target the snap hit, plus a scout's comment ("slight wobble, adjust to the right"). As Bill explains it, the visual of Snapper Man "has those numbers charted in the target area much like a pistol on the rifle range." (Don't bother, you know what he meant.) Obviously Condo fared well.
That's no surprise. Everything is scouted now, and by most accounts, Condo was one of college football's best long snappers at Maryland. A linebacker and tight end in high school in Pennsylvania, the amiable rookie started snapping during his red-shirt freshman season "just as a way to get on the field. But by my senior season," he volunteered Monday, "I decided it was something I really wanted to go after, and if the NFL saw something they liked, great."
Was Condo surprised to make the team?
"I kind of thought, when they kept me around for all four preseason games, I might make it," he says. "But I have to admit, when I walked in here (last Saturday) and saw I had a locker with my name on it, I did think, 'Wow, I made the NFL.'"
Robinson wasn't out of work long. Waived Saturday, he had re-signed with the team from which Dallas enticed him, St. Louis, by Monday. So it's Condo's job now, and you can watch DeMarcus Ware and Tyson Thompson and the rest of them all you want, but come Sunday, no rookie Cowboy will be under more scrutiny.
Dale Hellestrae knows what everyone involved is thinking.
"No matter what he says," Hellestrae advises from his home in Arizona, "for the first three or four games, every time there's a punt or a field goal or an extra point, Bill will be pulling his hair out until he knows he doesn't have to. The kid knows he's replacing one of the best guys in the business."
When did Hellestrae stop being nervous about job security? "The day after they cut me," he said
Let's just hope then Chris Berman never finds out about the new Condo.
