Two years ago I worked 8 hours at Verizon Wireless. I was working customer service on the phones. It was a completely miserable job in every way and frankly a job that I wasn't very good at. Since Verizon is so greedy, they cut staff to ridiculously small amounts that day. That meant no breaks between calls for the customer service representatives. Those breaks between calls are what give sanity to people in call center jobs. Many callers waited up to 20 minutes to get to a rep. That was a crappy Christmas. (If you do call in a call center job, please be extremely nice to them. Unless you've worked a job like that you have no idea how crappy it is.)
Now two years later I'm working at a much better job and a much better job for me. Not only am I not working Christmas this year, I didn't work Christmas Eve or even December 23rd. I still have 8 more days off. I'm taking 11 straight days off and only using 3 vacation days. That's what happens when one works at a job that isn't open every day. How sweet is that? Oh and by the way when I started the job I'm currently working, I started making $5000 more a year. Also tonight my kids and I are hopefully going to be watching "It's A Wonderful Life", a movie that makes one realize how much worse one's life could be. This is the time of the year we should be the most grateful and I definitely am.
I also was able to go to church today and will be able to hang out with my kids the next few days. Thanks to all of those that have helped make my life so great.
One group of people not making my life so great is the wretched Dallas Cowboys. They are doing their annual December meltdown. With the Giants defeating the Jets yesterday that set up a winner takes all game between Dallas and New York on New Year's Day. The game has been flexed to Sunday Night Football. Great now a national audience can see my team destroyed in front of a nationwide audience. What is my prediction for this game? Well let's see an injured and choking Tony Romo will be starting for the Cowboys. Romo is a man that never seems to win the big game. Why would I expect him to be any better this year.
Dallas still has that pathetic looking defense, the Rob Ryan defense hasn't worked out like Cowboys fans would have liked. Philadelphia didn't have anything to play for yesterday either, but look how easily they run through the Cowboys. The Cowboys secondary is atrocious, I'm hoping this is Newman's last game with the Cowboys. How terrible has he been? I'm hoping they replace Newman with a bunch of new men.
My prediction the Giants will win quite easily. This reminds me a lot of the the 2008 game when Dallas went to Philadelphia and if Dallas won they would go to the playoffs. How did the Cowboys react to that clutch time situation? Just as they did in almost every other clutch like situation, a complete flop. They were humiliated and blown out by the Eagles 44-6. Will the Cowboys game be as bad a week from today? No, but I think that the Cowboys-Giants rematch will get ugly. Not only do the Cowboys choke in clutch situation but also New York completely owns Dallas. I wouldn't feel any more comfortable if the game was in Dallas.
Once the Cowboys lose and are eliminated from the playoffs it's time to make some changes. I realize this is something they seem to need to do every year. What Dallas needs the most is someone who knows what he's doing in the General Manager's chair. In other words Jerry Jones you got to go. Ever since Jones hired Jimmy Johnson, he's been atrocious at picking people to coach his team. Looking back now I wonder if Jones and Johnson weren't college teammates, would Jones have even known about him? With some of Jones more recent hires, the Johnson hiring looks a lot like luck now.
Because since then Jones track record has been hiring mediocre and terrible head coaches. Here are some names that send chills down the spines of all Cowboy fans. Barry Switzer, Wade Phillips, Dave Campo (twice), and Chan Gailey. I'm beginning to think Jason Garrett will end up as no better than a mediocre coach as well. Jones also did hire Bill Parcells which I thought was a great hire. Looking back now it even looks like a good choice, although it didn't produce as many victories as I thought it would.
Also Jerry could you please stop hogging the spotlight so much? There's no reason for you to ever go down on the field during a game. It's time for you to stop using the Cowboys as your personal vanity project.
Besides getting a high quality GM, it's time for the Cowboys to be looking for their next quarterback, Tony Romo isn't the answer. He never has been and he never will be. How many mediocre seasons will the Cowboys have before Dallas realizes they need to move on with their quarterback. This is where a good GM comes in handy. Sure Dallas could find a quarterback worse than Romo. If you don't improve as a team then what's the point? I'd rather have a steady progression of increasing wins every year and eventually winning a Super Bowl. That's so much better than 8-8 like this year or mediocre most years. Nobody builds their reputation on regular season wins anyway.
To my eyes Dallas rarely plays with heart. They also seem to be playing not to lose, rather than playing to win. I think the Cowboys have got use to and comfortable with being mediocre. After 15 years of the same thing, there must be some reason for their mediocrity.
Meanwhile Tampa Bay has completely thrown in the towel on the season. I didn't see any of their game with Carolina yesterday, but did they even try? How as a professional football team do you lose by 32 points? Especially to a lot less than mediocre Panthers team. A lot of it goes back to playing without heart.
Lastly I'm glad I jumped on the 49ers bandwagon a few years ago. I had no idea how good the 49ers would turn out to be. Jim Harbaugh has done a great job with the 49ers, this shows how much of an effect a great head coach can have on his team. While San Francisco has a great defense, they have a very mediocre offense. But still they somehow found a way to win yesterday, gutting out that big victory over Seattle yesterday. I wish I could have watched that game yesterday.
The intangibles of never giving up, fighting to the end and finding a way to win I think goes directly to the head coach and the kind of culture he installs in his team. Harbaugh has clearly installed those things in his first season. The 49ers only gave up their first rushing touchdown all season, again that's an amazing stat. The 49ers also continue to have the inside track on the NFC's #2 playoff seed. That's so crucial for the 49ers, that would give them a bye before their first playoff game.
With Kansas City giving the league the blueprints to how to beat Green Bay, I think San Francisco has a good shot of making the Super Bowl. How cool would that be? I suggest to both Dallas and Tampa Bay to watch and see how to be successful in the NFL. Green Bay plays tonight, they don't really have much to play for. They're about to clinch the #1 seed in the NFC playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised if they rest some players tonight. However with Green Bay a fantastic organization, playing at home and having a lot of pride I expect Green Bay to thoroughly dominate the Bears. The Packers aren't like another team that's playing a home game, with little on the line that will lose 20-7.
themusicaddict
No comments:
Post a Comment