IRVING, Texas -- Tony Romo and Dez Bryant planned to spend some time together throwing and catching during the break between offseason workouts and training camp.Now that its been four years since the last offseason together for the Dallas quarterback and his top receiver, logic says theyre trying to make up for lost time after a lost season marked by major injuries to both.Romo says otherwise.Timing and everything is going to be fine, Romo said on the final day of minicamp in mid-June. Its just a matter of him feeling comfortable with the nuances of the game that really separate someone like Dez from others.The 36-year-old Romo just enjoyed his first full offseason since 2012, talking confidently about being another year removed from a series of back issues -- despite missing 12 games last year with a twice-broken left collarbone that was the biggest reason the Cowboys slid from first to worst in the NFC East.But Bryant missed all the significant offseason work for the second straight year since his 2014 All-Pro season that helped Dallas to the division title and its first playoff victory since 2009.Last year, he was out because he wanted a long-term contract instead of the one-year deal that came with the franchise tag. This year, the Cowboys took a cautious approach with the right foot that Bryant broke in the 2015 opener, ultimately sidelining him seven games and leading to a pair of surgeries, along with career lows in catches, yards and touchdowns.As he watched an offseason practice alongside a few reporters last month, Bryant was asked if he expected to be at full speed for the opening of camp July 30 in Oxnard, California. With a nod toward associate athletic trainer Britt Brown, he essentially said it was out of his hands.A few days later, though, he dismissed the same question with a curt of course while surrounded by reporters at his locker.Cant wait. But I have to be patient, said Bryant, who got his big contract at five years and $70 million just before camp last year. As soon as training camp comes, youre going to see the big smile running on the field, ready to go. Get to do what I love. Cant wait.Romo missed the offseason in 2013 because he was just a few weeks removed from back surgery. He was limited again a year later after another surgery when he injured his back late in the season against Washington. Then no Bryant in 2015, and a limited Bryant this year.The hard part is having the defensive back right in front of your face and dealing some of those other little things, Romo said about Bryant. But hes played the game long enough that it wont take him much time. We just need him healthy. And when hes healthy, that stuff comes very fast.Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan tends to take the optimistic view of such absences. When Romo was mostly on the sideline in the spring of Linehans first year with Dallas in 2014, the former St. Louis coach spoke of valuable time for then-backup Brandon Weeden and others.With Bryant mostly watching this spring, Linehan liked to speak of No. 2 receiver Terrance Williams, diminutive slot specialist Cole Beasley. and others. Plus, Linehan sees a difference between what amounted to a holdout from Bryant last year and the presence this year of someone eager to regain his All-Pro form.Dez has been here from the get-go, working extremely hard in the classroom, Linehan said. Hes in there front and center of every meeting. He wasnt able to do that last year. So theres a lot of benefits were getting out of him while hes working with the trainers to get himself physically ready to go.Dont be surprised if the Cowboys are cautious with Bryant at camp. Last year, he injured a hamstring just a few days in after he had been away from the team for months.Dallas also has a history of protecting its biggest offensive stars before the regular season. The best example was Emmitt Smith, the all-time NFL rushing leader who would get precious few repetitions in camp and preseason games during the 1990s. The question is whether quarterbacks need more time with their receivers.I do think with quarterbacks and receivers, working together is important, coach Jason Garrett said. They work together a lot of different ways. Throwing routes on air, throwing one on ones, seven on seven, and then ultimately in some team drills. Those progressions are important for those guys to get comfortable with each other.Ultimately, though, Garrett echoed Romo. Health matters most with Bryant, whose broken foot ended a run of three straight seasons with at least 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns, capped by an NFL-high 16 scores in 2014. And Bryant says not to worry about his timing with Romo.I just think its something me and Tony established a long time ago, Bryant said. Its something that cant fade because thats something that we had. We truly commit ourselves to being on the same page. Its all about tuning it and going to work.---Online: AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL---Follow Schuyler Dixon on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apschuyler Fake Yeezys From China . Deulofeu injured a muscle in his right leg in Evertons 4-1 win over Fulham in the English Premier League on Saturday. Barcelona says that its team doctors will "co-ordinate" with Evertons medical staff as Deulofeu recovers. Fake Yeezys For Sale . Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes. On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance. http://www.fakeyeezysforsale.com/ . The visitors took a deserved lead in the 16th minute with midfielder Yohan Cabaye curling the ball beyond Adrian from inside the penalty area. Cheap Fake Yeezys . -- Patrick Reed got an early start in golf. Fake Yeezys Online .Y. - Detroit goaltender Jonas Gustavsson has earned NHL first star of the week honours after winning in his first three appearances of the season. Game 7, 2016 NBA Finals: Kyrie Irving with a game winner. Reigning two-time MVP Stephen Curry against four-time MVP LeBron James. Clevelands curse vs. the Golden Boys of 73 wins. At one point 44.5 million people were watching LeBron vs. Steph, and the game had an average TV rating of 15.7, the highest-rated NBA game since Michael Jordans final championship dagger against the Jazz in 1998. The intrigue, storylines, and brands of the teams and players were just as captivating as the game itself. It was must-see TV.April 5, 2010, NCAA title game: Gordon Hayward comes within inches of giving Butler a national championship instead of Duke. The stars? Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack vs. Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler. Over 48 million people tuned in to at least part of a game featuring the school from Indiana, with less than 5,000 students enrolled full time, yet their final game in the 2010 season against Duke drew a 15.0 average TV rating. At the time, this was a better rating than any NBA game since 2002, and not much worse than college footballs 2010 BCS National Championship between Alabama and Texas (17.2 rating).Wait, what? How does a college sporting event featuring two teams with combined undergraduate enrollment under 11,000 outperform any game of its professional counterpart for the previous seven years? How did only 2 percent more households that same year watch the football equivalent featuring Texas and Alabama?Fall may have just begun, but for college basketball fans, March cant come soon enough. Football may be Americas game, and baseball is Americas pastime. What is college basketball? I like to call it the proud owner of the title Americas Tournament. While more people in the U.S. would rather watch football than basketball on a Thursday night, when the calendar turns to March, that gap nearly vanishes.Fans love the Cinderella, at least one of which appears in the NCAA tournament seemingly every year. George Mason, Butler, VCU and Wichita State -- all are from smaller conferences and made it to the Final Four with an 8-seed or higher in the last 11 years. No other major college or professional sport can consistently produce teams that make the unexpected happen as often as the NCAA tournament. Why?I conjecture it has to do with three main reasons:? The size of the field? Single elimination? Mis-seedingField of 68The first couple years of the College Football Playoff have been a great success. The regular season is under increased scrutiny, and youre guaranteed to get four very good teams in the playoff even if not everyone agrees they are definitely the four best. First, lets settle the obvious. The teams that make the field of 68 arent the best 68 teams in the sport. Unlike football, there is intrigue that all 351 Division I teams players control their own destiny to the national championship. Some teams way outside the best 68 in the country make the tournament. Some may argue this makes the NCAA tournament watered-down, but that couldnt be further from the truth.Although 68 teams make the tournament, in a given year generally 40-45 of those make the NCAA tournament as an at-large, which is the top 11-13 percent of all teams (19 percent of all teams make the tournament including the automatic qualifiers). This actually creates a more even playing field. Compare that to the NBA and NHL (the top 53 percent of teams make the playoffs), MLB (top 33 percent) and NFL (top 37.5 percent). If the top 40 percent of teams were in the NCAA tournament in 2016, according to ESPNs Basketball Power Index (BPI), that would have put High Point and Northeastern, teams few casual fans are familiar with, among the final teams in the field.The 2010-11 VCU Rams were an 11th-seeded at-large team and thus were considered among the top 45 teams in the country, according to the selection committee. This means they were among the top 13 percent of all the teams in the country. For a financial comparison, what kind of salary would put someone in the top 13 percent? According to the U.S. Census in 2014, the top 13 percent oof household incomes in the United States were at $145,000 per year or more.dddddddddddd Is the NCAA tournament watered-down? Its as watered-down as a country club that requires a household income of at least $145,000 to join. There may be some weaker competition in the highest seeds of the NCAA tournament bracket, but mostly it is a tournament for the basketball-rich.]Survive and advanceLets consider a few examples that may demonstrate how survive-or-go-home games increase the chances of weaker teams winning, and by extension the excitement of the tournament.Team A has a 61 percent chance to beat Team B on a neutral court. Suppose both teams get a 4 percent bump for playing at home. In a seven-game series, with Team A having home-court advantage, the probability is that Team A has a 74 percent to win the series. In a win-or-go-home, single-game elimination on a neutral court, Team A will advance only 61 percent of the time. The NCAA tournament gives weaker teams a much better chance at advancing than the NBA playoffs. Lets say teams seeded No. 13 or higher have, on average, a 7 percent chance to win a round-of-64 game. Whats the chance that at least one of them will win? The answer is 72 percent. Going back to 2002, only twice in 15 years has no team seeded 13 or higher advanced to the round of 32.Contrast this with the opening-round series in the NBA, which feature a best-of-seven format. In the past five seasons, only one team out of 20 (5 percent) among the bottom quarter of playoff teams (seeds 7 or 8) advanced past the first round (the Philadelphia 76ers upended the Chicago Bulls in 2012). In the NCAA tournament, 12 teams out of 80 (15 percent) in the bottom quarter of tourney teams (seeds 13-16) advanced out of the first round. This, of course, is a limited sample, but it demonstrates the added uncertainty and therefore excitement a single-game, win-or-go-home scenario creates.Maybe winning one game doesnt make team a Cinderella, but winning two or more does. In 2016, BPI expected an average of 2.3 teams seeded 9-16 to make the Sweet 16. In the NCAA tournament, unlike college football, it is not a question of if a small school can win on a big stage -- it is a question of, which one?Committees human errorMost of the buzz regarding the field of 68 is about who the favorite is and who got left out, but the bigger question is, Who got mis-seeded? The committee doesnt mis-seed as much when analyzing a teams resume as it does when analyzing a teams actual strength. A team may have a weak resume due to bad luck in a few games and still be one of the stronger teams in the country. BPI accounts for strength, and very often a team is much stronger than it appears.Take, for example, Mr. Davidson 2008, Stephen Curry. His team was awarded a No. 10 seed, presumably because it was in a weaker conference and glaringly had seven nonconference losses. The context of those seven, how close the games were, and where the games were played are crucial context to evaluate how good a team is. Three of those losses were to UNC, Duke and UCLA, all very good teams that season, and another was to ACC school NC State. BPI saw that the Wildcats were the 15th-best team in the nation heading into the tournament that year, a far cry from the 10th-seeded lens most people saw them through. While the 15th-best team isnt expected to be in the Elite Eight, it shouldnt be a surprise when they are.Combine having a relatively small percentage of the top teams making the tournament, the randomness that occurs from having only one game to play each round, and the perceived strength of the team sometimes being much different than reality, and you get a lot of excitement and a lot of madness. Will there be a Cinderella in the tournament? A double-digit seed in the Final Four? A small school making a name for itself? Its happened before and it will surely happen again. When? Odds-on favorite is six months from now. ' ' '