The Cowboys "didn't have a full house" for their first training camp practice at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco yesterday, drawing an announced crowd of 6,052, according to Drew Davison of the FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM. The team had been "expecting a sold-out crowd." But even though attendance was "smaller than expected," yesterday was the "third-best attended training camp practice this season." The Cowboys "drew 7,671 fans on July 30 and 7,407 fans on July 29" in Oxnard, Calif., their only weekend dates this year. Davison notes this is the "first time the Cowboys have held training camp" in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Meanwhile, the Cowboys announced that a ticket would "not be required to attend the five additional training camp practices." Tickets will "still be honored and fans with them are guaranteed admission, but a ticket is not required for entry." Admission and parking is free (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 8/22). Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones said, "It really was a function that we dreamed out when we were putting The Star together. ... That this would be an excellent experience that so many fans in the Dallas area haven’t gotten to be part of, the training camp. We didn’t have the facilities for it." Jones "reiterated his commitment" to Oxnard for Cowboys training camp, and there is "little question he enjoys the visibility just a few dozen miles north of Hollywood." The AP's Schuyler Dixon reported the Cowboys are "committed to Oxnard next year, followed by a two-year option" (AP, 8/21).
HONORING THEIR LEGENDS: In Dallas, Barry Horn reports the Cowboys yesterday "unveiled their Ring of Honor Walk" at The Star. There are 21 members of the Ring, which "before creation of the Walk had been the exclusive property first of Texas Stadium and then AT&T Stadium." Sixteen of the 17 living members of the Ring of Honor "attended a late-morning ceremony, which included the unveiling of honorees' unmistakable portraits on crescents lining opposite sides of the plaza leading up to the Ford Center, as well as individual monuments on the plaza level topped with large blue jersey numerals" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 8/22). ESPN.com's Todd Archer noted the "only Ring of Honor member not in attendance or represented by a family member was Larry Allen." After the ceremony, the players and families of those in attendance "joined the current players for a lunch prior to practice at the Ford Center." Cowboys coach Jason Garrett "tries to get the current and former players to mingle as much as possible at different times during the year" (ESPN.com, 8/21).
