The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

KAZ’S KORNER

Jerry Jones must either be an eternal optimist or is just plain stupid. After announcing last week the flamboyant Dallas Cowboys’ owner would release 14-year veteran quarterback Tony Romo, he got wind that the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans are VERY interested in obtaining his services to their respective NFL teams.

So Jones applies the brakes to his original plan and tests the marketplace to find out just what his fragile signal-caller is really worth.

He checked his phone lines several times to make sure they were still working because his phone never rang after saying he would trade Romo. There was no bidding war like Jones anticipated.

So by Monday morning Jones was pretty convinced that no team is willing to make that kind of gamble and be forced to absorb his gigantic salary and announced that he probably will have to release the popular quarterback.

I believe the owner got together with Romo and told him that he would grant the release, but outlined some provisions of do’s and don’ts that accompanied it.

He probably doesn’t want Romo to sign with the Houston Texans, because he would be eating crow forever if Houston went on to win the Super Bowl with Romo at the controls.

Some sports analysts believe that the longer Jones dances around with this matter, the more Romo is worth. And just maybe some team would offer Dallas a fifth or sixth-round draft choice, taking some of the monetary sting out of the situation.

But on the other side of the coin, the longer Jones takes to release Romo, the fewer opportunities would be available for the 36-year-old quarterback. Most NFL teams have their quarterback situation settled.

The big drawback for Romo is that he will be 37 years old in April and has started only four games in the past two seasons because of surgery on his clavicle and back. Also his base salary is $14 million and he is owed $40 million over the next two years.

A team could get Romo to redo his contract and then trade for him, but Houston and Denver are waiting for him to become a free agent.

Romo certainly doesn’t want to join a team that is rebuilding like the Cleveland Browns. He wants to go with a franchise that at least has a chance to make the playoffs and possible win the Super Bowl.

Houston probably jumped the gun by trading Brock Osweiler, but the first team that showed an interest got him, it was that simple. “The framework for Osweiler’s exit began after the Texans were eliminated at New England in the divisional round of the playoffs,” stated an article in Sunday’s Houston Chronicle.

The article explained that the franchise picked up an additional $10 million of cap space, leaving them $28.7 million under the cap after they re-signed tight end Ryan Griffin on Saturday.

The Texans are going to pursue Romo, but only if Dallas releases him and he becomes a free agent. They also are expected to utilize a high draft choice on a quarterback because both Tom Savage and Brandon Weeden—the only quarterbacks under contract with Houston—are on the final year of their contracts.

Jerry Jones is going to hate to hand Romo his release because he loves him like a son. After all, Romo has been an integral part of his team for 14 years and has a pretty good highlight reel of his own.

Most NFL teams have shown improvement after spending money in the free agent marketplace. But the biggest March spenders often end up as the biggest Week 17 losers according to Sunday’s Chronicle.

KWICKIES…Congrats are in order for the Silsbee Tigers for winning the Class 4A state basketball championship Saturday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The Tigers defeated Brazosport 89-83 to become the second team this season from District 12-4A to win a state title. The West Orange-Stark Mustangs won the Class 4A state football championship in December. It appears that Silsbee is as good at basketball as it is fist-fighting on a basketball court!!!

The Lamar Lady Cardinal basketball team shot only 23 per cent in Saturday’s semifinal round of the Southland Conference tournament and lost to Stephen F. Austin 62-48. The tourney eventually was won Sunday by Central Arkansas, who downed the Ladyjacks 60-35 to earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

And speaking of Lamar basketball, the men’s team (19-14) will face Texas State in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament tomorrow (Thursday) at a site to be determined. Lamar last played in the postseason in 2011-12 when the Cardinals played Vermont in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

And speaking of the NCAA Men’s Tournament, there’s always a lot of griping after the bracket is selected by the committee. But I have to agree with most who believe that Wichita State really got hosed by being a No. 10 seed in the South Regional. There was also a bunch o0f grumbling about Wisconsin being a No. 8 seed. I’m in agreement with the four top seeds of each region—defending national champion Villanova (31-3) in the East, Gonzaga (32-1) in the West, Kansas (28-4) in the Midwest and North Carolina (27-7) in the South. Personally, I really like second-seeded Duke (27-8) to win it all. And Las Vegas agrees with me.

Going into this year’s Men’s Tournament, no No.16 seed has ever upset a No. 1 since 1985. It’s a lot different between the eight and nine seeds with a 64-64 record.

JUST BETWEEN US…My grandson Logan Smith had another good weekend on the mound for Army. Although his team didn’t fare very well in the four-team round-robin tournament played at Emerson Ga., Logan logged three innings against 5-0 winner Bowling Green Friday in which he gave up only one earned run and had two scoreless innings Sunday against host Georgia State. He held a three-run Army lead until it was blown two innings later by the other relievers. Army West Point (4-10) played Alabama State Tuesday and finishes the event Wednesday against Alabama State again.