McCarthy turns comedy into victory
FRISCO — The Dallas Cowboys are coming off what Mike McCarthy calls their most complete game of the season.
The team could find itself in first place early Thursday evening before anyone at the Thanksgiving table has cut into the pumpkin pie. The question for the head coach is obvious:
When you take your sledgehammer on the road, do you place it in the overhead bin or must you check it before boarding?
“Well, that’s the beauty of flying charter,” McCarthy said. “It’s packed in a nice, safe bag.”
Staring at a four-game losing streak, his team at the crossroads, McCarthy decided to channel his inner Gallagher. What better way to get his team motivated to face Minnesota than to smash a few watermelons?
So that’s what McCarthy and his players did in their Saturday night meeting. The team went out the next day and beat the Vikings for their first road victory of McCarthy’s early tenure with the club.
“It’s important to have fun,” McCarthy said. “You’re always trying to create emphasis in your messaging. That’s really where it came from.
“We were just using the approach to honor the great comedian Gallagher. It’s an idea that came up, and we went for it.”
Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr. rose to comedic prominence by flattening fruits and vegetables in the 1980s. You could even call him a, wait for it …
Smash.
In Comedy Central’s list of the top 100 comedians of all time, Gallagher ranks No. 100, right behind Janeane Garofalo and Louis C.K. This doesn’t set well with Gallagh
er, who has told reporters in the past he deserves to be higher on that list.
Maybe McCarthy’s homage ahead of the Cowboys’ 31-28 victory will help the now 74-year-old Gallagher climb the list.
“Saturday night meetings, I think every head coach puts time and emphasis into it,” McCarthy said. “I’ve always tried to be creative throughout my time. I’ve been doing it a long time, so you are looking for new ideas, keeping it fresh.
“The players were into it, and we had some fun with it.”
Face it. The Cowboys have been the watermelon more often than not in this 3-7 season. The chance to swing the hammer was cathartic.
But this isn’t something the head coach and his staff could throw together at the last moment. It took meticulous planning.
You can’t just roll a few watermelons into a hotel ballroom, splatter the walls and walk away.
“The key is you’ve got to have a good hammer,” McCarthy said. “We’re fortunate enough to where we were able to find one.
“We had to actually take our own watermelons with us because it’s a little harder to find big watermelons in Minneapolis this time of year than Dallas, from what I was told. Most importantly, we were able to get it done right, and the cleanup was efficient. The hotel was a little concerned there.
“I mean, there’s a lot that goes into that.”
After fielding the fourth of seven questions about the episode in his Monday afternoon news conference, McCarthy joked that he knows what to do in the future if he wants to create a diversion. And it wasn’t just him wielding the sledgehammer.
The players got into the action.
“We had a number of points of emphasis we were trying to hit, so a number of guys got to participate,” McCarthy confirmed.
“It was a lot of fun. It was well received.”
The Cowboys face Washington at AT&T Stadium on Thanksgiving. What does McCarthy do for an encore when he addresses the players Wednesday night?
Break out in an Andrew Dice Clay nursery rhyme when talking about the keys to victory? Talk like Bobcat Goldthwait or Gilbert Gottfried when outlining how the Cowboys must attack the Washington defense?
The comedic possibilities are endless.
Smashing watermelons was just the start.