No one's particularly happy that the Dallas Cowboys have broken training camp in Oxnard, California, for the last time. Not the media, which drools over the adjacent beach and nearby L.A. nightlife. Not head coach Bill Parcells, who on Friday almost--almost--shed a human tear when talking about how the cool weather allowed him to work his team hard without worrying about killing them in the triple-digit heat. And, most of all, not the city of Oxnard. When the Cowboys relocate camp to San Antonio's Alamodome for five years starting next July, it will leave an almost $1.5 million hole in Southern California's local economy.
According to a survey, in '05 Cowboys camp attracted almost 14,000 out-of-town visitors. When Terrell Owens and my numerous visits to In-N-Out Burger are added to the ledger, the '06 numbers should only skyrocket. I guess, come to think of it, only San Antonio is pretty happy about the Cowboys' impending change of scenery. RIP, Paradise. --Richie Whitt