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By SportsDayDFW.com
Dallas Cowboys linebacker Keith Brooking was interviewed on KESN-FM 103.3 on Monday (5/16) to discuss the NFL lockout and the workouts they have organized on their own. Here are some highlights:
With the NFL lockout going on two months, is this becoming more than you expected?
As you get closer to the season, it tends to look that way. I'm a little more on the inside than our fans and people out there. I may have a little more insight and confidence, probably a lot more confidence, that the season will take place and we won't miss any games. When you go out in the public, the feeling you get is our fans are thinking the NFL is going to come to an end. I'm not 100% on anything, but still today I feel confident we won't miss a regular season game. For the fans, hang in there and have that confidence as well and believe this thing will get worked out.
Why are you confident that football will not be disrupted come about August?
I think there are enough smart people on both sides, the NFL and the players side, that are not going to mess up a game, the most popular game in the country. It's so powerful right now and so popular, and you say it's not about the money, well, it's always about the money. There's too much money at stake once the regular season takes place for each owner and players too. I don't think they'll allow that to happen. That's my hope, that's what I'm hanging my hat on.
The owners coming out making statements, the players. The only way this is going to get worked out is for the owners and the players to sit down at the table and negotiate seriously. And really want to get something worked out. I don't think that's necessarily the case right now. It's going to come down to a 24th hour before that takes place, until everyone realizes that this is getting serious, this is getting down to the last minute. We can mess something up that's really special right now, and I don't think anyone wants to do that.
Take us through one of these full-team workouts. We're hearing reports of 40 to 45 players showing up. Does that surprise you with that turnout?
No, I'm not surprised, to be honest. I hoped for more. We're going into our third week of the workouts right now. Going back a little bit, before the workouts started, a few of us met and something we emphasized and thought was extremely important. We wanted to do it right. We wanted the guys that showed up to spread the word to the other guys how productive these practices were going to be. We didn't want to just hold practices to say we did it.
Tony [Romo] pretty much orchestrated the whole thing. The schedule, the scripts, e-mailing and calling guys. A few of us helped with that. A lot of detailed work involved in it. When we got there the first day, it was extememly productive. The first week, we probably had around 40. The second week, we had a little over 45 guys. The numbers are getting bigger, which is a very good thing. If we get there on the first day and it's not productive, and we're out there just running around, guys aren't going to come back. So the numbers have actually increased each day.
It's been extremely productive for us. It's been great tempo. The guys are happy, and we're getting better. You look around the league, and not talking bad about other teams, but you got 10-15-20 guys showing up, holding press conferences before, bringing attention to it. We're trying to keep it low-key as possible. We're out there for a reason. I'm very happy with the way it's going. Hopefully this week we have bigger numbers. We're getting better doing what we're doing, there's no doubt about it.
Dallas Cowboys linebacker Keith Brooking was interviewed on KESN-FM 103.3 on Monday (5/16) to discuss the NFL lockout and the workouts they have organized on their own. Here are some highlights:
With the NFL lockout going on two months, is this becoming more than you expected?
As you get closer to the season, it tends to look that way. I'm a little more on the inside than our fans and people out there. I may have a little more insight and confidence, probably a lot more confidence, that the season will take place and we won't miss any games. When you go out in the public, the feeling you get is our fans are thinking the NFL is going to come to an end. I'm not 100% on anything, but still today I feel confident we won't miss a regular season game. For the fans, hang in there and have that confidence as well and believe this thing will get worked out.
Why are you confident that football will not be disrupted come about August?
I think there are enough smart people on both sides, the NFL and the players side, that are not going to mess up a game, the most popular game in the country. It's so powerful right now and so popular, and you say it's not about the money, well, it's always about the money. There's too much money at stake once the regular season takes place for each owner and players too. I don't think they'll allow that to happen. That's my hope, that's what I'm hanging my hat on.
The owners coming out making statements, the players. The only way this is going to get worked out is for the owners and the players to sit down at the table and negotiate seriously. And really want to get something worked out. I don't think that's necessarily the case right now. It's going to come down to a 24th hour before that takes place, until everyone realizes that this is getting serious, this is getting down to the last minute. We can mess something up that's really special right now, and I don't think anyone wants to do that.
Take us through one of these full-team workouts. We're hearing reports of 40 to 45 players showing up. Does that surprise you with that turnout?
No, I'm not surprised, to be honest. I hoped for more. We're going into our third week of the workouts right now. Going back a little bit, before the workouts started, a few of us met and something we emphasized and thought was extremely important. We wanted to do it right. We wanted the guys that showed up to spread the word to the other guys how productive these practices were going to be. We didn't want to just hold practices to say we did it.
Tony [Romo] pretty much orchestrated the whole thing. The schedule, the scripts, e-mailing and calling guys. A few of us helped with that. A lot of detailed work involved in it. When we got there the first day, it was extememly productive. The first week, we probably had around 40. The second week, we had a little over 45 guys. The numbers are getting bigger, which is a very good thing. If we get there on the first day and it's not productive, and we're out there just running around, guys aren't going to come back. So the numbers have actually increased each day.
It's been extremely productive for us. It's been great tempo. The guys are happy, and we're getting better. You look around the league, and not talking bad about other teams, but you got 10-15-20 guys showing up, holding press conferences before, bringing attention to it. We're trying to keep it low-key as possible. We're out there for a reason. I'm very happy with the way it's going. Hopefully this week we have bigger numbers. We're getting better doing what we're doing, there's no doubt about it.
