Romo-aning and Groaning

nfl_a_romo_412, originally uploaded by FT (Bob).

After having endured such a miserable finish to the season for my favorite college football team (Notre Dame) mere days earlier, it was a real kick to the crotch to watch my beloved Dallas Cowboys suffer an even more embarrassing fate last night. And of all people to be the goat, it had to be one-time season savior Tony Romo. He even had an immediate chance to go from goat to hero, but his desperate scurry for the end zone was ended mere feet short of a miraculous save.

And even after that, Romo was amazingly presented with yet another last chance to de-Bucknerize himself -- this time with one final Hail Mary attempt -- but co-goat Terry Glenn, whose earlier fumble just outside his own end zone resulted in a safety that was within a centimeter of being a touchdown, inexplicably watched Romo's final-second heave land at his feet without putting forth the slightest effort to make the grab and erase his own goatitude.

At the time Romo fumbled the hold on what likely would have been the game-winning FG, I was absolutely furious with him. But watching him fight back tears of regret and shame at the post-game press conference, I couldn't help but feel empathy for the guy. Sure, he had gotten full of himself since being named to the Pro Bowl and plowing through his own personal Top 40 of hot pop divas, but it was obvious that not only had his head finally returned to the same proportion as the rest of his body, but it had actually shrunken like he was the victim of a voodoo curse.

Romo's disastrous gaffe against the Seahawks will either end up defining his career as one that was once promising but never again the same, or will be the impetus for him to both achieve and exceed the lofty expectations placed upon him after his incredibly brilliant first few games as starting QB.

Which will it be? It's too soon to tell. I only hope he doesn't kill himself before we get a chance to find out.