Someone sent Mark Tuinei palm leaves back from his home in Hawaii. Before the game against the 49ers, Mark looked at me and said, “I wanna give you a Hail Mary with these leaves.” I said, “Brother, I’ll take whatever you’ve got.” —Tony Casillas, Cowboys defensive lineman WHEN FANS LOOK back at the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s, they tend to think of the glamour boys—Aikman, Emmitt, Irvin, Haley. Even Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones. Truth be told, one of the most important—and overlooked—Cowboys also happened to be the only real Cowboy. That’s right. Along with emerging from relative obscurity to become Aikman’s most reliable target, Jay Novacek was a true, honest-to-goodness cowboy. During offseasons he lived in a brick cabin on 3,500 acres in Gothenburg, Nebraska. The closest paved road was seven miles away. To reach the nearest city (Omaha) took three and a half hours by car. Among his closest friends, Novacek counted the 150 head of cattle roaming across his property.
