Here’s a nice scavenger hunt for media junkies: Find scant morsels of new information in the pile of reports that emerged from Sunday’s confirmation by the Dallas Cowboys that they were letting Coach Jason Garrett (above, with wife Brill at a Cowboys kickoff event a few years back) go after nine years.
“We are extremely grateful to Jason Garrett for his more than 20 years of service to the Dallas Cowboys as a player, assistant coach and head coach,” the Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, said in a statement. “His level of commitment, character, and dedication to this organization has been outstanding at every stage of his career.”
BECAUSE REPORTERS LOVE LISTS
The Sporting News, maximizing the likelihood it’s right, with its list of 10 candidates headed by Lincoln Riley, whose Oklahoma Sooners, right on schedule, were slaughtered in last week's College Football Playoff semifinals. Mike McCarthy, who appears to have won the Cowboys job, is not on the Sporting News' 10.
BECAUSE PEOPLE LOVE MEMES:
BECAUSE REPORTERS CAN ALWAYS COME UP WITH FIVE THINGS
The Dallas Morning News (subscription required) and its “Fatal Flaws of Jason Garrett: Five Reasons Why the Cowboys Parted With Their Head Coach”
BECAUSE ALL NEWS IS LOCAL, AND EAGLES FANS HATE THE COWBOYS
New Jersey’s nj.com, on Jones’ timing of his release of the Garrett news in the middle of the Eagles-Seahawks playoff game: “While firing Jason Garrett, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones sticks it to Philadelphia Eagles.”
BECAUSE NO COWBOYS STORY IS COMPLETE WITHOUT WHAT DEZ THINKS
BECAUSE VEGAS HAS THE ODDS: The betting odds on who gets to be Cowboys coach (Hint: a certain Oklahoma coach was even odds, although Mike McCarthy is at least on this list.)
Douglas Wertman
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders - IV
The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders performing at Arvest Ballpark on July 16, 2011.
AND, OF COURSE, BECAUSE WE LOVE "WHAT'S NEXT FOR" STORIES
What's next for Jason Garrett? The sports media is all over the New York Giants idea.
Ian Rapaport of the NFL Network: Keep an eye on the New York Giants and their open coaching spot. The Giants have been interested in Garrett previously, Rapaport reasons. Garrett played for the Giants after his Cowboys' playing days were over. "We’ll see if they end up bringing him in for an interview."
And the New York Post, cleverly hedging its Matt Rhule-As-Next-Giants-Coach story by embedding Rapaport video and Garrett prediction at the top of this story: “How Matt Rhule immediately sold himself to former Giants”
