TONY ROMO WINS NFL BROADCAST BOOTH

via bostonglobe.com

Count me among the sports fans who watched the NFL playoffs on Championship Sunday.

Did I watch NFL games at a sports bar with my crew? First I’d need a crew.

Did I watch it with my football player family members? No, but I do have football player relatives. One was a small college all-star lineman, the other a high school running back.

Did I watch with my sports playing children? I’m not that sort of parent, those who make their kids feel obligated to custom and tradition.

No, I watched the games with my semi-sports fan wife while she did other things.

In other words, I was a solitary fan rolling around on the floor with one of those foam things used to message out muscles.

It felt like a Zen experience if I understand the meaning of zen, which I interpret through the question of ‘if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a noise?’

And Tony Romo was the zen master. Is that taking football too far to suggest Romo is the essence of zen?

Quick backstory: My grandad from Dallas Texas was a football fan. He loved the Longhorns and the Cowboys, sending us kids preseason material so we’d know who to cheer for.

During a family visit to Texas grandad took us out to the Cowboy’s training facility. I was twelve and the couple of guys in the gym, George ‘the Oak’ Andrie and Reggie Rucker, looked huge. We were all hooked after that.

My Cowboy fanhood took a beating during the Danny White years and I blamed the quarterback. Who doesn’t blame the quarterback for any loss?

The Tony Romo years felt like a repeat of the Danny White years, of a player being one of the best at his position, but not good enough to carry the team to the top at the end of the season.

But it felt different with Romo, and listening to him call a game showed why. Deep in my spiteful heart full of hate for teams that beat the Cowboys, I knew if they traded Romo he’d win a title with another team.

Then he retired to the booth, or as so many have said the Monday after, to the swami’s tent. Okay, no one has said that, but Romo the fortune teller was born.

He doesn’t add just color to the game as the Color Commentator, he goes to a whole nother level and predicts the game.

My days of Romo doubting are over, but my days of waiting for the Cowboys to trade up to Head Coach Romo have just begun. Like a player who’d win a title for another team if he got traded, the NFL team Romo ends up coaching will go to the Super Bowl sooner than later.

Dear Tony, I’m sorry for the Danny White comparison. You are no Danny White, the guy who took the team to the NFL title game three years straight. Instead you’ve risen to the challenge of life after the game and your ceiling looks high, way high.

With the beauty of showing us how the game gets played right, I’d like to announce the future of head coaching in Dallas. It’s time for a first stringer to take the reins.