The Dallas Cowboys officially began the 2010 edition of Training Camp at the Alamodome in San Antonio Friday, July 23, with a press conference attended by

media covering the team. Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones, Personnel Director Stephen Jones, and Coach Wade Phillips made opening statements, and then took questions from the 200 or so media representatives in attendance.

This season promises to be probably the most interesting ones in the history of the Cowboys for a number of reasons. Emmitt Smith will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio in just a couple of weeks from now, completing membership of the “triplets,” as he, Michael Irvin, and Troy Aikman were known during their playing days that resulted in three of the team’s five Super Bowl victories in franchise history.

This will also mark the 50th season of the Cowboys existence as an NFL team, and special events are planned for every home game during the season to commemorate the anniversary of the most storied sports franchise in the world.

Training Camp itself will entail a first, as half of the camp will be held in San Antonio, and the other half will be held in Oxnard, CA, an area of the US where the team has a large following as well.

The Super Bowl will be played in Cowboys Stadium next February, marking the FIRST time the most watched sporting event in the world is held in North Texas.

Then there are the expectations of the upcoming season. Unlike the past couple of years where there was an anticipation that the team could make a run to the Championship, it is pretty much expected by NFL pundits, as the ‘Boys are one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl.

With everything taking place this season, you would expect Jerry Jones and Wade Phillips would come into camp feeling pressure. Interestingly enough, it was without a doubt the most relaxed press conference in the short four years Jones and Phillips have been together with the Cowboys. Both downplayed expectations for the season.

Phillips began the theme of the session during his opening statement. “Our team is confident, but I also think we are realistic. You can talk a lot right now and say you are going to do all those things, but really what we’re going to try to do is practice and get better every day. I think having the great tradition helps this football team because we want to draw from that. And I think the near past, as in last year, I think we made some strides and we are pointing in the right direction, but there are no guarantees in this league. We have seen teams come from last place and finish first in their division. We’ve seen teams not make the playoffs the year before and come back and win the Super Bowl. We realize all those things, and I think we have a lot of good things going for us.”

Jerry Jones continued to beat the same drum when he was asked about the expectations of the team in 2010. “My perspective, and just observing our staff and players and everybody involved, and my own feelings, is there’s just not a whole lot of things not to like about the upcoming season today. We all know the game and the journey that we’ve got ahead of us, so that’s important. Looking back at last season, all you have to (do is) take one reel back and put it up on the screen, or the tape, and see a disappointment in our last ballgame (Divisional Playoff loss to Minnesota), and that represents most of us and most of our work up to this point with that last ballgame, so we’ve got a lot to make amends for, but that’s not all bad too. Where I think that I won’t be going is spending a lot of time talking about that we’re having the Super Bowl in the stadium, and the expectations of play the Super Bowl there. Rich (Dalrymple) pointed out to me that for the most part, one team usually has the chance to play (in their home stadium) in the Super Bowl with their season every year because most of the games are played in an NFL stadium, not always, but most of the time, so people have learned to live with that, but the problem is that no one has ever done it.”

The Mirror asked Jerry HOW it would feel with all the other historic happenings involving the team this year if they WERE able to win the Super Bowl. “There’s not a lot to like here as we start. The minute that Emmitt was selected into the Hall of Fame, that second we thought it, and within the time we could get a hold of somebody, we started lobbying to get the game (Hall of Fame Game) up in Canton. To make those kinds of things have some synergy, and we were well aware that we’d be celebrating our 50th birthday, and we’re obviously aware that we’d be doing the Super Bowl, all of this, without complicating it, makes this a special year for the Dallas Cowboys. We can all say that none of them are special if you don’t win it all. You can say that, and I can listen to you say it, but we certainly have put the ingredients in the stew!”

There are great expectations for the Cowboys this season, and it all begins with Training Camp. There will be the special moments along the way, including Emmitt being inducted into the Hall of Fame, the Cowboys facing the Bengals in the Hall of Fame Game the next night, and Super Sunday coming up in the Metroplex in February. As Jerry stated so well, it WON’T be a special season if they “don’t win it all.” MAYBE this is the year it all comes together and the fairy tale ending is written in Arlington, TX. For now, all Cowboys fans can hold onto that dream. Time will tell if it comes true.

elwynh@juno.com