Are you a fan in 2020

What a silly question ....... If you suddenly are not a fan in 2020 ...... Then you were never a fan to begin with.

I'll still be a fan. I'll still post here. But I can say that I'll be far less invested in the games than I normally am. There was a time I would make sure I had no plans during a Cowboys game. But that has slowly eroded. We are going on a family vacation starting Sunday and flying out during the game. I never would have done that say 5 years ago.

If Garrett is back in 2020 with a new extension after another disappointing season, I'd be less inclined to work my schedule just to make sure I have time for the Cowboys game. If a party or family event comes up, I'll be more likely to do that instead of simply not going just to watch the Cowboys.

Yes, they weren't winners when they became my co-favorite team and became my exclusive in a loss in Green Bay.

The beauty of being a Cowboys fan now is that I have to work at it, keep selling myself. I don't like the ownership, at all, or the HC and I am not a fan of a few of the players so I have to consciously convince myself that not only am I a fan but why I am a fan, the history. Like one of my oldest friends, that will not stop being my friend just because they're off the rails.

I find that my fervor for football paces right there with my fanhood. I used to get all giddy on gamedays, particularly division games, and could hardly sit still for the kickoff. Now, I can sit still during the entire game, where has my passion gone?

I do not blame the Joneses or Garrett for this lack of passion, it is the entire sport. It used to be about the game on the field, that was all that mattered and it was a lot easier to watch without the attention stealing stop and start within the game. Passion needs to be sustained better than that and when I used to aggressively watch a game, now I passively just sit there watching more for that yellow flag symbol than the actual play on the field. Any good play, I have to wait to celebrate that to make sure it will stand.

Big_D said:

This isn't true you go into every new season with hope. And when that's gone, what do you got? Just a shell of what being a fan used to mean.

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You may have a shell of what a fan means now to some people, but certainly not what it used to be.

I think of teams like the Chicago Cubs that had a 71-year National League pennant drought and had not won the World Series in 108 years. Despite that, fans showed up to watch them and watched them on TV. There are NFL teams that have never won anything and yet they have loyal fans who keep hoping.

Maybe as Cowboys fans we're spoiled, but if you hang up your fanship over a coach, over losing, etc., then you do not meet the definition of a fan.

See ya.

gimmesix said:

You may have a shell of what a fan means now to some people, but certainly not what it used to be.

I think of teams like the Chicago Cubs that had a 71-year National League pennant drought and had not won the World Series in 108 years. Despite that, fans showed up to watch them and watched them on TV. There are NFL teams that have never won anything and yet they have loyal fans who keep hoping.

Maybe as Cowboys fans we're spoiled, but if you hang up your fanship over a coach, over losing, etc., then you do not meet the definition of a fan.

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If you're going to be a fan then the owner should care about the product on the field. You don't keep a garbage coach for over a decade while continuing to waste talent. Even bad teams don't do that. Fans are supposed to care no matter what Jerry does or doesn't do? It's a lopsided proposition and that's the problem. This isn't about winning, it's about hope. You don't always win, but that hope every September should always be there. Read the thread again. Fans are tired. Even if they do stick around. I expect management to actually care more than the fans do but you see absolutely no sense of urgency there.

Big_D said:

If you're going to be a fan then the owner should care about the product on the field. You don't keep a garbage coach for over a decade while continuing to waste talent. Even bad teams don't do that. Fans are supposed to care no matter what Jerry does or doesn't do? It's a lopsided proposition and that's the problem. This isn't about winning, it's about hope. You don't always win, but that hope every September should always be there. Read the thread again. Fans are tired. Even if they do stick around. I expect management to actually care more than the fans do but you see absolutely no sense of urgency there.

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Fandom is a lopsided proposition. It will always be a lopsided proposition. It isn't based on whether the owner or players care. It isn't based on whether the team is any good.

The word fan is shortened from fanatic, which means that you are "filled with excessive and single-minded zeal" or you're a "person whose enthusiasm or zeal for something is extreme or beyond normal limits."

If this description does not fit you, then you are not a Dallas Cowboys football fan. You may like the team or even follow the team regularly, but you are not truly by description a fan. I'm not saying that to be harsh, but I think sometimes we get being a follower confused with being a fan. A follower (sometimes called a casual fan, which goes against the meaning of fan) can take it or leave it.

A fan has no other choice but to take it ... even if he doesn't like everything about it. A fan can express disappointment and disgust but he still watches his team even if it's 0-16. A follower abandons the team when things are not going the way he wants.

Hope is always there for the fan, no matter the circumstances. It might be hope that something will change the next season, but it's still hope. For the follower, hope is only there when it seems reasonable.

Fans can grow tired, but they will always stick around because this is their team. Followers move on when they grow tired because they don't really know what being a fan entails.

I care that we have a garbage coach, a meddling owner who needs to hire a GM, etc., but the Dallas Cowboys will always be a "we" for me and for others like me because we are fanatics.

As much as I have pouted and cried this season throughout certain threads, I could never turn my back on the Cowboys. It's just imprinted on my DNA at this point. I would, however, be extremely disappointed and my excitability level would be at an all time low.

I'm holding out hope Jerry does the right thing. I feel like he knows, but, yeah.............you know.

I'm losing my fandom for the NFL in general.

It's a bad league living off its past.

In fact, you can say the same for the other pro leagues, too.

Professional sports hit their tipping points about 10 years ago.

Hardline said:

The Cowboys are like your kid that disappoints you all the time but you love them anyway

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Best analogy yet.

Sure I'll always be a fan, will I buy merchandise like I've done in the past...Hell no...

sportsman said:

If the team doesn't make the playoffs and Garrett is still the coach? I may still
be a Cowboys but less interested in the games played. The thrill for the team has begun to slip away with each Garrett year.

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Always a fan. Expectations left many years ago.

SiCk_DiAbLo said:

Sure I'll always be a fan, will I buy merchandise like I've done in the past...Hell no...

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We need more fans taking this approach. I stopped buying 10 years ago.

sportsman said:

If the team doesn't make the playoffs and Garrett is still the coach? I may still
be a Cowboys but less interested in the games played. The thrill for the team has begun to slip away with each Garrett year.

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I will always be a fan. I may be frustrated at times when we don’t win but that is part of sports.

Jerry has ruined this fandom.

The Fonz said:

I did not know that fan membership has an expiration date

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I didn't know that liking Staubach and Landry when I was 10 years old obligated me for life.

I'm still here, but Jerry Jones is a clown and I'm sorry he ever bought the Dallas Cowboys. His family will continue to make a joke of this once-proud organization long after he's gone, because they aren't qualified to do anything else. I didn't sign up for that as a 10 year old kid.

I still follow the NFL and the Cowboys, but not in the way I did for the first 30 years. I didn't change, the Cowboys did. Thanks, Jerry.

Idgit said:

See ya.

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Love m, just love these maudlin threads.

Cowboys always...

Yup!

Reality said:

Not sure if I feel worse for the "I'm done being a fan until they fire Campo!" fans or the "I'm done being a fan until they fire Garrett!" fans

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Campo was hamstrung with salary cap hell. I don't remember Campo being an idiot when it came to coaching. Garrett has no excuse other than his own coaching incompetence (in my opinion). Garrett had a ton more talent than Campo had to work with.