Wade Phillips Out in Dallas. Reading Between the Lines.

Friends, this is a lesson about sports, business and reading between the lines.

Here's what you have to chat up:

> Today, the Dallas Cowboys fired its head coach, Wade Phillips. The Cowboys are 1 - 7. That's unacceptable for "America's Team".

> His dismissal comes about a week after the owner of the Cowboys, Jerry Jones, said that Phillips would have the job for the remainder of the year. (You really can't say publicly, "Well, if Wade loses the next game, he's gone!"

> Then came the Cowboys' horrific loss to the Green Bay Packers yesterday, 45 - 7. Jones had had enough.

> Ask why Jones would express support for Phillips and then change his mind?

> What factors contributed to Phillips being shown the door? (Here's the answer: injuries to their starting QB Tony Romo, a ridiculous number of penalties, a porous defense and an inability to get the 'boys out of a terrible rut.)

> BTW, some thought the Cowboys could contend for the Super Bowl since they won their division last year. Adding insult to injury, the Super Bowl is being held in Dallas this year, which would be an owner's dream to have his team play that game in their own stadium.

Dream deferred.

Talk it up and enjoy!

Joe Pa Wins No. 400

Take note. Joe Paterno, the head football coach at Penn State, has just won his 400th game. He's the first coach in major college football history to do that. What that means is Division 1 football.

Here's what you can chat up:

> His team had to come from behind to win. They were down 21 - 0 in the first half.

> He's 83 years old.

> He's been head coach for 44 seasons.

> He's donated millions to the University.

> He's passed the big names: Bear Bryant of Alabama, Bobby Bowden of Florida State.

> Talk about how he HASN'T passed Eddie Robinson of Grambling. (He is, however, only 9 wins away.)

> He's affectionately known as Joe Pa, which is correctly pronounced Joe-puh, as in Puh-terno.

> Most folks think he IS Penn State.

> Most years, when he loses more than 2 games, people start calling for his head. But not today. Today, Joe Paterno is the Lion King.

Chat it up and hail the Lion King.

Sparky Anderson - the Spark of the Big Red Machine

Friends,

You can talk up the world series (which the SF Giants won), you can talk up football or you could mention the name Sparky Anderson around the water cooler.

Who? Ah, here's what you can talk about.

> George "Sparky" Anderson was a Hall of Fame major league manager who died today at the age of 76.

> He lead the Cincinnati Reds aka "The Big Red Machine" to World Series wins in 1975 and 1976. As you know, that was no easy task. He had a roster of superstars -- Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Ken Griffey, George Foster, Tony Perez, etc., etc. -- and managed to keep everyone happy.

> The Reds let him go a few years later after two 2nd place finishes.

> What'd Sparky do? Headed to the American League and won ANOTHER championship with the Detroit Tigers.

> He is still among the most highly regarded managers in baseball and one of winningest.

God Bless you, Sparky. I loved watching you work.

Chat it up, for Sparky's sake!

Randy Moss Is Released - Again

Gather 'round friends and lemme tell you what you should be chatting about this afternoon.

Randy Moss, the wide receiver who was released by the NE Patriots several weeks ago and picked up by the Minnesota Vikings has now been released by the Vikings.

+ First thing to say is, "Wow! How did that happen?"

+ Then say, "Well, it's probably because he appeared to bad-mouth both of his head coaches directly to the media."

+ Top it off with, "Isn't it ironic that the Vikings and the Patriots played last night?" BTW, the Patriots won.

Here's what you can also add:

+ Moss is a 7-time pro bowl selection.

+ He's a uniquely talented player.

+ He feels misunderstood. He probably is.

Questions to ask:

+ Will another team claim him off waivers?

+ Are there teams that can take that risk like Dallas, which is 1 - 6 and has lost their starting quarterback?

Wow. Chat it up and enjoy.