The Dallas Cowboys lived a life of success or controversy for 60 years

The Dallas Cowboys are 60 years old. That’s insane to think about.

Multiple generations have spent Sunday after Sunday rooting on America’s Team, experiencing trial and tribulation. Traditions have been passed down. Memorabilia has seen people gather around it for the story of how it came to be. For many, the Dallas Cowboys are a family affair.

Perhaps that is why Cowboys fans are so passionate. What makes the team fascinating is that it has experienced either high levels of success or high levels of controversy in each of the six decades that they have existed.

The 2020 team has been wearing a special patch on their jerseys to commemorate this entire anniversary, and if that thing could talk it would likely tell you that a whole lot has happened from Tex Schramm to Jerry Jones with Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson, Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, an all-time record, Michael Irvin, five Super Bowls, and whatever the last quarter century has been.

The Dallas Cowboys are celebrating their 60th anniversary this season

When you ask any Cowboys fan to do something like, build a Mt. Rushmore of the team, the exercise immediately requires specific details and instructions. Are we talking about the best players to ever play for the team? Are coaches eligible? Should there only be one quarterback? Perhaps we should have people from different eras so as to represent the entire thing as a whole?

There are Dallas Cowboys fans who identify most with Bob Lilly, while others had all of their dreams kept alive by the heroics of Roger Staubach and his fantastic friends. The world came to know the team in a grander way when The Triplets of the 1990s — Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, and Emmitt Smith — came along, and as mentioned, there is a whole lot that has happened over the course of the last 60 years.

When people celebrate birthdays they are often the center of attention for that particular moment in time. The thing about the Dallas Cowboys is that America’s Team has lived perpetually in that moment for their entire existence, so they really know nothing else. Dallas doesn’t blow out candles on their birthday cake, they simply add more and watch the party grow.

Consider that the Dallas Cowboys remain the most valuable professional sports franchise in the world despite not having won a world championship in almost half of the timeframe that we are discussing. They transcend global powerhouses like Manchester United and Barcelona, because the globe is only where they live part of the time. The stratosphere belongs entirely to them.

It is obvious that the version of the team trotting out Sunday after Sunday in the here and now is not going to write a memorable chapter in the franchise’s best-selling novel; however, they will continually see new editions of similar stories dominate the headlines because that is simply the Dallas Cowboys way.

The Dallas Cowboys are 60 years old. Time has flown, and memories have been had. Here’s to many more, because that is how this team rolls.