Cowboys Remain Hot Topic
(Staff Photo By Jaime R. Carrero)
TALKING COWBOYS: Mickey Spagnola talks about the Dallas Cowboys during the Texas Rose Festival Men’s Luncheon at the Rose Garden Center Friday.
By JOE BUIE
Staff Writer
The Dallas Cowboys can carry a region, a state and even a nation. After all, they are called "America's Team."
The professional football giant can also carry the Texas Rose Festival Men's Luncheon, as the Cowboys are typically the dominant conversation at the annual event.
Mickey Spagnola, who has covered the Cowboys since 1984, was under no illusions why he was the featured speaker for the Men's Luncheon Friday at the Rose Garden Center.
"I understand why I'm here, and it's not because of who I am but because of what I do," said Spagnola, who was introduced by KTBB sports director David Smoak, with whom he does a weekly radio segment.
"I've been fortunate to cover the Dallas Cowboys for 23 years," Spagnola said. "It's been a pleasure, it's been hard, it's been rewarding, and I'm not sure what else I would have done if I didn't stumble into it."
Spagnola, a columnist for DallasCowboys.com, spoke for almost 20 minutes and then took questions from the audience. Topics ranged from how he became the lead Cowboys beat writer for the old Dallas Times-Herald, to seeing Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and owner Jerry Jones at their best and worst.
On the subject of former head coach Bill Parcells, a powerful man known to be tough on his assistant coaches and the media, Spagnola was able to see "the other" Parcells.
"You saw the gruff, old guy that was on TV, and he was mad at his team and mad at his coaches, but you never saw the guy who walked the hallway and how (well) he treated people that didn't have anything to do with winning and losing," Spagnola said.
Spagnola went to work for the Times-Herald in 1984 and had what he called a "dream job."
He was the backup writer for the Cowboys and also had general assignments.
Spagnola was able to cover the NBA Finals, the NCAA Final Four and the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. But his life - and his job - was about to change.
Jones bought the Cowboys in February 1989, and the Times-Herald's main Cowboys writer was burned out. So Spagnola was pretty much forced to become the No. 1 man on the beat.
Spagnola told his bosses he didn't want the job, that he liked what he was doing. But then he was told the paper was making budget cuts and getting rid of his old job.
"I went kicking and screaming to cover the Cowboys, and I'm still doing it," Spagnola said. "I may never quit."
Spagnola was a newspaper man under the most intense conditions, competing against the Dallas Morning News to get the story first. The Times-Herald had both a morning and afternoon edition.
"Back then when there was a newspaper war going on, there was no better competition in the professional ranks than two newspapers in the same town battling each other," he said.
Spagnola's life took another turn in 1991 when the Times-Herald folded. But he was able to keep plugging along, keep writing about the Cowboys and talking about them on radio shows like Smoak's on KTBB.
"I've gotten to see a whole range of things that have happened with the Dallas Cowboys, and I really didn't want to be there," said Spagnola, who also does some TV work. "It absolutely amazes me that I'm still here 23 years after I came to the Times-Herald.
"The paper folded and I got the opportunity to just hang in there freelancing and taking any job I could take."
Note: The luncheon sponsors were Cavender's Boot City, Denson Construction Co. and Martin Walker, P.C. Chris Simons, a Texas Rose Festival vice president, presided over the luncheon.
Staff Writer
The Dallas Cowboys can carry a region, a state and even a nation. After all, they are called "America's Team."
The professional football giant can also carry the Texas Rose Festival Men's Luncheon, as the Cowboys are typically the dominant conversation at the annual event.
Mickey Spagnola, who has covered the Cowboys since 1984, was under no illusions why he was the featured speaker for the Men's Luncheon Friday at the Rose Garden Center.
"I understand why I'm here, and it's not because of who I am but because of what I do," said Spagnola, who was introduced by KTBB sports director David Smoak, with whom he does a weekly radio segment.
"I've been fortunate to cover the Dallas Cowboys for 23 years," Spagnola said. "It's been a pleasure, it's been hard, it's been rewarding, and I'm not sure what else I would have done if I didn't stumble into it."
Spagnola, a columnist for DallasCowboys.com, spoke for almost 20 minutes and then took questions from the audience. Topics ranged from how he became the lead Cowboys beat writer for the old Dallas Times-Herald, to seeing Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and owner Jerry Jones at their best and worst.
On the subject of former head coach Bill Parcells, a powerful man known to be tough on his assistant coaches and the media, Spagnola was able to see "the other" Parcells.
"You saw the gruff, old guy that was on TV, and he was mad at his team and mad at his coaches, but you never saw the guy who walked the hallway and how (well) he treated people that didn't have anything to do with winning and losing," Spagnola said.
Spagnola went to work for the Times-Herald in 1984 and had what he called a "dream job."
He was the backup writer for the Cowboys and also had general assignments.
Spagnola was able to cover the NBA Finals, the NCAA Final Four and the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. But his life - and his job - was about to change.
Jones bought the Cowboys in February 1989, and the Times-Herald's main Cowboys writer was burned out. So Spagnola was pretty much forced to become the No. 1 man on the beat.
Spagnola told his bosses he didn't want the job, that he liked what he was doing. But then he was told the paper was making budget cuts and getting rid of his old job.
"I went kicking and screaming to cover the Cowboys, and I'm still doing it," Spagnola said. "I may never quit."
Spagnola was a newspaper man under the most intense conditions, competing against the Dallas Morning News to get the story first. The Times-Herald had both a morning and afternoon edition.
"Back then when there was a newspaper war going on, there was no better competition in the professional ranks than two newspapers in the same town battling each other," he said.
Spagnola's life took another turn in 1991 when the Times-Herald folded. But he was able to keep plugging along, keep writing about the Cowboys and talking about them on radio shows like Smoak's on KTBB.
"I've gotten to see a whole range of things that have happened with the Dallas Cowboys, and I really didn't want to be there," said Spagnola, who also does some TV work. "It absolutely amazes me that I'm still here 23 years after I came to the Times-Herald.
"The paper folded and I got the opportunity to just hang in there freelancing and taking any job I could take."
Note: The luncheon sponsors were Cavender's Boot City, Denson Construction Co. and Martin Walker, P.C. Chris Simons, a Texas Rose Festival vice president, presided over the luncheon.
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