Marriage has done much to change Cowboys safety Church
Safety Barry Church married Marcia Ann Thomas on June 26 in Antigua.
“It was unbelievable,” Church said. “It was just me and her. She didn’t want the whole ceremony thing. It was an unbelievable time.”
The couple met at a bar in Dallas, but Church was dating somebody else at the time. A few months later, in 2012, after Church was single again, the two met at the same bar.
“After a game, me and a couple of teammates went to this random bar, and we happened to see her,” Church said. “She spotted me, so she came up to me first and started spitting her little game, her little one-two cents. I was just giggling and smiling at her. I just flirted a little bit and went on my merry way.
“Nine months later, we hadn’t talked or anything, and we met at the same exact bar. I got to talking to her that time. She liked what I said. I took her out on a couple of dates. Next thing you know, now we’re married.”
Here are five ways Church said his life has changed since his marriage:
1 My house is a lot cleaner.
2 My meal plans and nutrition is just unbelievable. She makes sure I’m eating right. She’s a great cook. My favorite thing she cooks is this thing called taco bake. It’s so good.
3 My dental [health] is better. I had all kind of cavities before I met her. She doesn’t allow any candy in the house. I’ll try to bring a bag of Skittles in, and she’ll throw it right in the garbage.
4 My video gaming is way down. I barely get on the Xbox or anything anymore. I’m cool with that.
5 She’s made me a better man in general. She’s making me more accountable. I feel like I’m more responsible and it’s translated from there to the football field.
We Do
Jason Garrett is big on sayings. One of his favorites is a sign that reads: “It is a privilege, not a right, to play and to coach for the Dallas Cowboys.”
He had that sign shipped from the Valley Ranch lunch room to Oxnard, where he put it over the copier for the players to see as they head to practice.
Last year, the team wore shirts that read “Fight.” The saying changed to “Finish the Fight” after the Cowboys qualified for the playoffs.
This year, the Cowboys have shirts that read “We Do.”
Attorney General Loretta Lynch was the inspiration behind the shirts.
Garrett said he watched an interview CBS did with Lynch in May. It so inspired him that he showed it to his team.
“It really was about as eloquent an 18 seconds as I’ve ever heard,” Garrett said. “She talked about her upbringing in North Carolina, and her grandparents being sharecroppers, and her dad being a minister, and her mom being a librarian, and being instilled at a young age the importance of not allowing other people to define you, but you define yourself.
“She ended up being the valedictorian of her high school class. She went to Harvard undergrad. She went to Harvard Law School, was a district attorney and eventually the Attorney General of the United States. It’s a great arc. And for her to share that idea that we’re not going to let other people outside us define us, we’re going to define ourselves by what we do and what we say and don’t say and how we present ourselves each and every day, that’s a message that we’ve shared with our team, and it’s something I think is really important in life for individual people and certainly good for football players, coaches and a football team.”
Gritty Gregory
Rookie defensive end Randy Gregory met with Garrett on his visit before the draft. Garrett quickly told the former Nebraska defensive end that he lacked “grit.”
“He pretty much said I wasn’t tough,” Gregory said. “That was pretty much within like the first 10 minutes of meeting him.”
In my head, I’m like, ‘You’re telling me I’m not tough. You’re crazy. I know I’m tough. I’m playing this sport.’…I almost felt like leaving his office. I’m like, ‘I don’t know if he even wants me part of this organization.’ But I met with [Jerry] Jones, and coach Garrett is all about challenging us. I understand that now after being around him so much. Really do appreciate him for that.”
Gregory left thinking he had no chance of being drafted by the Cowboys. Instead, Dallas made him the 60th overall pick after he fell out of the first round.
“One of the things that we try to do in the draft process is we’re very out front and honest and open with the guys that we’re evaluating,” Garrett said. “When we get a chance to interview them, and we see stuff on tape that we like, we talk about that. When we see stuff on tape that we don’t like, we talk about that, and we try to get to the bottom of it, and we challenge these guys. It’s no different than any other interview I’ve ever had with any of the players that we look at. We expect them to be honest and open with us about different things, and you start to develop a relationship together. We had some great visits with Randy before we decided to draft him.”
Gregory figures he’s proved his toughness since joining the team.
“I know I have,” he said. “It’s kind of like with the pads, that’s something that’s going to make it a little bit better. Definitely in the games, I’m going to show him what I can do. I definitely think he wouldn’t have put me on the team if he didn’t think I had any grit.”
Quote of the day
“I picked out the piece of wood, and I cut the wood within the first 15 minutes of that class. The important part of it is you have to shape it the right way right from the outset. Create the right environment, and shape it the right way and just keep shaping it, and keep shaping it and keep shaping it. The picking process is an important part of the process. The shaping process is probably more important.” — Jason Garrett, on his experience in woodshop as a high school senior, a parable he has used with his team.
Injury report
RB Darren McFadden (left hamstring) PUP
LB Rolando McClain (right knee) PUP
OT Chaz Green (hip) PUP
LB Mark Nzeocha (knee) NFI
QB Tony Romo (stye in left eye) day to day
Telling number
1.5 Sacks allowed by DeMarco Murray last season.
This story was originally published July 31, 2015 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Marriage has done much to change Cowboys safety Church."