SB Nation User Blog: Trey,

Piling on the Redskin's Misery

Trey, — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 06:53:40 -0000

The Internet can be a harsh place, but piling on the Redskins is just too easy these days.

The link below is to an article where a local Bay area writter (Tim Kawakami) bashed Washington's decision to hire Jim Zorn right after it was made. He listed a number of better potential hire such as Mike Singletary and Rex Ryan. What made it an entertaining read was the flames he got from Washington's faithful fans, followed by a recent flurry of post giving the author props and demanding that hurting Redskin fans appologize.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2008/02/11/jim-zorn-to-the-redskins-probably-the-worst-nfl-hire-of-all-time/

The article is getting new life due to a Bill Simmons link. Things that go around come around. Bill Simmons eventually takes his shots at everything that is not from Boston, so barring a Dallas Superbow victory, the Cowboys turn will come in January.

Romo's Golf game gives his critics ammo

Trey, — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:02:21 -0000

I am a Tony Romo fan. I think he sometimes gets critized for things that another more proven athelete would recieve praise. If Tom Brady, Montana, MJ, Magic, or Wayne Gretzky had came close to qualifing for the US open while they were still playing, the media and fans would praise them for their mental toughness and being well rounded athletes. Some of these athletes put a significant amount of time developing their future business empires while they were players. All prasie worth and no would question thier dedication to their craft because they spent a serious amount of effort and time working on something other then their sport.

That said, Tony Romo has a major perception problem. While he is only partially at fault for the perception problems he is the only one who can take action to change it. It's all well and good that many people in their 20s take the approach to life that they do not need to care about other peoples perceptions as long as they are true to themsleves.

When a highly paid professional has a perception problem, it is their responsibility to address it; even it is not fair and if it requires the sacrifice of over correcting. This is true for college professors, corporate managers, private practice attorneys, doctors etc. Organizations sometimes have to take highly talented, industrious people out of critical roles if they cannot manage a perception problem.

He is precieved as lacking dedication, not putting in enough effort to prepare, of enjoying the fruits of his role too early, of not hating losing enough, and of not finishing well. I do not believe they are all true, but they are all commonly precieved by much of the media and public and that is a major problem for Tony Romo and the Cowboys.

I do not know to fix his image, but if I was advising Tony Romo, I would have him work with a respected image consultant and make an intentional plan to improve his perception.

The American sports culture expects its athletes and coaches to care about winning to the point that they borders on being sociopathic about it. Tony does not need to take on the worse aspects of the sports culture, but a post game interviews after a loss that knocks his team out of the playoffs is a poor time for him to remind fans that its just a silly game. Fair or not, shooting 44 on the back nine, with five bogeys and a triple-bogey on No. 16 after shoting even par on the front nine in the rain does is not going to help him shred his image of a talented, happy go lucky guy who can't finish and does not care enough about winning.

Troubling economic times trumps concern about what is happening on the field

Trey, — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:56:34 -0000

Troubling economic times and a billion dollar stadium deal trumps any concern about what is happening on the field. Winning a Super bowl this year was part of Jones’ grand plan; but it is not the most important part of the plan. He loves to win, and winning sells tickets; but the most essential thing is that the stadium is completed in time for next year and that the team sells enough outrageously priced box seats and seat licenses to pay for it.

Jones has always been a finical risk taker, but as it’s working out, his timing on when to finance and build a billion dollar stadium could not have been worse. The ability to pay for that stadium is predicated on a significant increase in future sales revenue. Already, Corporate America has already cut back on advertising dollars and they will be spending a lot less buying nice to have items such as million luxury seats and seat licenses.

With the fiscal shock therapy that the economy has suffered over the last six weeks; I can guarantee you that over the last month that the Cowboys had more sales cancellations then they had new sales. If this economic turn down is as deep and long lasting as many analyst fears then Jones and the Cowboys stand to lose tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars over the next couple years. Due to cash flow and financing considerations; sour deals of this size can bankrupt billionaires in short order.

It is laughable that many fans still choose to believe that Jerry Jones is micromanaging the coaches or is heavily involved in game planning or film breakdown. Jones may be worried about and disappointed by the Cowboys performance on the field, but he is much more worried about how to survive difficult economic times then he is about how to better utilize Felix Jones.

Jerry is the consummate promoter that is always looking for a way builds his franchise. He comes up with and implements a new revenue streams more often then any sports team owner. He has not out hustled his counter parts in this arena by spending his nights and weekends breaking down gap assignment or other football coaching essentials.

He shows up in the locker-room and sideline and offends the sensibilities of fans that believe that sports team owners should be seldom seen or heard and be willing to lose a bit of money to have their team win. NFL and Cowboy fans should be appreciate what Jones has done for the team and the sport. His financial “Cowboy” style has generated a lot of money for the sport and resulted in some great NFL teams.

With a growing global economic crisis, a new stadium coming online and the CBA coming up for renegotiation the Cowboys and the NFL are in for some “interesting” financial times. Let’s hope that next year, the Cowboys biggest concern has to do with football.