Former Cowboy Aikman, now an analyst, is objective

Neil Best

January 11, 2008

Troy Aikman started out laughing at the inevitable line of questions. Later, he became mildly annoyed, calling it a "ridiculous point."

Tony Romo's south-of-the-border getaway with his gal pal? Um, no.

Alas, I forgot to ask old No. 8 about that. Instead, Aikman was responding to an inquiry into his objectivity for Sunday's first-in-history Giants-Cowboys playoff game.

"At one point during this season, I was being criticized in Dallas for being anti-Dallas," he said. "I guess in a weird way, it's a compliment.

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"People are going to hear what they want to hear, and there is nothing really I can do about that. I can honestly say I feel I am very objective in the booth. The only thing I hope for in any game, regardless of who's playing, is that it's a good game, a close, competitive game."

With apologies to readers who have sent impassioned, heavily researched arguments to the contrary, I believe Aikman, a calmly reasonable fellow by nature, does manage to play it pretty straight.

On the other hand, it is understandable that Giants fans listen to him with wary ears.

Avid fans in all sports forever have sworn they detect bias against their hometown heroes from national broadcasters. It's the nature of being a fan.

In this case, though, the analyst in question happens to be the former face of an archenemy, one who still lives in Dallas and has retained ties to the organization. In 2005 he joined the team's "Ring of Honor" during a Monday night game. In November, he was at Texas Stadium for a reunion of the 1992 championship team.

Combine that with the fact that by Sunday night, Aikman and Daryl Johnston, another former Cowboy living in Dallas, will have analyzed a total of 12 Giants games on Fox this season and, well . . .

"I have a good relationship with the organization, and I wouldn't want it any other way," Aikman said. "I spent 12 years with the Dallas Cowboys and have a lot of great memories and relationships.

"I don't apologize for the relationships I have with the Cowboys' organization. I don't think in any way that clouds my objectivity when doing a game."

Aikman said he attends one or two Cowboys games a year when not working, but he also is a regular at Mavericks and Rangers games. He said he first understood the difficult spot in which national announcers find themselves when he repeatedly heard as a player that John Madden was "anti-Dallas."

"I knew that wasn't true," he said. "There's not an announcer, I don't think, in the profession that says, 'I don't like this team or that team."'

Not the good announcers, anyway. It was at this point that Aikman had had enough. "I have probably spent more time than I normally spend talking about it," he said, "because it is such a ridiculous point."

Time to move on! What about Eli? "Oh, my God," he said. "Can we roll tape from last year?"

In other words, being a TV analyst/former quarterback means never being allowed to escape Eli questions. He answered anyway. "I know as a quarterback, humility is only a week away," he said. "But the last two weeks have been really good for Eli. He's played well. I've seen a little bounce in his step. I also know if he comes out and struggles, detractors will say, 'Here we go.' Unless this team goes really deep into the playoffs, I don't know that he's going to completely change people's thoughts."

Aikman said he was amazed to learn before the Giants-Bucs game that a Giants victory would set up their first playoff game against the Cowboys.

Amazed and enthused . . . in an objective way. "I said, 'Shoot, you're right,"' he said. "This should be a lot of fun."

Grid bits

Giants postgame shows on Ch. 5 appeared sporadically this season and were inadequate when they did. This is just plain nutty, though: There was no local TV postgame last weekend, nor will there be Sunday. Playoffs? Playoffs? Being on an over-the-air outlet presents programming challenges, but this needs to be changed next season . . . The flip side is Giants.com and the team's radio crew have beefed up postgame offerings. For the best independent coverage, read Newsday and Newsday.com, of course.

SHOOTOUT: ELI VS. THE COWBOYS

Bruised but unbowed

Sept. 9, 2007 / Cowboys 45, Giants 35

In Week 1 of his fourth pro season, Manning showed that he and Plaxico Burress were on the same page like never before. They combined for three TDs, the last a 9-yarder with 4:02 to play that cut the Cowboys' lead to three points. Manning left the Sunday night opener in Dallas with a bruised right shoulder, but he started the following week against Green Bay.

Comp. Att. Yds. INTs TDs Rating

28 41 312 1 4 113.1