Ever since walking away from chances to play football to embark on a broadcasting career, Tony Romo has avoided a lot of talk about his Cowboys career.
And today, as he spoke with reporters briefly before his cameo appearance on an NBA bench tonight, he admitted there was one troubling aspect of leaving when he did, despite all the well-wishes on his new gig.
“I guess it just makes you feel that you accomplished something in some ways because I feel like I left something out there that I always wanted to accomplish,” he said, via Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News. “And I got to live with that. That’s part of playing sports. It doesn’t always go the way you expect. You can put everything into it and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. But it doesn’t mean you can be OK with it.
“This week has been special in the sense that people have made me feel that they appreciated me and that they enjoyed me playing and being their quarterback and that it meant something to them and they wanted to root for me and they were passionate about it. I can’t say thank you enough. It really has been a very special week.”
That seems like an obvious reference to not winning a Super Bowl, but it could also stand as a summation of an awkward exit. It’s hard to imagine him not feeling a lack of completion there, considering the way his relationship with coach Jason Garrett seemed to suffer with last year’s transition to Dak Prescott.
But during his short appearance during a Dallas Mavericks morning shootaround, Romo showed the kind of grace which could serve him well as he embarks on a new job which he has no experience at.
“Standing here today I feel a little bit embarrassed, to be honest,” Romo said. “Just in the sense that you’re lucky enough to be in a position that someone cares enough to do something to honor you. I’m a lucky guy.”
And while not winning a title might gnaw at him, it’s not keeping him from appreciating the chance for others to thank him for what was by most measures a successful run in Dallas.