First off, that was a nice win last night. But for a botched field goal and a dumb penalty by Colombo to kill a nice drive, the score probably would’ve been even more lopsided. The first-team offense looked great ( and Sam Hurd has fantastic hands) and there were even some sparks of genius from the likes of new backup QB John Kitna and some guy named Ogletree I’ve never even heard of before now. Mike Jenkins had a moment of dumb that allowed the one Titans touchdown, but otherwise they stifled the Tennessee offense for nearly the entire first half. So, a much better performance then last week.

Now, about that stadium. For one, it’s utterly ridiculous that punters can routinely hit the giant videoboard. McBriar says he won’t hit it, and Jerry Jones says they have to be aiming for it to hit it, but seeing as how in the very first game ever in the stadium the opposing teams punter whacked it repeatedly I’m anticipating that this is going to be a bit of a problem. Hint to Jerry Jones: fans don’t want to see punts replayed on a regular basis, unless of course they’re taking bets on who hits the thing. Raise it, please.

Also, I am simply amazed at how the giant videoboard dominates the view for stands in the upper decks. Obviously I’d have to be there myself to make a fair assessment, but the shot of the board from the upper deck during the game last night makes it clear that the massive screen will entirely dominate the field of view for fans at that level. Troy Aikman commented that it’s probably hard to take your eyes off of it even if you want to, and I think he’s right. If you’re a fan in the upper decks, you’re likely to spend most of the game watching the screen because a) you get a better view of the game and b) it’s so big and bright you’ll have trouble NOT watching it. My knee-jerk reaction is that this is completely stupid; who on Earth wants to go to a game to spend your time getting the same view of the game you could get on your TV at home? But then I thought, the biggest drawback to going to game in person is that you don’t get the great view of the game that you do on your TV. So why not combine the at-the-game experience and ambiance with an even better view of the game then you get on your TV at home? Alas, I think I’m too old-school for that. The point of going to the game is to get the live at-the-game experience, and the view of the game that is afforded by being able to see the whole field and all of the players at the same time (even if you can’t make them out individually.) And the point of being at home is to avoid the traffic and the experience of trying to fit into a tiny seat, or overpaying for a beer, and getting a better view of the game. Never the twain should meet.

Anyway, it was nice to flip on the TV and see the Cowboys playing again. I can almost smell Fall in the air.

1. Iraq is moving ahead with a referendum on the Iraq-US security agreement. Such is the perils of democracy. Though Iraqi leaders would almost certainly prefer American troops stay in the country, they can’t afford to oppose the referendum in an election year.

2. The Obama administration signals that they may move away from a policy of isolation with the regime in Burma. Since that hasn’t worked to date, I think it’s worth trying something new.

3. The Senate is moving ahead with a bill that would give the FDA the power to regulate tobacco products.

4. A profile of the guard killed in yesterday’s shooting at the Holocaust Museum in D.C. It would be interesting to ask the murderer what he thought he might accomplish with his act, though fanatics always seem to have a grander view of their place in the world than most of the rest of us do. I visited the museum when I was at law school in D.C., and was surprised at the heavy security required to enter the museum. Now I understand.

5. Some local news: Dallas County meals on wheels needs help. They don’t need your money, so much as they need volunteers to deliver meals so they won’t have to pay drivers to do so. If you’d like to help, more information is here. Also, local residents know about the odd series of minor earthquakes the area has experienced in recent months. Scientists at SMU hope to get to the bottom of the mystery.

6. Two mentally disabled men in Texas have (separately) been given ridiculously long sentences for molesting young children. Even the jury in Hart’s case was shocked by the 100-year sentence the man, reported to have an IQ of roughly 47, received. The question I would like to ask the prosecutors in this case is, if both men are reported to have IQs themselves that are roughly equivalent to those of young children, why are they sentenced as if they were fully functioning adults? And, the Hart story points out, repeat sex offenders routinely receive shorter sentences than these men did, which raises the question of whether there is some discrimination against the mentally disabled going on here, at least in my mind.

7. Perhaps you heard about the collapse of the Cowboy’s practice facility in Valley Ranch, Irving, last month that paralyzed a Cowboys scouting assistant? It appears the Cowboys knew of a similar incident involving a canopy built by the contractor they hired. While this isn’t exactly proof of negligence on the Cowboys part, it sure does make it easier to add the Cowboys to the lawsuit that I’m sure is being contemplated against the contractor.

The new Dallas Cowboys stadium is on its way to becoming the Texas soccer Mecca apparently. In addition to hosting two quarter-final matches for CONCACAF’s Gold Cup in July, the new stadium will also host an exhibition match between the Premiership’s Chelsea and Mexico’s Primera Division Club America. The events are a week a part, meaning it’ll be a hellaciously awesome week of world-class soccer in the Metroplex come July.

Or in the case of the Dallas Cowboys, throws an interception…or, something like that. Anyway, this is a good article about bad timing, at least when it comes to building massive stadiums. The inflated prices of seats and suites at the new Cowboys stadium (where by the way, nobody is in a rush to buy naming rights) are the topic of much amazement around here, so much so that the Cowboys are putting out ads trying to convince people that season tickets aren’t really as expensive as they think they are (except of course they actually are.)

By the way, the Cowboys cut Terrell Owens yesterday. In the style of the Bush administration, the news was leaked late last night, so if you went to bed early you probably didn’t hear about it until this morning. Initial thoughts: a) I was convinced that Jerry Jones wouldn’t cut T.O. until T.O. duplicated the mess he made in Philadelphia; like many, I’m guilty of yet again underestimating Jones; b) while I generally am leery of squishy explanations for why teams fail, I do think divisions in the locker room greatly hampered this team last year but c) getting rid of T.O. is only the beginning of the process necessary to fix those problems; T.O. had supporters and they’re not going to be happy about this. And d) as much trouble as he was T.O. was far and away the best receiver on this team, and still a top receiver in the league, and absent a break-out year from Williams or Austin or Hurd or a career year for Crayton, his productivity will be very hard to replace. So anybody who thinks that getting rid of T.O. means the Cowboys are necessarily playoff bound, should just try not to think that so much. This is a start, but this team has a lot more problems than T.O., all of which are likely to be focused on even more now.

Well apparently Dan Reeves was put off by Jerry Jones’ desire to treat him like a retail employee:

Dan Reeves said he objected to having a clause put in his contract about the amount of hours he was to work at Valley Ranch.

Thus, his employment with the Cowboys was short-lived.

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones and Reeves agreed in principle to a multi-year deal that was supposed to start Monday, but the former Cowboys assistant coach and player did not know about the clause.

“Oh, definitely, big-time,” Reeves said when asked if he was surprised by the clause. “For someone to question how I’ve done [my time] for a lot of years, I’ve never been questioned. Plus, as a coach, how can you verify that? Nobody punches a clock.”

[...]

“You don’t work 23 years in this business whatsoever without some kind of work ethic,” Reeves said. “To me, why would you want it in there? A contract should be like a handshake anyway.”

Reeves said he was going to work with all aspects of the organization – specifically with Jones, head coach Wade Phillips and the offensive coaches.

Reeves started work Monday, attended meetings and was in the process of looking at the passing game.

So that was the sticking point for Jones? A clause requiring a certain number of hours out of one of the most respected ex-coaches (and ex-Cowboys) in football? Did Jones really think that Reeves wasn’t going to put in the work? By all accounts he already was, even before the contract was signed. That just seems…well, weird. What the heck is going on over there at Valley Ranch?

So apparently the Dallas Cowboys have decided to hire former Cowboy and Broncos coach Dan Reeves to serve as some sort of special consultant….oh, uh, or not (a story I got to hear being broken live on The Ticket as a matter of fact.) Michael Irvin has a Cowboys-themed reality show lined up for next season’s training camp. To which I say, why? The Dallas Cowboys are “reality” enough as it is; all the drama, and the same high proportion of losers to successes. 

Because of course, no team in the NFL needs more distractions than the Dallas Cowboys.

For those of you looking to move on quickly after a disappointing end to the season, the Dallas Cowboys’ 2009 schedule is out. Included are games against the usual suspects (the rest of the NFC East, Green Bay, Carolina, Tampa Bay) and some notable games against San Diego, Atlanta and Denver. It would be nice to predict the likely exciting match-ups ahead of time, but given the up-and-down nature of success in the NFL and the Cowboys’ particular problems, it’s hard to say what state anybody will be in by the time one of these games rolls around.

Is it possible to, literally, fire everyone involved with this mess? Honestly, how is it possible for a team, in its most important game of the year, to turn in the absolute worst performance of the year (or of several years, for that matter?)