The Cowboys "Mystique"

CouchCoach

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Yesteryear's mystique revolved around "Tex" Schramm, Tom Landry and Gil Brandt and the relentless way they built the Dallas Cowboys. Not to be forgotten were the larger-than-life personas like, Don Meredith, Bob Lilly and Roger Staubach.... and, who could forget the Ice Bowl?

While the modern mystique is grounded in the Jimmy Johnson era and the original triplets, make no mistake, this organization is branded by the Jones family. While they have created a vast and financially successful enterprise, they have failed miserably to recapture (with the exception of the Johnson period) the true mystique of the early Cowboys.

I can't help but feel with the current generation of Baby Boomers cross the Super Bowl Rainbow, America's Team will be no more.
I think you're right because the allure of football in general is waning for both really young boys playing it and young men watching it. ABC moving it to ESPN because they' were getting beat by wrestling with 18-34 men had to be a shocker and a sign of what might be coming.

With the advancement and success of video games, what's next? TV monitors are getting better, the home is now the entertainment battleground and that will only heat up with another streamer getting into the game.

The money in video games is outrageous hitting 180B globally and dwarfing the global film market and North American sports industry and will continue to widen the gap.

When do the numbers stop rebounding for the NFL. Are they giving the public reason to stay engaged or new fans to come into it? It's just me but they ruined the game for me when they reversed field and began to adopt the college offense. I like the college offense in college. Just like I used to like having the difference in the AFL and NFL.

My question is does a ceiling for the NFL and Dallas Cowboys exist?
 

DBOY3141

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The Cowboys are the NFL's version of Notre Dame. Living off success decades ago but haven't done squat since the early to mid 90s. Still thinking of themselves as upper crust, the elite but in reality that facade gets chipped away each year they distance themselves from their glory days.

And I say that as a ND grad.
heck, at least ND gets close to competing for Championships
 

ICP

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The mystique is gone. The Cowboys get attention now largely due to follies, failures, and finding new ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory while an 80 year old man keeps seeking the spotlight.

My loyalty is to those who made me a fan, which was long before Jerry. I'm still here but I feel no loyalty to him and my patience has worn thin. His ego turned a once-proud franchise into a laughingstock.
Well said
 

TheDude

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Not hard for me. Childhood in late seventies, lived in TN where no team existed, Dallas got the lion share of national games and won 12 games per year.

Dorsett, Staubach, waters, Henderson, white(s), Hill, Pearson(s), Newhouse, walls, springs....easy to root for
 

Jake

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and 99% would not have 3 rings....and especially 3 rings with two head coaches....regardless of who gets the credit.
Just the facts.
You might be right about the hostage thing, but my point still stands as true.

Here's another fact: since Jimmy's leftovers disappeared the owner playing GM hasn't come close to accomplishing anything.

Jerry gets credit for one thing - hiring Jimmy. But let's stop pretending he had anything to do with building that team.

They won one more SB after Jimmy in spite of Jerry, not because of him - who hires Barry Switzer? That's how good the roster was in the 90s.
 

Rockport

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Not sure how I became a Cowboys fan. Being born and raised in South Texas we just grew up that way. When Lilly threw his helmet up in the air after the SB loss to Miami I remember how frustrated I was and that pretty much cemented my fandom for life.
 

cowboyblue22

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I think you're right because the allure of football in general is waning for both really young boys playing it and young men watching it. ABC moving it to ESPN because they' were getting beat by wrestling with 18-34 men had to be a shocker and a sign of what might be coming.

With the advancement and success of video games, what's next? TV monitors are getting better, the home is now the entertainment battleground and that will only heat up with another streamer getting into the game.

The money in video games is outrageous hitting 180B globally and dwarfing the global film market and North American sports industry and will continue to widen the gap.

When do the numbers stop rebounding for the NFL. Are they giving the public reason to stay engaged or new fans to come into it? It's just me but they ruined the game for me when they reversed field and began to adopt the college offense. I like the college offense in college. Just like I used to like having the difference in the AFL and NFL.

My question is does a ceiling for the NFL and Dallas Cowboys exist?
i would say yes the nfl has a ceiling i think they are pretty much there now the reason they went to college offense is that if they didnt there would be awful qb play because colleges were not using and developing pro type qb's
 

cowboyblue22

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Not hard for me. Childhood in late seventies, lived in TN where no team existed, Dallas got the lion share of national games and won 12 games per year.

Dorsett, Staubach, waters, Henderson, white(s), Hill, Pearson(s), Newhouse, walls, springs....easy to root for
this is the time when i got hooked on the cowboys then when jimmy was there
now if they fell in a hole and never came out i would not miss them
 

JoeKing

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When I think of what the Cowboys use to be and then think about what they have become, it angers me.
 

iceberg

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Mystique: a framework of doctrines, ideas, beliefs, or the like, constructed around a person or object, endowing the person or object with enhanced value or profound meaning.

Those of us around for awhile will remember this term emerging in the late 60's and early 70's and would lead to the term "America's Team" coined by NFL Films.

When the Cowboys came into being, the NFL landscape had been ruled by the Bears, Browns and Packers with blue collar no holds barred football that always included blood and mud on the uniforms. Back then they didn't have the names on the uniforms so it was not uncommon not to be able to identify the players' numbers by the 4Q. It was a pipe fitters dream of a sport.

This mystique began to emerge and no one could explain it. What was this fascination with this team in Texas? This team even had the unflattering football word "finesse" attached to it and another would emerge in the late 60's through 1970, "bridesmaid". Always a bridesmaid and never a bride. Finesse denoted a team more suited to accountants and lawyers than pipe fitters.

I believe in the Cowboys "Mystique", how else can I explain the popularity and must cover by the media of a team that has accomplished so little in the last 25 years but are as popular as when they had a record 20 winning seasons in a row?

I can't tell you what happened but the first time I saw the Cowboys play it was just like the first time I saw my bride to be a full two years before I would even meet her. It was love at first sight and I was a longtime Cardinals fan growing up in Arkansas and they would be co-favorites for 8 years until that game in Green Bay when finesse and mystique would meet mean, tough and ugly in inhuman conditions and lose the game but destroy the word finesse as a label for that team. Pipe fitters that day stood up and took notice.

But the mystique not only stayed with the team but began to even grow more pronounced and football fans across this nation were all forced to choose sides with this team. No indifferent fans here, you hated or loved the Dallas Cowboys. The Yankees of the NFL had arrived.

And I can tell you first hand that neither side could explain why they felt the way they did. I had my East buds even say they loved Tom Landry but hated the Cowboys. Same with Staubach, they liked him but liked seeing him get drilled even more in that uniform. That uniform, part of the mystique?

So, my friends, do not think there is anything wrong with you because you can't shake this team. Ask yourself "why do I keep putting myself through this? I know they're going to lose and I still am a moth to the flame".

Some have their reasons, they were raised a Cowboys fan or followed a favorite college player to the team. I do not have a reason. I deserted my longtime favorite and co-favorite after they lost the biggest game in their history to that point. And I've never looked back.

They are that desire of your heart that does you wrong and you keep coming back for more. You can call her a tramp but no one else better because she is, after all, yours.

Might we use this thread to discuss how we became fans and how much being a fan means to us and share stories of how we became infected with the "Cowboys Mystique"? Particularly you fans in enemy territory because you fascinate me. And just what is this mystique and why only this team?

There are plenty of other threads for us to be angry about but being a fan should bring joy. Frustration? Sure. but rejoice in the fact that you are still there for the desire of your heart. You will not forsake them. Be proud that you are a loyal fan.
yea, gonna go ahead and feel the way i wanna feel.
 

TequilaCowboy

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Here's another fact: since Jimmy's leftovers disappeared the owner playing GM hasn't come close to accomplishing anything.

Jerry gets credit for one thing - hiring Jimmy. But let's stop pretending he had anything to do with building that team.

They won one more SB after Jimmy in spite of Jerry, not because of him - who hires Barry Switzer? That's how good the roster was in the 90s.

Yep, that was Jimmy's team running on auto-pilot. A team that came one bad call from winning four SBs in a row. Heck of a team. And it was all Jimmy, Jerry just wrote the checks. Which is the way it should have remained. That was the winning recipe this goof is still trying to replicate without the main ingredient.
 

cowboyec

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:bow:'MERICA'S TEAM:bow:
this song says it better than a post with a 1,000 words.
the depth of love i have for this team and its history...particularly the Landry era....is only matched by my love for Elvis.
both are woven thru the fabric of my life.
and i will never apologize for it.
ever.
 
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atlantacowboy

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The Dallas Cowboys is a behemoth media asset.

However, a lot of that is because of the teams dominance in the 70's and 90's. As those fans age, the Cowboys will experience a loss of fans I fear.

Yet, all we need to do is win to prevent that.

.........and the the 80's. This was still a team contending for Super Bowls. The strike in 87' was the killer. Vets like Randy White were just mentally done after choosing to cross the picket line. By Landry standards they were not the glory years, but 3 straight NFC title game appearances is wayyy more than this franchise has accomplished in the last 25 years.
 

Cowboy Brian

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.........and the the 80's. This was still a team contending for Super Bowls. The strike in 87' was the killer. Vets like Randy White were just mentally done after choosing to cross the picket line. By Landry standards they were not the glory years, but 3 straight NFC title game appearances is wayyy more than this franchise has accomplished in the last 25 years.
Yep, the 80's too. The Cowboys were the Patriots, dominated 3 decades. However we're now approaching 3 decades of complete mediocrity. What goes up, must come....

I omitted the 80's to avoid people saying the 70's or 90's teams were better or that we didn't win a super bowl in the 80's lol.
 

Diehardblues

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The Cowboys are the NFL's version of Notre Dame. Living off success decades ago but haven't done squat since the early to mid 90s. Still thinking of themselves as upper crust, the elite but in reality that facade gets chipped away each year they distance themselves from their glory days.

And I say that as a ND grad.
The Irish have been in the College playoffs ( final 4)a couple times in recent years. They are still upper crust. They had fallen for a few years. But I’d say they have rebounded somewhat.
 

Diehardblues

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Yep, the 80's too. The Cowboys were the Patriots, dominated 3 decades. However we're now approaching 3 decades of complete mediocrity. What goes up, must come....

I omitted the 80's to avoid people saying the 70's or 90's teams were better or that we didn't win a super bowl in the 80's lol.
Actually we were championship caliber for 4 decades playing for championships.
 
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