This Week in Dallas Sports: NHL Lockout, Dez Bryant and College Football
We are hitting the busiest time of the year for the Dallas sports scene. The Cowboys, Stars and each of our local college football teams are about to start their seasons, but unfortunately some of the news lately has been about off the field issues.
Another week has come and gone and it appears we are one week closer to an NHL lockout. The two sides met a couple of days last week, but no significant progress has been made. As mentioned last week, a lockout would probably destroy all of the successes that the NHL has enjoyed in recent years. It’s not going to be like the NBA where ratings went through the roof when the games tipped off on Christmas Day. The NHL, unfortunately, does not have that luxury. The Winter Olympics really helped to get hockey back in the main stream of sports. Playoff ratings the last couple of years have been really good too.
There are difficult issues facing the sport, but both sides should realize what’s at stake and work to get a deal done before September 15th. And, if there does happen to be a lockout, work fast and hard to get a deal done and salvage part of the season like the NBA did. It’s a shame there is not more of a sense of urgency to these talks.
As for Dallas Stars news, no new news to pass along this week. I guess no news is good news?
The mixed bag today continues with a little Dallas Cowboys talk. Yes, they won 20-19 against the St. Louis Rams Saturday night, and Tony Romo looked very good. He threw two touchdowns in three possessions. The coaches saw what they needed to and pulled him after that, not even a quarter into the game.
But the real story that has Cowboys’ fans talking, and a lot of people around the league and throughout the sports world, is that wide receiver Dez Bryant recently had a set of rules imposed on him by the Dallas Cowboys organization . Some of the rules that Bryant must follow include:
- Midnight curfew
- No drinking
- A member of a security team will drive Bryant to practice and one member must be with Bryant at all times
- Dez has to attend counselling sessions twice a week
This man is a professional athlete. He shouldn’t need to be babysat. The Cowboys are using this as a last resort I feel. Back in 1998, Jerry Jones elected to pass on a troubled wide receiver out of Marshall. His name? Randy Moss. Moss only went on to have the best rookie season in history with seventeen touchdowns leaving Jones to think “what if” for the next ten years. Jones panicked when he saw a talent like Bryant come out of Oklahoma State and remembered back to that fateful draft day when he passed on Moss. So Jones decided to take Bryant, thinking the talent was well worth the potential behavior issues. So far, that does not seem to be the case. Bryant has had troubles off the field and troubles staying healthy on the field. We all know about his incident involving his mother this offseason. When will Bryant realize his true potential, the God-given gift he possesses? You would hope that this is the wake-up call he needs. It’s a shame the Cowboys have to do this, because they shouldn’t have to. This appears to be a last chance sort of deal for Bryant. We’ll see if it works out. To me, he’s not worth the trouble and I’d release him. Would you?
We end today talking a little college football. College football begins what should be another exciting season this week and area teams are ready to kick the season off.
SMU pays a visit to the Robert Griffin III-less Baylor Bears this Sunday, September 2, at 6:30 PM ET. Not quite sure what to expect from SMU this year, but if they can pull out a win against Baylor or keep it close, it will make SMU fans excited for this season.
North Texas heads to Death Valley to take on LSU Saturday, September 1, at 7:00 pm ET on ESPNU. Good luck with that one. If they can keep it within four touchdowns, it would be amazing.
TCU begins their inaugural season in the Big 12 with a visit from Grambling State next Saturday, September 8th at 7:00 pm ET. More on them next week.
And for the Texas fans, Texas takes on Wyoming in Austin Saturday, September 1, at 7:00 PM ET on the Longhorn Network.
How each of these teams will fare this season is written in the stars.
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