In fact, I think DirecTV just added an entire Tony Romo channel. Twenty-four hours of all Tony Romo, all of the time.
His 11 games as the Cowboys' starting quarterback. His date with Carrie Underwood to the Country Music Awards. His 13 interceptions, featuring Bill Parcells' commentary on the director's cut. And let's not forget The Tony Romo 27th Birthday Bash, live from the Ghostbar and co-starring -- again -- girlfriend Carrie.
Coming soon, I suppose, the latest installment of World's Deadliest Jobs -- field goal holder in Seattle.
Seriously, this is out of control. Tony Romo has officially jumped the shark.
I'm not sure if I decided that when I saw Tony Romo judging the Miss Universe Pageant -- what, a real celebrity like William Hung wasn't available? -- or when Tony Romo's love life made the Hollywood gossip column of somebody named Ted Casablanca.
There is no 24-hour Tony Romo channel, of course. Yet.
But stay tuned to your local listings.
A quick search on Google for the words "Tony Romo"" and "Hollywood"" produced 153,000 responses. A second search, this time replacing Tony Romo's name with "Troy Aikman," found only 38,800 occurrences.
No, Tony Romo hasn't broken any laws, nor seemingly has he violated any Cowboys rules.
But anybody else think like I do, that Tony Romo's high-profile off-season, coming on the heels of a football season in which he accomplished, well, nothing, smacks of risky karma?
From what I remember, Tony Romo didn't exactly lead the Cowboys swaggering into the NFL postseason. He was the winning quarterback in only one of his final five starts.
There are Cowboys fans, trust me, who still wake up screaming in the night, anguished over Tony Romo's fumbled field goal snap in the playoff loss at Seattle.
Tony Romo, on the other hand? He's been quoted as saying that he's long over that.
Yes, we've noticed.
Wait. Coming up next week on Inside the Actor's Studio... Tony Romo.
Life being short, yes, it's hard to begrudge Tony Romo his 15 minutes of fame. But that's the point. His off-season schedule reeks of cheesy opportunism, not hard-earned recognition.
If Tony Romo, after what little he's accomplished in the NFL, can grab the American Idol winner, Aikman should have gone after the Baywatch girls. All of them.
Unlike owner Jerry Jones, apparently, I'm not convinced that Tony Romo is poised on the threshold of greatness. He may well turn out to be a winning quarterback for the Cowboys for the next 10 seasons.
But I'm not certain of that. Tony Romo's performance last season, dating from the rout by the Saints through the fumble in Seattle, shook whatever confidence I had found in him.
Was Jones wrong, therefore, not to draft Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn when the Cowboys had the No. 22 pick?
No, because having Brady Quinn around would have provoked yet another Cowboys quarterback circus (see HUTCHINSON, Chad, and HENSON, Drew). At the first sign of a Tony Romo interception, Cowboys fans would have started the chant for Brady Quinn.
I don't care that Owner Jones seemed to say that the Cowboys considered Brady Quinn the eighth-best player in the draft. Brady Quinn wasn't. This is the same draft board, remember, that once listed Quincy Carter fatefully high.
Tony Romo needs the entire season to be evaluated. The Cowboys need to know all there is to know about Tony Romo, for better or worse.
And if Tony Romo proves not to be the long-term answer, the Cowboys perhaps can use their pick from the Cleveland Browns to draft the best or second-best college quarterback in the land in 2008.
Wait. Coming soon ... Dr. 90210, co-starring Tony Romo. According to TV Guide, "Tony sees Dr. Robert about having Coach Parcells' shoe removed from his posterior."
For what it's worth, by the way, a Google search for the names "Tony Romo"" and "Carrie Underwood" produced 257,000 responses.
A search for the terms "Tony Romo" and "fumbled snap" found only 167.
Wait. Coming this fall on E! It's The Simple Life, featuring Tony Romo and Nate Newton. "Nate teaches the young quarterback how to hitch on a rental trailer."
I'm joking, of course. No Cowboys quarterback would be indiscreet enough to go Hollywood after winning only six of his 11 games. Ahem.
No, it's probably none of the fans' business what Tony Romo does in his spare time. All the fans do, after all, is spend the money that pays Tony Romo's salary.
But the next time Cowboys fans see Tony Romo on a TV show, drinking champagne, he'd better have the Super Bowl trophy with him.
Tony Romo still has much to accomplish. Getting into Ted Casablanca's column, unfortunately, isn't one of them.
