or the last 20 years NFL fans have heard the same cry from Texas and the media going into the regular NFL season: this year (pick your year) is the year that the Dallas Cowboys are finally going to realize their potential, go to the Super Bowl (in whatever city is hosting it) and at last win an NFL championship. The Cowboys are, after all, “America’s Team.” Cowboys fans are considered the most loyal and supportive of any sports fans in the U.S. — sometimes to the point that they seemed violently delusional to the rest of us in many ways and were actually deserving of our sympathy and pity, much like those poor souls who claimed to have been abducted by aliens in UFOs or having encountered Bigfoot while taking out their garbage. The speculations about the greatness of the Cowboys in any particular year is so irritating to other sports fans that we all grew to hate the Cowboys in the extreme and roared with unbridled delight when the “Boys” would inevitably slip in the mud and finish in mediocrity and out of the running for a playoff berth. Last year was especially brutal for Dallas. The Cowboys suffered some of the worst defeats in their career and the team — in particular the defense was really awful. As the 2014 preseason opened there was more bad news. Middle linebacker Sean Lee, the team’s most consistent and capable defensive player, was out for the season with a knee injury, which was a devastating blow to the team. Cowboy fans were usually quiet on all the sports media outlets. An air of coming disaster seemed to permeate from the Big-D. Cowboy fans were expecting the worst.
Well, guess what? We were all wrong. The 2014 edition of the Cowboys is playing championship level football and is in the thick of the title chase. After a gaffe in the first game of the season against the 49ers in which Tony Romo threw 3 picks, the Cowboys have gotten down to business and won 5 straight games, including an impressive victory over the defending champion Seattle Seahawks at Seattle. So 2014 is the year that Cowboy fans have every right to crow. However, I must admit that I really can’t stand the Cowboys and I find their fans particularly obnoxious. Pat Summerall, the former pro footballer and sports broadcaster (and a close friend and former teammate of the “Boys” first coach Tom Landry), with his biased cheerleading for Dallas, made it America’s Team. He even coined the term. Summerall passed away in 2013 but his legacy lives on. The networks even had a policy that went “When in doubt, give em’ Dallas” which still holds. So I always felt that the Cowboys were being forced down my throat. However, the attitude of the defending champion Seahawks and their fan base has become almost unbearable. Smug, vain, and egotistical to the point of obsession, the Seahawks fans maintain that not only do they possess the greatest football team in pro history but that they are somehow morally superior to other sports fans. They definitely needed to be taken down a few pegs and the Cowboys and Chargers have done that this year. We are not quite to the halfway point in the NFL regular season. There are still 11 weeks to go and most anything can happen. The Cleveland Browns seem to have a competitive team…..finally. Johnny “Football” Manziel who was appointed the rookie to watch in 2014 by the media, has been on the bench and Brian Hoyer has emerged as the team’s leader at quarterback. The Browns used the first round pick they received from the Colts in the Trent Richardson swindle to select Manziel. The Arizona Cardinals are in sole possession of the lead of the NFC West with Seattle in second place ….HA..Ha…Ha! There are rumors that Jim Harbaugh will step down as the 49ers head coach at the end of the season because of a personality clash with GM Trent Baalke and that he is cool and aloof to the media. The Colts have recovered from an 0-2 start and are in first place in the AFC South. The Buffalo Bills have fired Head Coach Jeff Quin after four seasons. He just hadn’t made any progress and the move is an admission by the Bills that they are writing off this season. The New York Jets, who were expected to make a run for the AFC East title, are ranked 31st in the league right now and Head Coach Rex Ryan is in danger of losing his job but that is the nature of the beast. Teams that are up right now could be down by the end of the season and teams that are currently struggling could and will finish on a winning note. It happens that way every year and it’s what keeps the game exciting.
Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has admitted he “smokes weed” to his blood and urine tester. This is a violation of his bond, and he could go back to jail. He is currently under indictment for abuse of his son — he is accused of hitting him in the face with a stick while disciplining him. Peterson lives in Dallas and Texas permits corporal punishment of kids by their parents up to a certain point. Peterson has five children by five different women. Peterson is like other professional athletes in that he has a sense of entitlement and feels that as long as he is performing on the field he can do as he pleases off the field. He is by no means alone in this feeling but under the circumstances he should be shown that he is in a very serious situation and should behave accordingly. His bond should be revoked and he needs to spend some time behind bars.
snicewanger@yahoo.com