Great Danes / Dallas Cowboys connected

ALBANY -- Although the Dallas Cowboys have a bye this weekend, assistant head coach Tony Sparano still will fly to a game.

It's the first time he will see his sons, Tony and Andy, play football for the University at Albany.

Tony is a sophomore defensive end and Andy a freshman center with the Great Danes (4-3 overall, 2-0 Northeast Conference), who face Wagner on Saturday for an important league game on Staten Island.

"I'm tickled to death," their father said from his office in Dallas. "I just can't wait."

Sparano, in his fifth season with Dallas, got permission from head coach Wade Phillips to leave because the Cowboys don't play again until Nov. 4 at Philadelphia.

Being the son of an NFL coach has its perks. In high school, the Sparano brothers had seats on the 40-yard line at Cowboys home games. Dallas quarterback Tony Romo and tight end Jason Witten have had dinner at their home in Colleyville, Texas.

But it also requires sacrifice because of their father's long workdays.

"A lot of people come up to my two sons and think it's cool, 'Hey, your dad is in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys,' " the elder Sparano said. "My kids are smart enough to know that it's really cool on game day, but the other six days, when I come home at 10:30 at night, it's not really that cool."

He did get to watch his sons play often on Friday nights in high school.

Tony Sparano, the son, went to three high schools because his father was an assistant for the Washington Redskins, Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cowboys during his scholastic career.

"It wasn't the easiest thing," the son said. "Just when you kind of felt like you'd found your role, you were up and going somewhere else. At the same time, it prepared me more for coming to college and the real world. I hope to be a coach one day, too."

He served as a Jaguars ballboy and broke down opponents' film with his father in Jacksonville.

The Sparanos, who graduated from Grapevine High School in Colleyville, came to UAlbany to play Division I-AA football and return to their Northeast roots. They grew up in Connecticut while their father was the head coach at the University of New Haven from 1994 to 1998.

Also, UAlbany offensive coordinator Peter Rossomando has known the Sparano brothers since they were small children. Rossomando played for the elder Sparano at Boston University when Sparano was offensive coordinator there from 1989 to 1993.

"Having (Rossomando) here, it's someone you can always talk to, someone who will shoot you straight," the younger Tony Sparano said. "It made my decision to come here even easier."

Tony Sparano, the father, said he'll "be the guy in the top row" at Saturday's game to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Andy Sparano, who played in his first game last week, said he'll be happy just to have his father there.

"I feel like I play better when he's there," he said. "I'm always trying to prove something to him, always trying to make him proud."

By MARK SINGELAIS