When you do such things and they don't work out, people think you're crazy or stupid. But if they do work, you're a visionary - you're thinking outside the box. The success that the Cowboys had with the likes of Roger Staubach speaks for itself. I don't know if we can classify Gil Brandt as a visionary or not, but I do know he was a good negotiator.

The Cowboy players had a saying: "Gil Brandt knew we loved the game so much that we would play for nothing ... so that's what he paid us, nothing." After I was drafted in the third round out of Clemson, it was Gil's job to try to sign me. Only the first-round picks used agents, so he was dealing directly with me. The entire package Brandt offered amounted to $12,000 - not bad money for those days.

When Brandt showed up at my fraternity house on the Clemson campus, he was dressed in a beautiful Armani suit and sported a pair of alligator tassel shoes. Impressed, I felt compelled to compliment him on his dress, especially those awesome alligator shoes.

We didn't come to terms that day, and he left South Carolina to return to Texas. Understandably, I was a little down.

Four days later I received a box in the mail from Texas. I opened it, and to my delight, there was a pair of those alligator shoes, just like Gil's - perfect and just my size. I thought, "Wow, I'm in the big time now!" I had never had or even seen anything as nice as those shoes. They were more beautiful than I had remembered. What a nice gesture on Gil's part.

Three months passed and we still hadn't settled. Gil finally offered me an additional $3,000 signing bonus to bring the total package to $15,000. We agreed over the phone and he followed up by overnighting my contract to me at school.

Four days later, I received my signing bonus check. Also enclosed with the check was an invoice for those alligator shoes; their cost had been deducted from my bonus check.

Welcome to the business of "professional" football. But that's one of the darker excerpts from Cliff and Charlie's book. "Batman and Robin" loved to play, despite their numerous scars from on the field (and occasionally off the field as well). And clearly, they've written a book that would be most welcome for a fan of the Cowboys. If that describes somebody you owe a belated Christmas gift to, Harris and Waters' book would be most well received.