PERSONAL OBLIGATIONS = FAIRNESS?

We all have personal obligations of one kind or another.

Some carry more weight than others.

It’s like being a Cowboys fan because some distant relatives sent fan magazines when you were a kid.

And your Dad was a Packers’ fan which created a hard line of obligation.

How hard?

You cheered hard in the 60’s when the Packers played the Cowboys in the NFL title game and lost.

Twice.

You cheered harder in the 70’s.

Then came the 80’s.

 

 

The 90’s looked bleak in the beginning, then lightning struck.

Three Super Bowl wins in four years.

Should have been five, could have been the whole decade.

Since then?

 

 

It’s felt like the 80’s all over again, this time without Danny White, who was a better Cowboy than he gets credit for.

When you include fairness in your personal obligations, you’ve got to give greatness its due.

I’ll say it: Danny White and Tony Romo could have won championships with other teams.

Instead they got jammed into an era after the Cowboys had had their greatest years.

Twice.

Decades apart.

 

Due Process For The Cowboys

Due process includes two things:

(1) Was adequate notice given?

(2) Did the person have an opportunity to be heard?

 

The Cowboys gave notice of their greatness in the 60’s, that they’d be in the biggest games like John Wooden’s UCLA basketball and Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics, two teams that won championships all decade.

The 70’s had more promise, and more disappointment.

The 80’s were mostly disappointing, but the 90’s had the feeling of dominance all over again.

No flash in the pan of players all getting good at the same time like the Steelers of old, these Cowboys were built for the long haul.

Yet even that ended in sadness.

I’m still sad. I was given adequate notice, but those are my feelings.

What was the notice?

They didn’t move off of Romo soon enough, and they’re not moving off of Dak.

I feel like I got picked up in the 80’s without due process and put away, like the 90’s never happened.

It’s 2025 and time to air it out.

 

 

First Jerry Jones saved the Cowboys.

He fired Tom Landry and brought in Jimmy Johnson.

A short five years later he fired Jimmy Johnson.

Since then? ZZZZZZZ

If the Cowboys can’t win I’m still a fan of good NFL games.

Even if I don’t gamble I’m still a fan.

I just can’t watch the Cowboys do more sports drama instead of football.

By their roster moves they’ve given adequate notice:

We make enough money without winning Super Bowls.

Have fans had the opportunity to be heard?

It depends on your notion of personal obligations.

 

Where Do You Keep Your Personal Obligations

When you see something wrong, do something about it.

If you’re in vans full of guys going down the freeway shooting bottle rockets at each out of the windows and a field of dry grass catches fire what do you do?

Do you keep going and hope no one says anything, or stop, go back, and beat the fire out with coats and sleeping bags?

If you see someone getting punched out on the sidewalk and offering no defense, do you walk by like it’s just another nice couple talking?

Or do you stop and break it up?

If you see masked gunmen chasing people down the street do you keep going about your business figuring it’s some kind of delivery service, or do you call 911?

Each instance carries a mark of character, or lack of character.

Whether we like acknowledging it or not, America is guided by due process and the concept of fairness.

The Cowboys are exempt like every other professional sports team that people attach themselves to, for better or worse.

But the rest?

The guys in the vans had to go back and fight the fire.

No one wants to be remembered for starting a conflagration.

Break up the sidewalk fight.

No one wants to watch someone die.

Masked gunmen running down the street? 

Make the call.

It could be you in the street one day hoping for call.

It could be me.

I’d like someone to make the call.

Anyone else?

I’ll make the call for you.