The American Spectator

p> TROUBLE IN GREEN BAY br> Re: Ryan Young’s Decisions, Decisions : /p> p>Brett Favre’s retirement is starting to remind me of Bill Clinton’s retirement: How can we miss you if you won’t go away? br> — Robert Nowall br> Cape Coral, Florida /p>

Fans can have it both ways, and as a Cowboys fan I can attest to that. In professional sports, fans usually “root for the laundry,” because the players change so often, especially in football. But for me as a Cowboys fan I have seen two all time great players leave Dallas to play elsewhere, and I have cheered them on even as I cheered my team.

I remember when Tony Dorsett was let go by Dallas and ended up playing for the Denver Broncos, and it killed me that “TD” had to go. But I understood that it was best for the team to let him go and start looking towards the future, because TD’s best days were behind him. It didn’t profit the team anything to hold onto him “for old time’s sake” when he wasn’t able to produce any longer.

And I remember when Emmitt Smith left the ‘Boys for Arizona; that one really hurt! This was the all time leading rusher in NFL history we’re talking about, and he was going to Arizona? But again, I stuck with my team and their decision because I could see that Emmitt could no longer get the job done on a consistent basis.

In both cases, I was hoping that the players would still have good years in their new homes, because I had grown so fond of them when they played for my Cowboys. But I could also not fault the Cowboys for parting ways with the players, because the Star is bigger than any individual player, and the players involved knew it.