The Wilderness

In less than two hours, the Forty-third edition of the National Football League's Super Bowl will be underway.

Forty-three games, forty-three years. The Arizona Cardinals are making their very first appearance today. The Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans (also the old Houston Oilers), and Jacksonville Jaguars have never made it to a Super Bowl. The New York Jets last appearance was forty years ago. Of course, the Texans and Jaguars are relatively new franchises. But for those who've been around since the 40s, that's a long time in The Wilderness. And for teams such as the Lions and Browns, who knows when/if they'll ever win anything.

When I think about the future of the Dallas Cowboys, it's about as cloudy as Anakin Skywalker's was when Yoda tried to look ahead in time. As fans, we always hope that the upcoming season is "our year". But what if it isn't? So far, thirteen seasons have passed since our last trip to the mountaintop, and twelve seasons since we last won a playoff game. That's half a lifetime for me.

So am I saying it will probably be another twenty-seven years before we win anything? Not likely. We've got most of the necessary pieces to make a run, it's just a matter of pruning the rest of the dead weight and everyone else checking their egos at the door.

So yeah, it could be worse.