Most professional athletes are hated or loved by fans. The dividing line is if he plays for your team you love him, if he doesn't play for your team you hate him. Individual sports such as Tennis, golf and boxing, it depends on the personality. The individual sports have had the most "villains" if you will. Muhammad Ali, and John McEnroe are two examples of this. For various reasons people either rooted for or against Ali and McEnroe. There was no in between. In team sports it used to be rare that a player transcended the dividing line between love and hate. Reggie Jackson was one of those rare players. Not only did fans of opposing teams hate him, fans of the Yankees were divided on their loyalty to Mr. October.
Today with talk radio and social networking, there seems to be more players who fit this trend. Unfortunately most of the time this is due to acts off the field. Whether it be Tiger Woods cheating on his wife, or Michael Vick being convicted of running a dog fighting ring. Lebron James became a lightning rod because of his "decision" to break the city of Cleveland's hearts and take his talent to South Beach, whether you agreed or not, fans either root for Lebron, or want him to fail, regardless of what team you are a fan of.
Alex Rodriguez is an interesting case, because he attracts so much attention and like James its either you root for him or you want him to fail. Other than having an outrageous contract, Alex Rodriguez is guilty of being... Alex Rodriguez. (Wait i cannot believe i just defended A-Rod. I hate him for saying he always wanted to play for the Mets then took the money from Texas.) You see, he stirs that kind of emotion from fans.
The latest athlete to draw on polar opposite emotions of fans is Tony Romo. Cowboys fans are divided, the media is divided. Opposing teams fans love seeing Romo fail. The only thing Tony Romo is guilty of, is being the quarterback of "America's Team", a term by the way as a Cowboys fan, I never really cared for.
The bullseye is clearly on his back, but I have never seen a player week to week see his stock go up and down so dramatically. He goes from "hero" to "zero" in a matter of plays!
I have to admit Tony Romo is one of my all time favorite athletes. Even now though he is making it harder and harder to defend. With that being said, I feel the need to defend him because of the hyperbole and just plain misconceptions about Romo.
First off, all quarterbacks get way too much praise when they win, and way too much blame when they lose. Football, more than any other sport is a team game. In Baseball, a starting pitcher can dominate a short series. Basketball, with only five players on each team, sometimes having the best player on the court is enough. In Hockey, just look at the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals where Tim Thomas was a brick wall in leading the Bruins to their first Stanley Cup in 39 years. The quarterback relies on an offense line. he needs playmakers at the skill positions. Dan Fouts and Dan Marino will tell you a defense helps too. At the end of the day, though fans and media remember the interceptions, and the last drive of games.
I must admit Tony Romo has thrown some horrible interceptions. Not just this year. 2008 at Pittsburgh they lost an 11 point lead in the 4th quarter. 2009 throwing at Champ Bailey on the last play of the game at Denver. Last year in the brief time he played, he through crippling interceptions against the Bears and Titans at home. In the Titans game by the way, he threw for over 400 yards.
Tony Romo has all the skills, its the decision making, that just drives people bananas. He has to learn ball security. At 31 will he ever learn? I don't think Jerry Jones, nor Jason Garrett know..
He has become a leader. He certainly wasn't the last game of the 08 season when the entire team got spanked by the Eagles in a "win and you're in" game. The players believe in him, at least publicly.
I think Jones has to take some of the blame. T.O. had great seasons in Dallas, but his disruptive behavior, sometimes countered his great play. Also the Roy Williams trade... what a disaster! It crippled the salary cap and cost a ton of draft picks. Still I believe the Cowboys will win the NFC East this season.
One last thing i want to talk about is his 1-3 record in playoffs. Peyton Manning has a losing record in playoff games. Tom Brady has lost his last three playoff games. Take away Eli Manning's run in 2007 and he is 0-3 in playoff games. The game that everyone talks about is the Seattle game in 06. He led them to victory. He should not have been the holder on the field goal. No starting QB is, but since he started the season as a back up to Drew Bledsoe he was there. It was terrible. Still for a guy making his first playoff start playing at Quest field a very difficult place to play he gave them a chance to win. What people fail to remember is after that play the Cowboys had 3 timeouts and the two minute warning with the Seahawks having the ball on their own 2. Shaun Alexander runs for 11 yards 1st down.. game over. That game hurt the most because had they won, I believe they go into Chicago and beat a bears team that made it to the Super Bowl, but they weren't that good. They were beatable. If that happens I don't think Bill Parcells leaves after the season and with another year as Parcells student, instead of being at the country club run by Wade Phillips, maybe things are different. Maybe Tony Romo doesn't become this enigma that draws on all fans emotions. Love him or hate him, you sure do get a reaction when you bring up his name.
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