Okay, you've proven your point. You're right. I'm still entitled to find it bizarre. In the 70s, every Cowboy fan I knew thought that the whole "America's Team" thing, and being the post popular team, was because of the play on the field. But, you're right. It's not. The play on the field is still what's most important to me, however.
In my opinion, the Cowboys became super popular because both Tom Landry and Roger Staubach were super moral people, and moral examples at a time when the whole society was going through a revolutionary phase. It was counter revolutionary to be traditionally moral, and a lot of people didn’t like what was happening in society. So a lot of those traditional people were happy to support a team led by two super moral men - even if the Cowboys had just as many drug addicts and morally depraved players as any other team. And the fact that the Cowboys were winners made it seem like at least in this little part of society, being moral meant you could still be a winner.
I’ll go to my grave believing that. But then Jerry, an amoral man if there ever was one, bought the team and brought in an amoral coach, who just happened to be a winner also. A lot of the fans from the 70’s swore off the Cowboys initially, but were sucked back in by the winning.
So now you have people who are Cowboys fans out of long habit. I know people all over the country who grew up fans of the Cowboys and it is just a habit to support the team. I’m native to Dallas, so I have a little more local connection, but my fandom is primarily a habit I’m not willing to break. But I know that discussions about what good men both Landry and Staubach were resonated in my family when I was a kid. So that is my perspective.
It doesn’t hurt that Jerry is brilliant at marketing, and Tex Schramm was among the best before him. Finally, playing in the NFC East against the big media markets of the East coast made a huge difference also.
