New Dawg Blog

The Cowboys let running back Julius Jones leave this offseason.   The Seahawks picked him up and Jules sounds all bitter, “Things changed, and they wanted to go in a different direction,” he said. “There was no explanation, and I didn’t ask. It was just time for me to go.”

Read the rest.

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

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.

Before dating singer Jessica Simpson Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was lovey dovery will American Idol winner Carrie Underwood.

She is a star in Country music.  Her smash single, Before He Cheats, is a female anthem.

Did Romo cheat on Carrie?   Bang it here to find out.

Jacques Taylor of the Dallas Morning News penned a very nice column on the Cowboys players take on newly acquired corner Adam “Pacman” Jones.

They ain’t taking care of him and he if cuts up, it’s on him.

That’s how they are in that locker room.  I know it, I cover it.   Just like Terrell Owens and Tank Johnson came to Valley Ranch with baggage, the guys in the room never allowed that their past issues to take away from their focus on the field.

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo taking a bunch of teammates to Mexico with Jessica Simpson during the bye week of the playoffs is another story.

Taylor pens a piece that lets you know how guys think about their new nickel cornerback:

But the players insist they’re not going to be part of Jerry Jones’ security force.

They’re not going to be chaperoning Pacman. Or calling him to make sure he’s home by midnight. Or having the bouncers at various strip clubs phone them when he’s on the premises.

Nor should they. It’s not their responsibility.

I got a chance to speak with Matt Mosley of ESPN.com after Cowboys GM/owner Jerry Jones met with the local media about the upcoming NFL Draft.

Mosley writes for “Hashmarks”, that is ESPN’s NFL blog.  It’s darn good.

We break down what Jerry said and what they might do, like going into the top ten. 

Get a room sister!!!   Here’s some D Magazine photos of the Cowboys qb and Simpson.

I’m sure a sex tape will follow.