I admit it.
I have a problem.
I'm a chronic Dallas Cowboys over-estimator.
Despite what I know about the team's recent history. Despite what I think about Tony Romo.
Whip the defending Super Bowl champs on the opening night of the season and suddenly I'm hooked again.
My problem nearly came to a head Monday night. I was a game clear of the field in our office NFL pool (for recreational purposes only, of course). And what do I do, I foolishly pick the Cowboys against the Chicago Bears.
Luckily, others in our office suffer the same affliction as I do. That, and some good fortune on the tiebreaker, allowed me to squeak out a victory.
(By the way, I won our office NFL pool last year. You need a few picks, I'm your guy. So I'm in ninth this year. Whatever. I felt like the competition needed a head start.)
But I have the winning formula now. When it comes to the Cowboys, I'm done, out, finished. Starting today, I'm burning my membership card to the Dallas Cowboys Over-Estimator Club.
As former Arizona coach Dennis Green so eloquently put it, the Cowboys are who we thought they were -- a model of inconsistency quarterbacked by a guy no one would have ever heard of if he played in Buffalo or Houston.
I wrote this sentence in September for our NFL preview: "The Cowboys only beat one team last year that won more than seven games."
Why I thought so much had changed with this group is anyone's guess.
Our own Jason Collington mentioned yesterday he thinks Monday Night Football analyst Jon Gruden sounds like a man who would love to coach the Cowboys (read that blog item,
here).
Off to a 2-2 start and with games against Baltimore, Carolina, the New York Giants, Atlanta and Philadelphia following the bye week, the Dallas job may very well be open at year's end.
And when that happens, I'm sure I'll get drawn back in again.
But until then, I'm done.
I swear.
