Thursday, May 28, 1998

Mexican football star to get tryout with Cowboys

By RICHARD SCHWEID / Associated Press Writer

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -- "Speeeeee-dy Gon-zalez!"

The announcer draws out the name over the public address system at Olympic Stadium as some 10,000 fans cheer wildly for Marcos Martos, who has just pulled in an 18-yard pass reception.

Martos, the most popular player on the Barcelona Dragons of the NFL Europe league, doesn't mind his cartoon-inspired nickname in the least.

"I have formed a strong bond with the people of Barcelona, and it has given me a lot of pleasure," he said. "This is a wonderful city."

Martos, 25, comes from Mexico City, where he played football at the University of the Americas and helped lead the team to the Mexican national championship for three years from 1995-97.

Now, he is enjoying a strong second season at tight end for the Dragons. He has 15 receptions, including two touchdowns in eight games, already three more than his entire 10-game season last year.

To be playing at this level means he has already gotten closer to the big leagues of football than any other Mexican before him, excluding place kickers.

The hard part, however, is just beginning. At 6-foot-1 and 181 pounds, Martos probably does not have the size to make the NFL.

But Marcos will get at least a brief chance.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones announced in Mexico City this week that he would sign Martos to a 10-day contract so that the Mexican can play with the Cowboys in their Aug. 17 exhibition game against New England in Mexico City.

"He will play a very important role for us given the way in which we are emphasizing the air game," Jones told a news conference.

"I would like to think he has a future, but his size could be a problem," says Dragons coach Jack Bricknell, former head coach at Boston College, where he worked with another excellent small player, quarterback Doug Flutie.

"Marco doesn't have that combination of size and hands that you need at his position in the NFL," Bicknell said. "What he does have, on the other hand, is tremendous dedication. He's an extremely hard-working young man with an excellent work ethic.

"I wish some of my North American players had his dedication. He's lifting weights at 7 a.m. every morning. But U.S. players have another advantage which is that football's our national sport and there's a team at every high school."

Martos shrugs off that idea.

"A lot of people play American football in Mexico," he said. "They have more than 1,000 teams in the country, most of them in Mexico City and northern Mexico."

Still, Martos admits the skill level he encounters among those who have played in the United States is a big challenge.

"Everyone around me, guys who are coming from college and those who have already played in the NFL, knows football at a very sophisticated level," he said. "Technically, it's very different. Here, we study the game a lot more.

"This makes it hard for me, in one sense, but it also means that I'm going to learn a lot."

One lesson he already seems to have learned is that players concentrate on the season at hand, and do not spend much time worrying about next year.

"I can't predict what's going to happen to me," Martos said. "To play here in Barcelona these past two years has been an important step for me and, in a sense, for all Mexican football players.

"I do want the chance to play in the NFL in the States, but if I don't make it there another Mexican player will."

Bicknell agrees.

"Mexico is going to be a rich area for the NFL and for the NFL Europe," he said. "My offensive coach is going there to hold some clinics in June, and I'm going next January to hold some tryouts."