Emmitt: 'I'm just changing colors'

[MavsFanatik33]

Emmitt: 'I'm just changing colors'
Cardinal is philosophical about his first game against the Cowboys

By BRAD TOWNSEND / The Dallas Morning News

TEMPE, Ariz. – The turnaround is in progress. Emmitt Smith is passionately convinced of it.

It's in his eyes and tone of voice as he sits under a shade tree at the Arizona Cardinals' training facility lauding the coach, the quarterback and the wealth of young talent.

But the subject is not his current team. It's his former one, the Cowboys, and for a brief moment he sounds wistful that he isn't part of the resurrection. Not that his famous pride will permit him to admit it.

"I feel very good about not being in the way," he says. "I don't hinder the progress. I don't stand in the way of any decisions that are made."

Destiny and the NFL schedule-maker, however, couldn't resist placing Smith and the Cowboys face to face for an awkwardly compelling Sunday at Texas Stadium. Smith will don Cardinals red, and Dallas (2-1) will try to continue its post-Emmitt resurgence under new coach Bill Parcells.

"Obviously, it is strange," Smith says with a laugh. "Twenty-two. Arizona Cardinals. Emmitt Smith."

"Certainly in my mind, he will always be a Dallas Cowboy," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says. "But we can't think like that and play like that Sunday."

On the contrary, there is no chance that Smith's former teammates will go easy on the 34-year-old, who rushed for an NFL-record 17,162 yards during 13 Cowboys seasons and helped the franchise win three Super Bowl titles.

Smith created a mini-firestorm this summer, when in a Sports Illustrated article he described the 2002 Cowboys season as "too much damn drama. Too much selfishness by too many guys on the team."

He also was quoted as saying, "It felt like being a diamond surrounded by trash." He has apologized several times for that comment, emphasizing that "it" referred to the franchise, not him.

Obviously, the uproar has affected Smith, or at least his trust of the media. Before a sit-down with The Dallas Morning News, he motions to one of the team's public relations assistants while exchanging pleasantries with the reporter.

When the assistant returns with a tape recorder, Smith smiles, presses the record button and says, "Now the interview can start." Team officials say it was the Sports Illustrated story that prompted Smith to start taping interviews.

Nearly 30 minutes later, it is Smith who brings up the magazine piece.

"Then I started hearing all the reports out of Dallas and all the things that were said [by media and fans]. It bothered me, it really did. Because I'm not bitter. I'm not bitter at all."

During the course of a wide-ranging interview, Smith doesn't seem bitter, not toward the Cowboys and certainly not toward Dallas or the fans.

"Hey, I grew up in that city – and notice I said 'grew up,' " he says. "I look at Dallas as a blessing. It was the place where I learned how to become a professional football player. I learned how to become a complete human being. I learned how to care for others, as well.

"And I learned how to cherish the times and the moments that I've been through in Dallas. That's a wonderful thing."

Smith seems to realize that some fence-mending is in order. Whatever unpleasantness did or didn't occur last season, whatever he said or didn't say this summer, the last thing he wanted after 13 mostly unsullied years was to leave a smudge print on the way out the door.

Certainly, he is disturbed by intimations that his pursuit of Walter Payton's rushing record – and his decision to keep playing, giving him the opportunity to pad his total – was partly selfish. But more bothersome would be a perception that he is ungrateful.

Smith recalls the Aug. 9 Cowboys-Cardinals preseason game in Tempe, Ariz., a little more than a week after the Sports Illustrated story hit the stands. Immediately after the game, Smith was embraced by Jones; Jones' wife, Gene; and sons Stephen and Jerry Jr. The memory causes Smith's eyes to water.

"They let me know that they miss me," he says. "And I miss them, too.

"They gave me an opportunity to play this game that I love. And I don't take that for granted because I think my life and career was destined to be with the Dallas Cowboys.

"Our paths crossed at the right time. That's only God's perfect time. And I appreciate that. They recognized, as things went on, my talent, and rewarded me for my hard work."

Some of Smith's former teammates have indicated that his summer comments will fuel their intensity on Sunday. No one knows for certain how the sellout crowd will react when No. 22 emerges from the tunnel in a red jersey, but Jones has a hunch.

"Those comments this summer are so far overshadowed by what Emmitt has meant and been to our fans," he says. "A lot of this is me, but with the respect that our fans have for Emmitt, they'll receive him warmly."

Smith, who has experienced his share of goose-bump moments at Texas Stadium, says he has no idea what to expect – from the fans or from himself.

Smith signed a two-year deal with Arizona for $9 million, but the Cowboys and Cardinals no longer play in the same division. If the teams play again next season, it almost certainly would be in Tempe. Beyond that ...

"I'm just going to cherish the moment because I don't know if the moment will come again," Smith says. "I don't know what the future holds for me.

"I just hope it's a great moment for the Arizona Cardinals, and hopefully I can enjoy the moment down there and have a good game."

No second thoughts

The season is relatively young, but so far Smith's time as a Cardinal has produced few special moments.

Owner Bill Bidwill signed Smith in part to bolster Arizona's running game, but probably more to boost attendance. Neither has flourished.

The Cardinals are 1-3. Smith has gained 193 yards, averaged 3.3 yards per carry and scored one touchdown.

Arizona drew 23,127 fans to its home-opening 38-0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, then 58,784 to a 20-13 victory over the Green Bay Packers, although a large number of those who baked in the September heat that day were Packers fans who drove from Wisconsin.

Not that there is any hint of dissatisfaction in what Smith has brought to the locker room or the community. He has a weekly radio show and a TV show (The Emmitt Zone) to which he contributes story and production ideas.

"His aura has rubbed off on this entire team," says third-year Cardinals coach Dave McGinnis, a native of Snyder, Texas. "You can feel it; you can sense it.

"I've had a lot of great things happen to me in 18 years of coaching in the National Football League, but being a head coach and having Emmitt Smith on my football team is right at the top of the list."

Emmitt Smith has 193 yards rushing after four games — a pace that would give him career-low 772 for the season.

Asked how long Smith would remain happy if he continues to average 50 yards a game, McGinnis recounts his initial meetings with Smith. "He said: 'Coach, I'm coming here for one reason only. To help you win football games.' "

Smith says one of his incentives for helping turn the Cardinals around is McGinnis, because "he treats players like they deserve to be treated," but it remains to be seen how content Smith will remain if Arizona's early-season struggles continue.

Smith is coming off three straight 5-11 seasons in Dallas, and one of the reasons he signed with Arizona is that it supposedly had a superior offensive line. "I'm happy," Smith says. "I was happy the day I left because I knew it was the right thing to do. I haven't looked back and reflected and said, 'Well, maybe I shouldn't have.' "

He says he found himself rooting for the Cowboys while watching Dallas' Monday night overtime win over the New York Giants.

"Quincy [Carter] did a wonderful job," he says of the Cowboys quarterback. "It might be the best game I've seen him play. ... I think Parcells has brought something to that ballclub that was lacking so very much last year."

Smith has pangs of homesickness. His family's primary house is in Dallas, and he plans to live there after retiring from football.

Although his wife, Pat, daughters Rheagen and Jasmin and son Emmitt IV moved with him to Paradise Valley, Ariz., for the season, Smith says he misses his other daughter, who lives in Dallas.

He also misses his favorite restaurants, has to fly in his chiropractor, Robert Parker, every two weeks and says he may have to do the same with his massage therapist, Pam Dougherty.

"You can definitely let her know she's missed," he says with a laugh.

Losing aside, Smith has found a lot of reasons to appreciate life in Arizona. Instead of the three or four days a week that he talked to the media at Valley Ranch, he talks to Phoenix-area media only on Thursdays.

"You don't realize how much under the gun you really were, the dynamics you had to deal with, until you leave," he says.

He encounters far less rush-hour traffic but just as many malls and great golf courses. And he says he has a beautiful, happy home that continues to fill up. Pat is due to have another girl in two months.

"I tell you what," he says. "From my back yard, I see the mountains. I cannot think of a time in Dallas where the family has had dinner outside on the porch.

"But since I've been here, we have dinner on the porch, at night, looking at the backdrop of the mountains, which is such a beautiful thing. I know my family probably doesn't want to hear it, but it's growing on me, big time."

Come Sunday, the man who grew up believing he was destined to be a Dallas Cowboy will experience a flood of reminders, albeit from the opposite sideline, of what he left behind.

Smith says he believes he would still be a Cowboy had Parcells wanted him. Parcells says last February's release of Smith was Jones' call. Jones says it was a mutual decision made by him and Smith, and them alone.

Regardless, Smith says his departure was for the best, for all concerned. He says he would have impeded the development of his 26-year-old replacement, Troy Hambrick, who during Smith's final two seasons in Dallas was vocal in his desire to be "the man."

"Now it's on him and it's on the team and they can figure out if he's the one, or who they need to get."

He says he may have impeded Parcells, too.

"He has the opportunity to do what he wishes without having the media on his back, or coming to me and asking what I think about the changes, and I have to bite my tongue or speak my piece. Then having the media play me against Parcells."

On the day Dallas waived quarterback Troy Aikman in March 2001, largely because of his health and salary-cap restrictions, Smith remarked: "You know, most stories about cowboys have happy endings."

It remains to be seen whether Sunday will be a happy story, but it certainly will be different. Although injuries cut short their careers, Aikman and fellow "triplet" Michael Irvin played their final Texas Stadium games as Cowboys.

"To me, it's just a bunch of gear," Smith says. "I'm just changing colors. The game itself is the same. You play the game from goal line to goal line, sideline to sideline.

"Since I was 8, I've worn five, maybe six different uniforms, different colors.

"I still have great memories, and that's something no one can ever take from me."

[Rod1975]

I'm curious if anyone knows what the deal is with Emmit?
I just saw him crying......
I did'nt watch the game, did the crowd boo him or anything?

[QCarFan]

no, they didnt boo him. well it was a mixture somewhat, but alot more cheers than boos. thats for sure. i think he was crying because he was away from his family, pretty much all alone in Arizona. i also think that he thinks people made a big deal about his comments and the fact that this is just a game. seeing his daughter play softball yesterday for the first time, etc is what i think made him break down. i am only speculating though

[MavsFanatik33]

Originally posted by: Rod1975
I'm curious if anyone knows what the deal is with Emmit?
I just saw him crying......
I did'nt watch the game, did the crowd boo him or anything?

What do you mean he cried? When was this?

[Drbio]

Emmitt needs to realize that it isn't about him here anymore.

[Rod1975]

Originally posted by: QCarFan
no, they didnt boo him. well it was a mixture somewhat, but alot more cheers than boos. thats for sure. i think he was crying because he was away from his family, pretty much all alone in Arizona. i also think that he thinks people made a big deal about his comments and the fact that this is just a game. seeing his daughter play softball yesterday for the first time, etc is what i think made him break down. i am only speculating though

so did he get booed or not?

[QCarFan]

i would say NO

[QCarFan]

Originally posted by: Drbio
Emmitt needs to realize that it isn't about him here anymore.

huh?

[Drbio]

Didn't expect the ignorant dunderpatian king to understand.

[QCarFan]

sure drbio, whatever you say bro.

i just heard more of the press conference, he started crying once he said that when he got home yesterday his daughter wrote him a note and thats what its about. class act, you got to respect this guy

[Drbio]

Again...I'm not now nor ever will I be your "bro" you ignorant bastard.


And get the damn quote right. He said he was emotional because it was the first time he had been home and he got to see his daughter play soccer this weekend for the first time.