They even had the gall to put the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders within breathing room of our bench and I was a total wreck. No wonder I froze like a "deer in the headlights" like the movie suggested and got smashed in the mouth. A quick "come to Jesus" meeting with Coach Vermeil on the bench brought me to my senses and I actually had a decent game in spite of a loss.



Indelibly burned into my mind was a game we had in Dallas in '78 when my roommate, Denny Franks, and I flew our fathers down for the game as a Christmas present (see picture). It was the Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, Too Tall Jones and Tom Landry era and the third year into Coach Vermeil's tenure with the Eagles. Back then you could cut a guy … which meant you could block a player below the waist. My target on a kickoff return was linebacker Bob Bruenig. I got the angle and blew him up but his knee drove into my right shoulder and I wound up with a third degree AC (acromioclavicular) shoulder separation. I went into the game with a second separation degree but what the heck. So, I'm writhing on the turf and two hulking figures, Too Tall Jones & Harvey Martin, are looming over me, laughing, taunting me to get up.



"Hey Rocky, you out for the count or what" they laughed and it was then that I remembered my Dad was in the stands and I jumped up and ran to our bench. As the trainers are tending to me I get hit in the back of the head with a rubber chicken (a sick version of a plucked Eagle) that was thrown by Whistlin' Ray, an even sicker guy dressed as a Cowboy … with a broomstick as his horse. Nice.