Yoko Romo?

Let me be the first to say that in my extremely amateurish opinion Tony Romo did enough for the Cowboys to win on Sunday. After a 20 play drive that should have sapped the life out of the Giants, the Dallas D allows New York to drive for a tying touchdown with less than a minute left in the half. Then Patrick Crayton drops a ton of balls, and gives up on a deep fade on the last drive that ended up barely out of his reach, and the Dallas vaunted O-Line performed like a leaky sieve. Some knowledgeable football guys have vouched that Pro Bowl tackle Flozell Adams was ineffective because he was too gassed at the end of the game.

By the fourth quarter, the Giants' rush had whipped the massive Cowboy offensive linemen and unhinged Tony Romo, and Dallas was finished. It was like a 15-round bout in which the better conditioned fighter is left standing. Left tackle Flozell Adams, for instance, a highly effective pass blocker, but not what you'd call a finely tuned athlete, was in a state of near collapse toward the end. Andre Gurode, the center, was going through some weird problem with snapping the ball. And so forth.

So no, I don't think that the Romo/Jessica Cabo San Lucas trip was a big deal, in the abstract. After all, Tom Brady was caught on TMZ out in NYC with Gisele during the bye week, and I'm sure Peyton Manning took his wife out to Hardees in between film watching--hey, he lost too.

At the same time, it's been speculated that Jessica's dad released the Cabo photos. Now, Jessica Simpson does seem like the kind of actress/performer who will eventually give up her horrible career to settle down with an athlete and have kids and maybe have a comeback special 20 years down the road. But I'm sure her dad is not thinking that way, and he's trying to build up some/any publicity for whatever terrible project that is being lined up next for her (movie/album/perfume/acne wash).

Whatever Romo's affection for Simpson and/or her knockers--perhaps their relationship is the real deal, as too are the twins. But Romo has to be smart enough to realize that Jessica probably isn't really in control of her life, her dad is. And Romo may not want to get into bed with Joe Simpson just yet.

Do I fault Romo for taking a beautiful young thing to Cabo for a few days of fun and sun? No. Do I fault him for doing it with Jessica? Kind of. Clearly if she's not using him, then Joe Simpson is, and Romo has to be smarter than that.

Sports Illustrated has an amusing slideshow of femme fatales (and in Marion Jones's case, femme fatalers) who brought down their athletic men. I didn't remember that Gastineau quit football in the middle of a season because of Brigitte and/or steroids. Or that Tatum O'Neal spelled the decline of McEnroe's career.