Another letter to Roy Williams

Wow. Roy, I never thought my last letter to you would set off such a maelstrom. People either loved it or hated it. Much like they do with the Cowboys.
You probably never even saw it, but if you did, there are some things I’d like to clarify. I want to set the record straight with you because it’s pretty obvious that some people missed my point en-tirely.
First off, I never said you were lazy. And if you think it was implied, then I wasn’t clear enough. I don’t think you are lazy. And don’t take the words of the haters on www.oaoa.com and think they are from me. I don’t hide behind silly screen names when I write.
If you remember, what I said last week was that you were a very good player.
The only thing I said about your playing ability was that you weren’t quite as good as Michael Irvin — though you may eventually prove that argument wrong — and that you weren’t vastly superior athletically to NFL defensive backs. I thought those were safe statements.
Not so with Permian Basin Cowboys fans. They think I bashed you. My apologies if you felt the same way.
I don’t blame you for the offense’s problems. As I said last week, “I haven’t decided if the of-fense’s inconsistency is on (Tony) Romo or play caller Jason Garrett.”
My only advice to you — and my only real criticism of you — was to think before you speak.
In no way shape or form do I think you run your mouth like Terrell Owens or Chad Ocho-Cinco. I was just suggesting you keep it that way.
A lot of people are saying I must not be a Cowboys fan since I had the audacity to write anything negative about you and the team.
I guess 15 years of Dallas Cowboys weeklies still piled in a garage, a replica statue of Texas Sta-dium, a piece of Tartan Turf from the original Texas Stadium field, two different Cowboys jackets and more shirts, trading cards and drinking glasses than you can shake a stick at aren’t enough to qualify me and my dad as fans.
Just between the two of us, I’m sure you catch the irony in all of this. The bottom of my column last week talked about how Cowboys fans are a bit unrealistic in their opinions and expectations. Some of their reactions to my column kind of underscore that very point.
They prove fan is short for fanatic. And there’s no reasoning with those folks.
Take the guy who argued that Marion Barber will be a Hall of Famer and is just as good as Em-mitt Smith. As I said last week, I think Barber is a very good player, but you can’t compare him to Emmitt yet. I mean Barber’s never even had a 1,000-yard season.
Oh well, I should have known better than to let others see my letter to you last week. Nobody took it for what it was intended to be — a fan offering some advice so you wouldn’t be called out by the press for talking about how you don’t understand your role.
As I said, you are the face of the Dallas Cowboys now. I love that.
And, even if I’ve been kicked out of the Cowboys fan clan, I’m still rooting for you.