Super Bowl XLV: Dining in Dallas

So your coming to the D/FW Metroplex for the big game and you want to taste a little bit of the local cuisine? Not surprisingly, Tex-Mex heavily defines the local flavor and there are a ton of restaurants that offer both Tex-Mex and traditional Mexican foods, but how do you know which ones to try? Let’s start with a few of my favorites:

Mia’s Tex-Mex – 4322 Lemmon Ave., Dallas, TX 75219

A perfect place to taste some of Dallas’ best Tex-Mex and take in a little local football history. Rumor has it, this was Tom Landry’s favorite restaurant in town and, ironically, it’s the same restaurant where Jerry Jones had a “secret” meeting with Jimmy Johnson before firing Landry and hiring Johnson. On the outside, the little yellow building doesn’t look like much, but once inside, the walls are covered with signed photos of Dallas sports legends. Be sure and try the brisket tacos, you will not be disappointed. Mia’s also gave rise to the next two establishments on my list.

Taco Diner – 4011 Villanova St., Dallas, TX 75225 and 3699 McKinney Ave. Dallas, TX 75204

Mi Cocina – 77 Highland Park Village Dallas, TX 75205 and 3699 McKinney Ave. Dallas, TX 75204

Taco Diner and Mi Cocina are both offsprings of Mia’s. Both have several locations in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, but for the purpose of this piece we will focus on the two nearest to downtown Dallas. Taco Diner focuses mainly on traditional Mexican tacos (don’t expect ground beef and crispy taco shells here), but they feature some traditional favorites as well, including fajitas. Mi Cocina has a little bit broader menu, but the recipes are almost identical to Taco Diner.

If the weather is nice, you have to go to the West Village (McKinney Ave.) location and dine on the patio. Here, Taco Diner and Mi Cocina are positioned directly across from one another and you can watch people dinning at both spots and watch the “beautiful people” of Dallas take in some shopping.

If you’re looking for a more family-friendly atmosphere,  the Mi Cocina in Highland Park Village and the Taco Diner in Preston Center (Villanova St.) are where you will want to go.You’ll still probably be able to spot a few local or national celebrities.

Chuy’s - 4544 McKinney Ave. Dallas, TX 75205

What makes Chuy’s unique is their strong reliance on green chilies, including their amazing green chilie salsa. Almost every dish features some unique sauce or item prepared with green chilies, and as such, you can expect a little bit extra flavor. As with all of the Tex-Mex restaurants covered, margaritas are the drink of choice, but they also feature a wide selection of Mexican and Texas beers that will surely bring out the flavor. Bring some extra money and take home a souvenir t-shirt with you.

Dallas offers a lot more than merely Tex-Mex food, we also offer some fine Italian restaurants as well.

Gordo’s - 8220 Westchester Dallas, TX 75225

If you’re an out-of-towner, Gordo’s might be hard for you to find, as it nestled in what appears to be a back alley of a local shopping center, but don’t let that keep you from sampling the food. Gordo’s features the best traditional Italian plates in town, at a very reasonable price. I personally recommend the shrimp scampi sauteed in lemon butter Chardonnay sauce, served over capilini. In the mood for something lighter? Try their Greek or Mediterranean Salads. Be sure and ask for a wine list, as they offer several well-priced wines to compliment every meal on the menu.

Campisi’s Egyptian Lounge – 5610 E. Mockingbird Ln. Dallas, TX 75206

There are several Campisi’s locations sprinkled throughout the Metroplex, but there is only one Campisi’s Egyptian Lounge and it’s the one you will want to sample. Don’t let the name fool you, Campisi’s is all about Italian cuisine. The Mockingbird location features a Tuesday night spaghetti special that is extremely popular, especially among the college kids from nearby SMU. The spaghetti is good, but my personal choice at Campisi’s is their pizza.

Snuffers – 8411 Preston Rd.  Dallas, TX 75225

What’s that you say? You’re in town for a football game and want some football food?

If hamburgers and hot dogs are what you want, check out Snuffer’s, which offers traditional American favorites served in a sports bar atmosphere. Snuffers is known for their cheedar fries. In order to get the full Snuffers experience, be sure to get them fully loaded with bacon, chives and jalapenos.

Good Eats – 3888 Oak Lawn Ave. #101  Dallas, TX 75219

If you want to taste some authentic Texas food, stroll into Good Eats. Many critics, including myself, consider their Chicken Fried Steak to be the best in town, but not everything on the menu is deep fried. In fact, I prefer many of their grilled items, including their grilled catfish, mesquite grilled  chicken and Cajun grilled chicken. As with most restaurants in town, you’ll want to begin with some chips & salsa.

You might be thinking to yourself, since this is Texas, shouldn’t their be some BBQ joints profiled? Dallas has some good BBQ restaurants, like Dickey’s and Sonny Bryan’s, but I would stop short of calling them great. If you really want some great BBQ, you will need to venture way outside the city limits into more rural areas. If that’s your thing, allow yourself about an hour and half travel time and go East on I-20. Once you enter the Piney Woods, you will discover some of the best BBQ in the world, including my personal favorite, Bodacious.

Next up, let’s take a look at the downtown and Uptown areas of Dallas, including where to go and how to get around.

Super Bowl XLV: A Visitor’s Handbook to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex

As we inch towards Super Bowl XLV, I felt it would be nice to start a series aimed at those who may coming to the Metroplex for the “big game.” A lot of the articles I have read about Dallas have focused on the usual tourist hot spots–the Sixth Floor Museum, Southfork Ranch, the West End, etc. If those areas interest you, by all means go and enjoy, but I want to give you a guide that will provide you with a little deeper look and allow you to experience Dallas as a native.

First, let’s clear up some of the “geographic confusion.” Inevitably, you will hear people refer to the area as the Metroplex, North Texas or just Dallas. The Super Bowl will be played in Arlington; Fort Worth will host ESPN as well as other festivities and Dallas will feature the NFL Experience and tons of parties. If you want to experience the true Super Bowl experience, you will have to venture outside the Dallas city limits. Over the past few years, it’s become common to refer to the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area as “North Texas,” which is a bit inaccurate considering there are certainly areas much further north in the state. One local sports media personality  has gone so far as to label our land as the “Chicken Fried Nation,” but that too fails to adequately describe the D/FW area. Personally, I prefer the term “Metroplex”.

While we’re at it, let’s clear up some other common misconceptions. First, boots are optional, even though, in the Metroplex, they are permissible even in business formal environments.  Second, we have a lot more to offer in the way of nightlife than gentlemen clubs, as I will attempt to describe in more detail in another post in this series. Finally, you’re going to need something other than a horse to get around. The Metroplex encompasses over 9,000 square miles; D/FW airport alone is larger than the island of Manhattan. This is not a city where you can survive without a car.

With that out the way, let’s get down to business.  First, as you pack for your trip, remember to pack for changing weather conditions. It might be in the 70′s one day and the next you’ll wake up to a foot of snow, so you’ll want to prepare. If you haven’t already booked your trip, a few things to keep in mind. Consider flying into Love Field, as opposed to D/FW. More than likely this means flying with Southwest, but you avoid the hassles of heavily-congested D/FW and you’re just a few minutes from the heart of the city. Even though the Metroplex  is spread out and events will be taking place all over, Dallas is going to be your best bet for a home base. Indeed, the bulk of the posts in this series will begin with the assumption you will be lodging in Dallas during your stay.

So what makes Dallas such a great place for the Super Bowl when compared to more exotic locales like Miami and New Orleans? Everywhere else, it’s just football. Here it is a way of life. It’s not just the Cowboys we love. Yes, they have provided us with many great Super Bowl memories, but Texans, and Dallas-ites specifically, love football on all levels, whether it’s Pee Wee football, the Friday night lights of high school football, the great rivalries on the college level or, of course, the NFL.  You would be hard pressed to find another city in  America where football is ingrained more in the DNA of its citizens than Dallas.Combine that with the greatest stadium the world has ever seen and you’re in store for a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle.

So, come on down. Order yourself up a skillet of sizzling fajitas, get a frozen margarita (invented here) or a cold Shiner Bock beer, and let’s start with a look at your dining options while in the Metroplex.  Just remember, when you “cross that ol’ Red River hoss, Bob Wills is still the king!”

Super Bowl XLV: A Vistor’s Handbook to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex

Part I:  Dining in Dallas

Part II:  Downtown and Beyond

A Cowboys Fan’s Guide on to Rooting Interests in Super Bowl XLV

Next week, the NFL wraps up the most boring, uninspired regular season of my lifetime. The following weeks will feature playoff football, which will end on February 6, 2011 in Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. As a Cowboys fan, it will be tough to watch any team lift the Lombardi Trophy in our stadium, but some will definitely hurt more than others (i.e. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, or New England).

With the Cowboys out of contention, I thought I would put together a list of possible playoff teams Cowboys fans should be rooting for to make it to Arlington.

1.) Atlanta Falcons – The Falcons are the least offensive of the possible playoff teams (and the team on the list with the most realistic shot of winning it all). They have never won a Super Bowl, so the Cowboys legacy factor is not at stake. They have no natural rivalry with the Cowboys like the Eagles or Packers. Most importantly, the team’s low profile makes them extremely likeable.

2.) Kansas City Chiefs – Yes, this pick is wishful thinking. The Chiefs have a tough road if they plan on making it to Arlington. In the AFC, all roads go through New England and history shows this is an almost impossible place to win in the post-season. BUT, the Chiefs began as the Dallas Texans and there are still a lot of fans of the franchise in the D/FW area.  It would be fitting for the Chiefs to raise the Lombardi Trophy in the Metroplex.

3.) Chicago Bears – It seems the Bears and Cowboys are never “good” at the same time. This has prevented any real rivalry forming between the two teams. Plus, Bears’ head coach Lovie Smith is from nearby Big Sandy, Texas. When in doubt, always root for the Texan.

The Real Reason for the Cowboys’ Struggles

Cowboys fans, including myself, expect “greatness.”

Over the years, we have been spoiled by one of the most successful sports franchises. We are not accustomed to being mediocre and we have a hard time accepting it when that may really be the case. So, we look for excuses.

The coach sucks. The quarterback isn’t serious enough. The owner’s ego gets in the way. We run too much. We throw too much. Etc.

Some of those statements may be true, but none of them address the team’s real issue–talent.  Simply put, the Cowboys are what their record indicates, a slightly better than .500 team.

Depending on how you look at it, this team is in the bottom portion of the top quarter of teams in the league or the top of the second quarter of teams in the league. To expect “greatness” out of this team, as presently constructed, is foolish.

Could another coach get more out of this team? Perhaps, but not much. Even Coach Landry or Jimmy Johnson would have struggled to win 10 or 11 games with this unit and as much as I love those two coaches, neither of them would have won a Super Bowl with this roster.

Even in the watered down version of today’s NFL, depth is vital to a title run. While the starting 11 on both sides of the ball match-up well with the top tier teams, it’s the lack of depth that brings this roster down. No where was this more evident than when DeMarcus Ware suffered his injury and was forced to leave the game. It’s impossible to fully replace Ware, but the gap between starter & backup at outside backer is so extreme on this team that it’s almost impossible to make any sustainable compensation for the loss.

We see this disparity at almost every defensive position. Without a doubt, the biggest difference between the Cowboys and the serious contenders is this disparity.

The good news is that the Cowboys are close enough to the contenders that they can enter the conversation with one good off-season. This begins with compiling a list of your core players to keep and a list of expendable parts and suitable replacements.

Let’s end the debate right now, Tony Romo is a legitimate championship caliber quarterback and Miles Austin and Roy Williams are your #1 & #2 receivers respectfully. It would be nice to add another great receiver through free agency. All is well on the tight end in front, Jason Witten is the best in the league and I’m convinced that Marty B will continue to develop.

On the offensive line, Flozell Adams’ skills as a lineman no longer outweigh the liability of his mental issues–he needs to go. I would recommend turning to free agency to find a suitable replacement and use our first round draft pick to add some depth behind the rest of the line.

In the backfield, I like what Marion Barber and Tashard Choice bring to the table, but I don’t believe either one can handle the load on their own. In spite of his ability to make “big plays,” I have not been that impressed with Felix Jones. Sure, he is fast, but the “big plays” have been few and far between. I think that his stock around the league is still high enough that you could snag a third or fourth round pick away from some unsuspecting team for his services and turn that draft pick into more offensive line depth.

On the defensive side of the ball, the most glaring weakness is at linebacker. When the Cowboys turn in their helmets and shoulder pads at the end of this season, I pray to God we don’t ever see Bobby Carpenter in a Cowboys uniform again. I have yet to hear anyone who covers this team justify his existence on the roster. In an ideal world, I would love to see us use our first round draft pick and get Alabama’s Rolando McClain. However, I doubt he will be around when the Cowboys pick and that’s why I recommended going for offensive line depth. I’m convinced that either in free agency or in the draft, we can find a more capable back-up and nickle backer than Carpenter. I think Brooking, Spencer, James and Ware are more than capable of being part of a championship caliber defense. The same goes for the front three.

In the secondary, depth is the biggest concern. Orlando Scandrick has taken a step back this year and Alan Ball, God love him, just doesn’t have what it takes to play the position at a high level in this league. This is another area I would focus on in the off season.

Finally, Wade Phillips has done about all he can do here. It’s time Jerry showed him to the door and thanked him for his service. On the way walking Phillips out of Valley Ranch, Jerry needs to stop by Jason Garrett’s office and hand him his walking papers as well. He is not the coach this team needs.

If you really want to find a common thread between the recent Cowboys teams that have struggled during the month of December look at the system. The Dallas Cowboys have NEVER won a playoff game playing a 3-4 defense. The fact that this team still uses it is blasphemous. Until they win a playoff game with the 3-4 defense, the possibility of a “3-4 curse” must be considered legitimate. Though it might set the franchise back another year in building towards a legitimate championship threat, I really do think Jerry Jones should consider courting a 4-3 coach and return this franchise to its defensive roots.

Be prepared to be beaten down by the sports media in this town continuing to talk about the “December swoon.” Be prepared to listen to them pour all the blame on Wade Phillips and question the toughness of this team. Be prepared to answer back with, “you know what, this team is playing just about the way they should.”

Who does Steve Dennis think he is?

At Monday’s Wade Phillips’ press conference, CBS 11 sports reporter Steve Dennis asked the Cowboys’ coach if he considered his team “winners.” By virtue of owning a winning record, this Cowboys team is, by definition, a “winner.” Of course, “winning” can mean a lot of different things. Dennis posed this question to Wade Phillips to drive home a tired Dallas media talking point–the dreaded “December swoon.” While the Cowboys have enjoyed success September through November under Phillips’ watch, they have not performed well when the season really matters–December and beyond.

In and of itself, this is fine. The Dallas market is flooded with sports media personalities, some good and some bad. If a member of the media wants to talk about the same generic talking points, he has the right to do so, but it makes for very boring radio, TV or print. However, what makes Dennis’ question different is the pattern he has established for himself.

In the summer, he made our “Bottom 5 Dallas Sports Media Personalities,” where we described him as “loud, obnoxious, and pompous,” descriptions we stand by to this day. As part of the best TV sports team in the market, it appears that Dennis feels threatened by his compatriots and seeks to stand out anyway possible. He does this by making himself part of the story, which is exactly what happened with this one.

In addition to his duties at CBS 11, Dennis also hosts “The Keith Brooking Show” on Sunday mornings on their sister station KTXA 21. Somehow, footage of the taping for the upcoming episode was leaked to the media. In the opening, an upset Keith Brooking (Cowboys linebacker) confronts Dennis about his questioning of Wade at the Monday press conference. Evidently, Brooking and other members of the Cowboys team felt that Dennis’ question implied that their team was full of losers. Dennis handles himself very well and seeks to explain his question more thoroughly, but the entire clip I heard was extremely tense.

Tonight, I tuned into the 10 PM news on CBS 11 and when it was time for sports who do I see prancing around the Cowboys locker room but Steve Dennis. They framed it as a segment showing how the Cowboys team is rallying around their coach and using the media as motivation for a successful December, but again it appeared that Dennis was trying to make the story about himself.

I do not know Steve Dennis personally. He may be a great guy for all I know. I only know the Steve Dennis I see on TV and hear on the radio and when I see or hear that Steve Dennis, I scratch my head and ask, “who does Steve Dennis think he is?”  If I could pass along any advice to him, it would be this:

When people tune into a Wade Phillips press conference, they do so to hear Wade Phillips talk about the Cowboys, not to hear Steve Dennis.  When people tune into watch sports on the local news, they do so to catch the latest on their local teams, not to see the local reporter injecting himself into the center of a story. If Mr. Dennis wants to be the center of a program, get your own radio show or start your own blog. Until then, report the news and stay out of it.

The TCU/Boise State Problem

For all your BCS related questions, click here.

For the next month, football will dominate water cooler and cocktail chatter. A lot of that talk will center around the BCS games. This year’s slate of BCS bowl games features Ohio State and Oregon in the Rose Bowl, Georgia Tech and Iowa in the Orange Bowl, Florida and Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl, Boise State and TCU in the Fiesta Bowl and Alabama and Texas squaring off in the BCS National Championship Game. While Alabama and Texas will play for title, the Fiesta Bowl match-up of TCU/Boise State seems to be generating the most discussion.

Both teams enter the game undefeated and ranked in the top 10. The two teams faced each other last season in the Poinsettia Bowl, which turned out to one of the most exciting games of the 2008-2009 season. By all indications, this will be one hell of a game. However, most Fiesta Bowl talk focuses on the controversy rather than the game itself.

Both teams play in non-automatic qualifying conferences and both had much bigger aspirations heading into the BCS selection. As members of the non-automatic qualifying conferences, the knock against both TCU and Boise State is that they lack the strength of schedule of the teams from the six BCS affiliated conferences. Never mind the fact the Boise State posted a dominating victory over Oregon, who plays in BCS bowl game this season, and TCU posted three wins over three top 25 teams.

TCU and Boise argue that they are willing to play any team, any time, any where, but many traditional powers refuse to play them for fear of losing. They felt that the in the BCS they would be afforded the opportunity to play one of the traditional powers, at a neutral site, in a prime-time, made for national television environment.   TCU even had faint hopes that they could be selected to play for the national title, but at worst given a shot to play Florida, Georgia Tech or Iowa. Instead, TCU and Boise State were paired together–two non-automatic qualifiers squaring off in a meaningless game.

It reminds me of jobs where they require you to have experience before applying, but there is no way to get the experience when all the related jobs require experience. For example, in order for an actor to make a living, he or she must be a member of Actors’ Equity Association. Almost all professional theaters in the United States are Equity affiliated and you must be a member of the union in order to perform. In order to join the union, you must have performances in Equity houses under your belt. Of course, there are exceptions to these rules, just like TCU and Boise State are the exceptions in the BCS, but in most cases the rule apply.

In order for schools like TCU and Boise to prove that they are worthy of BCS bids and legitimate national title contenders they need to prove themselves against BCS schools. The BCS denied this opportunity to these two schools out of fear of the BCS affiliated schools being embarrassed by the non-automatic qualifiers.

Some experts feel that TCU and Boise State deserve each other. Colin Cowherd, one of ESPN’s generic radio personalities, made the statement on his Monday program that TCU and Boise State should be happy to just be invited to the BCS, that TCU had “cankles” and didn’t deserve a big time BCS bowl game because they didn’t sell out all of their home games.

This is obviously flawed logic. A team’s fan support is not an indicator of the quality of their program. If we extended this logic to the NFL then the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings, the top two teams in the NFC, should not be allowed the right to play in the Super Bowl even if they win the NFC. Both the Saints and Vikings are small market teams and have had trouble selling out home games over the years. Indeed, the Vikings feared they would have to blackout home games this season until they signed Brett Favre.

The BCS fears schools like TCU and Boise State having success, because the more success these programs have, the more irrelevant the BCS becomes.

Thank you Cowboys fans!

You’ll recall that last week I urged all Dallas Cowboys fans to rush over to the website for the Fox affiliate in Shreveport to vote in a poll asking which NFL game they should show on Sunday. As mentioned, the Shreveport media market contains parts of Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas, which is solid Cowboys country. There was the thought the  Saints fans might be able to cast enough votes to get their game shown instead.

I’m happy to announce that the Cowboys game won and now our East Texas, Southwest Arkansas and Northwest Louisiana fan bases will get to the Cowboys/Redskins game on Sunday.

Just another reminder of the greatness of our fan base! Thanks to all the Cowboys fans who went to the website and voted.

Top 5 Sports Moments from Weekend

I realize that I’ve been on a top 5 kick lately, but it’s just the mood I’m in. Let’s keep it rolling with the Top 5 moments from a busy sports weekend:

1.) SMU Becomes Bowl Eligible – For whatever reason, I’ve been a SMU fan from my earliest days. I have never attended school there and they haven’t had the on field success that elicits t-shirt fans, but I’m a fan of the Pony Express. I went to several SMU games as a kid, pre-death penalty, and I was at the first post-death penalty game, a win over UConn. To see this team rise from the depths, become bowl eligible and sit in the driver seats for the Conference USA title is great indeed.

2.) TCU Sends a Message – There are two legitimate national title contenders in Texas–the one in Austin everyone expected and then the one in Fort Worth that’s been battling for national respect for a decade.  While it will still take a miracle for TCU to earn a spot in the BCS National Championship Game, if they run the table and win their BCS bowl game they will provide yet another example of how the BCS is the biggest fraud in all of sports.

3.) Mavs Continue to Play Strong – In spite of a recent rash of injuries and illnesses, the Dallas Mavericks continue to play as well as anyone in the NBA. Over the weekend, they took games at Minnesota and Detroit and tonight won on a last second, OT buzzer beater in Milwaukee. While this may not be the Lakers, Celtics & Cavaliers, three straight road wins is always a feat in the NBA. Plus, the Mavs got these 3 wins without Josh Howard, Tim Thomas, Erick Dampier and Shaw Marion.

4.) Colts beat the Patriots – I’ve always said, every time the Patriots win, somewhere a little puppy dies. To see the look of failure and utter dejection on the face of Bill Belichick walking off the field last night actually helped ease the pain of the Cowboys loss (see #5).

5.) Wade Phillips is one step closer to being fired – In the “desperately-seeking-a-rainbow-after-the-storm” category, the Cowboys loss to Green Bay on Sunday means this franchise is one step closer to ridding itself of its final obstacle in the race to win a Super Bowl–Wade Phillips. I’m convinced that if this team does not make it to the NFC Championship game this year, Jerry Jones will fire Wade. While I will always support fellow Texans, Wade is just not the right fit in Dallas. In keeping with the “support my fellow Texans” theme, I’m also glad that the Packers win ensures that their GM, and former Atlanta Rabbit great, Ted Thompson’s job is safe for at least another week.

Texas High School Football Playoffs: A Broken System

Driving around my neighborhood tonight, I noticed yellow ribbons everywhere–on fences, stop signs and in front of houses. While I do live in fiercely patriotic community, these ribbons are not part of a military salute, but rather part of a unique Texas high school football tradition. This week marks the start of the Texas high school football playoffs, one of the most exciting events in all of sports. During the playoffs, the Highland Park community places yellow ribbons around town to show their solidarity with their local team (HPHS’s school color are navy and yellow).  It’s one Highland Park tradition that reminds me of home.

As a kid growing up in rural East Texas, high school football meant the world to me. The performance of our local football team defined our community. Making the playoffs sent a message to surrounding communities that we excelled in something uniquely Texan and served as a rallying point for everyone in town. I still remember the first playoff game I attended. In 1983,my Atlanta Rabbits took on the Carthage Bulldogs at Longview’s Lobo Stadium. My Rabbits lost that night, but this brief glimpse into this spectacular new world engendered an insatiable appetite for the game. Years passed before our next playoff appearance and the mystique surrounding them grew.  Then in 1990, the Rabbits entered a new era, one punctuated by an appearance in the state championship game in 1994.

Part of what made the playoffs so exciting was the selective nature of the system. Eleven man football in the state was broken into five classifications based on school enrollment. Each classification consisted of approximately 200 schools, divided into districts. Prior to the mid 80′s, only one school from each district–the district champion–advanced to the playoffs for a five week tournament. In the mid 80′s, the UIL, the state’s governing board for sports, decided to expand the playoff format and take the district champion and runner-up to compete in a 64 team field, stretched over six weeks.

In both scenarios, only the best teams advanced to the post-season and at the end of the year, each classification crowned one champion. This changed in 1998 when the UIL created two divisions within each classification (2A-5A, 1A would not adopt the policy until 2006)–a large school division with 32 teams and a small school division with 64 teams. The top 3 teams from each classification advanced to the playoffs, with the school with the largest enrollment going in the big school division and the other two teams advancing through the small school division (5A adopted this system in 1990 & 4A in 1996, but 1998 was the first season for 3A and 2A).

Under this new system, teams with sub-.500 records began earning playoff spots and each classification crowned TWO state champions. A team could finish in third place in a district and advance to win a state title. To say the least, the playoffs became watered down and state titles lost some of their luster.

For example, in 2003, the Atlanta Rabbits won the 3A Division II state championship, 34-0 over Marlin,  in one of the most dominating performances in a state championship game in Texas history and earning my alma mater their first state title in football. I watched from the stands that day and celebrated with my friends after the game, but something about the title felt cheap. Indeed, the weekend before, Gainesville High School had won the 3A Division I state title. We’ll never know if Atlanta or Gainesville had the better team (although Atlanta has won every meeting with Gainesville) and in my mind the championship will always feel like a co-championship. In some ways, I’m more impressed with our state finals appearance in 1994, a 36-15 loss.

Now the UIL has watered the system down even more, taking four teams from each district–two for each division–in 4A & 5A.  That means that at least half of the district makes the playoffs in most cases, 128 total teams in those two classifications.

What kind of champions do you get in this kind of system?

Let’s look at the two state champions in 4A from last season. Austin Lake Travis won the Class 4A Division I (big school) title with a 16-0 record. Led by quarterback Garrett Gilbert (now Colt McCoy’s back-up at UT), the Cavaliers won the District 25-4A state title, winning their 16 games by an average of 33 points per game. In the state championship game, they defeated the Longview Lobos, 48-23, capping off one of the most dominating seasons in Texas football history.

The Sulphur Springs Wildcats won the Class 4A Division II state title. For a full recap on their “unusual” path to the state title, I invite you to check out a piece we published in July. Suffice it to say, they took the road less traveled, finishing third in a district that featured Longview (see above paragraph). Longview defeated Sulphur Springs in district play 32-13. Yet Longview loses in a state title game and the Wildcats hoist a trophy at the end of the season. Sulphur Springs gave up an average of 30.6 points a game, only held one team to under 20 points the entire season and gave up 30+ points seven times. Clearly Lake Travis was the best team in Class 4A, but they will forever be remembered as a “co-champion.”

The UIL must do something about the high school football playoff system. I suggest creating a 6A division for the large high schools surrounding the state’s major metropolitan areas and adjust the other classifications accordingly. Return to a single champion format for each classification, with a 64 or 32 team field playoff. If this current trend continues, Texas football’s legacy stands to be tarnished.

Calling all Dallas Cowboys fans…

As a lifelong Cowboys fan, I like to think of our fan base as one big family. As such, we come together to help our family members out, especially when it involves watching and rooting on our beloved Cowboys. I’ve been given a message from a loyal Cowboys fan in East Texas that a part of our family may be denied that opportunity. Now East Texas is strong Cowboys country; however, this portion of East Texas is actually in the Shreveport media market.

The Shreveport Fox station, KMSS, is running a poll to see which NFL game they should show at noon on November 22, 2009. Of course, we play the Redskins, but the Saints play Tampa Bay during that same time slot. As part of the Cowboys fan base, we need to do everything possible to make sure our “family” in East Texas, Southwest Arkansas and Northwest Louisiana get to watch this game on their local television station. Please visit the station’s website and click on the icon on the right to get to the voting screen. You’ll have to register for a free account, but it’s worth it to help out fellow Cowboys fans.

As you might imagine, the Shreveport area has a strong Saints fan base as well and the Shreveport Fox station (and CBS back in the day) have been known to show Saints games over Cowboys games from time to time.Whenever this happens, there is an uproar from the Cowboys fan base. It seems like it would happen at least once a year when I was a kid and it was always a disappointing week. I live in Dallas now, so we’re not doing this for me. I’ll get to see the game.

Do it for the kids, the 4 or 5 year old kid who loves the Dallas Cowboys and wants to watch them with his daddy. Do it for the elderly grandmother in East Texas who only turns her TV on to watch the evening news and the Cowboys. Most of all, do it for our family.

Remember, this is Louisiana we’re dealing, a land famous for rigged elections. If we want the Cowboys to win this vote, we’re going to have to play by ACORN rules.