What sports team’s successes and non-successes most closely mirror the Dallas Cowboys in your opinion?

The Dallas Cowboys are America’s Team. Whoever you are, wherever you live, however you operate your day-to-day activities, you know someone that loves the Dallas Cowboys just like you do, and you also know someone that hates them and always wants to see them fail. It is the circle of life.

The Cowboys are polarizing and are so because of the glitz and glamour that surrounds them. They are among the most visible sports teams on the planet, and unfortunately, they have not had the ultimate success over the last quarter century and that has inspired many jokes, memes, and everything in between.

In thinking about all of this, what sports team, across any sport, would you say most closely mirrors the Cowboys? We’re talking about teams with an elite pedigree, shiny reputation, but has fallen short here as of late. Here are three contenders.

Manchester United

Perhaps I am a glutton for punishment because my futbol allegiance does in fact lie in the Stratford End with Manchester United. There is no doubt that they are among the most successful teams in futbol history, from a historical perspective, but they have not had much success here in recent memory (although they’ve certainly tasted it more recently than the Cowboys have).

United has spent this most recent season, as convoluted as its been, not even playing Champions League futbol. They are regarded as a bit of an underachiever by many, but they maintain their status as one of the most prominent sports franchises in the world. That so much describes the Dallas Cowboys.

The University of Texas

There are a lot of Cowboys fans who spend their Saturdays rooting on the University of Texas, and they too have dealt with not delivering on what history would expect them to be here as of late. Ever since they lost in the national championship to Alabama over a decade ago, obviously there was a very important injury in that game, they have struggled to be “back.”

Where Texas seems to differ from the Cowboys is that they have sort of altered their goal and have now focused on that proverbial joke - being “back.” Texas has a proud tradition and at this point they are seemingly expected just to compete among the best teams in college football and not doing so is a disappointment.

The New York Knicks

In thinking about NBA teams I gave consideration to the Los Angeles Lakers, but they won back to back titles a decade ago and that is a difficult thing to do. Plus they are among the favorites to win this year’s NBA title after the league resumes in Orlando at the end of the month. I won’t argue if you want to consider them, though.

The Knicks are a far greater disaster than the Cowboys or any team that we have mentioned, but they are often carried by external factors, namely where they play and the media attention associated with it. The Cowboys obviously provide media attention for themselves and don’t exactly rest specifically off of their geographical location, but this is a loose common thread among the two teams.

There are a number of teams that can be somewhat likened to the Cowboys in terms of failing to achieve ultimate success unfortunately, hopefully you don’t root for all of them because that wouldn’t be a ton of fun. A lot has happened across the world of sports over the last 25 years and there have been some teams that have been left trying to catch up.

Who do you think is most similar to the Cowboys across sports? It can be any sport or any individual player for that matter. Make your case.