Monday, January 14, 2008

National Lampoon's Mexican Vacation

The Dallas Cowboys had a bye week for the first round of the playoffs, so “to get away from football,” Tony Romo goes to Mexico. Really? A vacation south of the border with Jessica Simpson during the first round of the playoffs. Oh yeah, this could have ONLY ended well.
The Dallas Cowboys lost this past weekend as the Giants entered Texas Stadium and knocked off the No. 1 seed of the NFC. This was the first time the No. 1 seed has lost in the divisional round under the current playoff format. They had been 17-0. Never before. But I wonder how many times during that 17-0 stretch, the starting quarterback decided to hope aboard Air Mexico and jet off for a little RNR with his pop-diva girlfriend? Especially one that thinks Chicken of the Sea Tuna is actually chicken.
Am I opposed to vacations? No, I think everyone needs a little rest and relaxation every now and then. But not before one of the biggest games of your career. Last year in the playoffs Romo bobbled a snap on the potential game-winning field goal. Romo was coming off a lackluster showing against Washington were he was 7/16 for 86 yards and one interception. All I am saying is maybe he should have gone down south sometime in February. Vacations during the season just don’t work. Ask Wally Pipp. Cal Ripken Jr., never took a vacation. Now he’s in the Hall of Fame. Tony, you keep messing up these playoff games, you won’t make it to 2011.
But did the vacation REALLY mess with him? Well he certainly heard about it ALL week from reporters. So he went out there and pressed. He tried way too hard to not mess up and have reporters blame his leaving for the team potentially losing. What happened during the game? He was screaming at his own linemen in the second half. He was scrambling around trying to make a play and was sacked when he should have thrown the ball away. He was intentionally grounding the ball with no pressure. He was overthrowing some receivers, underthrowing others. He was arguing with the refs, even going as far to grab one, which, if you aren’t Tony Romo, gets you thrown out of a game. Then the game ended when he threw an interception into the endzone.
I just don’t think that Peyton Manning was in Puerto Rico last week “getting away from football.” I don’t recall hearing that Brett Favre was trolling around Madrid on his “weekend off.” Tony is a rock-star. He holds THE most high profile job in the NFL: Quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. But he is dating Jessica Simpson, who has killed more careers (Dane Cook, Nick Lachey) than Enron. Get it together Romo. You can still come back from this, but be a little smarter next time. Leave the wacky vacations to Clark W. Griswold Jr.

No comments: