Bill Parcells Tells HBO That Tony Romo's Botched Hold Sent Him to Retirement

(Hat tip: ThePhinsider)

Interesting interview on HBO's Real Sports the other night. Former Dallas Cowboys coach and current Miami Dolphins czar Bill Parcells discusses when he knew it was time to hang up his whistle: after Dallas lost to Seattle in the 2007 playoffs when Tony Romo fumbled the hold on a chip-shot field goal.

"We'd just lost to Seattle and I'm flying back,'' Parcells told Andrea Kremer of HBO from his summer home in Saratoga Springs. "I'm sitting up with the pilots, you know, I have a little fear of flying so I ride up in the cockpit. And I said, 'This is probably going to be my last trip.' And you just know. You don't want to go through the whole process again, to get to right where we were. You know?

"And all you got to do is kick a field goal, the most elementary of plays, and then you just don't do it. And so I don't want to go through that process again. Too much blood."

Wow. Now, I'm sure no matter how Dallas lost that game that Parcells would feel like that ... but, uh, yeah. Just watch the YouTube video above and you can almost feel Parcells' heart get ripped from his chest.