FanPost

Why I'm A Fan Of The Dallas Cowboys - Tom Ryle's Story

I like to say I've always been a fan of the Dallas Cowboys, but that is not exactly accurate.

After all, for the first nine years of my life, there were no Dallas Cowboys. Yeah, I'm that old.

As for becoming a fan, it really came down to where I grew up, which was a little town in rural East Texas called Hughes Springs. Just 100 miles or so east of Dallas, we were well within the viewing area for this new team they had with the Star on their helmet. Oh, and for that OTHER new team, the Dallas Texans in the AFL. When the Cowboys were founded, they were part of the NFL's expansion to counter that new upstart league. The Cowboys wound up winning out, perhaps because of the greater prestige of the NFL.

So anyway, come Sunday afternoon (this was before games were played on days like Monday or any Thursday not involving eating yourself into a tryptophan induced coma), our TV (at first black and white, and then one of those spiffy new color sets) would be tuned into the Cowboys game, and I started watching with my Dad. And we were hardly alone. I remember to this day sitting in church and the minister saying, "Now for my final point - and quit looking at your watches, I'll have you out of here in time to get home for the Cowboys' kickoff."

As I've mentioned, I don't remember much about Eddie LeBaron - but I very clearly can recall Don Meredith throwing rainbows to Bob Hayes, while Bob Lilly and Lee Roy Jordan were wreaking havoc with the opponent. But for my Dad, it was never the players so much. For him, it was that slim, square jawed, stoic figure in the fedora. Tom Landry WAS the Dallas Cowboys for so many years. Even when stars like Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, Randy White, and Ed "Too Tall" Jones were capturing attention, Landry was still the face of the franchise. He was innovative as a head coach, but provided a rock solid anchor for the team.

By the end of my teen years, it was done. I was a Cowboys fan to my genes. The Star was a magnet for me. I was not happy with how the Landry era ended, but after I cooled off, I decided to give those upstarts named Jones and Johnson a chance. Didn't take long to get me hyped up again.

Now, we may be on the verge of a third championship era in Dallas. Which, I think, could be the first time an NFL franchise has had three periods of Super Bowl glory. Some have had two, plenty have had one, and then there are those that follow the Philadelphia Eagles model. But Dallas could once again become a pioneer.

That's certainly what I am hoping for. I may have not been a Cowboys fan from birth. But I'm going to be one to the end.

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