Talk of past playoff failures during the summer is a waste of emotional energy

[Rockport]

Did you even read what he said? Beebe and Obershown not Cowboys?

After you're "Cowboys are going to suck for a decade plus if we lose Dak" thread, which was one of the absolute biggest whines I have ever read on this site, you really have no room to criticize others for theirs.

I mean someone whining about a decade plus of sub .500 Cowboys football? For losing 1 player and which has never even come close to happening in the history of the team?

I Don't recall anyone going for even 10 years of suckage before you blew right past it with your thread. That is some masterclass whinage right there my man.

Didn’t I say 5-10 years sunny?

 

[removed_20241105]

I appreciate the thought out OP. I don’t think negative attitudes about the team are the issue with this forum nor are positive attitudes. I think posts about other posters instead of the team or topic is the rot. There’s a dozen or so that just have a schtick and not a real interest in talking Cowboys.

I know it’ll never stop and that’s really the fuel behind the long threads but to those that spend their time criticizing other posters and not commenting on the topic, you should look in the mirror first when thinking about what would make it better here.

 

[KingintheNorth]

Also, the Cowboys inability to perform in big games, more importantly the playoffs, is an issue for this team moving forward. The main characters are all the same.

What are the Cowboys doing to change that? So far, not a thing. They drafted some players? So did 31 other teams. What are the Jones doing to change the outcome?

 

[windward]

We all know about the last 28 seasons of playoff futility for the Dallas Cowboys. No one is unaware of this. But the Cowboys team won't have a chance to change that narrative until next January - if they make the playoffs at the end of the 2024 season. So, in my opinion, it is a waste of emotional energy to focus on past failures. The failures of the past 28 years have the same relevance to the 2024 season as the three Super Bowls won in the mid-1990's, and the Super Bowls won in the 1970's.

There is no "tradition of winning" left for Dallas to fall back upon. There is only now. This season. And there is a hope that every team in the NFL has at the beginning of a season that this might be the year for their team. The Cowboys players and fans have just as much right to embrace that hope as any other team in the NFL this year. Dwelling on the bitterness of past failures has the same value as dwelling on the glory of past successes. They are irrelevant to this year's version of the Cowboys.

So I have a request, and a commitment:

Request: Stop looking back, and rehashing the past. Choose to dwell on the hope and promise of a new season.

Commitment: I won't participate in discussions bashing players, coaching staff and front office personnel for the results of past seasons. I won't support positive takes from the past; nor will I support negative takes from the past. I won't defend the team, players and front office for past successes or failures. I just refuse to participate in those discussions. I will only participate in discussing the here and now issues for the 2024 roster, and the performances of staff and personnel that currently exist, in their present form. I won't condemn, or praise past performances on any level. It is just a waste of emotional energy, and doesn't contribute in any positive way to the discussions of this year's Cowboys team.

Who will join me?

I like this.

 

[Established1971]

my cheerleader days are over, takes more energy to do that

 

[MyFairLady]

There should be a team policy if anyone (player, coach or management) says anything that could be construed as being content with last year or if it sounds like they are satisfied with where things stand they should be forced to rewatch the entire Green Bay game on the spot.

 

[diamonddelts]

Jerry loves fans like this. Pay money and have amnesia. Hope the well won't get soured yet have it exposed to the same contaminants every year. The definition of insanity,

 

[CowboyoWales]

Request: Stop looking back, and rehashing the past. Choose to dwell on the hope and promise of a new season.

We revise the post-season games as it shows our weaknesses rather than brush certain issues under the carpet or WATTABOUT(ISM).

There are themes that can be deduced from the 4 last Post-Season games......themes and area's that reoccur AND APPEAR TO BE THE REASON WHY WE CAN GO 12-5 IN REGULAR SEASON.....BUT FAIL REPEATEDLY IN P-S (caps for affect).

When looking at the comments on the GB game.

- we couldnt defend the run (143 yards conceded)
- Dak with his 403 yards, 3 TD and an ok(ish) 89 passer rating
- We couldnt run the ball (123 yards)

In reality, the game was over at 14-0 at which point.

- GB had only run for 32 yards (over 50 yards passing).
- Dak was Dak when forced to perform with an adverse scoreboard.
- Run game....well actually it did work, first drive after going 14-0.....but then we seemed to abandon it.

Now add the two SF Games.....again we blame the: lack of running game, run defense, penalties, O-Line and defense in general WHICH ALL WERE to differing degree's POOR, but DAK had the ball to win/tie both games in the 4th Q. Now that was brushed under the carpet, as the 49ers 'are the best team in the Conference'

If you want a positive slant, we look SO GOOD, when we have a lead, or when we're in a situation that 3 pts will do.

So looking at the 4 Play-off Games, we need:
- A Defense that can keep us in a game (or allow us to get a lead)
- Need to go ALL-OUT to get a lead
- Dak has to be able to show composure (when behind by 7pts, or late in games when he has no 'fall-back').

The stark reality (from the 4 play-off games), is that unless Dak shows that composure, then the issues with Defense become somewhat immaterial.

You have to look at the past, to identify the issues.....isnt this the whole issue with Love/Hate of Dak, because his performances (especially post-season) are never reviewed correctly.

 

[TwentyOne]

We all know about the last 28 seasons of playoff futility for the Dallas Cowboys. No one is unaware of this. But the Cowboys team won't have a chance to change that narrative until next January - if they make the playoffs at the end of the 2024 season. So, in my opinion, it is a waste of emotional energy to focus on past failures. The failures of the past 28 years have the same relevance to the 2024 season as the three Super Bowls won in the mid-1990's, and the Super Bowls won in the 1970's.

There is no "tradition of winning" left for Dallas to fall back upon. There is only now. This season. And there is a hope that every team in the NFL has at the beginning of a season that this might be the year for their team. The Cowboys players and fans have just as much right to embrace that hope as any other team in the NFL this year. Dwelling on the bitterness of past failures has the same value as dwelling on the glory of past successes. They are irrelevant to this year's version of the Cowboys.

So I have a request, and a commitment:

Request: Stop looking back, and rehashing the past. Choose to dwell on the hope and promise of a new season.

Commitment: I won't participate in discussions bashing players, coaching staff and front office personnel for the results of past seasons. I won't support positive takes from the past; nor will I support negative takes from the past. I won't defend the team, players and front office for past successes or failures. I just refuse to participate in those discussions. I will only participate in discussing the here and now issues for the 2024 roster, and the performances of staff and personnel that currently exist, in their present form. I won't condemn, or praise past performances on any level. It is just a waste of emotional energy, and doesn't contribute in any positive way to the discussions of this year's Cowboys team.

Who will join me?

Some here want to look back to research in order to find the reasons for our problems. I include myself into that group.

Some of course - as you ppointed them out - only want to dwell in bad feelings.

 

[lopey]

Right on cue, the negative posters refuse to be respectful.

Respect what? Losing!!! This is a losers mentality.

 

[DallasEast]

We all know about the last 28 seasons of playoff futility for the Dallas Cowboys. No one is unaware of this. But the Cowboys team won't have a chance to change that narrative until next January - if they make the playoffs at the end of the 2024 season. So, in my opinion, it is a waste of emotional energy to focus on past failures. The failures of the past 28 years have the same relevance to the 2024 season as the three Super Bowls won in the mid-1990's, and the Super Bowls won in the 1970's.

There is no "tradition of winning" left for Dallas to fall back upon. There is only now. This season. And there is a hope that every team in the NFL has at the beginning of a season that this might be the year for their team. The Cowboys players and fans have just as much right to embrace that hope as any other team in the NFL this year. Dwelling on the bitterness of past failures has the same value as dwelling on the glory of past successes. They are irrelevant to this year's version of the Cowboys.

So I have a request, and a commitment:

Request: Stop looking back, and rehashing the past. Choose to dwell on the hope and promise of a new season.

Commitment: I won't participate in discussions bashing players, coaching staff and front office personnel for the results of past seasons. I won't support positive takes from the past; nor will I support negative takes from the past. I won't defend the team, players and front office for past successes or failures. I just refuse to participate in those discussions. I will only participate in discussing the here and now issues for the 2024 roster, and the performances of staff and personnel that currently exist, in their present form. I won't condemn, or praise past performances on any level. It is just a waste of emotional energy, and doesn't contribute in any positive way to the discussions of this year's Cowboys team.

Who will join me?

I will not be joining. History will always have relevance in every aspect of life, whether it is good or bad. There are voluntary and artificial methods for avoiding unwanted conversations. I do have a few questions though:

1. Why is the emphasis seasonal? Discussions are year-round. If specifically directed emotional energy is wasteful during the summer, would it not be equally wasteful during the fall, winter and spring as well?
2. Is the commitment all-inclusive or are there loopholes? Noncommitted members would continue expressing emotional energy in their posts. Does a self-committed member remain committed if they engage in opposing conversation with a noncommitted member?
3. A continuation of #2. Should self-committed members refrain from using certain conversational tools with noncommitted members such as comparative statistical data of past 'failed' players with any 2024 roster players, poor game performance referenced from prior seasons with any specific game during the 2024 season, etc.

Commitment is admirable. On the other hand, conversation is always a two-way street. It is the primary (if not only) makeup of any discussion board. I reviewed the likes list of your OP to see who have appreciated your proposal.

At first glance, I am confident some of the members I saw will fully embrace your stance. Their posting history supports they might adhere to your suggestions in practice during the summer.

I am not as certain about other members who liked your OP also. They like your proposal, but will they support it both in practice and principle from now until the fall and the start of the regular season? I am interested in how strongly their commitment shall match your own within their posted comments during this time. Or, more importantly, the absence of their usually posted comments between now and the kickoff of Dallas' newest season.

 

[Sydla]

Right on cue, the negative posters refuse to be respectful.

LOL.

 

[Jumbo075]

Jerry loves fans like this. Pay money and have amnesia. Hope the well won't get soured yet have it exposed to the same contaminants every year. The definition of insanity,

The decision not to dwell on the past is NOT amnesia. We remember. We CHOOSE to have a positive outlook.

Listen, I attended my first Texas Rangers game as a 7 year old boy in 1973. I maintained hope for 50 years until the Rangers finally won a World Series last season. I remember all the down years, and the years the Rangers got close, but failed. I bought 100 tickets a year to attend games. I threw birthday parties for my daughters at the Rangers games. I took my brother to a Rangers game for his 50th birthday. I remember it all. There is no amnesia.

But the glory and satisfaction I experienced last Fall when the Rangers finally won wasn't tainted by bitterness from all those years of losing. I just exulted in them finally winning.

If and when the Cowboys finally win again, I don't want to be weighed down by all the years of them losing. I want to experience the full joy of winning, and experience it without any reservations. THAT is why I choose not to be negative about the past. I don't want to carry it with me like a burden every day. I don't want to be emotionally exhausted by that load of resentment and bitterness.

Whatever you call that, it isn't amnesia.

 

[Bobhaze]

The decision not to dwell on the past is NOT amnesia. We remember. We CHOOSE to have a positive outlook.

Listen, I attended my first Texas Rangers game as a 7 year old boy in 1973. I maintained hope for 50 years until the Rangers finally won a World Series last season. I remember all the down years, and the years the Rangers got close, but failed. I bought 100 tickets a year to attend games. I threw birthday parties for my daughters at the Rangers games. I took my brother to a Rangers game for his 50th birthday. I remember it all. There is no amnesia.

But the glory and satisfaction I experienced last Fall when the Rangers finally won wasn't tainted by bitterness from all those years of losing. I just exulted in them finally winning.

If and when the Cowboys finally win again, I don't want to be weighed down by all the years of them losing. I want to experience the full joy of winning, and experience it without any reservations. THAT is why I choose not to be negative about the past. I don't want to carry it with me like a burden every day. I don't want to be emotionally exhausted by that load of resentment and bitterness.

Whatever you call that, it isn't amnesia.

All fans just have different ways to experience what happens with their team. If and when the Cowboys win it all someday, my memories of all the joys AND heartaches, fun and frustration are all part of an enjoyable experience of following a team. My first sports cry was as a 9 year old kid watching us lose the Ice Bowl. I also cried when we won our first SB in 1971 too. Both experiences were unforgettable.

I cannot pretend to think I don’t know why the Cowboys have not been able to get to even a medium level of playoff success. But when they ever do get back to some playoff glory, all these memories of recent frustration will to me be part of the joy of overcoming all that. My Grandmother told me once her cookie recipes always had a little salt along with the sugar because “it makes them taste better”.

Like you I am a Rangers fan and cried tears of joy when they won. Part of that joy was remembering the struggles, the heartache of game 6 of the World Series vs the cardinals when the Rangers were one strike away from winning it all - twice. When the rangers finally won last fall, my memories of the frustration made the joy that much greater.

I‘m also a huge Mavs and Stars fan. I attended several Mavs games back in their inaugural season when they were terrible. I saw Dirk as a young player getting schooled in the ways of the NBA playoffs. When the Mavs won the 2011 NBA championship in games 6 vs the heat, all those memories of watching them when they sucked made it that much sweeter.

Memories of past sports failures don’t weigh me down. They are the salt in the cookie. The sugar AND the salt are both part of what makes the cookie taste good as my grandmother once told me.

 

[MyFairLady]

At this point management no longer deserves any benefit of the doubt. They no longer deserve patience. They no longer deserve respect. All they deserve is ridicule and disgust. The best analogy I can come up with is a middle of the road bank manager. Bank never really performs well. Just good enough. Bank manager gets massive bonus every year for being OK. Banking system collapses due to greed and incompetence. Government bails them out. The next year the same bank manager gets a massive bonus for being OK again. Endless cycle.

Management actively makes decisions year after year that will ensure we are good enough.

We are the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NFL. A team that has proven itself year after year to be inadequate.

There will be no change.

 

[john van brocklin]

We all know about the last 28 seasons of playoff futility for the Dallas Cowboys. No one is unaware of this. But the Cowboys team won't have a chance to change that narrative until next January - if they make the playoffs at the end of the 2024 season. So, in my opinion, it is a waste of emotional energy to focus on past failures. The failures of the past 28 years have the same relevance to the 2024 season as the three Super Bowls won in the mid-1990's, and the Super Bowls won in the 1970's.

There is no "tradition of winning" left for Dallas to fall back upon. There is only now. This season. And there is a hope that every team in the NFL has at the beginning of a season that this might be the year for their team. The Cowboys players and fans have just as much right to embrace that hope as any other team in the NFL this year. Dwelling on the bitterness of past failures has the same value as dwelling on the glory of past successes. They are irrelevant to this year's version of the Cowboys.

So I have a request, and a commitment:

Request: Stop looking back, and rehashing the past. Choose to dwell on the hope and promise of a new season.

Commitment: I won't participate in discussions bashing players, coaching staff and front office personnel for the results of past seasons. I won't support positive takes from the past; nor will I support negative takes from the past. I won't defend the team, players and front office for past successes or failures. I just refuse to participate in those discussions. I will only participate in discussing the here and now issues for the 2024 roster, and the performances of staff and personnel that currently exist, in their present form. I won't condemn, or praise past performances on any level. It is just a waste of emotional energy, and doesn't contribute in any positive way to the discussions of this year's Cowboys team.

Who will join me?

No offence, but I wont be joining you.
Those who don't learn the lessons/mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them.
This team has a 28 year track record of post season failure, and WILL NOT make any significant changes to their business model.
Until we have a change of leadership that is willing to change the way we do things, we will get continued failure.
The sample size of 28 seasons is simply just too large to ignore, and the dysfunctional way we operate is too large of a burden to overcome.

 

[john van brocklin]

If it wasn't for the Past I wouldn't be here. That's the only reason I'm a Cowboy fan. Memories of long ago. There's no hope for this team going forward as long as Jerry and Stephen are in charge.

1000 LIKES !!!!!!!!!!!!
How many are here because the Jones are living off the legacy that Landry built ?

 

[john van brocklin]

Not me. I'm not going to try and change history just to make myself or someone else feel better.

When this team is winning, I'm going to talk about it, when this team is losing, I'm going to talk about it.

Face it, this team has crapped on itself for the past 28 years, denying that wont change the past. Not talking about it wont change anything either. We can debate why they have, but pretending they haven't is foolish.

Talking about any future with this team is even more foolish. Sure you are always going to have the homer's that think every year is our year and then you have those that think this year will be just another disappointing year like so many others in the past. Well unfortunately like it or not the disappointments have far outweigh the accomplishments.

I expect another disappointing season this year because there has not been enough changes in player personal, coaches and most importantly ownership for me to expect otherwise.

Luckily I was around for both the 90's and especially the 70's when this team actually knew what winning was.

BINGO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Blitzen]

We all know about the last 28 seasons of playoff futility for the Dallas Cowboys. No one is unaware of this. But the Cowboys team won't have a chance to change that narrative until next January - if they make the playoffs at the end of the 2024 season. So, in my opinion, it is a waste of emotional energy to focus on past failures. The failures of the past 28 years have the same relevance to the 2024 season as the three Super Bowls won in the mid-1990's, and the Super Bowls won in the 1970's.

There is no "tradition of winning" left for Dallas to fall back upon. There is only now. This season. And there is a hope that every team in the NFL has at the beginning of a season that this might be the year for their team. The Cowboys players and fans have just as much right to embrace that hope as any other team in the NFL this year. Dwelling on the bitterness of past failures has the same value as dwelling on the glory of past successes. They are irrelevant to this year's version of the Cowboys.

So I have a request, and a commitment:

Request: Stop looking back, and rehashing the past. Choose to dwell on the hope and promise of a new season.

Commitment: I won't participate in discussions bashing players, coaching staff and front office personnel for the results of past seasons. I won't support positive takes from the past; nor will I support negative takes from the past. I won't defend the team, players and front office for past successes or failures. I just refuse to participate in those discussions. I will only participate in discussing the here and now issues for the 2024 roster, and the performances of staff and personnel that currently exist, in their present form. I won't condemn, or praise past performances on any level. It is just a waste of emotional energy, and doesn't contribute in any positive way to the discussions of this year's Cowboys team.

Who will join me?

I will take it one step further and only message on issues happening to the Cowboys’ team in real time. In fact, I will stop commenting until I am watching the team live. Like in Space Balls-“we’re watching now, now.”

 

[kskboys]

I appreciate the thought out OP. I don’t think negative attitudes about the team are the issue with this forum nor are positive attitudes. I think posts about other posters instead of the team or topic is the rot. There’s a dozen or so that just have a schtick and not a real interest in talking Cowboys.

I know it’ll never stop and that’s really the fuel behind the long threads but to those that spend their time criticizing other posters and not commenting on the topic, you should look in the mirror first when thinking about what would make it better here.

That could not be said any better.

You are 100% correct. The constant rule breaking by attacking others personally is what keeps this place from being even better. Positive, negative, makes no difference which side one is on, an attack is an attack.