I wasn't in the best spirits Monday morning heading into work. My Cardinals had suffered their first defeat of the season to Denver's dirty donkeys, but in the loss Arizona lost quarterback Drew Stanton, defensive end Calais Campbell, and cornerback Patrick Peterson.to injury. It is likely that Peterson will return on Sunday, but it is unlikely that Stanton and Campbell will be ready to play next Sunday. The immediate future does not look bright if the Cardinals will have to start their third stringer at quarterback, and a defense missing five starters from last year's squad.
What brightened my morning was hearing that Dallas Cowboys' quarterback Tony Romo was openly complaining that the crowd noise from the visiting fans in his home stadium was so loud that he had difficulty running the offense. Romo had to resort to using a silent count, a tactic usually reserved for away games, to keep his offense in sync. The Cowboys managed to win the game, but Romo and his teammates were not pleased about not having a more resolute home field advantage.
Sorry Tony, but you will get no sympathy from me, nor many other NFL fans who have been in attendance when you and the Cowboys came to town. In fact, we are all enjoying the karmic justice that is being dealt to you. I'm sure that you and Cowboy's owner Jerry Jones never imagined that you would lose home field advantage in your new, opulent, cathedral to the greatness of the Cowboys. Honestly, I find it surprising myself, but I take great satisfaction in knowing that you, your owner, and your teammates have to take a big taste of your own medicine.
The fact is growing up in Phoenix, I was actually a big fan of the Cowboys. We didn't have our own NFL team, so like most Phoenicians, my alliance was dedicated towards one of the teams we regularly saw on TV: the Dallas Cowboys, the Los Angeles Rams, the San Diego Chargers, and the Denver Broncos. Even after the Cardinals relocated to Arizona in 1988, I did not renounce my Cowboys for another ten years. My dissatisfaction with Dallas slowly grew to disgust, and in 1998 I decided to embrace the Cardinals as my team.
I wasn't the only one to hold on to my loyalty after the Cardinals arrived. The combination of a bad owner, fielding a bad football team, in a bad stadium, led to a half empty stadium in Tempe on most Sundays...unless the Cowboys were playing. Back then, you could count on Cowboys fans descending on Sun Devil Stadium en masse, selling out the stadium, and lifting the TV blackout. In fact, the Cowboys fans were so prevalent that many of the Cowboys players described playing in Arizona as their ninth home game. Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill was one of the strongest opponents to NFL re-alignment in 2000, because it moved the Cardinals out of the same division as the Cowboys, and depriving Bidwill his one guaranteed chance to fill the stadium. The Cardinals even went as far as signing former Cowboy, Emmitt Smith in 2003 to win the favor of local Cowboys fans.
Selling out games has not been a problem for the Cardinals since they completed their new stadium in 2006. Since then, the Cardinals have sold out every home game despite having only three winning seasons, and making the playoffs only twice. The problem isn't selling tickets, the problem is who the tickets are being sold to. The fact is that many tickets are being sold to professional and amateur brokers who re-sell tickets to the highest bidder, regardless of the bidder's loyalty to the team. It's been happening in Arizona, and it's no surprise it's happening in Texas as well.
The Cowboys have nobody to blame for this situation but themselves. Their ticket prices, concession prices, and parking prices are among the highest in the league. It's hard to blame even loyal Cowboys fans if they flip their tickets for double the price (or more) even if it's for only one or two games a season. Especially since Cowboys haven't had a winning season in three years and have choked away their playoff chances each year. Many Cowboys fans hold Tony Romo personally responsible for this.
The true hypocrisy of Romo's complaints is that the ticket re-sale market which has worked against him recently at home, has worked for him many times on the road. Cowboys fans are noticeable, if not prevalent in every stadium they travel to. I've seen it first-hand, even in the new Cardinals stadium. So don't cry to me about your home fans making a few extra bucks Tony Romo. You make an eight figure salary, and you play your home games in what amounts to a tourist attraction. Nobody cares if the tourists are rude to you.
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