Week 15: Los Angeles Rams vs. Jerry Jones ~ Luka Doncic and Lamar Jackson ~ Cinderella

GO MAVS!!! 17-6 (wins ~ losses)
1st in the Southwest Division
3rd in Western Conference
6th in the NBA

Luka Doncic is the Lamar Jackson of the NBA. Both of these young men are playing out of their minds, breaking records that we never thought would be broken and creating new records that no one thought possible.

Luka's stats (according to multiple sources): 
8 triple-doubles (this season), two of those over 40 points, 1st player in NBA history to do this before age 21
1st player in NBA history to record a triple-double outside of the US & Canada (vs. the Detroit Pistons on December 12th in Mexico)
Averaging 30.4 PPG (points per game)
Averaging 9.9 Rebounds 
Averaging 9.2 Assists

On February 28th, Luka turns 21 years old and he's almost averaging a triple-double on the reg. That's crazy. At age 16, he played for a Spanish professional team in the Euro League, Real Madrid Balconcesto. He led them to a Euro League title in 2018. Last year, this guy was good, but it was all about Dirk's last season. Respectfully, it was appropriate, and now it's Luka's turn to take this team to new heights and to another championship. Watch highlights from this kids game in Mexico. Feeding Seth Curry all night long, which makes him the best Curry in the league this year (his brother isn't playing this season, due to injury, kind of a Manning thing happening here).  

Lamar's stats (according to multiple sources):
Broke Michael Vick's QB rushing record on December 12th
5th in the NFL in Rushing Yards (1,103, half of his teams rushing yards)
1st in the NFL in QBR (81.2, Quarterback Rating, kind of like a handicap in golf)
1st in the NFL in Touchdowns, 33, next closes person is Russell Wilson with 26
1st in the NFL to have thrown for 5 TD's and have 50+ rushing yards in multiple games this season
1st QB to throw for 30+ TD's and rush for more than 1,000+ yards in a season

On January 7th, Jackson will be 23 years old. They wanted him to play Wide Receiver in the NFL. At the combine for the 2018 NFL Draft, he refused to run the 40 and do other tests in order to prevent scouts from labeling him as "unfit" for NFL QB. Now, he runs, a lot. And it's not like QB's haven't run before... clearly Mitchell Trubisky can run, we found that out the hard way, eh? But running comes with risks, which is why the Baltimore Ravens have lucked out that this guy can throw too. Probably the most lethal threat in the NFL, and I can't wait to see how this plays out in the playoffs.

via @ESPN

#MFFL
#GOMAVS
#LUKA

GO COWBOYS!!! 6-7 (wins-losses)
Los Angeles Rams vs. Dallas Cowboys (away vs. home)
Sunday, December 15th @ 3:25 PM CST

One day at a time. 

There's a lot swirling around out there. Fire everyone. Fire Garrett. Fire Jerry as GM. Fire everyone. Oh wait, I already said that. 

As a fan, it's been a week to wallow. I never watch Stephen A. Smith on ESPN. He's the most anti-Cowboys person ever and it has always gotten under my skin. Well, the Friday morning after the game, I woke up, turned on Get Up and watched. Then, I tortured myself even more and watched the opening of First Take, and wallowed, all the more, as Stephen A. Smith fake smoked a cigar, spoke in his fake Texan accent, and joked that the Redskins may win our division (NFC East). 

It's not that the division thing is that important, but it is the fact that a team, with a losing record, could make it into the playoffs. This is like saying the fourth best team in the East in the NBA is good. No, they're probably the 20th best team in the NBA total. The West has too many good teams that are left out each season. Which has me thinking that we need to do away with conferences all together when it comes to the playoffs. I get we need to have them for scheduling during the regular season, etc., but at some point, the best teams should all have a chance to play one another for the championship.

"You have five minutes to wallow in the delicious misery. Enjoy it, embrace it, discard it. And proceed." ~ Elizabethtown

***soap box and pity party are over***

As a Cowboys fan, how do you move forward? 

1) We stick together. Do we wear paper bags on our heads, like Browns fans do every other year? Bag-headed fans. I don't think were there yet, but we're not far off.

2) Learn to listen as others spew their trash talk. Stay calm, listen, and smile while thanking them for their opinion of your misery. 

3) Watch the Mavs play. 

4) I would say we focus on the Texas Rangers and our new stadium, but we missed out on Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rendon. I'm actually okay with this, since these guys got paid more than I think they're worth. Cole will get $1.1M PER START! What? Whose arm is worthy of $1.1M every time you step on the mound. As much as it may be JD's time to go in Arlington, I'm okay with him getting a few pitchers we can work with and hopefully focusing on more position players too. Here's a quick list of pitchers we've already acquired. Now that the Houston Astros were caught cheating, their WS titles don't seem as threatening. And they got rid of Nolan Ryan. All is becoming right in baseball land. 

The game this Sunday? I almost forgot. 

The Rams are trying to make it deep into the playoffs, and they have a real shot at it. They are sitting at 8-5 on the season, and they Cowboys are in their way.  Their QB, Jared Goff, and WR, Cooper Kupp, that almost has 1k yards on the season, can ball. Then you add Todd Gurley II and his new found legs, and they're pretty unstoppable. 

This post below is one of the best comments I saw regarding the Cowboys and how amazing our stats are. 1st in the NFL in total yards, 1st in the NFL in passing yards, but 10th in the NFL in rushing yards. Do you see Dak going Lamar on anyone? We have a $90M RB in Zeke vs. the Rams $60M RB... guess who has more yards on the season? Zeke, but not by much, and they both have 9 TD's.  I'll take $30M back, please. 

So honestly, what matters this week? That these guys play as a team. Even if your coaching staff is on the way out and your GM should be on his way out too, you still have to want to win. Every team we play looks like they want to win more than we do. Jerry is a brilliant marketer, but I'm afraid he's created an environment over the past 20+ years that says that Star on your helmet means something, win, lose or draw. But, it's 2019, and it doesn't. The last time we won a Super Bowl was 1996. 

1996 Trivia: 
1) How many websites existed in 1996 vs. 126 million today? 
2) What was the #1 movie?
3) What record did the Dow Jones break?
4) What was the #1 book? 
5) What was the #1 song? 
6) Who won the Super Bowl in 1996? Oh - you know this one! Yay! 

Watch the game or don't. I believe we'll play hard, because we have talented players who want to win, but we need to do more than have two successful series' out of the gate and then look like we left the rest of the game plan on our tray at Wendy's. A frosty does sound good though.

GO COWBOYS!

Rams 17 ~ Cowboys 14

Checkout the Cowboys full schedule

#dallascowboys
#cowboysnation
#firsttake
#nfl
#getup
#texasrangers

Trivia Answers: 
1) 100,000
2) Independence Day
3) closed over 6,000 for the first time
4) The Runaway Jury by John Grisham
5) Don't Speak by No Doubt

Random Info...
I'll leave you with these two, brilliant quotes.

"Just because it's what's done, doesn't mean it's what should be done."

"We simply must have courage and be kind."

~Cinderella~

#hugsomeone
#nocomplaining
#bekind
#havecourage

~smile~