Farewell to "The Legend" . . . Not So Much--The End of the Roy Williams Era In Dallas

In 2009, during the Dallas Cowboys 17-7 loss to the Green Bay Packers, Tony Romo overthrew a deep out to Roy Williams along the sideline.  He didn’t overthrow it by much, as I’m pretty sure it grazed off Williams’ outstretched hands before landing harmlessly out of bounds.  For me, what happened next defined Roy William’s tenure in Big D.  He looked back at Romo, and holding his hands in the pass-catching triangle shape, moved them down over his chest.  It’s was almost as if he was saying, “Hey, I know I’m 6’-3’’ and have hands the size of stop signs, but, if you want me to catch a pass, you really need to put it right here between the numbers.  Otherwise, I’m afraid I cannot help you.”  That’s who Roy Williams is.  And that’s why the Cowboys are glad to be shot of him.

Of course, what makes Williams’ unremarkable 35 games with the Cowboys—94 catches/1,324 yards/13 TDs or numbers elite NFL WRs put up in a single season—so offensive is the head-slappingly ridiculous trade they executed to acquire him.  As the 2008 trade deadline approached, the Cowboys sent the Detroit Lions their first-, third- and six-rounds picks in the 2009 draft and their 2010 seventh-round pick in exchange for a malcontent who was dubbed “The Legend” at  Permian High School of Friday Night Lights fame.  As ludicrous as that deal sounds, it’s actually much worse.  Because Williams was moping through last year of his contract, the Cowboys actually traded all those picks for a 10-game rental of Williams.  So, to compound their original error, the Cowboys inked Williams to a five-year $45M dollar deal with $20M guaranteed.  Sure, if Dallas waited until he was a free agent, they could have snapped up the University of Texas alum without having to sacrifice a raft of picks, but, according to J.R. Ewing Jerry Jones, they needed him for the 2008 season, son.  True to form, Williams repaid the ‘Boys by becoming invisible for rest of year (10/198/1).  In 2009, he was marginally better, but still only adequate, at best.  For example, in that season, Football Outsiders ranked him as the 59th best WR in the league, who was good for only about 40 yards over a replacement level player.  After another year of underachievement in 2010, the Cowboys had finally had enough.  As forgettable as Williams’ time with the Cowboys was, the lessons of his ill-advised acquisition deserved to be remembered.  Eventually, even J.R. learned from his mistakes, so let’s hope Williams’ release is a sign that Jerry Jones is capable of doing the same.

Copa America Time Machine

The Copa America wrapped up this weekend with a historic Uruguay victory. In some ways, though, it never really kicked off. Argentina and Brazil, the glamour sides and heavy favorites, sputtered to early exits. Lionel Messi failed to score for his country (again). And Paraguay managed to make the finals without actually winning a match (they drew all their group games and advanced on penalty kicks). Still, in spite of this, I enjoyed the tournament. The reason I kept tuning in to Univision's coverage, though, had little to do with the product on the pitch. No, my attraction to this year's Copa America was purely nostalgic. Just watching a match made me feel like I was 14-years-old again.

During the summer of 1990, my best friend/neighbor and I were looking forward to our freshman year of high school in southern Connecticut. We were also desperately looking for something to do. One day, after catching a Showcase Showdown on The Price is Right, we turned on Univision's coverage of the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Soon after, we were hooked.  Thanks to Sports Illustrated, we knew a couple of household names, but our ignorance didn't seem to matter. It was just so intoxicatingly different--the raucous atmosphere, the exotic, mononymous names and the language and style of the presentation. Not only did it give us the shock of the new, but also provided the thrill of the forbidden. Two kids who had yet to take a Spanish class had no business watching Univision, but it put us ahead of the curve. We felt like the only people that summer running around yelling "GOOOOOOL!!!!!"  Four years later, everyone and their brother would be aping Andres Cantor's famous call. In many ways, it was our introduction to the world: an epiphany that there were fascinating, foreign cultures about which we knew very little.  I'm not sure if I'll ever experience a feeling quite like that again.

We're no longer neighbors, but a little over two decades later, my friend was texting me throughout the Copa. Sure, he said, it's on YouTube, but he's watching Univision. I think I know why.

The Tao of Penalty Kicks--PKs Just Are . . . So Deal With It

Thanks to the Twitterverse, public bellyaching about the injustice of using penalty kicks to decide a tournament began only minutes after the United States Women's National Team lost the Women's World Cup to Japan.  By the end of today, I expect all the usual tropes to be trotted out, such as "It's like using a home run derby to decide a baseball game!" or "Having a free-throw contest determine the NCAA Finals!"  Actually, it's not like these things at all.  The most appropriate analogy to major American sports is the use of penalty shots as a tie-breaker for hockey games, which, of course, the NHL now does throughout the regular season.  Granted, during the NHL playoffs, this tie-breaker is scrapped because a series format is used, unlike the one-off, knock-out tournament approach used in World Cups.  Now, we can debate the merits of overtime or a three-match series approach versus penalty kicks ad infinitum, but, the truth is, that would be a colossal waste of time.  Penalty kicks are not going anywhere.  As any footy fan vaguely familiar with the opaque and corrupt machinations of soccer's governing body, FIFA, could tell you, reform is not something that concerns the bureaucratic Illuminati of international soccer.  So, we can bemoan the justness of penalty kicks, but that would be about as productive as grousing about the shape of the letter "F."  Penalty kicks just are.  They are not fair.  But, ultimately, they are what you make them--an unforgettably dramatic way to win (see Brandi Chastain in 1999) or a cruel, gut-wrenching way to lose. 

Derek Jeter in a Post-DJ3K World--What's Next?

Last weekend, Derek Jeter reached and eclipsed the 3,000 hit plateau with inimitable, Jeterian flair. But now that the warm glow of the DJ3K honeymoon has receded, the Yankees, as a franchise, could be excused for asking the Captain "What's next?" After all, they owe him $40 million more over the next two-and-a-half seasons. During the first week of Jeter's DL stint, Mark Feinsand of the Daily News, who appears on the "Daily News Fifth" segment of the Yankees' WCBS radio broadcast, noted that if you erase the names and look at the stats, batting Brett Gardner leadoff is a no-brainer.  That's not particularly insightful, mind you, but that kind of clear-headed, independent thought qualifies as revolutionary during a broadcast that features Yankee mouthpieces Suzyn Waldman and John Sterling.  Basically, if you bump The Captain off of leadoff, the only logical place to put him is at or near the bottom of the order.  And you can't do that to The Captain.  The horse (in the form of A-Rod's criminally insane contract) is already out of the barn, but the strained tone of Jeter's last contract negotiation suggests the Yankees have realized that the lionization of certain individuals isn't necessarily good for business, especially when you have one of the strongest brands in international sports history. What Jeter does next--in terms of accepting a move off of SS or a move down the order--will challenge the Yankees' powers of image management. In English soccer, there's a cliche that "No player is bigger than the club."  The Yankees may be belatedly coming around to that school of thought.

Note Well is Changing--The Anti-Grantland Approach

I wanted to quickly touch on a stylistic change I'm making to the site. Going forward, I intend to keep the length of all my posts to around 250 words. I realize that this appears to be a shameless nod to the Twitterification of all things, and I admit cannot categorically deny that charge. However, the primary reason for this change is much more banal--I have a day job. By keeping my posts succinct, I hope to post more frequently and explore a wider range of topics. Plus, it's probably best to leave the long-form journalism and phone-hacking to the professionals. Hopefully, readers will be able to find time to check out some posts that will be short but not often sweet. Ok, I have to go; I don't want to exceed my word limit.