Tony Romo, the embattled quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, works a lot harder than you or I do.
The tough guy played against San Francisco in week two with a busted rib and a punctured lung and yet he sucked it up somehow and led his team to victory on the road.
When was the last time you did your job with a cracked rib? Or a punctured lung? Or both. Hell, most of us call in sick and watch re-runs of "Seinfeld" to escape our misery when we have a 99-degree fever.
And for Romo's trouble, he is probably the NFL's most maligned player. Yeah, he played dumb football in the opener against the New York Jets. And I know, this wasn't the first time he has been accused of choking under pressure.
But let's give him a little slack, please, no matter what happens in the Cowboys' game on Monday night and throughout the rest of the 2011 season. OK?
He plays hard all the time. And obviously, he has had a higher pain threshold than most other people on the planet.
Americans place too much emphasis on whether someone wins or loses. A lot of it has to do with this crazy "fantasy sports" obsession. I admit I'm in a "suicide pool," in which I pick an NFL team to win each weekend. But I do it for fun and excitement. I don't hold it against Tony Romo or Eli Manning or Philip Rivers if his quarterback play has knocked me out of the pool. So be it.
Give Tony Romo a little support tonight when the Cowboys play against Washington in the Cowboys' home opener. He deserves it.
Jon Friedman writes the Media Web column for MarketWatch.com.
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