April 26, 1999 - Dallas Morning News Sports Day Corporate Golf Championship at Dallas Athletic Club. The Dallas Cowboys finished first in this tournament last year, but placed 6th with a team score of 268 this year. The Cowboys team of Troy Aikman, Chan Gailey, Emmitt Smith and Bill Bates finished behind teams from the Texas Rangers (267), the Staubach Company (266), SMU (265), Robertson, Griege & Thoele (264), and the Dr. Pepper Bottling Co. of Texas (261). Troy was asked for his comments about the pending retirement of Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway. Troy said, "the interesting thing about it is he's still playing at a very high level, and so for someone to retire when that's the case...it just doesn't happen very often. It did this year with Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretsky -- he was still playing at a pretty high level -- and now John...."

April 19, 1999 - Seattle, Washington. According to Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Jim Reeves (Sunday, April 18), Troy will be in the Seattle area for the Eric Bjornson Celebrity Classic at McCormick Woods Golf Course in Port Orchard. The shotgun tourney benefits Pete Gross House.

April 16, 1999 - FOX 4 Dallas (KDFW) aired a Cowboys draft special tonight at 10:30. Included was an interview of Troy Aikman by Mike Doocy and Mickey Spagnola:

Troy was asked for his reactions on his new contract with the Cowboys. Troy said, "the most important part of the contract was the fact that it was able to free up some money under the cap, so we could get some players for this season and then in the future years it will allow us to be a competitive football team. That was really the motivating factor for the club in trying to get an extension done. As you well know I had three years remaining on the current contract, but it just was not functionable with the way the game is played right now with the salary cap. I'm very happy about the fact that I'm going to be playing here for the remainder of my career, and I'm just hoping that at some point we're able to get back and win another Super Bowl."

"I think Jerry probably goes out and shows that every year [committment to winning Super Bowls]. He has always shown the willingness to try to get players that are going to upgrade our positions and get us in a better spot to be competitive and try to get back to the Super Bowl. I don't think that anybody can question Jerry's drive and resolve in trying to get us back to win world championships. As a player and especially as a quarterback, I appreciate that, and you're right, it was never a situation to where I was concerned about the money. It was more trying to come up with a way to free up as much money as possible in order for us to be aggressive in free agency, address some of the needs that we have to where we can go out and be competitive each year, at least while I'm playing."

Troy was also asked about the addition of "Rocket" Ismail and Mark Stepnoski to the Cowboys' roster. "They're going to upgrade us, there's no doubt about that. Mark, as you well know, was with us the first few years, during the first two Super Bowls that we were able to win, and then left. We're happy to have him back. He's definitely going to help us within the offensive line. Rocket Ismail is a guy who had a very good year last year in Carolina and someone we feel can come in and contribute and help us get back to where we want to go. From an offensive standpoint, I think that we're going to be able to be more productive with the acquisitions of these guys."

And finally, he was asked whether he could see himself playing to the age of 42. He grinned and said, "Well I try to keep myself in pretty good shape, and I think with Warren Moon he gives us all a little bit of hope. And I still feel like a relatively young quarterback as long as Dan Marino and John Elway are playing. I came into the League when they were going into their sixth seasons. They're still playing strong at 38 years old, and I still feel that I can play at a high level for a number of years. Realistically whether or not I can make it to 42, that's highly unlikely."

April 13, 1999 - The Cowboys announced today that Troy had signed a contract extending his contract by six years (through 2007). The $85.5 million deal makes Troy the highest paid player in the NFL, but most importantly, guarantees that he will finish his career as a Dallas Cowboy (and freed up a huge chunk of salary cap)!!

April 9, 1999 - "Hansen Unplugged," 7:00 p.m., Channel 8, WFAA, Dallas. Dale Hansen's special filmed at Cool River Cafe, a restaurant in Irving, Texas, aired this evening, and Troy, Coach Joe Avezzano, Rick Helling and Rafael Palmeiro from the Rangers, and Mike Modano and Brett Hull from the Dallas Stars were guests. The show was great, and our QB looked fabulous despite Hansen and Avezzano goading him about his goatee. Personally, I like the facial fuzz. If you missed the special or live outside the area, you can order the video from Channel 8 for $8.95 at this web site: WFAA Hansen Unplugged. And just FYI, Dale and I are not related :-)

April 4, 1999 - Sports Sunday, 10:00 p.m., Channel 4 Dallas. Max Morgan's interview of Troy from Wednesday continued, and they gave us a little more detail about the process for bronzing Troy's hand. Tucker-Frazier did the cast of Troy's hand. Only two other quarterbacks have had this done - John Elway and Dan Marino. The 40-minute process of creating the wax cast started with Troy shaving both hands and wrists. He said he thought he shaved high enough the first time, but they made him go back and shave more. Regarding the bronzes he said, "I'm looking at it more as a way to earn some money for the Foundation, and use it as charity auction items, one of which will be auctioned off at my golf tournament gala in May."

They talked about mini-camp starting at the end of the month, and Troy waxed nostalgic a bit (yes, that horrible pun was intentional). He said, "Daryl Johnston and I came in together and Mark Stepnoski. We hadn't even gone through our very first day of training camp yet back at Thousand Oaks as rookies and we were walking around saying, 'man if this was our tenth year it would be great, we could retire and be done with this,' you know, talking like rookies do, and here we are ten years later and we're all fighting trying to say, 'hey, we've got a lot of years left in us.' "

April 4, 1999 - Channel 4, FOX, Dallas. More of the Troy interview from Wednesday was aired on the 5:30 p.m. news. Troy was asked about free agency. Troy said, "There's no secret to the fact that we're right up there against the cap. They're trying to somehow free up money and to do that we've got to do some restructuring. And that will more than likely include mine, and so those talks are ongoing. As I've said before, anything I can do from a contractual standpoint to help our football team and to help us be more competitive, then I want to do that."

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