NBA Blog

I have not been a Dallas Cowboys fan since Jerry Jones purchased the team and fired the legendary Tom Landry.  I will admit that Tony Dorsett was my favorite player as a young mind, long before I realized that being born in San Francisco would lead me towards the 49er faithful. 

Then, for a period, I was a sports bigamist.  I loved the Cowboys and the 49ers, and it was hard.  The 49ers were my hometown team and they beat my brother’s favorite team, the Miami Dolphins, in the Super Bowl.  Wow.  How could you not back that crew.  Roger Craig ran with his high knees, and Taylor and Rice flew by defenders to catch passes from the ultra-cool Joe Montana.  Bill Walsh was just as cool and collected on the sidelines, and the old gold and red were a great match.  (I am extremely excited that the 49ers will start the season in throwbacks, but it will be a sad time to mourn such a coaching genius).

On the other hand, the Cowboys had Dorsett, the star, and the open stadium so God could watch His favorite team.  How could you not love that.  The always calm Landry patrolled the sidelines with his trademark hat, and never seemed to show any expression, even when Danny White would throw three lame ducks and then stay in to punt the ball as well. 

Thankfully, Jerry Jones came onto the scene in the late ’80’s and purchased the team.  His first order of business was to fire Landry.  Right then and there, I was done.  “Never again will I root for that team as long as Jones owns them,” I swore.  Luckily, the Cowboys made it easy to dislike them.  Emmitt Smith came along and started to become the Greatest Cowboy Running Back Ever.  To this day, Touchdown Tony Dorsett is the best in my book.  I don’t care about the records.  Troy Aikman could have been ultra-cool, but I just could not back him.  He was not the military man like Staubach, and he was no Montana.  Then again nobody ever will be.  Tom Brady has come exceptionally close, though.  Then, Michael Irvin and Jimmy Johnson took the cake.  I could not stand them.  Irvin pushed off and showed too much flash on a first down.  Jerry Rice and John Taylor would have scoffed at such antics.  Even Emmitt Smith had bad, over-the-top celebrations.  (The NFL even created a rule because of Emmitt.  He is why no on can remove their helmets after a touchdown).  Do not get me started on Barry Switzer.  Yeesh.

I was rolling right along with my disdain for the Cowboys, enjoying the post-Aikman years of Coach Campo, et. al., when the Cowboys had to do such a despicable thing.  They signed my man Legend.  If you do not know what I am talking about, obviously, you are not a regular reader.  (Quick recap:  I was a mediocre Division III football player for Trinity University, and I played alongside Jerheme Urban “Legend” for three years.  Hence, he is my favorite NFL player).  I was exceptionally happy when Urb scored his first, and only thus far, NFL touchdown against the Cowboys.

Now, I find myself scanning the ‘Web daily for information about the Cowboys.  I ritualistically tune to the NFL Network in the hopes that Rich Eisen will talk about the Cowboys.  I was even pining to draft Tony Romo and Jason Witten in my fantasy draft this past Sunday.  Dare I say it?  Am I once again a Cowboys fan?  …

Nah.  But I’ll root for Urban, and hope that he works his way into a roster spot, which appears to be the case thus far.

For now, I hope that Urban makes the squad and plays well.  I will even go so far as to hope the Cowboys make the playoffs, so long as Urban is on the squad.  But if they do my boy wrong, it is back to the hatred and animosity which they rightly deserve.  Hey, maybe the 49ers need another receiver!

One got 6 years, $126 million, the other got 5 years $57 million.  They both play the same position.

One has been in the league 9 seasons and is 27 years old, the other has been in the league 6 seasons and is 25 years old.

One played 60 games last season and averaged 39.2 minutes per game, the other played in 72 games and averaged 36.7 minutes per game.

One averaged a career-high 22.4 points per game last season on 46% shooting, while the other averaged a career-high 18.1 points per game on 50% shooting. 

If you did not know by now, the first player is Rashard Lewis and the second is Gerald Wallace.

Let’s take a better look at last season’s statistics:

Lewis -     39.7 mpg     46% shooting     6.6 rpg     2.4 apg     1.1 spg     0.7 bpg     22.4 ppg
Wallace -  36.7 mpg     50% shooting     7.2 rpg     2.6 apg     2.0 spg     1.1 bpg     18.1 ppg

Now, I did not list the fact that Rashard Lewis shoots about 12 percentage points higher than Wallace does from beyond the arc.  I also did not list the fact that Lewis is, at best, an ole’ defender while Wallace is one of the better defensive small forwards in the league.  Wallace also does a much better job of attacking the rim.  Despite the fact that Wallace is about 2 inches shorter, he averages more rebounds per game, which further shows his toughness. 

In case you were wondering, take a look at the stats for Lewis after his sixth season:

36.6 mpg     43% shooting     6.5 rpg     2.2 apg     1.2 spg     0.7 bpg     17.8 ppg

Aside from the increase in scoring, Lewis has been the exact same player statistically for about 5 years.  He will not dominate a game in any category, yet he is earning twice the amount of money that Wallace will earn.  I do not understand that, especially when Wallace is further along the curve than Lewis was after his sixth season.  The Magic chose to spend all of their money on Lewis this offseason, instead of spending their money on Wallace and Millicic.  Last time I checked two players were better than one, after all, this is a five person game.  The other thing that kills me about this deal is the fact that the Magic already have the same type of player, a much lesser version no doubt but still the same player, in Hedo Turkoglu.  Hedo is a 6′10″ three point shooter who plays little to no defense.  What was Lewis again? 

Look, I’m not knocking Rashard Lewis.  I like him both on and off the court (my limited sources have said he’s a great guy).  He’s young, talented, and a rare commodity (a tall athlete with a sweet shooting stroke).  But there is absolutely now way that he deserved that contract.  I think the Magic just would not know what to do with themselves if they were not severly overpaying a player to the point that it hamstrung all of their options for the foreseeable future.  (Read Grant Hill).  It is just totally absurd that Lewis would get that much money, more than any other player this summer.  The Magic would have been fine re-signing Millicic, Howard, Nelson, and Ariza and rolling over some of their cap money into next summer when players that are true franchise players become available.  Instead, the Magic have made themselves a middle of the pack team in the Eastern Conference that will not be good enough to go the distance.  Hope Lewis is enough to win over those Billy Donovan fans who are stuck with season tickets. 

In case you were wondering who you would probably spend $126 million on, I’m guessing it is this guy (well, eventually)

Urban Watch:  I was in San Antonio a few weeks ago, and I had the opportunity to spend the day with my old teammate/friend, Jerheme Urban.  Jerheme is still living the D-III dream.  He’s on the Cowboys roster, and according to him (and this), he has a great shot at making the team.  Hopefully, he will make the squad and I will get to hear some more great stories about his continuous efforts to have Jerry Jones recognize him on the golf course.  (Someday, I will tell you guys the story also).

For now, let’s just relish in the fact that my man scored his first (and only thus far) NFL touchdown on Monday Night Football.