Murphy Martin, a prominent local newsman and former PA announcer for the ‘Boys, passed Friday. This excerpt is from the AP story that ran Friday.

North Texas broadcasting legend Murphy Martin, who was an anchor at WFAA-TV in the 1960s and 70s, died late Thursday night after a lengthy illness. Martin died just one hour shy of his 83rd birthday, WFAA-TV reported Friday on its Web site.

Football fans may remember Martin as the public address announcer for the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Stadium in the 1980s.

He worked at WFAA in the early 1960s and went on to be an anchor and reporter at ABC News in New York. Martin returned to WFAA again in the early 70s.

He was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2006.

A more personal obituary can be found here.

Romo might rule the world and we’re just allowed to run around in it but T.O. isn’t doing too bad for himself.

Tom Landry was a man of few words. But he just couldn’t stop talking about this great catch by Bob "Bullet" Hayes.

Tom Landry hated hyperbole.

He was a proper man who kept his fedora on his head, his emotions in check and his words reined in.

When he met with the media, very few adjectives junked up his assessments of players or games or seasons in progress.

He waited until after he had retired to tell us just how really big a deal winning Super Bowl VI was for his Dallas Cowboys, who had lost the "big game" five years in a row (Green Bay twice, Cleveland twice and Baltimore in SB V).

So I’m just guessing that Landry hated himself for getting all wordy after a Sept. 11, 1965, preseason game in which rookie "Bullet" Bob Hayes made an unbelievable TD catch.

It was the preseason finale: Cowboys-Bears at Skelly Stadium in Tulsa. Hayes exploded off the line of scrimmage like the "World’s Fastest Human" he was, raced under an overthrown ball ... and caught it in stride.

The Chicago secondary gave up on the play; Hayes did not.

Landry later tried to describe what he just had seen with words such as "rare" and "revolutionary." Hayes could make even a man like Landry gush.

This is the real "catch" in my opinion. Not this travesty.

The ‘Boys went 13-3 last year. We were in the game with the Patriots for the most part. We were a few miscues from winning handily against the Eagles. We fell into the perfect storm against the Redskins – we were hurt, they were hungry and we rested several starters in the 2^nd half. So a few bounces here and there and, in my opinion, we’re making a serious run at being undefeated.

What does that mean for this year?

Nothing.

First of all, going undefeated isn’t the goal. A championship is the goal. Go ask the Patriots how good it feels to go undefeated in the regular season and not get a ring at the end. Second of all, it’s a near impossible feat. Too many variables – injuries, inclement weather, complacency, bad games (read: Romo for three-and-a-half quarters versus Buffalo). You never know when that normally competent player is going to have a bad game and jeopardize a victory.

That being said, we’ve got as good as chance as any.

The DMN Blog weighs in on the discussion here.

Who’s the most important Cowboy? The DMN blog says DeMarcus Ware. I say Tony Romo.

He’s the epicenter of everything we do. He had five bad games last year and we lost four of them (he recovered in the Buffalo game). He had 13 excellent games and we won all of them. He sets the tempo. He converts tough third and longs for our D to give them more rest. He distributes the ball to everyone. He’s No. 1 on my list. Ware is a close second.

Mickey Spagnola is, once again, in a foul mood in answering questions from readers. Particularly when it comes to Terry Glenn and those who want us to cut ties with the other half of TNT. He’s also in no mood to hear complaints about Romo and his playoff struggles. Get ‘em Spags!