anguish.
Made me hurt to watch.
Did you guys realize that had the Cowboys somehow won in Philadelphia, Romo wasn't playing that first-round playoff game? In fact, he didn't manage to throw a football again until the end of January.
Anyway, just thought you guys should know all that.
And you definitely should know the questions Romo was asked to solicit his perceived blasphemous response that a caller on a talk-radio show this morning said caused him to go from being a big Tony Romo fan to a hater now.
First this:
Hey Tony, you won a lot of games in your career, but the way this season ends and the previous two seasons and the rap that you can't win the big one or late in the season, how do you get over that?
Again, occupational hazard, and why I keep telling you the quarterbacks make the big bucks. Because I'm guessing no one asked Marion Barber that. No one asked Terrell Owens that. No one asked DeMarcus Ware that. No one asked Bradie James that. And they all were part of the previous two playoff losses, and they were all part of the team's struggles down the stretches those three seasons.
So I'm guessing the question sort of irritated Romo, and he tries to parry the little shot by saying, "I wake up tomorrow and keep living," which drew a few chuckles but no smiles from him, and continued with, "I mean, you don't - it's a fun game. It's enjoyable and we're going to try and win next year. We're going to try and get back in the playoffs and we're going to try and win a Super Bowl.
"That's all you can do. If we don't, OK. If you do, OK, then you're really a great player, and if you don't then you're just a really solid, good player, and if that's me, I'll have to deal with that. None of you guys will, that's just part of the job."
Well said, agree?
But the guy wasn't done, and I believe if I recognize the voice still, it was Jarrett Bell of USA TODAY. Here came the follow-up: So you don't sound worried that your confidence will be shaken or anything like that?
Now Romo probably could have just said no I'm not, and left it at that. Or I guess he could have said, well, I have broad shoulders, I can handle these defeats. Or I suppose he could have said he was so crushed he'll never play another down of football again.
Instead, he decided to be Mr. Opposite Guy, having let the follow-up get under his skin. So instead of deflecting again, this time Romo counter-punched, uttering the now infamous retort:
"I've had a lot worse happen to me than a loss in a sporting event, that's for sure, and if this is the worse thing to happen to me, then I've lived a pretty good life."
Let the howling begin. The ranting. The raving.
So I wonder what Peyton Manning said after losing his first playoff game and after his second the next year and after his third of three the next year? Wonder what Jim Kelly said each time after Buffalo lost four consecutive Super Bowls? Wonder what John Elway said each time after losing his first three Super Bowls over a span of four seasons?
Romo did say all the things you guys wanted him to say, and unless you listened to the unedited raw version of his press conference, you probably had no clue of that. And it's imperative for you to hear the questions asked of him that probably didn't accompany his responses you heard or read.
And as you see, Romo's response causing all this bellyaching was not to something like, "well, how do you feel after losing a game like this? He was not desecrating "the star" or anything as most perceive since the quote was plopped down in the middle of some story or some video package.
Now that you know the rest of the story, and can proceed to make a more intelligent evaluation of Romo's heart and his character and his commitment to this organization, I'm guessing you'll be singing a different tune.
Hey, maybe it is I who should apologize for not making sure you had all the pertinent information you deserved to have. But at the time, and for the past two months, with all that's been going
