Greetings from the woods of Sullivan County, Pennsylvania!
Early December marks the annual McElroy father-son hunting trip. (Don’t let the hair gel and the pinstripe suits fool you, this columnist loves the outdoors.) We’re up in the woods, away from all civilization except for the deer, bear, Sasqwatch and whatever other woodland creatures are out there.
On last night’s trip to the outhouse, a copy of Sports Illustrated, dated December 1, 2003, caught my attention. (By the way, if you want to have a little fun, mention to your kids that you are going to make them live five days with no electricity, no Playstation, no Internet, no running water and with only a radio and a fireplace as entertainment, and then watch them bust into funeral-like sobbing.) A blurb in SI, “Star in the Making” by Peter King, projected that then-Detroit Lion rookie Boss Bailey would be the next Ray Lewis or Derrick Brooks.
Needless to say, three years later I couldn’t tell you the difference between Boss Bailey and Boss Hog.
•
These days, all the football world is gushing over Dallas quarterback Tony Romo.
As of this writing, the fourth year veteran from Eastern Illinois University has already thrown for 13 touchdowns and 2,400 yards in five starts. The guy could’ve been 5-0 if not for Mike “the idiot liquored-up kicker” Vanderjagt’s blocked game-winning field goal against the Washington Redskins in Week 9.
 Dallas QB Tony Romo is definitely a great player. Why do we have to get so worked up over what he might become? |
Romo’s got the arm. He’s got the mobility and so much quarterback moxie that the national media spent the past three weeks trying to see if Romo was secretly dating Jessica Simpson.
Romo might be the next star of the NFL.
The key word, people, is might.
In contemporary sports, it’s amazing the need to label someone instantly. No wonder then that the label can change in a nano-second.
One day a legend, next day a fraud.
Such is the case with New England Patriot quarterback Tom Brady. The guy wins a Super Bowl in his rookie year, then gears up two more in the next three. The Patriots are 8-3, but questions are starting to surface as to whether the Patriots’ success is behind them.
Excuse me? What more would you like this guy to do? Change water into wine?
Every other weekend, football fans flake out over whether Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is the ultimate weapon or the ultimate joke.
Two years ago, sports writers were wondering if Tiger Woods had lost his dominance in golf. Nice to see Mr. Woods has scraped something together this past year to win a couple of majors.
In our sports culture, we go nuts labeling a guy for what he might be as opposed to what he is. We try to project to the future without enjoying the here-and-now career.
Sure, we’ve had flavors of the month before like AJ Feely and Scott Mitchell. Romo might be a great. He just might lead Dallas to the Super Bowl. He might just be playing the greatest six weeks that he will ever have in his career.
For the time being, let’s sit back, enjoy the ride, and once he’s put together a nice long career, we then can ponder where Romo fits in with Montana, Unitas and Elway.
Now excuse me, while I go gut a deer.
Wes McElroy hosts “The Final Round” on ESPN 840 from 3 to 5pm Monday-Friday.