I have to say one thing about June Jones, he's always been an optimist.  He said last month that SMU would sell out the home opener against Stephen F. Austin and tonight, two nights before the game, the school says 32,000 seats at Gerald J. Ford Stadium are sold making the game an official sell out.

"We talk about `believing' with our team, and I had asked everyone in the community to believe that we would sell out this game," said Head Coach June Jones. "We've done that. It will be great for our kids to run out into a stadium full of our SMU fans, and our team will feed off their energy. As I've said, it's an exciting time to be a part of SMU football."

The school put together a committee that asked different Dallas businesses to purchase 1,000 tickets a piece and then either sell the tickets or give them away.  Many tickets will go to youth organizations and high school students.

The all time record at Ford Stadium is 34,689 and the Mustangs have created some new
seating areas which could help this crowd set a new record and Athletic Director Steve Orsini believes it will happen. 

"We want to thank everyone who was involved in this effort," said Orsini. "This historic effort is a tribute to our Sellout 2009 committee and our ticket sales staff. While we're sold out, I believe that we will also break our record for the largest crowd in Ford Stadium history."

Kickoff is 7:00pm and the gates to the Ford Stadium open at 5:30pm.

It's officially Tony Romo's team now.  For the first time, Tony's teammates voted him as one of the four captains on this squad.  He will be joined by Jason Witten representing the offense at the coin toss.  Bradie James and DeMarcus Ware are the defensive captains and whoever is named the MVP of the special teams from the game before, will represent that unit the next game.

Regardless of how many Cowboy fans believe that leadership isn't that strong on this team, Wade Phillips is thrilled with men who will lead his group.  "We have good leaders here" said Phillips. "They work hard, they encourage their teammates, know what to do, and that's important.  Bradie knows all the defenses,  when guys make mistakes and Tony, offensively knows all those things so you have guys like that can say things and correct things on the field when the coaches are out there."

The Cowboys open the season Sunday in Tampa with a 12 noon kickoff.  We will be there and will bring you complete highlights and reaction from the locker room Sunday night on Inside Sports at 9:30pm.

Are you a believer in the Rangers making it to the post season?  The Rangers are so they're putting tickets for the American League Division Series on sale Saturday morning at 9:00am.
You can buy as many as eight tickets per ALDS game.

There are three ways to purchase ALDS tickets. 

Online at www.texasrangers.com
Phone at 972-RANGERS (9am-9pm)
In Person at the First Base box office at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington

The ALDS is scheduled from October 7th-14th and the Rangers could host as many as three games in the series

Here are the ticket prices

 

Lexus Club Infield; Lower Infield; Lexus Club Box.......................$100.00

Lower Box; Corner Box........................................................$  75.00

Lexus Club Terrace; Lower Reserved...................... ...............$  60.00

All You Can Eat Porch.........................................................$   45.00

Upper Box; Upper Reserved; Bleachers; Grandstand Reserved... $   30.00

Standing Room..................................................................$  25.00

 

The largest crowd to ever watch an NFL game packed the new Cowboys Stadium for the home opener against the New York Giants.   105,121 fans surpassed the previous high of 103,467 that watched the San Francisco 49ers play the Arizona Cardinals at Aztec Stadium in Mexico City on October 2nd, 2005

Among the fans in the audience, Former President George W. Bush who watched the game next to the former First Lady Laura Bush in Jerry Jones' luxury box.  The former President spent most of the first half sitting next to John Madden and Pat Summerall. 

The halftime ceremony featured the members of the Ring of Honor as the Cowboys unveiled their names that are affixed to the facing of the fourth level.

The best hustle of the day award goes to Troy Aikman who called the Eagles/Saints game in Philadelphia which didn't end until 3:30pm.  Aikman made it to Dallas just before the halftime ceremony.

We will have complete coverage Monday night on The 33 News at 9:00pm

The Cowboys have released their list of inactives for tonight's game and Marion Barber headlines the list.  Also not paying tonight offensive linemen Montrae Holland, Pat McQuistan and Duke Preston, linebacker Jason Williams, wide receiver Kevin Ogletree and safety Mike Hamlin,

Maybe the Cowboys have been trying to convince themselves that in week three, this is a must win, but if it truly was, wouldn't Barber be in there? 

He participated in all four practices this week with the quad injury but the Cowboys say it was on a "limited basis" and Wade Phillips said on Saturday, if he was limited at game time, he would be an inactive.

Even today, Barber tried to talk the Cowboys brass into activating him but it apparently fell on deaf ears.