Today’s OTA is open to the media. The DMN blog is the place to check for rapid updates of what’s going on. They have a list of absences already up.

The missing: S Ken Hamlin, WR Terry Glenn, OLB Greg Ellis, RB Keon Lattimore and P Jay Ottovegio. Ottovegio isn't allowed to attend this workout, because of school commitments, while Glenn is being held out by the team and Hamlin is still without contract.

So that leaves Ellis as the only unexplained absence, for now. We'll get more on that for you.

I’m sure it’s nothing. Besides, what do voluntary mean?

Most of us have been unsure about 6^th round pick Erik Walden. Almost nobody had heard of him before the Cowboys drafted him and I couldn’t find a whole lot of information about him afterwards. Mostly just the standard, contradicting, everyone’s-an-expert scouting reports. And since he was expected to be an UFDA by most, those reports were few and not very detailed. Well, the Start-T has a story up that will give you a little more info about Erik Walden and his time at Middle Tennessee State. 

As a junior, he ranked 10th in the nation with 11.5 sacks, breaking DeMarcus Ware's single-season Sun Belt Conference record.

Hey, I like that.

He suffered a painful turf toe injury in Week 4 against Western Kentucky which caused him to miss two games and significantly impacted his numbers the rest of the season, yet he still managed to earn all-conference honors for the second consecutive year.

That’s why his senior season numbers were down from his breakout junior year. The article chronicles some of his personal life as well, and compliments him on his toughness in playing through the turf toe injury.

JJT says  Pacman is hooking up with the right people to stay out of trouble in Big D.

Deion Sanders, Michael Irvin, Rev. Rickie Rush of the Inspiring Body of Christ Church all have money and status.

Their lives are rich and complete with or without Pacman. So they can be real with him.

[snip]

The Cowboys also have set Pacman up with some of the best security personnel in the NFL. They are with him virtually 24-7.

And the head of that security team is an old-school expert who has handled every kind of situation imaginable. He has handled athletes with much higher profiles than Pacman over the last 20 years, so he is not intimidated. Or impressed.

That’s some good news in the quest to get Pacman reinstated and keeping his nose clean while he wears the star. Brandon posted last night about the meeting Pacman supposedly already had with Roger Goodell. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation.

The news of Pacman’s supposed meeting led me to put up a new poll. It’s a very simple one.

Since the new poll is up, here are the results from the previous poll, which was put up in response to this FanPost . 

Which is your favorite suggested new nickname for the Cowboys running game?

Hit and Run - 120 votes 20%

Smash and Dash - 97 votes 16%

Smash and Flash - 96 votes 16%

Shock and Awe 80 - votes 13%

The Perfect Storm - 75 votes 12%

Gin and Juice - 65 votes 11%

Crash and Burn - 49 votes 8%

 Looks like Hit and Run won the poll.

Also, I just added a countdown clock to the left-hand column. Does it work for you guys?