It does kinda feel like Fall lately, been pretty nice here actually.
It seems I've spent most of the last week defending Tony Romo. Uhm, apparently maybe he is having issues lately. Whoops.
Cowboys' Romo just hasn't been the same lately
08:03 PM CDT on Thursday, September 24, 2009
Column by JEAN-JACQUES TAYLOR / The Dallas Morning News | jjtaylor@dallasnews.com
IRVING – Right now, we have no idea where Tony Romo fits into the NFL's quarterback hierarchy.
Is he a franchise quarterback? A solid starter? Or is he the ultimate tease, a coach-killer who will always leave you wanting more?
Don't feel bad. No one knows exactly where to put him, including Wade Phillips and Jerry Jones, no matter how much politically correct rhetoric they spout this week.
These days, Romo is consistently inconsistent, a huge problem for a team with high expectations that hasn't won a playoff game since 1996.
Sure, Romo's 94.2 career passer rating trails only Peyton Manning's 94.9 for the highest rating among active quarterbacks, but anyone who thinks they're comparable needs professional help.
In Romo's first 23 games as a starter, he was 17-6 with 50 touchdown passes, 24 interceptions and a 101.7 passer rating. When that stretch ended in 2007, the Cowboys were 12-1 and en route to earning the NFC's top playoff seed.
Since then, Romo is 11-9 as a starter with 34 touchdowns, 23 interceptions and an 85.0 passer rating.
The guy from the first 23 starts can lead the Cowboys to a championship; the guy from the last 20 starts can't.
My theory: Romo misses former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells more than any other player on the roster.
No one challenges Romo like Parcells did. No one holds him accountable like Parcells did. Certainly, no one dog cusses him like Parcells.
When Romo screws up, there are no real ramifications – other than he feels bad. It's not like Phillips would ever bench him, even though Jon Kitna is a capable backup.
Romo's way too comfortable. He's the type of guy who's at his best when someone like Parcells is constantly on his butt while using language that would get your kids grounded for a month.
Phillips certainly doesn't employ that style. Neither does offensive coordinator Jason Garrett.
It didn't matter as much in 2007, his first season without Parcells, because Romo had been around Parcells so long and still embodied all of the coach's philosophies. Parcells has been gone nearly three years, and Romo certainly isn't adhering to Parcells' philosophy now.
All you have to do is watch him play.
Most of the expectations heaped upon Romo are based upon his first 23 starts, when he showed star potential.
That guy had 14 games with a passer rating of more than 100.0 and led the Cowboys to winning streaks of four, five and six games. That Romo made the Cowboys a Super Bowl contender.
We haven't seen that Romo in a long time. Maybe we'll never see him again. There are no guarantees.
Perhaps we should accept that Romo will always be a player who is equally capable of making the big play and the big mistake in the same game.
The final 14 games of this season will determine whether we need to lower our expectations for Romo, who is 29.
If that's the case, Jerry has made a $67 million goof. Jerry signed Romo to a lucrative deal that included $30 million in guaranteed money because he assumed he was the next great quarterback in franchise history.
We all did – unless you're into revisionist history.
I can't tell you what a pain in the keester the Party Pass was for us at the Cowboy game on Sunday. Apparently it won't be like that anymore. Or will it?
Cowboys say Party Pass limit already was in place
04:30 PM CDT on Thursday, September 24, 2009
By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News
jmosier@dallasnews.com
The Dallas Cowboys reiterated today that the team would not limit the number of standing-room-only Party Passes at their new stadium after fans became unruly Sunday when they were refused entry.
An Arlington fire department official said earlier today that the Cowboys had agreed to limit the number of party passes issued for the end zone decks to 15,000, but a Cowboys spokesman said that limit was already in place.
The Cowboys sold 30,000 Party Passes to Sunday’s home opener, which set the NFL regular season attendance record. A large number of fans with Party Passes were unaware the tickets didn’t guarantee them access to the stadium.
The number of people who can stand on the six end zone decks is 15,000, city and Cowboys officials said. Don Crowson, an Arlington assistant fire chief, said that is based on current configurations for those areas. If bars, concession stands and other structures are added or removed, that number could change.
Crowson said standing room only capacity could also be added in clubs or other parts of the stadium outside of the decks.
Team spokesman Brett Daniels said Sunday was a special event because it was the Cowboys’ first regular season game at the new $1.15 billion stadium. The attendance for that game against the New York Giants, which the Cowboys lost, was 105,121. City officials said they don’t expect the Cowboys to have crowds that size at every game.
Daniels said earlier this week that about 7,500 Party Passes had been sold for Monday night’s game against the Carolina Panthers. The new stadium holds about 75,000 fans in the suites and seating bowl. It was the large end zone decks and plazas that allowed the Cowboys to set that attendance record.
Fans who purchased Party Passes were sent e-mails saying they could stand on decks inside the stadium only if space were available. If the decks reached capacity, people with Party Passes would have to remain outside in the 7 acres of plazas.
Many fans with Party Passes said they were unaware of the restrictions and pressed against the end zone gates and demanded to be allowed inside. Public safety and Cowboys officials decided to take down the barriers and allow the crowd to move freely between the plazas and decks for safety reasons.
The new Michael Moore flick comes out tomorrow. It's currently at 63% on Rotten Tomatoes. Here is a 3 star review from the USA Today.
'Capitalism: A Love Story' profits from populist outrage
By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY
Capitalism: A Love Story may be the timeliest documentary in Michael Moore's two-decade career.
No matter what side of the political fence you're on or what you think of Moore as an activist and provocateur, a film that explores the economic meltdown and its historical roots is something most of us can get our heads around.
Capitalism is impassioned, informative and entertaining, if sometimes repetitive. Moore has never pretended to be objective. Few documentarians are. The minute a camera is aimed at a subject, subjectivity sets in.
Moore may be the most overtly biased major filmmaker and therefore a figure some love to hate. His facts and assertions will continue to be debated with Capitalism as they were with his past films. But his populist sensibility and lively filmmaking techniques are put to good use. Capitalism is as entertaining as Roger & Me, and its critique skewers both major political parties, calling into question the economic policies of Bill Clinton as well as Ronald Reagan.
This is quintessential Moore, with a clear-cut agenda: Capitalism has superseded democracy, encouraged corruption and greed, and failed our nation. Political bigwigs and wealthy executives may love it, but it's not working for the majority of Americans. His thesis may enrage, amuse or inspire, depending on your ideology and your wallet.
Moore makes his case with humor, humanity and outrageous scenarios intended to get people fired up.
His rallying cry is simple: The country needs to return to its democratic roots.
The film intersperses interviews with historical footage, even unearthing a riveting address by Franklin Roosevelt. He travels from Wall Street to Washington and all around the USA, documenting sheriffs forcibly evicting families from foreclosed homes.
The recurring theme: The rich have gotten richer, and everyone else has suffered. He likens the fall of Wall Street to the decline of the Roman Empire, juxtaposing absurdly funny visuals.
But he's deadly serious. In an eye-opening interview, Moore talks to a widow who discovered her husband's employer had taken out and cashed a huge life insurance policy on him. He also discovers the prevalence of this practice in corporate America.
Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews are going to be on the 35th season of Austin City Limits that begins next week.
Austin City Limits sets new season
Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam scheduled to perform
By Michael D. Ayers, Billboard
Sept 24, 2009, 05:53 PM ET
NEW YORK -- For its 35th year on air, the famed public broadcast music show Austin City Limits is going big.
Scheduled to perform this season are major acts like the Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, Willie Nelson (performing with Asleep at the Wheel), Elvis Costello, Ben Harper and Them Crooked Vultures (the newly formed supergroup of Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, Led Zeppelin alum John Paul Jones and Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme).
This season also promises to continue the diverse nature that the series is known for, including country acts such as Kenny Chesney, Steve Earle, and Kris Kristofferson as well as more indie rock oriented acts such as Andrew Bird, St. Vincent, M. Ward and Okkervil River.
New Orleans songwriter Allen Toussaint, jazz-pop singer Madeleine Peyroux and the show's first hip-hop acts, Mos Def and K'Naan are also scheduled to appear."We've talked about it for a few years, and it finally came together," ACL producer Terry Lickona tells Billboard.com of expanding into hip-hop. "It's probably the most unique thing about [this season]."
For a TV show, Austin City limits has made an unprecedented run over the last three and a half decades, of which Lickona attributes to PBS. "Our audience loves the eclectic mix," he says. "We wouldn't have lasted more than 3 years on commercial television with a format like this." In recognizing this achievement, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame also announced this week that they were designating the ACL Studio landmark status.
"Rock Hall president Terry Steward came up with the idea," Lickona recalls. "We were sitting together in Clear Lake, Iowa where they had just designated the Surf Ballroom -- the site where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper played their last shows -- as a historic landmark. He said, 'we should do the same thing for your place in Austin.' My first reaction was disbelief, but I was easily convinced."
This merit follows the show's being awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2003, the only television show to receive this award.
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