On The Clock Dallas Cowboys

"This book is a collection of stories on how and why the Cowboys drafted certain players"--

An insider history of the Dallas Cowboys at the NFL draft A singular, transcendent talent can change the fortunes of a football team instantly. Each year, NFL teams approach the draft with this knowledge, hoping that luck will be on their side and that their extensive scouting and analysis will pay off. In On the Clock: Dallas Cowboys, Calvin Watkins explores the fascinating, rollercoaster history of America's Team at the draft, from Roger Staubach through Emmitt Smith and beyond. Readers will go behind the scenes with top decision-makers as they evaluate, deliberate, and ultimately make the picks they hope will tip the fate of their franchise toward success. From seemingly surefire first-rounders to surprising late selections, this is a must-read for Cowboys faithful and NFL fans eager for a glimpse at how teams are built.

Known simply as “America's Team,” the Dallas Cowboys are one of football's most storied franchises and always begin each season with a legitimate chance to add another Super Bowl title to their existing five. Author and Cowboys employee Nick Eatman, through interviews with current and past players, provides fans with a one-of-a-kind, insider's look into the great moments and the lowlights throughout the team's history. Readers will hear from players, coaches, and management as they discuss their moments of greatness as well as their defeats, making If These Walls Could Talk: Dallas Cowboys a keepsake no fan will want to miss.

From Dandy Don Meredith and Roger Staubach to the three mid-nineties Super Bowls won by the unbeatable trio of Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, and Emmitt Smith to TO, Tony Romo, and the glitzy soap opera team of today, the Dallas Cowboys have been the NFL's star franchise for more than 50 years. Love them or hate them, the Cowboys are widely celebrated as "America's Team." But the Cowboys have never been just about football. With their oil baron roots, overbearing, ego-driven owner, players who can't stay out of the tabloids, a palatial new home that sets the standard for modern sports stadiums, fans as enthusiastic as cheerleaders, and cheerleaders who are as famous as the team itself, the Cowboys have become a touchstone of American popular culture. Joe Nick Patoski plumbs all these stories in a book that is a rich, sometimes scandalous, always entertaining portrait of a time, a place, and an irreplaceable team.

This newly updated edition captures the best stories ever told about "America's Team."

For sportswriter John Eisenberg growing up in Dallas in the 1960s, the NFL's Cowboys and their concrete Cotton Bowl stadium loomed larger than life. It mattered little that these were not the perennial Super Bowl contenders or the celebrity-driven assemblage of later years. While wins were scarce, there was no lack of characters to capture a boy's imagination. In his moving account, Eisenberg revives that simpler time in American life and visits with a number of his humble Dallas Cowboys heroes today, finding as much to admire in them as men as he did as athletes. Originally published in 1997, now available in eBook format for the first time, and updated with a new Introduction. Formerly entitled COTTON BOWL DAYS: GROWING UP WITH DALLAS AND THE COWBOYS IN THE 1960'S.

Commemorated to honor the 50th anniversary of the Dallas Cowboys—one of the most prominent and popular franchises in professional sports—Cowboys Chronicles presents the colorful history of "America's Team." This lively retrospective features every game of every season, the unforgettable players, coaches, and Super Bowl teams, and even the world-famous Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

“It’s every bit as fascinating to read about the battles between the Cowboys and the Texans as it is to follow today’s never-ending NFL dramas.” —Mike Florio, ProFootballTalk In the 1960s, on the heels of the “Greatest Game Ever Played,” professional football began to flourish across the country—except in Texas, where college football was still the only game in town. But in an unlikely series of events, two young oil tycoons started their own professional football franchises in Dallas the very same year: the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, and, as part of a new upstart league designed to thwart the NFL’s hold on the game, the Dallas Texans of the AFL. Almost overnight, a bitter feud was born. The team owners, Lamar Hunt and Clint Murchison, became Mad Men of the gridiron, locked in a battle for the hearts and minds of the Texas pigskin faithful. Their teams took each other to court, fought over players, undermined each other’s promotions, and rooted like hell for the other guys to fail. A true visionary, Hunt of the Texans focused on the fans, putting together a team of local legends and hiring attractive women to drive around town in red convertibles selling tickets. Meanwhile, Murchison and his Cowboys focused on the game, hiring a young star, Tom Landry, in what would be his first-ever year as a head coach, and concentrating on holding their own against the more established teams in the NFL. Ultimately, both teams won the battle, but only one got to stay in Dallas and go on to become one of sports’ most quintessential franchises—”America’s Team.” In this highly entertaining narrative, rich in colorful characters and unforgettable stunts, Eisenberg recounts the story of the birth of pro-football in Dallas—back when the game began to be part of this country’s DNA.