Over the last week, many of us here on the Zone have heard something like this a number of times: “If you don’t like how the Cowboys are run, just go to another team. It’s Jerry’s right as owner to do whatever he wants, and if you don’t like it, leave”. I would like to address this idea.
What is often overlooked in this genre of response to our frustration is that people are not fans of a team for logical reasons. We are not choosing our football team like we would if we were buying a commodity which is the same everywhere you get it. We are emotionally aligned with our team for a number of reasons.
I, and many of us here on the zone, follow the Cowboys because of what they represented in their past. At their best they are quintessentially American. For those of us from North Texas and the surrounding states, the Cowboys are also part of our culture.
My grandmother who lives in the tiny Oklahoma town where Troy Aikman was raised brought me to the Dallas Cowboys. It is quite simply a part of me. I cannot just up and leave and neither can most of us here. The Cowboys are family for many of us and preserve the memories of those long gone who also rode with the star. I’m sure many here have similar stories.
So no, we cannot just go find another team.
What they have become and how this organization is managed is nothing we can be proud to associate with. What it has come to represent in its modern form is disgusting. It is deeply painful to see the franchise we love and its storied history be cheapened and erased by decades of nothing short of a circus directed by a man who cares for nothing but himself.
Do you understand now?
