Cowboys fire coach, forget to renew Web domain
When the Dallas Cowboys fired their coach, Wade Phillips, DallasCowboys.com was full of no news at all. The team had forgotten to renew the domain name and site showed a picture of two kids playing soccer.
Like the New York Yankees and pungent curries, it is not easy to love the Dallas Cowboys.
Somehow, they seem hell bent on proving that everything really is bigger in Texas. Including, some believe, mouths.
They have built a new stadium at which parking is $75 and pizzas a mere $60 (oh, of course they're 20 inches). They constantly seem to act as if they are rather more important than other NFL teams, more important than any other sports team anywhere. Which might make some people curious that the Cowboys have often been referred to as "America's team."
While you might ponder what that says about America, may I tell you that the Cowboys are a dreadful team this year. Sunday, they lost again, making it just one win in their first eight games.
You must decide whether it was all this excitement--or some strange and sudden inherent mediocrity--that caused the Cowboys some technological embarrassment. For those who wondered whether head coach Wade Phillips would be--or even had been--fired Sunday, were unable to find out at DallasCowboys.com.
According to the Dallas Morning News, the team had forgotten to renew the domain. Which meant that DallasCowboys.com was adorned with a picture of two little boys playing soccer and a suggestion that it was for sale.
Naturally, these things can happen at the finest of organizations. It's just like a CEO forgetting he's married and carrying on with some likable Latvian lady at a function. But CNBC reported that the domain expired November 2, and Network Solutions, the domain host, waited until Sunday before chop-blocking the site.
It seems the company hoped the Cowboys would pull it out in overtime. Sadly, it was not to be. And yesterday, fans were frustrated not to be able to read about the firing of coach Wade Phillips on their most beloved site.
The bill has now been paid. The site is now back up. So loyal Cowboys fans can go to it and read that current quarterback Jon Kitna feels "terrible," that owner Jerry Jones has said there will be "consequences," and that wide receiver Miles Austin declared: "Hopefully, it's a good thing."
I have no reason to believe they were referring to the return to life of DallasCowboys.com.