Goodbye Americas Team

Today at 4:15 pm I received a random act of kindness. One I will cherish for a long time to come. The Green Bay Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys this afternoon and eliminated them from the National Football League playoffs. The Dallas Cowboys, "America's Team," the team of New Jersey's Govenor Chis Christie (you should be ashamed of yourself) has been laid to rest for another year. Hazzah!!!!!!!!

How did a team from Dallas, Texas, yes Texas, a state that couldn't defend the Alamo earn the moniker of Americas Team? Did they do something so wonderful and patriotic that the name was bestowed upon them by an act of Congress? Nooooo. It was in 1978 that they were given the name by some numbskull at NFL Films.

"I wanted to come up with a different twist on their team highlight film. I noticed then, and had noticed earlier, that wherever the Cowboys played, you saw people in the stands with Cowboys jerseys and hats and pennants. Plus, they were always the national game on television. I saw all these fans in away stadiums. Hey, they're the most popular team in the country. How can I use that? Why don't we call them "America's Team"?

The name did not catch on like they had hoped until the first game of the 1979 season when during the Cowboys' first game, a nationally televised game against the St. Louis Cardinals, some dimwitted television announcer for CBS introduced the Cowboys as America’s Team and the name just stuck.

Yes, back then the Dallas Cowboys were always the national game of the week for the National Football Conference just like the Pittsburgh Steelers were the national game for the American Football Conference. This because the NFL had a ridiculous rule dealing with television blackouts  for our local home teams. So instead of being able to watch my beloved New York Giants I had Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, Ed "To Tall" Jones and drew Pearson shoved down my throat every Sunday and watch in horror as they became "Americ's Team."

I remember my dad going so far as to buy an antennae that looked like something out of the Jetsons to put on our roof so that it might rotate and pick up the signal from one of the Connecticut television station that carried the Giants. That of course was completely unsuccessful but has left to this day a very soft spot in my heart for "Lucha Libre," "Sabado Gigante" and "El Show De Iris Chacon."

What makes the Dallas Cowboys "America's Team" and why would any sports franchise be pompous enough to believe they deserved the name. Do we call on them in times of national emergencies? Does commissioner Gordon have them on the Bat-Phone? Just because some misguided youth's back in the day ran around with Dallas caps and t-shirts does not warrant them that title.

I guess when you play in a state that has given us such sad American moments, people and inventions like Mark David Chapman (he killed John Lennon), Astroturf (almost killed baseball), The Oil Depletion Allowance, Dealy Plaza, Barney, Vanilla Ice and W, you feel empowered to call yourself whatever you choose.

The Dallas Cowboys are not "America's Team". They are a football team that resides in Texas and are called the Cowboy's. Nothing more, nothing less.