September 11, 2025 • 23 mins
Dallas Cowboys radio analyst and former quarterback Babe Laufenberg joins the Craig Way Show. They discuss the Cowboys' week 2 outlook and tell the moving story behind UTEP's tradition of honoring Babe's son, Luke with the number 2 jersey and nameplate.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's always fun to do this program, but it's even
more fun than to get a chance to visit with
friends and guys who you respect in the business who've
been doing it for a while, or next guests. Of course,
you can hear him on our sister station here in
the iHeart Compound, ninety eight point one FM Cavet, the
(00:21):
home of Austin's all time country favorites. It's also our
FM flagship station for our Logward football broadcast, which you
also hear here on AM thirteen under the Zone. It's
the home of the Dallas Cowboys, and that means it's
Bradsham and Bab Bloffenberg who call the action. Folks have
heard Brand on this program many times. He was my
boss for seven years, and he's been doing the Cowboys
(00:43):
I think for thirty six and Babe has been at
it for a while and he's been on this program before.
I appreciate you taking the time to how many years
is this now for you as the radio analyst on
the Cowboys broadcast?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I believe, and I don't always look at these things.
I'm not big on looking back and adding up how
many games and all this. I think it's my twenty
ninth year as the analyst because I did the pregame
and postgame for the first couple of years. After I
finished playing or they got finished playing me. People always
ask Craig, People always ask, you know, hey, when did
(01:17):
you retire. I'm like, no, I didn't retire. They retired me.
I said, ninety percent of the guys in professional sports
get retired. And every now and then you get to
be a Roger Staubach or Troy Aikman and you have
that press conference where you announced your retirement. You know,
Jimmy Johnson announced my retirement.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Well, but see what you got to do was you
got to transition.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
You weren't retiring from the sport.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
You were just changing positions from quarterback to radio analysts, right,
And that a way to look at it.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Well, that's exactly right. And I always said, Craig, you
know number one New Year's Resolutions. I always say, set
your goals low so that you achieve them. You don't
want to put out some lofty achieved and then you
come up short. You feel like a failure. So usually
right around you know, New Year's e but my goal
is to you know, drink a little bit more have
(02:09):
more pizza and watch more sports.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
And typically I.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Get finished with the year and I said, wow, I
accomplished my goal.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
You met it all in their early stages probably of
the year. That's good.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yes. Yes. My other goal, just so you know, was
to never have to pay to get into an NFL game.
And so far I've either been a player or broadcaster,
so I have yet to buy a ticket to an
NFL game. So that is that an achievement of sorts?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Yes, it is, Yes, it is, and that's why we
wanted to make sure that that continued for you coming down.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Also, so when you.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Come down this Saturday, it's your first time ever in
dk R Texas Memorial Stadium.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
It'll be my first game there. And what's funny is,
as you will know, you know when you're doing Cowboy
games and typically play Sunday, and I mean to go
down there. I'm prepping usually all day Sunday. I'm doing
the Craig Way thing. This week. You can do it
a high school game Friday night, and they're going to
go down for the ut U TEP game Saturday and
(03:07):
then back up obviously for Cowboys on Sunday. So but no,
I'm excited to be there to see it. I'm actually
excited to watch arch manning. You get to see them
up close and personal. It's one thing is you know,
you watch guy on TV and I'll be on the
sideline for some portion, and so it's always good to
go and you know you see these guys up again,
(03:30):
up close and personal. Obviously you see them, but I
always say, as long as I've been around it, you've
played and blah blah blah, and you know you know
they're big man, right, you know these are big, powerful
man in the NFL. Yeah, but there's two guys that
have stood out to me where I knew their height,
I knew their weight. I've watched them, but you go
down in the field and you stand next to them
(03:51):
and Cam Newton I was like, okay, this is not
a quarterback. This is a defensive event or something. And
the other one was Calvin Johnson Megatron, and you just said,
how does anybody how does any corner this guy runs
a slant? How do you get through to the ball.
I mean, he's six six, he's got arms like pythons.
(04:11):
And again I knew how big he was. I'd seen
him play and all that but you get.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Down then you go.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
My goodness, So I'm kind of excited to watch arch
throw the football Saturday.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
All right, Now, this is not meant in any way
shape or for him to make you feel any more aged.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
But I'm just trying to I'm trying to.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
All I'm trying to do is slot in eras when
you were playing, was Arch's grandfather still playing? Was Archie
still in the league and still playing when you were playing?
Did you have any overlap with him in his career?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
He was still in the league. I believe he My
rookie year was eighty three, and I believe his last
year was eighty three or eighty four possibly, Yeah, so yeah,
so he was in we I wouldn't really call it
overlapping at that stage. I was young and promising in
my career. And I'll never forget why Tittle. I was
at a.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Banquet, Craig.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It was at Washington DC Quarterback Club, and they were
inducting these Hall of Fame quarterbacks into the Washington DC
Quarterback Club. Anyway, Wyat Tittle gets up. He's one of
the guys receiving an award, as was Bart Starr, And
I forget the third one. But anyway, he gets up
and he said, there's four stages two quarterbacks career in
the NFL. He said, you're young and promising at stage one.
(05:30):
Stage two you become the backup, and everybody knows you're
better than the starter, and how can the coach be
such an idiot as to not play this guy. Stage three,
you become the starter, and then they wonder how the
coach can be so stupid as to play this guy,
because you know he's a bum. And then stage four
they throw your dinners and they tell you how great
you were. So he was in stage four and I
(05:53):
was in stage one. At the time, I was young
and promises.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Okay, all right, well, and by the way, you know,
there was an old saying down here that was coined
by Donovan Forbes, who was a former backup quarterback at
Texas the late eighties, like eighty eight, eighty nine, and
Donvin always said, the most popular man on campus is
the backup quarterback at ut Sure, so that'd something something
to keep in mind.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Their baby. Bloffenberg's was okay, yes, no.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
And I know I knew when quinn yours left. And
obviously I don't say there's a Lightning Rod for controversy,
but you do the game.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
You know that, you know everything that goes on down there.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
And I said, they're going to miss him more than
they think they are, not because Arts couldn't do it,
or whoever's going to come after him, But they got
pretty good quarterback played down there from him for a
number of years. And to your point, the backup quarterback,
everybody wants the other guy. And trust me, I think
Arts is going to be great. I do, but that's
(06:53):
that was a tough road going up to Ohio State.
Don't need to tell you that, and basically your first
major startup. I know he had started, but and it's
like I'm watching the money in that football. JJ McCarthy's
up there. Sure he couldn't have played any worse for
about half of the game whatever, you know, but he
came around. It's why I hate all the knee jerk.
(07:14):
Guy gets one game and we've decided he can or
cannot play.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
I mean, especially at that position.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Right I know this.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
And somebody said, oh, HEYJ McCarthy will be comfortable after
three or four games. I said, no, no, no, he'll
be comfortable after three or four years. Right now, there's
a big learning curve.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
This would absolutely just shock you, shake you to your
foundation to learn that a lot of the people, a
lot of the people who were bagging on Arch because
of the difficulty in the game one where a lot
of the same people who were bagging on Quinn you
weres last year and saying, hey, you got to get
arts in there. And then these same people came back,
a lot of them fans, and said, you know, Quinn
(07:54):
wasn't so bad after all.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
So well that happened.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Hey, Craig Quinn is in stage four. They throw you
dinners and they tell you how great you.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Were while being promising in the Dolphins camp right.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Now, exactly there we go.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Here we go, all right, So Babel Offerberg's with us, and.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
I'm gonna I want to get to what I refer
to is the higher calling, the higher purpose of the
weekend in a moment. But I do want to talk
about your day job for a moment, or at least
the team you cover.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
For your day job a little bit. And it down here.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
And the folks who reacted to the game pretty much,
they pretty much settled in on that opener in Philadelphia's Hey, maybe.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
These guys aren't so bad after all. We'll find out.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Is that kind of the general vibe that's been in
the Metroplex after that opener in Philadelphia?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I would say that's accurate. And it's funny because I
don't know where moral victories started up, because then now
you have to say there are no moral victories and
all that stuff. I just don't look at it that
way as a moral victory or any of that. Again,
I don't even know why we bring up the term.
But what that did let you know is you can
play with the team that was the best team in
(09:14):
the NFL last year. We'll find out if they're the
best team this year. But I think that was a
very positive sign for the Cowboys that, hey, you've got
the ball in your hands with two and a half
minutes to play, and you come down and score and
you win the game, or you have a chance to
win the game, right and they didn't. But I think
to walk out of there, to hold Philadelphia like they did,
(09:37):
to play the defense they did in the second half,
that's an encouraging sign. I mean, I think if you
play like that, you're going to win a lot of
football games.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
With that in mind, what's your examination your early examination
of this matchup with the Giants on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Scary because we know how bad the Giants have been
for a decade now, and they look terrible against Washington.
They did not score a touchdown, they put up six points.
Russell Wilson was rushed and virtually every throw they're missing.
Their their only stud offensive lineman, Andrew Thomas, he's out.
(10:16):
I don't know if he'll play this week. Sounds like
he won't, but he was out last week. And so
I mean, it's one of those where if you beat
the Giants, well, of course, you beat the Giants, to
the Giants, lose to the Giants, the panic will set
in and now you're owing too. And it's funny, crag.
I'm doing all my notes and everything, and you would think, well,
(10:36):
own to, you can recover from that. There's a seventeen
game season since nineteen ninety you start owing to. Only
twelve percent of those teams have made the playoffs. So
while you say, well, there's a lot of football still
to be played, history shows you that you start owing
to ninety percent of the time, you're not making the playoffs.
So in that sense, it's imperative that they win this
(10:59):
game someday against the Giants.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
One of those years obviously was m It's MVP season
ninety three. Them hold out, and that's obviously a big deal,
which brings me to ask you, have you seen the
documentary and what's your take on it?
Speaker 2 (11:14):
People can't believe it, but I have not seen it.
I have not watched it. I won't watch it because
I know what happened. I was there.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
You know how the movie ends well.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
And I just know that. I you know, I've heard
things and they've played some they played some cuts from
it on our flagship here in Dallas, one of five
point three. I f I'm the fan, and I've heard
cuts and I said, that didn't happen like that. So
I don't want to go through that look at it
and say that that didn't happen. It's like, I love
Craig I love documentaries. I mean something on PBS. It's
(11:51):
a true documentary, and I don't like watching movies that
are based on a true story or because you walk
away saying wow, So Craig Way punched the sid at
Texas and as well, that really didn't happen. They just
took a creative liberty because you had to. And you know,
(12:12):
and then the love interest, the quarterback was actually dating
the coacher's wife.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
No, No, that didn't happen, but you know, but it's.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Based on a true story. So I'm a big fan
of documentaries and this one the Netflix thing. I can
just it's a soap opera, right.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Right, yeah, exactly, That's how I felt. That's how it
felt about Friday Night Light the movie, because I lived it.
I was broadcasting it in eighty eight and there was
a lot of stuff that did not happen, and the
way it turned out in that movie, right.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
So I have meet to watch. Maybe I'll watch it
down the road. But shoot, I've been I've been friends
with Troy Well since nineteen eighty nine. So what are
we working on thirty five thirty six years? And there's
nothing he's going to say on that show that I
haven't heard, And there's some things that he did not
(13:00):
say on that show that I have heard, and those
those are.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
The good ones, all right.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
So let me get to the what I call the
higher purpose of this conversation. I wanted to do this,
so you know, so here I'm doing my I'm doing
my game prep, uh for this match up between Texas
and U TAP, and I'm looking at and very good
game notes that the miners have and and I'm going
through all of that, and then there's the entire right
(13:24):
side column of page seven of the notes. UH has
a big, bright orange banner with a white number two,
and it says Luke Laffenburg. And and and I knew
I knew obviously about uh.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Luke's journey and your journey with him.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
And you've you've you know, UH posting some really heartwarming
and heartfelt things about Luke and how he battled cancer
for two years and uh and and but but but
I am curious to get your thoughts on this, because
uh what UTEP has done, and I think this is
a really cool deal to where they're going to continue
(14:02):
to pay tribute to Luke by having a player. First
of all, players have worn these Luke stickers on the
back of their helmets since the start of twenty nineteen,
and and then and then they've had different players where
the jersey and I'll get to the identity of the
player and the story behind that in a moment for
(14:24):
this year. But I'm just curious to get your your
thoughts on how this evolved and and and I know
that's that's a big reason why you're coming down for
the game.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Well, I hate to use the word organic because I
think he gets overused, but so just as a backdrop
for those who don't know. So, I had a sun booth.
He was he was getting He was at a junior
college that you went to, Texas A and m was
a walk on. I preferred walk on there got to block.
He was a tight end. So he got to block
my house Garrett every day.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
In training camp and practice.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I'll tell a quick story here, so the one you're
I'm a Cowboys training camp in Oxnart and Luke is
a freshman down there and he's two thirty five. And anyway,
he's going up against Miles Garrett and practice because he's
a scout team tight end. And I said, Luke, what's it.
How is it trying to block Miles? And he said, well, Dad,
he said, if I sink my weight and I can
get my hands on him, and I lock out. And
(15:20):
I thought to myself, one of the kids delusional. You know,
NFL tackles aren't gonna be able to block this guy.
So he goes through the list and said, if I
do all those things, he said, I can keep him
out for like half a second, okay, And I said,
well what if you don't have a good technique And
he said, oh, he just throws me. So I said, don't.
I said, one of two things are going to happen, Luke,
(15:41):
when you go up against a guy like that, He's
going to make you better or you're going to quit.
But anyway, long and short, he ends up at the
junior college, he's getting recruited out of there, and then
he comes down. Well, he cancer December twenty sixth I'll
never forget the date obviously, and we tested him for
about ten days. They couldn't figure out what was wrong.
He had a very rare aggressive form of leukemia, something
(16:02):
called Burkett lymphoma Burkett leukemia. So anyway, he goes through
the treatment and you know, the odds were fifty to
fifty that he would live at that point. He goes
through the treatment, chemo awful, everything terrible. Anyway, makes it through,
builds his body back up. I mean, I've been around
the NFL and players and all that. I've never seen
anybody work harder than he worked to get himself back
(16:25):
trying to play football, and he did it, got a
scholarship to UTEP and he was there in spring practice
and he came back on him and the doctors had sorry,
the doctors had told us we kind of get one
shot at this, and so when he relapsed, that was.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Not good news.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
And so he goes through. We lost him August twenty
second of twenty nineteen, and coach Stina dimml was the
head coach there at the time at UTEP, and he
started up all this with the Luke sticker, giving the
jersey number to the number two, who's actually going to
(17:09):
retire the number, and then they just said, he said,
let's give it to a deserving guy. So they give
it to somebody that exemplified what Luke did with his fight,
his spirit, his work ethic. I mean, he'd been there
two months. He was getting votes for team captain in
the spring. So Dana Timmel was tremendous. Unfortunately, coach Dimmle
(17:29):
passed away about six months ago. But anyway, so then
the first one to wear number two and so they
were just going to wear number two, not with the
name Lathenberg on the jersey. I'm watching the game. There
was a young man by the name of Justin Garrett
who is now on the University of Texas football staff
with the running backs there. He was the first one
(17:51):
to wear number two. But I'm watching the game on
TV and I see the number two, and I see
law on the back of the jersey, and I mean,
I started falling. So here's the young man. He didn't
have to do that. What kid, what college kid doesn't
want his name on the back of the jersey? Right? Yeah?
(18:12):
And he put he put Losberg and played with it
through the year. So that now tradition has kind of continued.
And this year it's a young man by the name
of Marcus Torres, a local Lpasso kid who was a
walk on and you know, earned earned himselves scholarship this year.
So anyway, great kid got a chance to go out
to practice and talk with him, and obviously called him
(18:32):
on the phone after he was awarded like the number two,
and actually got a call from a few people. I
sent you the video of him talking about it, but
it was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Well, and then here's the Paul Harvey rest of the story.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
End of that for folks, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Marcus, of course, played at El Pass So Pebble Hills.
He was a Pebble Hills Spartan where he played for
his dad Mark. His dad Mark is now the head
coach of the Hayes Well they used to be the
Hayes Rebels with the hat Hawks. The Hayes Hawks, who
will play the Hendrickson Hawks tonight tonight over at the
(19:08):
field in Flugerville or as I always call it because
they spell it like Fluerville, the field in Flugerville and
they're gonna play over there tonight. My my analyst on
long worn football games, Roger Wallace, who's a sports record
at k x a N. They televised a live high
school game on kbv O every Thursday night and they're
(19:29):
gonna televise that game tonight.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
So I think it's really cool.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
There's there's the local connection and that Mark Torres is
the head coach at Hayes and his son Marcus is
going to be here on Saturday. And he's more than
just a symbolic like you said, you, uh you, you
have to earn that. And then beyond that, he's only
too deep. He's listed as a slot receiver as a
(19:53):
redshirt freshman. And when I made up my broadcast boards, Uh,
it was really cool that that that the number two
is on there. But I'll just look for the name
Laufenburg on the back instead of Taurus.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Right right when you see Lafberg, just know that it's
textually Torres. I don't have a I don't have a
year of eligibility that I was able to scraunge up.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Yeah, yeah, you know what what funny?
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Very quickly last week he was going to get his
first catch, and I mean he was Malachai Nelson, the
UTEP quarterback, and rolling out He's open. He just missed him.
But I said, I texted Marcus after. I said, Marcus,
I thought you were going to get your first major
college catch, and he said, well, I'll save it for Austin.
So hopefully he gets one tomorrow and you can talk
about him. That'd be cool, but great just a great kid,
great kid.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
That'd be great. U.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
And then the final thing I want to ask you back,
you made reference to it. I made reference to it
before you came on here. I said, baby is a
guy who does favors for friends. So you're actually going
to be the analyst on the Jesuit broadcast tomorrow night
when they play Highland Park, is it right?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
I will? Uh those a gentleman by the name of
Tom Wallsh he's actually a big time attorney here in Dallas,
but he'd done Jesuit football for like twenty five years.
Retired this year, but I think he's still doing about
eight games, so I don't know what retirement means. So
he had asked me if i'd join him for this game,
which I will. So I'll do this game tomorrow night
(21:13):
Hiland Park Jesuit and then drive down Saturday for obviously
Longhorns and your cup miners and drive back Saturday night
and two Cowboys on Sunday. I tell you, I'm on
a craig Way schedule.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
It's the life we lead and we like it. Hey,
I appreciate you. I appreciate you hopping on and giving
us the whole story obviously about Luke, and that's going
to make its way onto the Texas broadcast on Saturday
as well. We'll talk about that and I and as always,
I appreciate getting an opportunity to visit with you. And
I'll look forward maybe on down the road later on
(21:46):
this season to another chat if it's okay.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
With you, Oh, and you know, anytime, and I really
appreciate you, and I will tell your audience. I listened
to Craig Way Saturdays. If I'm driving around, I listened
a long football. I always feel like you can learn
things from other Nobody how long you've been doing it
or how good you think you are, you always you
always learn and and sometimes steal things you know from
(22:13):
other broadcasters. I remember Darryl Razor Ray and I'll be quicker,
you get great. Daryl Razor Ray does the Stars game
and I'm watching the game and he said there was
a big hit on the ice. He said, whoa, that
was a Bowelshaker, e L Bow. I text him, I said,
Razor got to be honest with you. I was, that's great.
(22:34):
I was laughing. My you know what, I said, I
may have to steal that. And he texted me back,
he said, it's not stealing, it's research.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
That's it. That's it.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
So so I have researched Craig Way. How's that.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Well, if anything comes up researchable, and I'm gonna I'm
going to remember Bowelshaker now, that that one.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
I'll just have to remember that one now that's good.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Hey, thanks again. I appreciate it. And uh and I
hope you enjoy the time on Saturday. Look forward to
seeing you again around the corner.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
I'm going to see you tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Yeah, okay, thanks.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Babe, we'll see you tomorrow. Take care of all right.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
That's Babelfenberg, the analyst on the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network,
and uh yeah, he'll be down there for the game.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
And a great story, great story.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
And I love the fact that Luke's name is on
the back of the player's jerseys, because that's something you
don't hear, is the uh you know, you hear about
somebody wearing their number or retiring the number, but you
don't know you actually wear the name on the back
of the jersey. And Marcus Torus will be doing that tomorrow.
That's really cool. All Right, we'll continue here. We'll hear
more from Longhorn's head coach, Steve Sarkisian when we continue
(23:43):
on thirteen Under the Zone,
It's always fun to do this program, but it's even
more fun than to get a chance to visit with
friends and guys who you respect in the business who've
been doing it for a while, or next guests. Of course,
you can hear him on our sister station here in
the iHeart Compound, ninety eight point one FM Cavet, the
(00:21):
home of Austin's all time country favorites. It's also our
FM flagship station for our Logward football broadcast, which you
also hear here on AM thirteen under the Zone. It's
the home of the Dallas Cowboys, and that means it's
Bradsham and Bab Bloffenberg who call the action. Folks have
heard Brand on this program many times. He was my
boss for seven years, and he's been doing the Cowboys
(00:43):
I think for thirty six and Babe has been at
it for a while and he's been on this program before.
I appreciate you taking the time to how many years
is this now for you as the radio analyst on
the Cowboys broadcast?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I believe, and I don't always look at these things.
I'm not big on looking back and adding up how
many games and all this. I think it's my twenty
ninth year as the analyst because I did the pregame
and postgame for the first couple of years. After I
finished playing or they got finished playing me. People always
ask Craig, People always ask, you know, hey, when did
(01:17):
you retire. I'm like, no, I didn't retire. They retired me.
I said, ninety percent of the guys in professional sports
get retired. And every now and then you get to
be a Roger Staubach or Troy Aikman and you have
that press conference where you announced your retirement. You know,
Jimmy Johnson announced my retirement.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Well, but see what you got to do was you
got to transition.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
You weren't retiring from the sport.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
You were just changing positions from quarterback to radio analysts, right,
And that a way to look at it.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Well, that's exactly right. And I always said, Craig, you
know number one New Year's Resolutions. I always say, set
your goals low so that you achieve them. You don't
want to put out some lofty achieved and then you
come up short. You feel like a failure. So usually
right around you know, New Year's e but my goal
is to you know, drink a little bit more have
(02:09):
more pizza and watch more sports.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
And typically I.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Get finished with the year and I said, wow, I
accomplished my goal.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
You met it all in their early stages probably of
the year. That's good.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yes. Yes. My other goal, just so you know, was
to never have to pay to get into an NFL game.
And so far I've either been a player or broadcaster,
so I have yet to buy a ticket to an
NFL game. So that is that an achievement of sorts?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Yes, it is, Yes, it is, and that's why we
wanted to make sure that that continued for you coming down.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Also, so when you.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Come down this Saturday, it's your first time ever in
dk R Texas Memorial Stadium.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
It'll be my first game there. And what's funny is,
as you will know, you know when you're doing Cowboy
games and typically play Sunday, and I mean to go
down there. I'm prepping usually all day Sunday. I'm doing
the Craig Way thing. This week. You can do it
a high school game Friday night, and they're going to
go down for the ut U TEP game Saturday and
(03:07):
then back up obviously for Cowboys on Sunday. So but no,
I'm excited to be there to see it. I'm actually
excited to watch arch manning. You get to see them
up close and personal. It's one thing is you know,
you watch guy on TV and I'll be on the
sideline for some portion, and so it's always good to
go and you know you see these guys up again,
(03:30):
up close and personal. Obviously you see them, but I
always say, as long as I've been around it, you've
played and blah blah blah, and you know you know
they're big man, right, you know these are big, powerful
man in the NFL. Yeah, but there's two guys that
have stood out to me where I knew their height,
I knew their weight. I've watched them, but you go
down in the field and you stand next to them
(03:51):
and Cam Newton I was like, okay, this is not
a quarterback. This is a defensive event or something. And
the other one was Calvin Johnson Megatron, and you just said,
how does anybody how does any corner this guy runs
a slant? How do you get through to the ball.
I mean, he's six six, he's got arms like pythons.
(04:11):
And again I knew how big he was. I'd seen
him play and all that but you get.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Down then you go.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
My goodness, So I'm kind of excited to watch arch
throw the football Saturday.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
All right, Now, this is not meant in any way
shape or for him to make you feel any more aged.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
But I'm just trying to I'm trying to.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
All I'm trying to do is slot in eras when
you were playing, was Arch's grandfather still playing? Was Archie
still in the league and still playing when you were playing?
Did you have any overlap with him in his career?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
He was still in the league. I believe he My
rookie year was eighty three, and I believe his last
year was eighty three or eighty four possibly, Yeah, so yeah,
so he was in we I wouldn't really call it
overlapping at that stage. I was young and promising in
my career. And I'll never forget why Tittle. I was
at a.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Banquet, Craig.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It was at Washington DC Quarterback Club, and they were
inducting these Hall of Fame quarterbacks into the Washington DC
Quarterback Club. Anyway, Wyat Tittle gets up. He's one of
the guys receiving an award, as was Bart Starr, And
I forget the third one. But anyway, he gets up
and he said, there's four stages two quarterbacks career in
the NFL. He said, you're young and promising at stage one.
(05:30):
Stage two you become the backup, and everybody knows you're
better than the starter, and how can the coach be
such an idiot as to not play this guy. Stage three,
you become the starter, and then they wonder how the
coach can be so stupid as to play this guy,
because you know he's a bum. And then stage four
they throw your dinners and they tell you how great
you were. So he was in stage four and I
(05:53):
was in stage one. At the time, I was young
and promises.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Okay, all right, well, and by the way, you know,
there was an old saying down here that was coined
by Donovan Forbes, who was a former backup quarterback at
Texas the late eighties, like eighty eight, eighty nine, and
Donvin always said, the most popular man on campus is
the backup quarterback at ut Sure, so that'd something something
to keep in mind.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Their baby. Bloffenberg's was okay, yes, no.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
And I know I knew when quinn yours left. And
obviously I don't say there's a Lightning Rod for controversy,
but you do the game.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
You know that, you know everything that goes on down there.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
And I said, they're going to miss him more than
they think they are, not because Arts couldn't do it,
or whoever's going to come after him, But they got
pretty good quarterback played down there from him for a
number of years. And to your point, the backup quarterback,
everybody wants the other guy. And trust me, I think
Arts is going to be great. I do, but that's
(06:53):
that was a tough road going up to Ohio State.
Don't need to tell you that, and basically your first
major startup. I know he had started, but and it's
like I'm watching the money in that football. JJ McCarthy's
up there. Sure he couldn't have played any worse for
about half of the game whatever, you know, but he
came around. It's why I hate all the knee jerk.
(07:14):
Guy gets one game and we've decided he can or
cannot play.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
I mean, especially at that position.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Right I know this.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
And somebody said, oh, HEYJ McCarthy will be comfortable after
three or four games. I said, no, no, no, he'll
be comfortable after three or four years. Right now, there's
a big learning curve.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
This would absolutely just shock you, shake you to your
foundation to learn that a lot of the people, a
lot of the people who were bagging on Arch because
of the difficulty in the game one where a lot
of the same people who were bagging on Quinn you
weres last year and saying, hey, you got to get
arts in there. And then these same people came back,
a lot of them fans, and said, you know, Quinn
(07:54):
wasn't so bad after all.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
So well that happened.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Hey, Craig Quinn is in stage four. They throw you
dinners and they tell you how great you.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Were while being promising in the Dolphins camp right.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Now, exactly there we go.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Here we go, all right, So Babel Offerberg's with us, and.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
I'm gonna I want to get to what I refer
to is the higher calling, the higher purpose of the
weekend in a moment. But I do want to talk
about your day job for a moment, or at least
the team you cover.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
For your day job a little bit. And it down here.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
And the folks who reacted to the game pretty much,
they pretty much settled in on that opener in Philadelphia's Hey, maybe.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
These guys aren't so bad after all. We'll find out.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Is that kind of the general vibe that's been in
the Metroplex after that opener in Philadelphia?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I would say that's accurate. And it's funny because I
don't know where moral victories started up, because then now
you have to say there are no moral victories and
all that stuff. I just don't look at it that
way as a moral victory or any of that. Again,
I don't even know why we bring up the term.
But what that did let you know is you can
play with the team that was the best team in
(09:14):
the NFL last year. We'll find out if they're the
best team this year. But I think that was a
very positive sign for the Cowboys that, hey, you've got
the ball in your hands with two and a half
minutes to play, and you come down and score and
you win the game, or you have a chance to
win the game, right and they didn't. But I think
to walk out of there, to hold Philadelphia like they did,
(09:37):
to play the defense they did in the second half,
that's an encouraging sign. I mean, I think if you
play like that, you're going to win a lot of
football games.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
With that in mind, what's your examination your early examination
of this matchup with the Giants on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Scary because we know how bad the Giants have been
for a decade now, and they look terrible against Washington.
They did not score a touchdown, they put up six points.
Russell Wilson was rushed and virtually every throw they're missing.
Their their only stud offensive lineman, Andrew Thomas, he's out.
(10:16):
I don't know if he'll play this week. Sounds like
he won't, but he was out last week. And so
I mean, it's one of those where if you beat
the Giants, well, of course, you beat the Giants, to
the Giants, lose to the Giants, the panic will set
in and now you're owing too. And it's funny, crag.
I'm doing all my notes and everything, and you would think, well,
(10:36):
own to, you can recover from that. There's a seventeen
game season since nineteen ninety you start owing to. Only
twelve percent of those teams have made the playoffs. So
while you say, well, there's a lot of football still
to be played, history shows you that you start owing
to ninety percent of the time, you're not making the playoffs.
So in that sense, it's imperative that they win this
(10:59):
game someday against the Giants.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
One of those years obviously was m It's MVP season
ninety three. Them hold out, and that's obviously a big deal,
which brings me to ask you, have you seen the
documentary and what's your take on it?
Speaker 2 (11:14):
People can't believe it, but I have not seen it.
I have not watched it. I won't watch it because
I know what happened. I was there.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
You know how the movie ends well.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
And I just know that. I you know, I've heard
things and they've played some they played some cuts from
it on our flagship here in Dallas, one of five
point three. I f I'm the fan, and I've heard
cuts and I said, that didn't happen like that. So
I don't want to go through that look at it
and say that that didn't happen. It's like, I love
Craig I love documentaries. I mean something on PBS. It's
(11:51):
a true documentary, and I don't like watching movies that
are based on a true story or because you walk
away saying wow, So Craig Way punched the sid at
Texas and as well, that really didn't happen. They just
took a creative liberty because you had to. And you know,
(12:12):
and then the love interest, the quarterback was actually dating
the coacher's wife.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
No, No, that didn't happen, but you know, but it's.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Based on a true story. So I'm a big fan
of documentaries and this one the Netflix thing. I can
just it's a soap opera, right.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Right, yeah, exactly, That's how I felt. That's how it
felt about Friday Night Light the movie, because I lived it.
I was broadcasting it in eighty eight and there was
a lot of stuff that did not happen, and the
way it turned out in that movie, right.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
So I have meet to watch. Maybe I'll watch it
down the road. But shoot, I've been I've been friends
with Troy Well since nineteen eighty nine. So what are
we working on thirty five thirty six years? And there's
nothing he's going to say on that show that I
haven't heard, And there's some things that he did not
(13:00):
say on that show that I have heard, and those
those are.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
The good ones, all right.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
So let me get to the what I call the
higher purpose of this conversation. I wanted to do this,
so you know, so here I'm doing my I'm doing
my game prep, uh for this match up between Texas
and U TAP, and I'm looking at and very good
game notes that the miners have and and I'm going
through all of that, and then there's the entire right
(13:24):
side column of page seven of the notes. UH has
a big, bright orange banner with a white number two,
and it says Luke Laffenburg. And and and I knew
I knew obviously about uh.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Luke's journey and your journey with him.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
And you've you've you know, UH posting some really heartwarming
and heartfelt things about Luke and how he battled cancer
for two years and uh and and but but but
I am curious to get your thoughts on this, because
uh what UTEP has done, and I think this is
a really cool deal to where they're going to continue
(14:02):
to pay tribute to Luke by having a player. First
of all, players have worn these Luke stickers on the
back of their helmets since the start of twenty nineteen,
and and then and then they've had different players where
the jersey and I'll get to the identity of the
player and the story behind that in a moment for
(14:24):
this year. But I'm just curious to get your your
thoughts on how this evolved and and and I know
that's that's a big reason why you're coming down for
the game.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Well, I hate to use the word organic because I
think he gets overused, but so just as a backdrop
for those who don't know. So, I had a sun booth.
He was he was getting He was at a junior
college that you went to, Texas A and m was
a walk on. I preferred walk on there got to block.
He was a tight end. So he got to block
my house Garrett every day.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
In training camp and practice.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I'll tell a quick story here, so the one you're
I'm a Cowboys training camp in Oxnart and Luke is
a freshman down there and he's two thirty five. And anyway,
he's going up against Miles Garrett and practice because he's
a scout team tight end. And I said, Luke, what's it.
How is it trying to block Miles? And he said, well, Dad,
he said, if I sink my weight and I can
get my hands on him, and I lock out. And
(15:20):
I thought to myself, one of the kids delusional. You know,
NFL tackles aren't gonna be able to block this guy.
So he goes through the list and said, if I
do all those things, he said, I can keep him
out for like half a second, okay, And I said,
well what if you don't have a good technique And
he said, oh, he just throws me. So I said, don't.
I said, one of two things are going to happen, Luke,
(15:41):
when you go up against a guy like that, He's
going to make you better or you're going to quit.
But anyway, long and short, he ends up at the
junior college, he's getting recruited out of there, and then
he comes down. Well, he cancer December twenty sixth I'll
never forget the date obviously, and we tested him for
about ten days. They couldn't figure out what was wrong.
He had a very rare aggressive form of leukemia, something
(16:02):
called Burkett lymphoma Burkett leukemia. So anyway, he goes through
the treatment and you know, the odds were fifty to
fifty that he would live at that point. He goes
through the treatment, chemo awful, everything terrible. Anyway, makes it through,
builds his body back up. I mean, I've been around
the NFL and players and all that. I've never seen
anybody work harder than he worked to get himself back
(16:25):
trying to play football, and he did it, got a
scholarship to UTEP and he was there in spring practice
and he came back on him and the doctors had sorry,
the doctors had told us we kind of get one
shot at this, and so when he relapsed, that was.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Not good news.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
And so he goes through. We lost him August twenty
second of twenty nineteen, and coach Stina dimml was the
head coach there at the time at UTEP, and he
started up all this with the Luke sticker, giving the
jersey number to the number two, who's actually going to
(17:09):
retire the number, and then they just said, he said,
let's give it to a deserving guy. So they give
it to somebody that exemplified what Luke did with his fight,
his spirit, his work ethic. I mean, he'd been there
two months. He was getting votes for team captain in
the spring. So Dana Timmel was tremendous. Unfortunately, coach Dimmle
(17:29):
passed away about six months ago. But anyway, so then
the first one to wear number two and so they
were just going to wear number two, not with the
name Lathenberg on the jersey. I'm watching the game. There
was a young man by the name of Justin Garrett
who is now on the University of Texas football staff
with the running backs there. He was the first one
(17:51):
to wear number two. But I'm watching the game on
TV and I see the number two, and I see
law on the back of the jersey, and I mean,
I started falling. So here's the young man. He didn't
have to do that. What kid, what college kid doesn't
want his name on the back of the jersey? Right? Yeah?
(18:12):
And he put he put Losberg and played with it
through the year. So that now tradition has kind of continued.
And this year it's a young man by the name
of Marcus Torres, a local Lpasso kid who was a
walk on and you know, earned earned himselves scholarship this year.
So anyway, great kid got a chance to go out
to practice and talk with him, and obviously called him
(18:32):
on the phone after he was awarded like the number two,
and actually got a call from a few people. I
sent you the video of him talking about it, but
it was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Well, and then here's the Paul Harvey rest of the story.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
End of that for folks, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Marcus, of course, played at El Pass So Pebble Hills.
He was a Pebble Hills Spartan where he played for
his dad Mark. His dad Mark is now the head
coach of the Hayes Well they used to be the
Hayes Rebels with the hat Hawks. The Hayes Hawks, who
will play the Hendrickson Hawks tonight tonight over at the
(19:08):
field in Flugerville or as I always call it because
they spell it like Fluerville, the field in Flugerville and
they're gonna play over there tonight. My my analyst on
long worn football games, Roger Wallace, who's a sports record
at k x a N. They televised a live high
school game on kbv O every Thursday night and they're
(19:29):
gonna televise that game tonight.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
So I think it's really cool.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
There's there's the local connection and that Mark Torres is
the head coach at Hayes and his son Marcus is
going to be here on Saturday. And he's more than
just a symbolic like you said, you, uh you, you
have to earn that. And then beyond that, he's only
too deep. He's listed as a slot receiver as a
(19:53):
redshirt freshman. And when I made up my broadcast boards, Uh,
it was really cool that that that the number two
is on there. But I'll just look for the name
Laufenburg on the back instead of Taurus.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Right right when you see Lafberg, just know that it's
textually Torres. I don't have a I don't have a
year of eligibility that I was able to scraunge up.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Yeah, yeah, you know what what funny?
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Very quickly last week he was going to get his
first catch, and I mean he was Malachai Nelson, the
UTEP quarterback, and rolling out He's open. He just missed him.
But I said, I texted Marcus after. I said, Marcus,
I thought you were going to get your first major
college catch, and he said, well, I'll save it for Austin.
So hopefully he gets one tomorrow and you can talk
about him. That'd be cool, but great just a great kid,
great kid.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
That'd be great. U.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
And then the final thing I want to ask you back,
you made reference to it. I made reference to it
before you came on here. I said, baby is a
guy who does favors for friends. So you're actually going
to be the analyst on the Jesuit broadcast tomorrow night
when they play Highland Park, is it right?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
I will? Uh those a gentleman by the name of
Tom Wallsh he's actually a big time attorney here in Dallas,
but he'd done Jesuit football for like twenty five years.
Retired this year, but I think he's still doing about
eight games, so I don't know what retirement means. So
he had asked me if i'd join him for this game,
which I will. So I'll do this game tomorrow night
(21:13):
Hiland Park Jesuit and then drive down Saturday for obviously
Longhorns and your cup miners and drive back Saturday night
and two Cowboys on Sunday. I tell you, I'm on
a craig Way schedule.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
It's the life we lead and we like it. Hey,
I appreciate you. I appreciate you hopping on and giving
us the whole story obviously about Luke, and that's going
to make its way onto the Texas broadcast on Saturday
as well. We'll talk about that and I and as always,
I appreciate getting an opportunity to visit with you. And
I'll look forward maybe on down the road later on
(21:46):
this season to another chat if it's okay.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
With you, Oh, and you know, anytime, and I really
appreciate you, and I will tell your audience. I listened
to Craig Way Saturdays. If I'm driving around, I listened
a long football. I always feel like you can learn
things from other Nobody how long you've been doing it
or how good you think you are, you always you
always learn and and sometimes steal things you know from
(22:13):
other broadcasters. I remember Darryl Razor Ray and I'll be quicker,
you get great. Daryl Razor Ray does the Stars game
and I'm watching the game and he said there was
a big hit on the ice. He said, whoa, that
was a Bowelshaker, e L Bow. I text him, I said,
Razor got to be honest with you. I was, that's great.
(22:34):
I was laughing. My you know what, I said, I
may have to steal that. And he texted me back,
he said, it's not stealing, it's research.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
That's it. That's it.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
So so I have researched Craig Way. How's that.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Well, if anything comes up researchable, and I'm gonna I'm
going to remember Bowelshaker now, that that one.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
I'll just have to remember that one now that's good.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Hey, thanks again. I appreciate it. And uh and I
hope you enjoy the time on Saturday. Look forward to
seeing you again around the corner.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
I'm going to see you tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Yeah, okay, thanks.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Babe, we'll see you tomorrow. Take care of all right.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
That's Babelfenberg, the analyst on the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network,
and uh yeah, he'll be down there for the game.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
And a great story, great story.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
And I love the fact that Luke's name is on
the back of the player's jerseys, because that's something you
don't hear, is the uh you know, you hear about
somebody wearing their number or retiring the number, but you
don't know you actually wear the name on the back
of the jersey. And Marcus Torus will be doing that tomorrow.
That's really cool. All Right, we'll continue here. We'll hear
more from Longhorn's head coach, Steve Sarkisian when we continue
(23:43):
on thirteen Under the Zone,
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