I'm watching Monday Night Football on ESPN. They are reporting that Posada and the Yankees have agreed on a four-year deal worth $52 million. Jorgie will be back in pinstripes next season.
You have to figure that by the end of the contract, he will be a first baseman or DH, if he's still playing, but after losing A-Rod, the Yanks pretty much had to do whatever it took to keep Posada.
And speaking of football...how 'bout them Cowboys? I know, I know. But I've been a Cowboys fan since I was a toddler - long before I knew anything about baseball. I've stuck by them through thick and thin, even that brutal season when they went 1-15. I'm not a bandwagon jumper.
That said, it sure is nice to root for a winning team. I'd almost forgotten what it was like. Sure, the Yanks and the 'Boys have played well enough over the last few years, but it always felt...fragile. Like any given game could be lost, even if it seemed like they had it in the bag. This year, the Cowboys seem like the pick of the NFC. (We'll know for sure on Thanksgiving Day, when they play the Packers.)
And you have to be happy for Tony Romo. The undrafted Tony Romo, who outplayed #1 draft pick Eli Manning yesterday, and looks like the cream of the NFL at the moment.
How could Romo be undrafted? My dad remembers watching him as a college player, and being very impressed. But the scouts apparently couldn't look beyond Romo's small, I-AA school.
Of course, that leaves the question of why he wasn't offered a scholarship at a school with a better football program. Somehow, he just fell through the cracks. He's of a decent size for an NFL quarterback, and has good wheels and a reasonably strong and accurate arm. But then, so do a lot of NFL wannabes. Romo appears to be a case where "intangibles" really do make the difference. He's got Jeter-like intangibles: leadership, charisma, resilience, and a certain maturity/responsibility that eludes many young athletes.
I also think his long apprenticeship has been an asset. Manning had half a season behind Kurt Warner before being thrown into the crucible. Warner has had his moments, but he's not exactly known as a smart quarterback. Romo had four years on the sidelines, behind wily veterans Vinny Testaverde and Drew Bledsoe. That's how it used to be in the old days. Quarterbacks waited for years to become starters, learning the ropes and watching the veterans play.
Giants fans have been turning up at the stadium waving "Eli was adopted" signs. (Geez. Until last year, a lot of people claimed Peyton couldn't win the big ones.) Eli will probably find his feet eventually. But if not...the Giants' decision to make him a starter so soon will come into question. When they traded for him, some crusty old coaches warned that starting him too soon could ruin him. I don't know if it ruined him, but it sure hasn't been good for him.
As for Romo...Dallas is sort of coming home for him. Though he was born in California and grew up in Wisconsin, his grandfather was a Mexican immigrant who settled in Texas. (And here I'd thought "Romo" was an Italian name.) Romo's paternal grandparents still live in Crockett, Texas - about halfway between Dallas and Houston, on the other side of I-45 from College Station, home of Texas A&M.
