The Real Reason there are so many Cowboy fans in DC

[Hostile]

There isn't anywhere near as many C-boys fans elsewhere as there is in the Maryland, DC, Virginia area. (except for Texas, of course)

1 out of every 3 fans here roots for the cowboys. In response to the original poster... I don't think that has anything whatsoever to do with the numbers though it is an interesting tidbit. Speaking from experience, it boils down to the simple fact that Sunday football games on television used to consist of the local team and the team they were playing that week. No Sunday Ticket, no internet, etc.
We were limited in what teams we saw here but the division rivals were always a team you could catch twice a year against the local Skins. Basically, the Boys were a great team during the years that most of us became old enough to begin following football and the Skins sucked. The 90's followed soon and imbedded the Boys in the hearts of anyone who hadn't painted themself into a specific team corner yet. The Boys also got a lot of nationally televised games and way more national exposure than any other team back when NFL exposure was very limited outside of gametime on Sunday.

For me, I remember getting a little extra exposure to the star just because my mother watched the nighttime soap opera "Dallas" and they showed Texas Stadium and the cheerleaders every week during the opening credits. Little things like that can be very influential to a child.

Arizona and New Mexico will be close even though Arizona supposedly has a team. I used to work in a sporting goods store and almost 50% of the merchandise we sold was Cowboys. I'd say over 40% of it was.

 

[DC5488]

This theory is often discussed in the DC area. There are also a lot of us that grew up in Dallas or Texas that live in DC now.

Related to this: IMO, the number of Cowboys fans in the DC area contributes greatly to the Skins fans' hatred of all things Cowboys. Skins fans are obsessed with hating the boys. I don't blame them, it would drive me crazy too. Growing up in Dallas, I did not know anyone that rooted for a team other than the boys. But in DC, like 40% of people root for the home team's biggest rival.

 

[Hostile]

Black players had been in the NFL since 1946 when the Rams signed Kenny Washington and Woody Strode. The AAFC was actually first with the Browns signing Marion Motley and Bill Willis prior to the Rams signing their guys.

By the time the Cowboys were even considered as an expansion team every team in the league had several black players except the Commanders of course.

Marshall was instrumental in getting black players unofficially banned when he started the Boston Braves in 1932. Prior to that there had been a number of black players in the NFL including one black HC, Fritz Pollard. Actor/singer Paul Robeson, best known for his role in the musical "Show Boat" played in the NFL in the early 20s.

Marshall was influential among the owners because he brought a great deal of financial backing into the league at a time when many teams were struggling. In return for loans the owners pretty much gave in to whatever he wanted to do. He was a staunch racist and didn't think it was right for whites and blacks to "mix" so he pushed for them to be quietly blocked from playing in the NFL.

Once the Browns signed black players the Rams were quick to follow and within a few years nearly every team was drafting black players.

To be a little bit fair, not a lot of black athletes were in college back then so there was not nearly the number to choose from in the draft as there is now. Scholarships were not awarded as easily and most colleges were not integrated yet so the small numbers of black players in the 50s should not be construed as the NFL keeping them out. Once the gate was open teams were quick to sign quality players. There just wasn't that many available at the time.

Once the 60s and Civil Rights came along the number of black football players in college increased dramatically and the draft reflected that as well. The AFL in particular drafted a lot of black athletes and the NFL didn't want to be left behind. Scouting at black colleges like Grambling had been nearly non-existent, until the AFL came along. Plus there was still a lot of southern players & coaches who didn't want black players on their teams. It took time to break that bias down but eventually it happened.

Sorry for the history lesson this morning...

Woody Strode is more famous as an actor than he was as a football pioneer. He was John Wayne's sidekick in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance."

He is also the person who taught John Wayne and John Ford about The Buffalo Soldiers motto. "Lest We Forget." In "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon" that motto was inscribed on the watch presented to John Wayne's character as he retired and viewed the troops for one last time.

Finally John Ford directed Woody Strode himself in "Sergeant Rutledge" which was at the time a controversial film. It is one of the first ever films about the Buffalo Soldiers. One of my favorite virtually unknown westerns.

 

[THEHEREAFTER]

This is an interesting theory. One that I've heard a lot. I was born in Washington, DC and grew up in neighboring Silver Spring, MD. Ask yourselves are generations of Cowboys fans passing this along to their children? It's an interesting theory nonetheless however it had nothing to do with my decision. In fact, I was born into kind of an "adopted" Commanders household. My mom being from Baltimore (moved to DC shortly before she had me), and my Dad being from Gainsville, GA (picked up the skins as his team and became a season ticket holder as far back as I can remember).

I was born in 1974 and my earliest memories of loving the Cowboys was somewhere in between beating Denver in the SB with Roger (something I don't remember at all) and Dwight Clarks "the catch" ( I remember crying in my room for a while after that). I say all this to set up my time line. For me as a kid, the skins Burg/Gold- over the hill gang/hogs/ etc.. their colors their "swag".. just did NOTHING for me.

It was simply where my heart went without knowing anything about racism. Cowboys vs. Indians.. the Cowboys was cooler with more "mystique".. Maybe it was the fact that the Cowboys popularity and exposure from the 70's spilled over and caught my attention. I was always a metallic blue/silver star type of guy. The stoic and classy Landry with the coolest players in the league (to me).. Touchdown Tony Dorsett, Thrill Hill, Pearson, Ron Springs, Newhouse, Too Tall, Danny White, Everson, Harvey Martin, Randy White.. the flex d, the offensive line shuffling, numbers on the pants.. As long as I've followed football, I've LOVED DALLAS and despised WASHINGTON... but supported the other local teams. For me, it had nothing to do with this theory. Maybe I was too young to understand. Anyway.. being from the area just my 2 cents.

 

[THUMPER]

Woody Strode is more famous as an actor than he was as a football pioneer. He was John Wayne's sidekick in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance."

He is also the person who taught John Wayne and John Ford about The Buffalo Soldiers motto. "Lest We Forget." In "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon" that motto was inscribed on the watch presented to John Wayne's character as he retired and viewed the troops for one last time.

Finally John Ford directed Woody Strode himself in "Sergeant Rutledge" which was at the time a controversial film. It is one of the first ever films about the Buffalo Soldiers. One of my favorite virtually unknown westerns.

He was also in "Spartacus".

Here is a pic of him in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence":

He was an outstanding athlete competing in the decathlon and was part of one of the best backfields in college history with Kenny Washington and Jackie Robinson at UCLA.

 

[dogunwo]

Actually there are a lot of Cowboys fans everywhere. Even in cities where they have rivals. However, if I lived in DC I could not root for the Skins for these reasons.

I am from DC originally, and loved the Cowboys to spite my diehard Commanders fan brother over 20 years ago, before I knew the history of the Commanders and black players. Makes them more deplorable.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I heard the largest conglomerate of Cowboys fans outside of Texas is in the Washington DC area. How crazy is that. Talk about a fifth column.

The states of New York and California are filled with them.

Seriously, growing up I was a fan of football since I was about 5 years old (1981 or so) and in the Syracuse area at the time you mostly had Giants fans, but a huge contingent of Cowboys fans. Later when Marino came along it because Giants, Cowboys, then Dolphins fans. You could not find a Buffalo Bills fan outside of Buffalo if Joe Ferguson could levitate and pass out $20 bills.

It wasn't until Levy came around that Bills fans started appearing out of the woodwork, and truth be told, most of them were hacked off old Giants fans who couldn't take it anymore.

So by the time I graduated high school, it went Giants-Bills-Cowboys-Dolphins.

My friend's uncle was got the Sunday Ticket when it first came out (we thought he was crazy when he was telling us he could get every game on his TV, he did have a drinking problem). He was a Cowboys fan and we had about 8-9 of our friends that would come over to his house, each decked out in their own Cowboys jersey (I had Moose Johnston's jersey) and never missed a game.

I also vividly remember talking to a few friends of mine on the upcoming '89 season and getting excited about the new team and saying 'these young guys look pretty good.'

Still a large contingent of Cowboys fans in the state of NY.






YAKUZA

 

[THUMPER]

The states of New York and California are filled with them.

YAKUZA

I can vouch for that. I grew up in L.A. and became a Cowboys fan when I was 5 even though all of my family were Rams fans. I lived in SoCal until 1992 and there were always a ton of Cowboys fans wherever I went. When the Cowboys played the Rams in L.A. about 1/3 of the people in the stands were Cowboys fans at the Coliseum (or Anaheim stadium where they played later).

 

[khiladi]

I'm sure most of u alread know this, but the real reason there are soo many Cowboy fans in Dc is bc they know the history. The Washington Commanders were one of the last teams to allow black players in the league. DC is majority Black, they don't like this "tradition" very well... That is why so many DC residents like the Cowboys, pretty much bc it was their rival even before the league got started. Who ever was the most hated rival will be there favorite bc of the history. I just thought I should acknoweldge that living in DC.

Nah... It's because the Commanders just suck...

 

[ZeroClub]

If I were specifically trying to market an NFL team to people of color, the last thing I would do is name the team after a skin color.

It'd seem especially important to avoid names that some find insensitive or derogatory.

 

[Spectre]

I am from DC originally, and loved the Cowboys to spite my diehard Commanders fan brother over 20 years ago, before I knew the history of the Commanders and black players. Makes them more deplorable.

That's pretty much it.
People waaay overanalyze this kind of thing.
Most were too young when they picked their favorite sports teams to even understand, let alone be influenced by, something as deep as racial discrimination.

 

[Spectre]

Arizona and New Mexico will be close even though Arizona supposedly has a team. I used to work in a sporting goods store and almost 50% of the merchandise we sold was Cowboys. I'd say over 40% of it was.

It might be close but I was kind of considering Arizona and New Mexico as immediate surrounding areas of Texas and thus, the Dallas Cowboys local market.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

I'm black and that crap didn't fly with me

that's why I root for the Gray and Blue

 

[bbgun]

I'm black and that crap didn't fly with me

that's why I root for the Gray and Blue

If you were any whiter you'd be Wonder Bread.

 

[StylisticS]

I'm black as well but moved here from Texas. I already knew there was a huge base of Cowboy fans here in DC before I came here but was skeptical that it was that huge. I've been shocked at the amount out here. There are TONS of Cowboy fans here. They sell Cowboy merchandise in the stores along skins merchandise. People have flags flying around in their cars. I seen a shirt that says D.C. stands for Dallas Cowboys with the Capital behind it. skins fans are annoyed by this and when I tell them I'm from Texas, they usually say nothing else. They don't mind Cowboy fans from Texas or neighboring states. But they don't care for Cowboy fans that's never been to Texas.

I've heard the story as well but I don't think it matters with the younger generation. There are still thousands of Cowboy fans here. One reason I heard is that the skins never do anything. Another said they are boring. I think the Cowboys are without a doubt, the second largest base here in DC with the Steelers coming in third.

 

[trickblue]

I always thought our biggest collection of Cowboys fans outside Dallas was in Arizona, and if you want to get really technical, the Cowboys are huge in Mexico.

This is true... my wife was born and raised in Mexico...

She said she knows nothing of the NFL, but knew who the Dallas Cowboys were while growing up...

 

[SeanTHEMEAST21]

I'm black as well but moved here from Texas. I already knew there was a huge base of Cowboy fans here in DC before I came here but was skeptical that it was that huge. I've been shocked at the amount out here. There are TONS of Cowboy fans here. They sell Cowboy merchandise in the stores along skins merchandise. People have flags flying around in their cars. I seen a shirt that says D.C. stands for Dallas Cowboys with the Capital behind it. skins fans are annoyed by this and when I tell them I'm from Texas, they usually say nothing else. They don't mind Cowboy fans from Texas or neighboring states. But they don't care for Cowboy fans that's never been to Texas.

I've heard the story as well but I don't think it matters with the younger generation. There are still thousands of Cowboy fans here. One reason I heard is that the skins never do anything. Another said they are boring. I think the Cowboys are without a doubt, the second largest base here in DC with the Steelers coming in third.

I can't believe I registered for a cowboys forum...ugh

Not a troll, just googled the "DC stands for Dallas Cowboys" shirt... terrible, terrible thing. They have just as much, if not more, cowboys merchandise at the little off-brand stands around the malls here in DC. What that suggests is beyond me... haha *cough* BAMMAS *cough cough*. My friend, who is a cowboys fan (with connections to texas), was looking for stuff to buy at these stands when he came across these shirts.

However, he said he could not ever buy that shirt because he loves DC for what it is... which I respect and admire tremendously. He gets his fair share of trash talk but he just acknowledges it as part of the culture. He likes the caps, and would be equally as blown if there was some shirt claiming flyers or pens territory in DC. How do you guys feel about this? I know there's plenty of Commanders fans down there, but even if there were more nobody would claim Dallas as Commanders territory.

As for the race thing, I'm sure that George Preston Marshall was a big reason for many black DC residents to root for the cowboys, but don't forget that it was Jack Kent Cooke and Joe Gibbs that took us to all those superbowls and Doug Williams became the first (and so far, only) black quarterback to win a superbowl. I think that proves that in this case, since the 70s, race has no longer been an issue for Commanders fans (unless you're an offended native american, of course).


...By the way StylisticS, you may want to change your sig... (" see, the love is gone with one another, it's hard
nobody rep for the skins, they busy cheering them stars" - - DC Rapper WALE)

because Wale is a die-hard Skins fan and that line is referring to the lost and scrambled identity of DC, its a negative reference to the cowboys... get your facts straight ;-) Glad you're still listening though.

 

[NextGenBoys]

Hmm... That very well could be why the Commanders have a huge following too.

No matter, I still hate them... ...though it does make me think. I know only one fan of the Commanders that is white. (he is from the DC area) The rest are all black. That seems to dispute your claim.

btw, lazy type is for lazy *** Commander fans. Don't ever type bc for because again.

Thanks, and goodnight.

So he cant abbreviate because, but you can abbreviate by the way lol?

 

[CowboysFaninBaltimore]

I moved to Chevy Chase, Maryland(Which is right on the borderline of NW DC) at the age of 8. Let me just say this, I'm glad I wasn't raised a Commanders fan! Their fanbase spews this stupid phoney semi-politically charged toxic rants against anything Cowboys related. They even bag on our cheerleaders! I think it comes from 5 decades of Dallas owning them. Just a couple of days ago I had some idiot from a bar I go too tell me "Dallas Sucks go Skins!!!!" I don't even care! The Commanders are the least of our problems these days. Although I STILL hate them with a bloody passion.

 

[SeanTHEMEAST21]

I moved to Chevy Chase, Maryland(Which is right on the borderline of NW DC) at the age of 8. Let me just say this, I'm glad I wasn't raised a Commanders fan! Their fanbase spews this stupid phoney semi-politically charged toxic rants against anything Cowboys related. They even bag on our cheerleaders! I think it comes from 5 decades of Dallas owning them. Just a couple of days ago I had some idiot from a bar I go too tell me "Dallas Sucks go Skins!!!!" I don't even care! The Commanders are the least of our problems these days. Although I STILL hate them with a bloody passion.

Um....

a) it's Dallas week.

2. you're a Dallas fan and,

d) What do you expect to happen when you rep the cowboys in skins territory? we see too many of you so it makes it that much more bitter for us. at least we're not eagles fans and jump you just for seeing your jersey. all the dude said was dallas sucks... if youre really THAT sensitive you shouldnt be watching football at all