New Dawg Blog

The Stars have won two games and now the peeps in Detroit are worried about a choke job.

Read this one in the Free Press.

Steve Schrader wonders if the Wings lost their mojo.  He writes:  “It’s not like Wings fans haven’t been burned before.

So, we’re not saying any of this is going to happen in tonight’s Game 6 of the Western Conference finals in Dallas, we’re just saying, what if …

… the Wings lost their mojo?

… Marty Turco comes up with another really good game?

… Chris Osgood has a bad game, something he hasn’t done yet? Would the Wings be tempted … nah, they couldn’t go back to Dominik Hasek now.

… the Stars are all confident and full of themselves after Saturday’s big win at the Joe?

… Brett Hull has been right all along, and he really is a hockey genius?”

Ace Free Press columnist Mitch Albom is sweating too.

Add Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News to the list of chicken littles.

It would be fun if the Stars forced game seven.  Game six is tonight in Dallas.

Cowboys QB Tony Romo knows how to escape NFL defenders so IF he has to explain anything to Jessica Simspon about this cute blonde lady, he’ll have a good story.

Bang it here to see.

I remember back in the day when NOBODY cared what Romo did. 

 Now everybody with a camera wants to follow him around.   Somewhere in KC, Quincy Carter wishes he had stayed off the weed and kept his job as the Cowboys starting quarterback.

Cowboys Pro Bowl safety Roy Williams doesn’t like playing in the 3-4 defense.  At least that is what Cowboys linebacker Greg Ellis told Sirius NFL Radio.

The Dallas Morning News Cowboys blog is all over this story.   

“Greg Ellis made some pretty interesting statements about Roy Williams during an appearance on Sirius NFL Radio this afternoon. Ellis said that Williams doesn’t feel like he fits in Wade Phillips’ scheme and has been isolating himself from teammates.

Ellis said Williams first expressed concerns about the Phillips 3-4 during training camp in San Antonio.

“He said, ‘Greg, this defense does not fit me. I don’t fit in well with this defense at all,’” Ellis said. “So when he told me that, I was like, ‘Well, man, it’s still new. Get used to it and it’ll probably be fine for you.’” And obviously I think it came to be true. Just like he said, he doesn’t fit what’s going on here in Dallas right now.

“Now maybe this year, if they decide to keep him for this season, Wade and them will kind of adjust some things to fit him better.”

Todd Archer of the Morning News says it will cost the Cowboys 6.667 million to let him go.  He’s got more.

Of course we wrote this may be Roy’s last year with the Cowboys a few weeks ago on the newdawgblog and for the Star-Telegram.

Ree Hines of MSNBC.com has a story that smells of desperation.   Dallas native Jessica Simpson wants Tony Romo to pop the question.

They have dated six months.  I hope Romo takes it slow.  He is still a young man.   Win a Super Bowl first.  Heck, win a playoff game first.  He’s got plenty of time to get married.

Hines writes: “(Jessica would) love nothing more than to get married before Ashlee,” a source revealed to Star. “It upsets her that her little sister will be married and she won’t. She gets jealous when Ash gets more attention.”

That’s where Jessica’s six-month romance with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo comes in. “She’s been showing him rings in magazines,” the insider said. “She tells him what she likes, and she does it right in front of his friends, too, so it’s really awkward.”

Read the rest here.

Says Mike Fisher of dallasbasketball.com:

Click here to watch Star-Telegram Mavericks beat writer, Jeff Caplan, and yours truly break down the Avery Johnson press conference.

Did Avery really want the Jason Kidd trade to go down?

Is Dirk Nowitzki really the guy to take them to a championship?

Where does this club go from here?

And why the Mavericks should call the Charlotte Bobcats about players?

 newy@newdawg.com

The lovebirds have taken the lust to another level.  Jessica Simpson says Cowboys QB Tony Romo has helped her get back to being Jessica.   I guess that failed marriage to Nick Lachey left her feeling down.

Ol Jess opens up to Glamour magazine with these incredible insights like how they met:

GLAMOUR: Where did you meet Tony? Was it a blind date, or were you at a party?

JS: No. The cute story is that my family and I were watching a Cowboys game. I was going through my divorce and–Tony would die if I told you this–but [on television there was a story] about him. They said his celebrity dream crush was Jessica Simpson.

GLAMOUR: And you hadn’t met him yet?

JS: My family was like, “Did you just hear that?” His picture came up and I’m like, He’s really cute. Then I heard [that I was his crush], and I’m like, Oh my gosh!

GLAMOUR: And you’d never met him?

JS: No. I didn’t meet him for a year and a half after that.

GLAMOUR: How did your first date come about?

JS: One of my best friends played on a basketball team with Tony. He introduced Tony to my dad, and they hung out. Then Tony e-mailed my dad, “Cute date,” when we were at the Country Music Awards [last November], because we were sitting next to each other in the audience and I guess we made a camera shot. My dad was like, “Look what Tony said.” I said, “Give him my e-mail address. We’ll see if he’s good with words.” Then he e-mailed me, and we flirted over e-mail and on the phone. We got to know each other by talking, which I think is the best way. We set up our first date on November 20. Today is our four-month anniversary, but it seems like we’ve been together for so much longer. I said five months to him today, and [Tony] goes, “Baby, that hurts my feelings that you don’t even know.”

“he still deserves all the accolades for bringing me back to who I am.”

GLAMOUR: Back to the tabloids: People still talk about that time you showed up at Tony’s game wearing the pink Cowboys jersey and he played terribly. What’s that all about?

JS: I don’t know–other than me wearing my man’s jersey and cheering him on. And him not playing the way he would’ve hoped and all of a sudden I’m to blame.

GLAMOUR: Why take it out on you?

JS: Because everybody takes everything out on me! [Laughs.] But that was ludicrous. I don’t understand why they think that I would be a distraction to Tony. Do they really think he can see way far up in that box? No. He’s the most focused person I’ve ever dated. I love Dallas. I love the Cowboys. I grew up watching Troy Aikman and all of the quarterbacks, Roger Staubach…. The great thing about Dallas is there’s no paparazzi.

Read the rest here.

newy@newdawg.com

The Mavs coach was on his way home to the Woodlands when we spoke by phone. 

Avery Jr. was taken off on a stretcher.  He was playing football at school and got hurt.   He wanted to check in on his kid.  That is more important than having a press conference with the DFW media.

He will meet with the media tommorrow at 11am.

Avery was not mad.  “It’s time,” he said without any anger in his voice.    The 2006 NBA Coach of the Year will walkaway with over 12 million in pay.  Mavs owner Mark Cuban has to pay a lot of money to make him go away.

Johnson told me he did not want to make it battle of words with Cuban.  He said he wasn’t angry.  He will be interested to see what the next coach does.

Avery didn’t say it, but I know him and his pride says this, “See how good the Mavs are without me.  Let’s see if the next coach will win 60, 67, and 51 wins and make the NBA Finals.”

Avery Johnson did not want to trade Devin Harris for Jason Kidd.   He didn’t say it, but he said ”Devin was like a son to me.  He’s my second son.”  

Read the tea leaves…this was a move Dirk Nowitzki wanted.  It was a move Mark Cuban wanted and Avery played the good solider.

Avery wants to leave things on a high note but he needed to leave.  He said it was time to go.  I know his message got stale in the Mavs locker room.   He’s not the first coach to have that happen.  Pat Riley lost his job with the Lakers in the same fashion.  

We’ve seen it go down in Dallas-Fort Worth before, remember Buck Showalter of the Texas Rangers?

“Control freaks” are what we call them.

Avery will get another job.  He will be fine. 

newy@newdawg.com

After a second straight 1st round playoff exist.  Avery Johnson has been fired as the Mavs head coach.

Marc Stein of espn.com broke the story.

Mike Fisher of dallasbasketball.com has his take on how things got so bad in Mavsland.  And man he goes off. Read the rest right here.

 newy@newdawg.com

Newdawg blog readers know I’m a big time fan of Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News. 

Goose is a tremendous writer and he talks to all the teams.  One day I had him on NBC 5 and he had spoken to five NFL GM’s that day.

He’s got the Cowboys taking a running back and a corner in the first round.   Click for the entire mock draft.

Felix Jones of Arkansas and Brandon Flowers of Virginia Tech.