After Cowboys practice on Wednesday, Tony Romo met with the media for a discussion of football matters, but wound up fielding a question from Mike Rodriguez of 105.3 FAN radio about dealing with reporters interested in his off-field pursuits. Romo gave a nice answer about understanding the interest while preferring to keep his dalliances with pop stars private and closed by saying he didn't hold it against any reporter if they asked.
Rodriguez, clearly blessed with a bit of comic timing, followed up by asking how he was handling his breakup with Jessica Simpson.
"And you're that guy," Romo said. "You guys are good. You know, it's just part of life in some ways. I've been out here playing football and going through a lot of different things. I know this, it's great to be out here playing football, and it's great to be at training camp because you love the game. The rest of the stuff is stuff for people to talk about."
Romo was laughing while he said this, as he should have been, and didn't seem to be the slightest bit put off by a question that was eventually going to be asked. Others were put off, but if people caring about things trivial matters upsets you then the United States may not be the ideal country for you. Romo handled like a pro, and, more importantly, handled it in a manner befitting his position.
The quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys doesn't get to be just a football player, even if they don't date bosomy reality show stars who enjoy talking about their relationship in magazines. Refusing to accept that is just going to make the job harder than it has to be, which is silly since it is a damn hard job in the first place.
Romo sounded a lot like Derek Jeter in his response. Professional, unemotional and likable, while making his life sound about as interesting as a bowl of plain yogurt. It's the right path for him to follow, because the questions will keep coming long after he's found someone else to keep him company after games.
