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Athlon Sports
Cowboys 'Dream Coach' is. ... Troy Aikman?!
By Mike Fisher,
3 hours ago
Fans have the right to be passionate, illogical and wrong about their team.
Media members - all of whom, by the way, were once or still are "fans,'' yours truly included - really aren't afforded that luxury.
Armed with that understanding, let's examine the suggestion from a Dallas Cowboys "news site'' that has been exposed to be a "fan site,'' complete with its acceptable passion but an abundance of ignorance over logic.
The site acknowledges Cowboys Nation's hunger for true Super Bowl-winning contention and writes, "The roster is loaded with talent, but the team has repeatedly fallen short in the playoffs, raising questions about whether Mike McCarthy is the right coach to lead this squad.''
All sensible, coming from a devoted fan of the team or from a dispassionate media analyst of the team.
But then the take goes haywire, veering into "fan boy'' territory by saying it has reviewed some old sideline video of an angry Troy Aikman during the Cowboys' last Super Bowl season in which the Hall of Fame quarterback "shows the fire and accountability that the organization desperately needs.'' ...
And away we go. To those of us who were there in the 1990's? Aikman's ant-Barry Switzer sideline rant was "news.'' But it's not "new.'' Still ...
The "dream coach'' for your Dallas Cowboys, according to the site, is ...
Troy Aikman?!
From the site, oozing with naivete: "Troy Aikman, with his experience and leadership, would be the perfect candidate to coach the Cowboys. He understands the pressure and expectations that come with being a Dallas Cowboy. ... His ability to lead and hold others accountable is crucial in the NFL.
"Aikman’s traits mirror those of great leaders like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and coaches like Bill Belichick.''
This sort of thinking comes from the same juvenile push that's been around forever, that has some in Cowboys Nation thinking the Dallas staff should "hire Tony Romo as the offensive coordinator and Emmitt Smith as the running backs coach and Jay Novacek as the tight ends coach and Nate Newton as the O-line coach and Darren Woodson as the defensive coordinator and Michael Irvin as ...''
And every time we bump into this line of thinking from a well-meaning fan, we take a breath and explain a) none of those guys have ever been coaches and b) if they wanted to coach, they'd apply and c) you think Romo wants to quit his $20 million part-time TV job to join the slogging grind of NFL coaching?
We can promise you: Troy Aikman has spoken to us many times about the idea of being a GM for an NFL team. He has never expressed an interest in being a coach.
We would also contend that a few seconds of a 30-year-old video featuring a heated Aikman isn't "evidence'' of much of anything, let alone that he can "coach like Belichick.''
The Aikman we've known for 35 years is an immaculately precise thinker, extremely disciplined and bright, and a respected magnet to those around him. At age 57, he could do most anything, including coach. But like Romo, he too makes about $20 million a year to do TV, a setup that frees him to dive deep into charity work, travel extensively and parent his two daughters - his most important "job'' of all.
There is nobody who knows him who thinks he's prepared to give all of that up to be a coach.
Hey, there is nothing wrong with being a fan. The trick, though, is to separate fandom from journalism, thus avoiding the trap of coming across like a child who possesses no knowledge of the world he professes to be "covering.''
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