Doing the Next Right Thing: Cowboys with Character

On October 16, Tony Romo swallowed his pride and gave a gracious speech to the media about stepping aside for a new team quarterback. Jerry Jones even memorialized the event with a moving montage, almost as if Tony's entire football career is over. Romo admitted that the sports world is a Meritocracy- everything a player has is earned. He said Dakota Prescott had earned his spot as the captain of the Cowboys team. It was "his time" as he revealed his emotional decision.

From nfl.com: 

"I feel like we all have two battles, or two enemies, going on. One with the man across from you. The second is with the man inside of you. I think once you control the one inside of you, the one across from you really doesn't matter. I think that's what we're all trying to do."

I hope America's Team hangs on to Romo a good long time. There's a generation of young ball players who need his mentoring- and not just in the art of the pigskin.

You may have seen another video. The Cowboys' new quarterback, Dak Prescott, on the bench between plays, finished drinking from a paper cup of Gatorade, tossed it toward a nearby trash can, and missed.

After what appears to be a slightly disgusted response (to his own misguided aim? to the errant gust of wind?), he gets up to retrieve the cup from the ground and drop it into the garbage.

Even casual football fans have witnessed the chaos that is left behind after a hard fought game on the gridiron. Towels, cups, plastic drinking bottles, clipboards, Surface Pro tablets (ahem- Bill Belichick) litter the sidelines, forgotten in the joys of victory and agonies of defeat, left for the clean-up crew for disposal.

Not this man. Mr. Prescott didn't let one incomplete pass define him as a loser. His mama raised him right, and he shows his appreciation to her in this small act of character, three years after her death due to colon cancer.

From the Star-Telegram:

Being a mama’s boy is part of who Dak Prescott is. The strong relationship he shared with his late mother, Peggy, has been well documented, and carries on to this day.

Dak still sends text messages to his mom, who died of colon cancer in 2013 at the age of 52. It’s a way to stay connected to her, and he smiled at the thought of sending her a text on Saturday, the day before his NFL debut.

“That’s the moment I do look back and I kind of say to myself, ‘See where I am in life?’” said Dak, who chose No. 4 because his mom’s birthday is Sept. 4.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/nfl/dallas-cowboys/article101102607.html#storylink=cpy

Imagine that: two grown men playing for the same football team. Because doing the next right thing often looks like humility, but results in raising the status of responsibility.