My first season as a Cowboys fan was 1970.
The first game I watched, the Cowboys lost 52-17 to the Vikings. A few weeks later they lost on Monday Night football to the Cardinals 38-0. The Cardinals were in the NFC east at the time and they were leading the division after 9 games with a 7-2 record. The Giants were 6-3 and the Cowboys were 5-4 and looking very bad.
You want to discuss an embarrassing defeat? That 38-0 game against the Cardinals was on Monday Night Football and the color analyst was Don Meredith.
So, you think Stephen Smith is annoying? Howard Cosell tormented poor Meredith all game long. He wouldn't stop and it probably took every inch of restraint for Meredith not to deck him. Cosell was not a Cowboys fan.
The Dallas media was calling for Tom Landry's head.
Ironically, this was when I decided to be a Cowboys fan. I actually felt sorry for them. This was a 14-game season so there were two games behind the leader with 5 games left to play. They would have to win out to be division champions. There was only one wild card team in each conference and it wasn't going to be the Cowboys
And that is exactly what they did.
After losing to the Cardinals 38-0, the defense just came alive. It was a complete reversal. The Cowboys beat the Browns 6-2. In the playoffs they beat the Lions 5-0.
How do you go from being scored on 52 and 38 points to allowing only 15 combined points from your last four regular season opponents? I don't know.
That season, the Cowboys came within 3 points of winning their first Super Bowl.
They went on to play in 9 of the next 12 conference championship games and 4 of the next 8 Super Bowls.
Now this season, after only 5 games I can't say that a turnaround is impossible because I saw it happen and it was a large contributing factor to my being a Cowboys fan for life.
I don't really expect it. I didn't expect it in 1970.
