You’re doing something that is just a step different than everyone else…yet it’s genius because us just talking…gets boring – but if you can dig out the story and get rid of the ‘droning on’ part, you will almost always have something great.

– Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys Quarterback ’03-‘16

A Cowboy Life Podcast

Stories told by the warriors of the gridiron who have so many stories to tell; the heroes who often sacrificed their minds, bodies, families and friends – to the game they loved so much.

There are so many podcasts now. It’s amazing, really, and every podcast is doing something different. They’ve all got something to say. However, only a few of them tell edited stories that get right to the point. Real stories. Even fewer have anything to do with The Dallas Cowboys.

In my nearly 20 years covering the Cowboys as a TV show host (‘DFW Sports Beat’  Fox Southwest, TXA 21 and now on TV 47) and radio show host (‘Off with the Helmets’ Cowboys Show and ‘Above the Rim’ Mav’s Show and ‘The Pro Shop Golf’ Show… all on ESPN 103.3FM), I’ve developed a lot of cool relationships with players. Some were really “big name” players, and maybe some weren’t as big. During my time talking to these players about their lives and what they go through to play this beloved game of football, my fascination with the stories that each of these players had started to grow. Over the years, it began to become my favorite part of each season… not the wins and the losses, not the trades, the injuries, or the firings – but the real conversations that I was able to have. The connections that I made were important to me, and I hope in some cases, were meaningful to the players too…or at a minimum, they appreciated that I showed an interest in them as people.

But like they say, when one door closes, another opens. In my case, these connections offered new connections to other connections and over time I came to find that in one manner or another I had relationships with a huge range of players – guys who played in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and even the 2000’s too. One day I realized that I had plenty of players surrounding me that all had a story to tell. Not the usual stuff that I had been asking about for years on my TV and radio shows – real stories, about the little things that they just hadn’t been asked before.

So, I started asking around. I started asking to hear these ‘stories,’ to hear what made these players who they are and what motivated them to give so much to the league and that star on their helmet. To my surprise, nearly every former player that I ran the idea by loved it. I’ll never forget Sean Lee telling me that I was “digging down” and that he liked the idea. Romo said the same thing, “you’re doing something that is just a step different than everyone else…yet it’s genius because us just talking…gets boring – but if you can dig out the story and get rid of the droning on part, you will almost always have something great.”

But this podcast didn’t just start overnight. If I was going to start telling stories, I’d need something to tie them all together – a statement, a symbol, or a name. Something that reminds folks that these aren’t just stories about football, but stories about the people inside the helmets.  And the truth is – I woke up in Las Vegas, in the dead of night, from a sound sleep, with a name – A Cowboy Life.

I get it, ‘A Cowboy Life’ isn’t exactly earth-shatteringly creative, but I knew I needed it. Because once I had a name, then I had something to hang on to and to build on, and that’s when the ideas really started to flow.

A Cowboy Life. One player at a time. One week at a time. Cowboy Stories – because we all love a good story. Stories can be powerful and lasting; they can enlighten, illuminate, and most importantly, they can take you… somewhere else, if just for a brief time. But, if we tell them right… they can last forever.

From that night forward, A Cowboy Life was hardly a decision. It was something I was fiercely passionate about and like any good idea, I just couldn’t shake it. Soon, I found funding from a visionary investor that has helped start-ups like this one blossom all over the country. I hired a couple of smart younger guys, who turned out to be exactly who I needed. Then I hired a small hard-working marketing agency, and before I knew it… we were off and running.

Since then, A Cowboy Life has been an absolute whirlwind, with very little sleep – but I haven’t minded it. We’re creating entertainment in the form of stories. Stories told by the warriors of the gridiron who have so many stories to tell; the heroes who often sacrificed their minds, bodies, families and friends – to the game they loved so much. That’s something I can’t thank them enough for.  So, I hope that every time we make a podcast for you – every time we make a new episode of A Cowboy Life – that we’ve done just that. That we’ve thanked them for the road behind them, and that we were able to properly respect them and their stories. That’s our job and now, our obsession, to get the story and tell it with our hearts and our heads the way it is supposed to be told – every single week.

Telling the stories of America’s Team, one player at a time, one week at a time.

A Cowboy Life.

Brady Tinker, A Cowboy Life Creator and Host