Aikman

   Just because Sybil and I are out frolicking in the South Pacific, couldn't leave you guys hanging. So while I'm gone let's do what the syndicated radio shows do. Yeah, a little "best of ..."
   I'll post some of my favorite stories from the past and before you know it I'll be back live and in living color with tales from abroad.
   Thanks again for your patronage, your patience and your understanding of my honeymoon sabbatical.

STRAIGHT TALK
By Richie Whitt
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
November 2, 1998

   Once and for all, allow Troy Aikman to set the record ... straight.

   "I've heard the stuff about me supposedly being gay, and it's tough to take," he says of the inaccurate-yet-persistent rumors recycling in Metroplex comedy clubs and office cubicles. "It bothers me not only because it's not true, but it also goes against my beliefs. You'd like to have a thick skin and let it roll off you, but it's hurtful. I hate to have to

defend myself on something like that, but it's just plain wrong."

   With his heterosexuality secure and his collarbone all but healed, the

Cowboys' silver-and-blue-chip quarterback makes his prime-time return

tonight as confident and as appreciative as ever about his life, love and

longevity.

    Despite a tumultuous year in which he has endured a cancerous mole, his

parents' separation, a strained relationship with former coach Barry

Switzer, a fire in his new house and the cracked clavicle, Aikman said he is

determined to win a fourth Super Bowl, inspired to play another five years

and rejuvenated, in part, by his recent status as a one-woman man.

   "Let's just say we're very steady," he said of his girlfriend. "It's

great."

   Said long-snapper and close friend Dale Hellestrae, "He's as happy as

he's been in a long time."

   Not so fabulous is his health.

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   Despite wearing extra "channel" cushioning in his left shoulder pad, Aikman and the 4-3 Cowboys realize another awkward fall like the one Sept. 13 against the Denver Broncos will likely end his

season.

   "There is risk," said trainer Jim Maurer. "But he's not going to re-break

it unless he falls on it the same way again. If that happens, in all

likelihood, he's done for the year."

    Though there will be fewer seven-step drops, rare rollouts and strong

suggestions to not kamikaze interception returners, there are few

concessions to the game plan. In typical rawhide-tough fashion, Aikman said

only "subconsciously" will he protect his left arm.

    "If I say anything it will be a general thing in passing," said coach

Chan Gailey. "He's been down this road before. He knows what to do."

   In other words, this isn't Troy's first rodeo. But what if it's his last?

   Troy Kenneth Aikman - the man owner Jerry Jones calls "the most important

person in our organization" - is sneaking up on 32 years, 30,000 yards

passing and 1,000 MRIs. A wide-ranging appreciation of Aikman's career and a

peak at his mental and physical state as he returns onto the field and

closer to Canton: The Injuries Despite the Frankensteinian scars,

technicolor bruises and cranky back, Aikman said his warranty is safe

because the parts aren't yet wearing out.

    Sure, he wears more padding than John Glenn, sometimes walks like

Quasimoto and can't come close to touching his toes, but 252 career sacks

behind an offensive line that used to be made up of guys now waiting tables

will do that. He still remembers his first broken bone (left arm as a

10-year-old linebacker in Cerritos, Calif.), almost all of the 40 stitches

in his chin ("Now I've got a turbo-strap") and scratching his cornea by

wearing his contacts in the wrong eye during Super Bowl XXVIII.

    "Not a day goes by that I'm not reminded I had back surgery," said

Aikman, who underwent surgery to repair a herniated disk in June 1993. "Some

mornings it's tight and just never loosens up. It's the scariest because

it's the only thing that won't fix itself. Other than that, I feel pretty

good."

    Despite that 11-sack mauling against the Eagles in '89, his leg bending

like an accordion against the Redskins in 1991 and that hit by the

Cardinals' Anthony Bell in '89 that sent blood spewing out his left ear,

Aikman said he feels good enough to play out this contract (through 2001)

and another. Before the collarbone, he had made 58 consecutive starts.

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    "I'm not saying I feel as good as when I was in my 20s because the hits

have taken their toll," said Aikman. "But I take much better care of myself.

I run four to five times a week, something I never did early on. I used to

think 10 seasons was the magic number, but I'm so encouraged by guys like

John Elway, Dan Marino and Warren Moon. They're still growing strong, and

I've got six or seven years on them."

    Said Maurer: "He's probably not as beaten up as you think. There's

nothing physically to limit him from playing another five years."

    The Style Aikman, a self-proclaimed "grunt," is as slow as the last day

of school and as mobile as a mailbox. Few passers in NFL history, however,

have combined his zip and precision. A flop at the Improv, No. 8's 15-yard

post is unchallenged and he has the unique ability to consistently launch

lasers through a window as small as the drive-thru at Wendy's.

    "He's our `oomph'," said receiver Michael Irvin. "There's no one who's

ever played this game that I'd rather be catching balls from. No one."

   With piercing blue eyes, rugged good looks and a jerky-tough mentality,

the guy friends and teammates call "8-ball," "T-Roy" or just "Roy" is as big

(6-foot-4, 220 pounds) and precise (third-most accurate passer in NFL

history at 62 percent) as Big Ben. Early in his career playing with

receivers who disappeared faster than David Copperfield assistants, Aikman

painted his self-image and grabbed 42 Cowboys passing records by standing

patiently in the pocket and picking apart secondaries like a vegetarian

sorting through beef stew.

   "All he needs is time to throw," said Irvin. "He's got everything else."

   Like he has done since he was 2, Aikman still eats Lucky

Charms for breakfast. He has, however, done some serious growing up in his

10 years with the Cowboys.

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    "We don't do quite the running around like we used to do, and he's cut

out the junk food," says long-time close friend Doug Kline. "He's grown up,

but his ego hasn't. He's still a Mr. Humble, but a darn strong, driven one."

    Not long ago, he was a guy taking a swing at an obnoxious fan in 1989

and leaving the Pro Bowl at halftime in '92. Now, he has the ability to

overcome the loss of close friends and former teammates like Kevin Gogan and

Jay Novacek and who last off-season optimistically dealt with seemingly

negative news involving his family, residence and health.

    "It's been anything but a tough year," he says. "Each was an isolated

incident. Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I was able to see the

positives. Like the fact that no one was injured in the fire and we caught

the cancer early. There's been some tough things to deal with, but football

is still fun and exciting. It's a different type of feeling without some of

those guys around, but I'm a different person now, too."

    The Aikmaniacs are still out there, but the object of

their obsession has learned to play their game. He's prepared to sign

autographs anywhere, anytime. He doesn't like signing a guy's receipt at the

gas station or a woman's underwear at a restaurant, but it comes with the

territory of being the highest-paid player on the world's most popular team.

    "I'll never be completely comfortable," said Aikman. "But there is a

misconception that I can't leave my house, and that's just not true. I'm not

a prisoner of whatever celebrity I may have."

    Aikman realizes the same popularity that pushes fans to approach him has

also produced more money than Sultan of Brunai, appearances on everything

from Oprah to People 's list of the 50 Most Beautiful, and the seven

fireplaces in the new house he hopes to move back into next summer.

    "I do look forward to the days when I can have a private life," he said.

"But I also know I'll miss not playing. I talked to Dan Marino and he told

me that when you're done, you're done. It's simple, but it really made me

think and I'm trying to soak things in a little more."

   Aikman's immediate sights are accomplishing something of

unprecedented biblical proportion: two resurrections. One from 1-15; the

other from Switzerland. The first took a 1-15 disaster to three Super Bowls

in four years earlier this decade. This one is about rebuilding a winner and

an image from a team that plunged to 6-10 last year under Switzer.

    "I'm going to be very disappointed if we don't get a fourth Super Bowl,"

he said. "Because we've got the core players to do it."

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    And when he's done playing? Marriage? Kids? Ownership? For now he's

content with his down-to-earth girlfriend, who has no links to Hollywood

stardom.

   "I've enjoyed playing too much to just walk away altogether," he said. "I

don't think I have the patience to coach, but I'd like to be involved in

some part of ownership. It could really be rewarding if it's a meaningful

position."

   Three Super Bowls. Super Bowl MVP. 11-2 in the playoffs. 88-56

record as a starter. Not bad for a kid who practiced crossing his T's and

A's because he thought his baseball autograph would someday be worth

something and who took up football in the eighth grade only because his

Marlboro-Man tough dad, Ken, signed him up without asking.

    "If it all ended today my career would be a success, yes," Aikman said.

"The Super Bowls are something to be proud of; I've got the respect of my

teammates and have pretty much established myself. I don't dwell on the end

because I'm not too worried about it. It's not like I'm going to have to

start selling shoes when football is over."

   And, from now on, he’ll no longer have to sell his sexual orientation.

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