Why Life Feels Shorter as Jerry Jones Makes Being a Dallas Cowboys Fan Feel Endless
A loyalty built on Staubach
The writer says Roger Staubach is the reason for supporting Dallas. Though Staubach won the Heisman before the writer was born, his military service and later football career shaped that loyalty.
The writer also remembers Tom Landry, Jethro Pugh, Mel Renfro, Bob Lilly and Cliff Harris. Dallas, the writer says, is the only professional football team they have ever supported.
Jones and a long drought
The writer’s daughter is also a devoted Cowboys fan and named her dog Dallas. Other family members stopped supporting the team after Jones bought it and fired Landry.
The writer calls the firing an egregious way to treat a legend, but says Jones’s continued ownership may be worse. The daughter has never watched Dallas play in a Super Bowl; the team has not appeared in one for more than 30 years.
Frustration beyond the draft
The Cowboys are described as possibly the most valuable franchise in professional sports, with a budget at least as large as that of any other NFL team. Yet the writer says the team has struggled under Jones’s leadership.
The writer points to blown leads and defensive play as reasons watching has become difficult, while rejecting bad drafting as the explanation. Dallas drafts well, the writer says, noting that Micah Parsons fell into the team’s hands before it later chose to draft the league’s best defensive player.
Key points
- The writer says Roger Staubach inspired a lifelong loyalty to Dallas.
- Jerry Jones’s purchase of the Cowboys and firing of Tom Landry drove some family members away.
- Dallas has not reached a Super Bowl in more than 30 years.
- The writer argues the Cowboys’ struggles are not the result of poor drafting.