BigRedChief
01-13-2008, 03:28 AM
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/columnists/jason_whitlock/story/442230.html
Dont trip out over Romo-Jessica trip to Mexico
The NFL’s dominance of Major League Baseball and the NBA could not be more evident than what passes for controversy in Roger Goodell’s league.During a weekend that brought you Brett Favre at snowy Lambeau Field, Tom Brady’s continued pursuit of perfection and Peyton Manning vs. LaDainian Tomlinson, it was Tony Romo’s bye-week trip to Cabo with Jessica Simpson that drove discussion.
Pete Rozelle must be in football heaven laughing his butt off.
Seriously, the NFL just has things too good right now. While Bud Selig and Roger Clemens prepare to testify before Congress about drugs and David Stern waits for America to take notice of Kevin Garnett and the Celtics, the NFL is pushing pedal to metal on arguably its most remarkable season.
Brett Favre triumphantly returned as a superstar in the same year Tom Brady and Randy Moss shredded the league’s offensive record book. The equivalent would be Michael Jackson and Led Zeppelin releasing “Thriller” and “Led Zeppelin IV” in the same month.
What’s happened during this NFL season just isn’t supposed to happen all at the same time. You’re not supposed to have Brady, Favre, Manning, LT, Moss, Terrell Owens, the New York Giants, the Green Bay Packers, the Dallas Cowboys and Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo all playing in crucial games.
And the Simpson-Romo romp damn sure isn’t supposed to be national news. How does it happen?
Athletes have been hooking up with Hollywood blondes ever since Joe DiMaggio made an honest woman out of Marilyn Monroe, ever since Joe Namath bedded half of New York and Wilt Chamberlain had his way with half the world’s female population.
Last I checked, scientists had determined 78.3 percent of the motivation for men to play sports is just so women such as Jessica Simpson will return their calls. If beautiful women caused athletes to choke in the clutch, how do you explain Tony Parker’s success with the San Antonio Spurs with Eva Longoria sitting courtside?
Surely you don’t believe the myth about boxers losing their legs.
Romo-Simpson is a media-driven controversy that will have no impact on today’s Cowboys-Giants game. Had he gone to Vegas with O.J., then there might be a problem. If Romo spent Saturday night at a casino gambling until the wee hours, then we might have a genuine issue, but maybe not.
Michael Jordan never seemed to let late-night gambling interfere with his performance. But we seem to have forgotten all of that. And with our desperate need to find something remotely controversial to talk about, some of us have latched on to Jessica and Romo.
“If only Tony had called me and said, ‘Terry, Jessica and I are going to go to Mexico,’ ” Fox broadcaster and four-time Super Bowl winner Terry Bradshaw told the FortWorth Star-Telegram. “I would’ve told him: ‘You crazy? Don’t do that! The paparazzi is going to find you, man. You’re a star. She’s a star. It’s just going to happen.’
“Tony is obviously different than me. He’s one of the young kids who wears his cap on backward. … I just wouldn’t have done what he did. … I couldn’t allow my mind to go there.”
Maybe at 60 with a bald head. But when you’re in your prime and you’re the quarterback of the Cowboys, you take your mind and body wherever Jessica Simpson wants you to go on your off day.
You know what? If anything, Romo’s vacation with Jessica was nothing more than another blessing for a league that apparently can’t do anything wrong. The gossip and the attention of the paparazzi have only served to hype the playoffs. Romo-Simpson will simply make more casual fans pay attention to the playoffs before the Super Bowl.
A Cowboys-Patriots Super Bowl might set a TV ratings record that would never be surpassed. Romo vs. Brady would turn into Simpson vs. Gisele vs. Bridget Moynahan. The broadcasting network would need some sort of split cam to show the game and the facial expressions of all the supermodels.
It’s impossible to find a negative in any of this. The Cowboys won Super Bowls while Michael Irvin and Co. partied at the White House. The Yankees seem to survive the New York spotlight and the tabloids. Magic Johnson and the Lakers dominated while he chased Wilt’s records.
A couple of days in Cabo San Lucas with one of the world’s hottest airheads won’t derail Tony Romo. Michael Strahan and the Giants might do it.
Dont trip out over Romo-Jessica trip to Mexico
The NFL’s dominance of Major League Baseball and the NBA could not be more evident than what passes for controversy in Roger Goodell’s league.During a weekend that brought you Brett Favre at snowy Lambeau Field, Tom Brady’s continued pursuit of perfection and Peyton Manning vs. LaDainian Tomlinson, it was Tony Romo’s bye-week trip to Cabo with Jessica Simpson that drove discussion.
Pete Rozelle must be in football heaven laughing his butt off.
Seriously, the NFL just has things too good right now. While Bud Selig and Roger Clemens prepare to testify before Congress about drugs and David Stern waits for America to take notice of Kevin Garnett and the Celtics, the NFL is pushing pedal to metal on arguably its most remarkable season.
Brett Favre triumphantly returned as a superstar in the same year Tom Brady and Randy Moss shredded the league’s offensive record book. The equivalent would be Michael Jackson and Led Zeppelin releasing “Thriller” and “Led Zeppelin IV” in the same month.
What’s happened during this NFL season just isn’t supposed to happen all at the same time. You’re not supposed to have Brady, Favre, Manning, LT, Moss, Terrell Owens, the New York Giants, the Green Bay Packers, the Dallas Cowboys and Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo all playing in crucial games.
And the Simpson-Romo romp damn sure isn’t supposed to be national news. How does it happen?
Athletes have been hooking up with Hollywood blondes ever since Joe DiMaggio made an honest woman out of Marilyn Monroe, ever since Joe Namath bedded half of New York and Wilt Chamberlain had his way with half the world’s female population.
Last I checked, scientists had determined 78.3 percent of the motivation for men to play sports is just so women such as Jessica Simpson will return their calls. If beautiful women caused athletes to choke in the clutch, how do you explain Tony Parker’s success with the San Antonio Spurs with Eva Longoria sitting courtside?
Surely you don’t believe the myth about boxers losing their legs.
Romo-Simpson is a media-driven controversy that will have no impact on today’s Cowboys-Giants game. Had he gone to Vegas with O.J., then there might be a problem. If Romo spent Saturday night at a casino gambling until the wee hours, then we might have a genuine issue, but maybe not.
Michael Jordan never seemed to let late-night gambling interfere with his performance. But we seem to have forgotten all of that. And with our desperate need to find something remotely controversial to talk about, some of us have latched on to Jessica and Romo.
“If only Tony had called me and said, ‘Terry, Jessica and I are going to go to Mexico,’ ” Fox broadcaster and four-time Super Bowl winner Terry Bradshaw told the FortWorth Star-Telegram. “I would’ve told him: ‘You crazy? Don’t do that! The paparazzi is going to find you, man. You’re a star. She’s a star. It’s just going to happen.’
“Tony is obviously different than me. He’s one of the young kids who wears his cap on backward. … I just wouldn’t have done what he did. … I couldn’t allow my mind to go there.”
Maybe at 60 with a bald head. But when you’re in your prime and you’re the quarterback of the Cowboys, you take your mind and body wherever Jessica Simpson wants you to go on your off day.
You know what? If anything, Romo’s vacation with Jessica was nothing more than another blessing for a league that apparently can’t do anything wrong. The gossip and the attention of the paparazzi have only served to hype the playoffs. Romo-Simpson will simply make more casual fans pay attention to the playoffs before the Super Bowl.
A Cowboys-Patriots Super Bowl might set a TV ratings record that would never be surpassed. Romo vs. Brady would turn into Simpson vs. Gisele vs. Bridget Moynahan. The broadcasting network would need some sort of split cam to show the game and the facial expressions of all the supermodels.
It’s impossible to find a negative in any of this. The Cowboys won Super Bowls while Michael Irvin and Co. partied at the White House. The Yankees seem to survive the New York spotlight and the tabloids. Magic Johnson and the Lakers dominated while he chased Wilt’s records.
A couple of days in Cabo San Lucas with one of the world’s hottest airheads won’t derail Tony Romo. Michael Strahan and the Giants might do it.