based on the zillion of dollars spent on building the franchise, including the AT&T Stadium, also known as Jerry World after Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones. The actual cost of the futuristic stadium was $1.15 billion and is used for many things, not just football. The stadium is actually owned by the city of Arlington. What gets me is the Cowboys assume I have adopted them as my own. No way, partner. Also just the fact Jones is friendly with the 45th President is more than enough for me to dislike the Cowboys. I read the Sports Illustrated feature story on Dak Prescott and his story calmed me down some because it made me like him. He’s a good guy playing for a pretentious franchise, which doesn’t make Prescott a bad guy. He has just been dropped into the lap of the Cowboys and when you are making his kind of money ($160 million over four seasons) I can’t fault him for playing for what I term, the bad guys. Heck, I’m not proud. I would play for the Cowboys for that kind of money. But every time the TV shows Jones in his luxury box I about throw up. Jones is treated like some kind of King by the media. What is worse is Jones thinks he is king. Two other things and they both pertain to Sunday’s game. Yeah, yeah, I’ll get to the last play of the game that has activated sports shock jocks all over the country into sputtering through conversations on TV. First, though, I have to throw a few darts at Tony Romo, the former Cowboy quarterback who has a good second career doing analysis of football games on TV. He is good. Very good. But once a Cowboy, apparently always a Cowboy. We all know, or should know, that broadcasters have to be impartial. It’s the same thing that is an unwritten rule about beat writers in a pressbox. There is no cheering for the home team. No cheering at all, actually (that rule was brazenly broken repeatedly at Martin Stadium in Pullman back in the day when I made trips over the mountains to cover Apple Cup football games between the Washington State Cougars and the Washington Huskies. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was like I was in a frat house on a Saturday night and beer was flowing as easily as Niagara Falls. So I like Romo and his take on football games. He’s good I was suddenly jarred however in about the second quarter when Romo I realized it was obviously he was taking sides. I was stunned. I haven’t expected him to do this. He wasn’t brazen about it. You had to listen carefully to pick it up. And then when the Cowboys got an interception and scored a touchdown that turned defeat into a possible victory, Romo dropped all pretenses. He got as excited as a dog sniffing a steak on a grill. He suddenly got hungry for a Cowboy victory. I wanted to turn away and pretend it wasn’t happening, but it looked like Jones and his enablers up in the luxury box were going to be jumping around and celebrating a wild comeback. The 49ers had looked so dominant for much of the game and now the tide had turned and it looked very possible they would lose a game they should never lose. As the Cowboys drove to the 49ers’ 40 with just seconds left I could feel frustration and depression seeping into my consciousness. The Cowboys are going to win this thing and spoil not only my entire day, but probably my whole coming week. Then the Cowboys did the unthinkable and called a quarterback draw with 14 seconds remaining. What the bleep are they doing, I thought? They had no timeouts and running the ball was going to take the clock down to just a few seconds left. They might have pulled off one more play had they not lose their mind. The key here is that the football has to be place on the appropriate line of scrimmage by a football official before play can be resumed. Players can’t do it as Prescott tried to do. So by the time the official barged in between Cowboy players to get the football and place it correctly time ran out. Game over. Stupid. If you watch enough football games you know that players will quickly grab the ball and toss it to an official for proper placement. That is how it is done. Players can’t spot the football. I blame the Cowboys for calling a draw play. They were on the 40-yard-line with 14 seconds to go. That is enough time to throw two passes, but once they ran a draw play time was running out on them. Stupid. Prescott surely knows the official has to spot the ball, so as soon as he was hit on about the 25 he should have raced to give the ball to an official. Then he might have had one or two seconds to have another play, a pass into the end zone. There was no guarantee a pass would have been successful, but at least it would have given them a chance. I’m glad it didn’t work out. But sad they lost the chance to try, even though I didn’t want Jones or Romo to win. They lost because they screwed it up. Media folks across the country are suddenly thinking the 49ers have a chance to win the Super Bowl. If they do, remember this play in Jerry World. And remember the Seahawks beat the 49ers twice this season. That’s enough for today. Stay safe.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there
Have a great day.
You are loved.e’s Jo