Whether you're at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt's End:
*Back in August I predicted this to be an 8-8 Cowboys team. My expectations - unlike a lot of fans - don't wildly vacillate with each outcome from every weekend in an NFL founded in parity. The Cowboys are 5-5. They are in first place in the NFC East. They have displayed both the ability to take the undefeated Chiefs and 1-loss Broncos to the wire, and to be blown out on the road by the NFC's second-best team. The Saints were 7-point favorites. They are undefeated at home. If you expected the Cowboys to win last night or you thought they'd be 7-3 at the Bye, may I suggest you've been delusional all along? You're the guy who buys a Smart Car and gets pissed when it doesn't have the giddyup of a Porsche. Like it or not, the Cowboys are not underachieving. Sadly, they are right on track.
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Saints 49, Cowboys 17: My Top 10 Whitty Comments are over at NBC 5's Blue Star Blog.
*Happy Veterans Day to all those who protect this country and give dorks like me the freedom to spout individual opinions. I was reading Novak Djokovic's autobiography
Serve to Win over the weekend and it details growing up in Communist Yugoslavia. For the first 10 years of his life, he was told how to think, what to believe, when to eat and even what sport to play. His family's house was "allowed" electricity for only six hours a day, because the government didn't want its people getting too comfortable and uppity. Again, whine all you want. But don't forget to hug a veteran who provided you the freedom to do so.
*Enjoy today, it's going to be 70ish, sunny and gorgeous.
Tomorrow? First cold front of the season arrives. High Tuesday 48 and by Wednesday morning we'll be in the 20s. Gross. But, that is good pizza-eatin' weather, right? Hintyhinthint.
*Bad as you feel this morning about the Cowboys' "devastating" loss, take a second to consider what's going on in The Philippines. Their version of a hurricane - Typhoon Haiyan - has killed at least 10,000 people.
Ten thousand. Our biggest local weather killer are tornadoes. Deadliest tornado in Texas history killed 114.
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Hot.
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Not.
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*So last night I'm crawling out of the recliner. I reach back with my foot and kick the foot rest back into place. But when I reach down to untangle my computer cord from the contraption - blammo! - the foot rest disengages and flies violently back out. Edge of it hits me square in the shin. I made up several cuss words. Bashing your shin into furniture is inevitable. Happens a couple times a year. And it's always a maddening combo of bruise and blood and 'barrassment. Not even my soft, oversized golf shoes could make the situation tolerable.
*You want some Rangers' off-season plans to distract you from the Cowboys' 32-point loss?
Let me direct you over to my buddy Rowdy, who breathes baseball 365 days a year.
*We all know Sean Lee is a badass. One of the best middle linebackers in the NFL. Without him last night the Cowboys' defense looked like a naked Monte Kiffin without his Viagra. But we've got to be a tad worried about his propensity for weird injuries. It was a dislocated wrist in '11, torn toe ligaments in '12 and now a hamstring that might keep him out a month. His last two injuries occurred in the open field, away from a violent collision. To be truly elite, he's got to stay on the field. Without him, the mediocre Cowboys have zero chance. Of anything.
*Exhilarating win Saturday night for Texas. McCoy-to-Shipley saves their ass on 4th down and they win 47-40 in overtime at West Virginia. But it came at a cost. Both defensive tackle Chris Whaley (knee) and running back Johnathan Gray (Achilles) suffered season-ending injuries. Ouch.
*Justin Bieber can do a pull-up. One.
Barely.
*In honoring our military on Veterans Day, customers with military IDs - active or retired - will receive one free pizza all day at Pizza Buzz.
*Today? Thinking of spending the night with old friends Mark Elfenbein, Jasmine Sadry and Gina Miller at the Verizon event down in Dallas' Omni Hotel. Oh yeah, DeMarco Murray will be there, too. Don't be a stranger.
The Cowboys are right on track...exactly as I have predicted. Injuries to the offensive line and defense are going to exacerbate the Cowboys downfall in the second half of the season. I would however, like to update my original predection. 8-8 will be over-achieving for this team. I think 6-10 or 7-9 is more likely. Repercussions?? I think it depends on the record...8-8 and playoffs and Garrett keeps his job. Anything less and no playoffs.....bye bye Red Jesus.
ReplyDeleteThe sad thing is that no matter who coaches the Cowboys, the person who should really be losing his job will not get fired. Jerry Jones will retain his job as GM and the Cowboys woes will continue ad-nauseum.
Dave
I believe you are 100% correct. Right now, the Cowboys aspire to be an 8-8 team at the end of the season.
DeleteSteven
Okay, I think everyone owes Richie Incognito an apology now.
ReplyDelete"Back in August I predicted this to be an 8-8 Cowboys team". You predicted the Cowboys would go 9-7 and be a wildcard team on 9/6 in the comments section of Whitt's End which is it 8-8 or 9-7????????? I know because I was the one that asked you. Do you just change your predictions when ever it suits your blog content???????? If you hurry you can probably change what you said on 9/6 so no one else see's it.
ReplyDeleteThey'll be DAMN lucky to win 2 of the next 6. This "team" just doesn't have heart (except for Harris). There's no fix for that.
DeleteHeart? They don't have linebackers, and their O-Line is terribly shaky. That's why they're destined to .500 or less. Get out of here with this "heart" nonsense....grandpa.
DeleteGuess that's why every sports talk radio and after show analyst was asking/talking about whether this team "just gave up" on the game/coaches. Tell you what shit-for-brains, go be a douchebag somewhere else. And if you just can't help yourself, then go fuck yourself.
DeleteIn every profession you can think of you have equally qualified people doing the same job, some underperform, some just perform, and some out-perform the rest. Call it what you will (heart, drive, determination) but some people just have that something extra that pushes them harder than the rest. If you take the full body of work in last nights debacle in New Orleans it is very clear that the Cowboys have very few that are out-performing their equal qualifications. If we are seriously going to resolve ourselves to infintile cursing of one another at least put your name on it.
DeleteShelley
They are PROFESIONAL ATHELETES. To get to that point, most of them are hyper-competive individuals. I can't buy "heart" in that line of work. It's imaginary.
DeleteWouldn't it be safe to assume that almost everyone that is at the top of their profession (elite as it were) the very best at what they do would be considere hyper-competitive refusing to finish second always striving to be the best. So based on your theory Anonymous nobody who is the best at what they do has Heart?
DeleteShelley
Shelley. These are the following things that do not exist:
DeleteHeart.
Heart of a Champion.
Clutch.
Wanting it more.
Momentum.
So then I guess you subscribe to the luck theory. That everybody is the same and the very best and most successful people in any field are just more lucky than the rest of us. There is nothing internal that separates those from the field.
DeleteShelley
Not sure how loudly I'd brag about predicting the Cowboys being 8-8 or even 9-7. Didn't take a genius to guess that one.
ReplyDeleteRichie Incognito was a punching bag from the beginning because nobody cares about both sides of the story, only about the "victim", who usually isn't much of a victim at all except in his/her own mind. Boohoo, stop crying, ya little bitch! (Now I'm a bully too, yay me!)
In hot/not, I can only guess what the "not" is since I got some kind of 1101 or 1011 error message, so on this "hot" Veteran's Day my guess is a picture of the flag of the former Soviet Union, those commie bastards! (ha but not really ha because they were communists and they were bastards)
To all service members, past and current, it can't be said too often or too loudly...Thank You!
My verification word was "ceduchce"...wtf is that?
DeleteTo Anon 147 Your welcome; it was an honor.
DeleteBill2455
Mr. Whitt. I like your column. A lot! Buuuuttt, what's your obsession with Johnny "Goofball" and Beiber? Those two dudes are barely 20, and while a tad bit obnoxious, they're TWENTY YEARS OLD.
ReplyDeleteyou mean you don't know? richie lives vicariously through 20 yr olds because he's having a hard time accepting the fact that he's 50
DeleteRichie, the owner stated several times that this was a Super Bowl team. Go ahead and call him out, you don't have to kiss his .... now that you don't work for the Fan.
ReplyDeleteEagles will win the division and Chip Kelly will be the NFC East god.
ReplyDeleteEven if the Cowboys luck out and do make the playoffs with a .500 record or so because their division happens to suck this season, it will be short lived and probably quite ugly. The team they played last night is an NFC playoff team and championship contender. We all saw the results.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll repeat it again, mediocrity will be the pinnacle for this franchise unless the ownership decides to make a change at the GM position which is nearing two decades of failure.
Except for 3 Super Bowl Rings. Granted Jimmy Johnson had most of the player personnel control then but the GM was the same.
DeleteShelley
Shelley,
DeleteJerry was ONLY GM in title then. Jimmy was the acting GM. The footall world knows this. It was in Jimmy's contract.
Was exactly my point when I made my post.....since Jerry has had full player personnel control and the early '90s team aged/retired/moved on, this has been an utter disaster where mediocrity is as good as can be hoped for. Horrible drafting, salary cap management and trades. It has gone on for nearly 20 years. There is only one man on the planet who could have kept that position after that many years of failure. Sadly, it's the one who is still there.
DeleteI understand we have huge expectations for the Cowboys and they have certainly fallen flat and wallered in mediocrity for the last 16 or so years but that said and agreed how many other current owners in the NFL can boast 3 Super Bowl Rings, I realize we live in the what have you done for me lately era, and I am agreeing with the masses that the GM needs replaced.
DeleteShelley
A few, but not many. But you have realize the Super Bowls were when Jerry, the owner, gave personnel decisions to someone else. But since, Jerry, the owner, has given all personnel decisions to Jerry, the GM. His ego was his own worst enemy which is evident from the results we've seen since he started calling all the shots. And FWIW, I used to say Jerry was a great owner, but a horrible GM. Now I say he sucks at both because the owner is the one who hires the GM.
DeleteAnd as far as expectations, mine are certainly anything but huge and have been for probably close to ten years.