Break out the 8-track tapes and put on a pair of funky bell-bottoms. It's the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers renewing old acquaintances and for some Cowboys fans, it ignites memories of that long ago era - the 1970's. A certain segment of Cowboys fans (read: old) like me cut our football teeth in that decade of bad fashion. The NFL was the land of dynasties then and no two teams dominated the decade like the Cowboys and the Steelers. Seven times in the 70's a Cowboys' or Steelers' team was playing in the Super Bowl. Two times the dynasties hooked up for a head-to-head competition. Tragically, for Dallas fans, those Super Bowls ended in failure and they also sent a young, emotional Cowboys fan crying to his room.
The 70's Cowboys/Steelers Super Bowls were two of the best ever played from a purely football standpoint, but the end results were not the best for us. Jackie Smith lives on in our collective consciousness and Lynn Swann makes us want to barf. The Cowboys finally exacted some revenge in the 90's when Neil O'Donnell made Larry Brown a rich-man and the world order was righted as the Cowboys finally topped the Steelers.
Even though this game is just a regular season matchup, albeit for high stakes for both teams, every time we play the Steelers I can't help but go back to the rivalry of yore. There's just something about the Cowboys and Steelers getting together that sounds like a good football game. Maybe I'm just caught up in nostalgia but I think some of you out there are feeling me.
Cowboys vs. Steelers, old-school, new-school; always in style.
For a great look at the Steelers, I highly recommend SB Nation's blog, Behind the Steel Curtain. As always, when commenting on another team's blog, try to stay classy. You know how we feel over here when the trolls start dogging our team. It ain't pretty.
December has not been kind to the Cowboys.
The Return of the Pac. Will his returns be any better this time around?