Lett the Crying and Complaining Begin

[stevew]

March 14, 2005
Texas's Ban on Gay Football Fumbling Is Ruled Unconstitutional
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Leon Lett's favorite Thanksgiving Day memory is also his worst Thanksgiving Day nightmare.

You know where we're going with this. You've seen the play dozens of times. But on the off chance you haven't, don't worry. When the Miami Dolphins play the Dallas Cowboys, they'll show it again, just like they always do. The play has become as synonymous with Thanksgiving Day as Rolaids and late-night turkey sandwiches.

Nov. 25, 1993, was a bitterly cold day in Dallas. Sleet engulfed the Texas Stadium field, turning the carpet into your basic skating rink. Lett, a young defensive tackle for the Cowboys, was having the game of his life against Miami. He was in quarterback Steve DeBerg's face all day, batting down two passes in the process.

To this day, Lett believes he would have received a game ball if only he had waited until after the game to get his hands on it. Instead, he inexplicably tried to fall on the ball near the Dallas goal line after the Cowboys had blocked a 41-yard field-goal attempt by Pete Stoyanovich with 15 seconds remaining. The ball squirted out of Lett's hands and Miami's Jeff Dellenbach recovered at the Cowboys' 1-yard line. That set up Stoyanovich's 19-yard field goal on the game's final play, which gave the Dolphins a 16-14 victory.

"That's the play that always sticks out in my mind," Lett said. "The funny part is, I was having one of my best games ever as a Cowboy. I really think that was the day I arrived in the NFL. I was dominating people. But, of course, all anybody remembers is that play. I can laugh about it now. We ended up winning the Super Bowl [that year], so it doesn't look that bad today."

Ten months earlier, Lett had been involved in another memorable gaffe in front of a national TV audience. He had recovered a fumble and was about to score in Super Bowl XXVII when Buffalo's Don Beebe, who had run a pass route near midfield, sprinted downfield and popped the ball loose at the last instant. Fortunately for Lett, who was holding the ball at his side in anticipation of celebrating his first NFL touchdown, the Cowboys had more than enough points already in a 52-17 victory.

In retrospect, Lett, who was a backup defensive tackle with the Broncos when they played in Dallas on Thanksgiving in 2001, chalks up his indiscretions to youth. He was a seventh-round draft choice in 1991 and didn't start a game in either of his first two NFL seasons. He had started only a handful of games when Thanksgiving Day 1993 rolled around. He was so excited to be playing in front of a national TV audience that he let his adrenalin get the better of him.

"I don't know why I did it," he said. "It was just one of those things where I said to myself, 'Go get the ball.' I had so much fun playing that game. I was running around out there making all kinds of plays. I made one mistake. Hey, people make mistakes. Unfortunately, it gets blown out of proportion."

Lett went on to play in two Pro Bowls and win a third Super Bowl with the Cowboys. He signed with the Broncos as a free agent in 2001. After 10 years in Dallas, where the Cowboys play at home every Thanksgiving, he was looking forward to watching NFL games from his living room.

"I thought I had finally gotten away from it," he said. "Then I looked at the schedule in Denver and I'm like, 'Here we go again.' Now I've got to travel for Thanksgiving for the first time. It was a big day for me because I have a lot of friends and family in Dallas. But sure, it was different."

Lett says he has mixed emotions about playing on Thanksgiving. The players enjoy being part of the tradition, he says, but it's a difficult adjustment, physically and mentally, to play a game after playing the previous Sunday.

"My first couple of years in the league, I really looked forward to it," he said. "You can sense you're the only game in town. But it's tough having only three or four days to get ready. I think the excitement of the day carries you because you know you're going to have two or three days off after the game. You don't play again for 10 days. It kind of gives you a second wind for the rest of the season."

[SirFozzie]

We don't want funny ha-ha.. we want funny Uh-oh.

Funny uh-oh?

(looks up, sees a piano falling on his head)

uh-oh.

SLAM!

[Sun Tzu]

Props for the Animaniacs quote.