Cowboys and Owners

I sat down to watch a football game today. The Cowboys were playing the Falcons. Despite growing up in New England, I have always been a Cowboys fan. But I am not much of a fan anymore. When I was young, I knew the name of every starting player on the Cowboys, both offense and defense. I even knew the name of the coach. Year in and year out I cheered the Cowboys. But not so much anymore.

I began to lose interest in the NFL with the advent of free agency. Once players began changing teams, and teams began changing uniforms, names, and cities, I started losing my interest in the NFL in general, and the Cowboys in particular. And why shouldn't I? Over the years it seems the only constants with the Cowboys, other than a quarterback and a handful of other players, is that they are still in Dallas (well, near Dallas) Jerry Jones is still the owner, and they still have a star on their helmet. I used to root for players such as Bob Lilly, Harvey Martin, Walt Garrison, and Roger Staubach. I even knew the names of all the starting offensive linemen. Had Bob Lilly or Walt Garrison been traded, I would not have known what to do. (If Roger Staubach had been traded, I probably would have gone to live in a hole somewhere.) I would have been torn between rooting for whichever team they had been traded to, and the Cowboys. For me, Bob Lilly, Roger Staubach, Walt Garrison, and all the others, including Coach Landry, were indistinguishable from the Cowboys. They were the Cowboys. For the longest time, I did not know who owned the Cowboys, nor did I care.

Now, each year, players come and go. Coaches, and uniforms change. Players you hated and booed the season before, you are expected to cheer simply because they are now on your team. A team can change it's name, and the city it plays in. It can win the Superbowl one year, and three games the next. As fluid as the NFL has become, I do not understand how a fan can root for a team year after year. In regard to the Cowboys, I am still a fan. But increasingly, I no longer understand what is it I am supposed to root for. The star on the helmet? One thing is for sure: I am not going to root for Jerry Jones, or his shiny new stadium.