cowboys fan rejoice

[TripleB]

Are you sure about that? He spurned Tampa twice and is not real welcome around here. He screwed the Pats, he screwed the Jets.  Where has he ever left on good terms?  Also what city did Belicheck get tossed out of? He was fired by Moddell if that is your reference but he certainly was not run from NY as he left on his own and screwed them Parcells style!

Technically, I don't think he ever got thrown out. He just ran away, like JJ from the Dolphins ........... Parcells, Jerry Jones, Keyshawn, I like the way all the clowns in the league are grouping in one place.  ;D

[smazza]

jets would roll out red carpet for tuna

and so would tampa if gruden doesn't trun it around

[KnightsRule]

jets would roll out red carpet for tuna

and so would tampa if gruden doesn't trun it around

Tampa is doing the best job in league of screwing up a class act orginization. I dont think Tampa put itself in position to get spurned by tuna again.

[smazza]

redskins haven't beaten cowboys in  what,5 years?

cowboys will improve on last years good year.

JJ couldn't win in miami because he was stuck with marino.

[smazza]

rbs jackson or jones will be cowboys first pick

[smazza]

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones knows his club has glaring holes at running back, right tackle and cornerback.

But Jones insisted the Cowboys won't take lesser players in this weekend's NFL draft simply to fill needs.

After all, Dallas has tried that approach before without success.

"The assumption is that we're going to be prudent and won't reach," Jones said recently. "We're not going beyond what our draft board says for a position of need.

"We don't put up a NFL draft board. We put up a Dallas Cowboys draft board that reflects not only our talent evaluation, but the character we're looking for in players."

The Cowboys, who traded their sixth- (Terry Glenn) and seventh-round (Kenyon Coleman) picks last year, have only five draft picks.

Jones said they would like to acquire more.

To do so, the Cowboys will probably have to move down from the No. 22 spot they currently hold. The Cowboys could also secure an additional draft choice if they trade Pro Bowl guard Larry Allen, who has met with front-office officials in Oakland and Detroit.

Trading down, however, is easier said than done.

This draft is deep with receivers. In some mock drafts, as many as seven have been selected in the first round.

The best chance for the Cowboys to trade down will probably occur if several high-caliber receivers are available when it's their time to pick. Then a team such as Kansas City, Carolina or New England, which covets a receiver, might decide to move up and get the player of their choice.

But the Cowboys won't trade down unless there are four or five players they like at No. 22 and they're assured of getting at least one of those players.

Jones said the Cowboys are looking for starters.

That's why they won't be looking for draft picks at positions in which they have depth, like receiver or defensive end, unless they project those selections as starters.

And that's also why they could remain at No. 22 if a player like Virginia Tech running back Kevin Jones was available.

"I can't say what we're going to do," Jones said. "I can name a handful of players who would be good if they fell to us and I wouldn't want to trade down. I'd want to stay right there and take them.

"I feel pretty comfortable that we're going to maximize our opportunity in the draft. We know where the value is. If we trade down, we will get good value."

Briefly: Tight end James Whalen, a restricted free agent, signed a one-year contract for $628,000.

[smazza]

We live in a fluid sporting world where nothing is stagnant, except maybe for the Arizona Cardinals and NHL TV ratings. With that in mind, we deliver our first real-time local general manager rankings.

Ratings are based on where the GMs have positioned their teams and their prospects for immediate improvement.

1. Jerry Jones, Cowboys – I recognize that a number of you just lost your breakfast and will let me know by e-mail later in the day. That's fair. But reality doesn't just bite, sometimes it hurts.

Jones went from one of the league's worst GMs to one of the best the day he hired Bill Parcells. It's that simple. He has guided the team out of the salary cap hell created by the early dismissal of Troy Aikman, among others.

The Cowboys have waded into free agency with almost too much patience, but wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson and defensive end Marcellus Wiley are obviously quality additions. Jones and Parcells have a big weekend coming up in which running back, the offensive line and cornerback almost certainly have to be addressed.

But the Cowboys are a playoff team with an opportunity to advance. Even with Terrell Owens, the Eagles may be in decline after so many defensive losses the last three years. The Redskins have made splashy moves but aren't a 10-win team yet, and the Giants aren't even in the ballgame in the NFC East.

SportsDay

Tell Us: Who is the best local general manager?

Jones' willingness to take one step back (though he hasn't faded from the scene and still makes calls over Parcells' head) has made the Cowboys the most likely of the local four teams to play for a conference championship in the next two years. That makes him No. 1.

2. John Hart, Rangers – OK, some of you who were still hanging onto your cornflakes through the first seven paragraphs couldn't stomach the eighth.

At the moment, the Rangers are starting to look like a team with an affordable foundation and a chance to improve. That's all you ask for with this club after four straight last-place seasons, the last two brought on by Hart's early desperation moves that ravaged the payroll.

A reformed Hart is doing now what he did in Cleveland a decade ago, signing young players to long-term contracts beyond their free-agency eligibility (Michael Young, Hank Blalock). For now – say it while you still can – Colby Lewis and Ryan Drese and, yes, Chan Ho Park – look like they have a chance to be back-end-of-the-rotation pitchers.

Can this team get lucky just once with Juan Dominguez or Cal State Fullerton All-American Wes Littleton or 6-8 Kameron Loe? Not all three, just one legit pitcher.

If that happens, then the Rangers' reduced payroll leaves room for Hart's replacement, Grady Fuson, to make the right additions without sending Tom Hicks to the poor house.

When that happens, the Rangers won't have to match wits with Billy Beane in order to compete with Oakland on the field.

3. Don Nelson/Donnie Nelson/Mark Cuban, Mavs – Does anyone know for sure which of these three is in charge of the roster – GM Don, president of basketball operations Donnie or owner Mark? Doesn't really matter because although the Mavericks are the best of the local teams at the moment, their future looks a lot shakier.

What happens when this team loses in the first round to Sacramento? How much of a complete rebuilding job does Cuban demand? It's almost guaranteed that after changing out eight players last summer, other heads will roll if this team can't get into the second round.

And this team has been constructed to play at one end of the floor. The unbelievable performance of rookies Josh Howard and Marquis Daniels saved this club at the end, but it doesn't look as if it will be enough to avoid a first-round exit.

Don/Donnie/Mark went for the offensive jugular last summer but this unit never even got close to last year's modest defensive standard. With the Lakers, Spurs and T-Wolves above them and the Rockets and Nuggets closing in fast, the Mavericks are slipping in pro sports' toughest conference.

4. Doug Armstrong, Stars – His two years have not been as disastrous as it might seem after that lethargic five-game loss to Colorado. The unraveling began on Bob Gainey's watch, but there are only two relevant questions here.

Where are the Stars right now? What are their chances for immediate improvement?

The Stars have $44 million guaranteed to 10 players next season. Hicks won't want the payroll to go much higher than that, and a new collective bargaining agreement probably won't allow it.

That means Dallas is a team built around Mike Modano, Pierre Turgeon, Bill Guerin, Sergei Zubov and Marty Turco.

It is a team that has become a hockey GM's worst nightmare – easy to play against.

When you watched the Colorado and Dallas players pass through the handshake line at the end of Game 5, there was something missing. Hatred.

No one from the Stars put up a fight in that series. No one made Peter Forsberg or Joe Sakic pay any kind of a price for getting to the net.

If you watched Dallas play without Turco in the regular season, the Stars couldn't win. Without him at anything close to his top end in the playoffs, they had no chance.

When you watch Ken Hitchcock and Brett Hull and Derian Hatcher and Darryl Sydor and, possibly, Ed Belfour and Joe Nieuwendyk in the next round of the playoffs, ask yourself a question.

What exactly are the Stars building?

E-mail tcowlishaw@dallasnews.com

COWLISHAW'S GM RANKINGS

1. Jerry Jones, Cowboys

Best recent deal: Hired Bill Parcells as head coach, January 2003.

Worst recent deal: Failed to pursue quality cornerback or offensive lineman in free-agency ... so far.

2. John Hart, Rangers

Best recent deal: Signed Hank Blalock and Michael Young to long-term contracts.

Worst recent deal: Let pitcher John Thomson go to Atlanta over (relatively) insignificant dollars.

3. Don Nelson, Mavericks

Best recent deal: Drafted Josh Howard and signed Marquis Daniels as a free agent.

Worst recent deal: Major off-season additions Antawn Jamison and Antoine Walker added rebounds but subtracted defense.

4. Doug Armstrong, Stars

Best recent deal: Signed NCAA leading scorer Junior Lessard.

Worst recent deal: Replaced Derian Hatcher and Darryl Sydor with Teppo Numminen and Don Sweeney.

[smazza]

Dallas County officials say an obscure part of state law could make it difficult for the county to use hotel and rental-car taxes to help finance a Dallas Cowboys stadium in Fair Park.

Perhaps more complicated but – let's be sure – not impossible.

The latest wrinkle in bringing the 'Boys back to Fair Park is the discovery that Texas law might prevent rental-car and perhaps hotel taxes from being used to pay for a sports facility in a city park. That has a bearing on Fair Park, part of Dallas' park system.

While the law could complicate the proposed financing, it shouldn't be a deal killer. But the Cowboys organization and county officials must move quickly.

Their first step should be to ask legislators to fix the law during this special legislative session so that rental-car and hotel taxes can be used for the stadium. Failing that, they should figure out how to transfer the land proposed for the stadium from the city to the county or a special sports authority. There may be other creative ways to meet the law, and all parties need to explore them.

As The Dallas Morning News noted in a special report this past weekend, Dallas is at a tipping point. Like revitalizing downtown and moving ahead with the Trinity River project, bringing the Cowboys back to a new stadium in Fair Park could be pivotal to Dallas' future. The economic benefits for the surrounding neighborhood, and indeed the entire city, could be enormous. The city and the county must make sure a little-known provision of state law doesn't frustrate the effort.

The Cowboys organization also has a responsibility. The Cowboys have hinted that the team will ante up about $200 million and seek the remaining $450 million of the stadium's estimated $650 million cost from the hotel and rental-car taxes. But the Cowboys must be willing to invest more of their dollars upfront and consider sharing revenue from concessions, parking and other stadium business. It's in the team's own interest to have a financing method that voters are likely to approve.

Fair Park is a great location for the new stadium. Now, let's find a way to make it happen.