Hostile
The Duke
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Everyone knows I hate Kickers. Well, I prefer them to the Commanders. Just like the theme song dcfanatic plays for me sometimes when I appear on his radio show says, "the Commanders suck."
This primer isn't going to rehash some of the previous primers I've given you for the Commanders. In the past I have talked to you about the Commanders racist past, a stupid Commanders fan who didn't know crap about the History of his team, and about how Clint Murchison took George Preston Marshall to the woodshed and whipped him at every turn to secure a team for Dallas.
I don't want to bore you with repeating these stories. Even though I love telling them because they make Skins fans so apoplectic.
So I wanted to focus this primer in a slightly different direction. Unfortunately I ran into a partial brick wall. I asked percyhoward and AdamJT13 if they know where to find some missing information I was looking for. If they find it I will update this post.
I thought I'd tell you a little bit about Sunday Night Football. In 1987 ESPN started broadcasting a game on Sunday nights for the last part of the season. ESPN was trying to get a foot in the NFL pie and make their cable package more valuable. The NFL Network is following this blueprint in trying to bring their coverage into the mainstream.
This strategy by ESPN continued for the last half of the season until 1989. The next season TNT got into the picture too. They broadcast the Sunday night game for the first half of the season then ESPN took over for the 2nd half of the season.
TNT continued this way until the year 1997. In 1998 ESPN took over and had weekly Sunday night games. This continued until 2005.
During this period of time the Sunday night games weren't really the prime time game they are now. They were the stepping stones though and gradually the NFL started giving ESPN decent games to broadcast and ESPN made the most of it.
When ABC lost Al Michaels and John Madden to NBC it marked a rise in the NFL of a prime time game. Sunday Night Football went from an evening service on a rising network to a major part of the NFL fan experience. In 2006 Sunday Night Football hit the big leagues.
ESPN struck a counter blow by getting the contract for Monday Night Football. The cable conglomerate hit prime time. It started with them broadcasting on Sunday nights.
The Cowboys struggled when the SNF games were not yet the big leagues, but since SNF moved to prime time and NBC they have been the best in the NFL.
There is one issue. I can't find ESPN's results for 1991, 1992, and 1993. So these numbers may not be exactly correct.
The Cowboys are 5-12 in the games aired by ESPN and TNT. One of these wins was a highlight for Cowboys fans. In 1989 the Cowboys lone win of the Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones genesis was the SNF win over the Washington Commanders, 13-3. In fact two of the Cowboys 5 wins in those seasons were over the Commanders.
When the games switched to NBC in 2006 the Cowboys fortunes changed. Their record on NBC is 9-3 and they are 1-1 this year. The Giants opened our new house with a loss. We rebounded with a win over the Eagles in Philly.
This is the 4th time the Cowboys and Commanders will face each other on Sunday night. The record stands at 3-0.
With the Cowboys game being played on Saturday night and the Commanders on Monday Night it means we have an extra 2 days over them to recover for the matchup. This is vitally important to the season. One more win this year will mean we have reached double digit wins in 25 of our 50 seasons. We need the Cowboys to achieve this mark. It will mean the Cowboys have never had a decade where the winning % was .500 or lower.
Here is how each decade breaks down through Saturday's win over the Saints.
1960's...67-65-6, .508 winning %
1970's...105-39, .729 winning %
1980's...79-73, .520 winning %
1990's...101-59, .631 winning %
2000's...80-78, .506 winning % as of right now with 2 games left to play.
Winning out would be a .513 winning % for the decade. A split would be the .506 we are at now. Losing both is .500. That would suck.
I also like to look at the calendar date and see how we have done. Here's a hopefully good omen for you. Our game next week is being played on December 27th. In 1959 on that date Clint Murchison hired Tom Landry to be his future Head coach of the Cowboys. He had not even been granted a team yet, but he had his architect.
The Cowboys have played on December 27 three times. They have won all 3 games. The last time they played on this date was against the Washington Commanders. It was in 1998. They won the game 23-7 and completed the only sweep of all 4 teams by 1 team in the History of the NFC East. With the NFC East reducing to 4 teams that feat will never be accomplished again without expansion.
A win preserves a lot of positive History and it also makes the Playoffs a much better proposition.
I would be going to this game if it weren't for a lying Commanders fan and jury duty. I should have won two tickets to this game courtesy of the Cowboys 14-10 win last November. Though the loser of that bet was here in October without an explanation of any kind he has failed to pay up the bet. Typical of a Commanders fan I guess. That accent color really is yellow. I got offered a ticket by a member here and unfortunately had to turn it down. My wife got called to Federal jury duty and I could not get a flight back in time to see the game and take care of all I need to here.
I have a feeling this game will have a huge Cowboys flavor to it. This is courtesy of Dan Snyder's stupidity in thinking he can censor all negative criticism of the management of his team. Commanders fans were pissed off. Several planned to sell their tickets only to Cowboys fans hoping to embarrass Little Napoleon on National TV with a pro Cowboys crowd. They got part of their wish with the exodus of Vinny Cerato. Perhaps they will drink the Koolaid for another week and the ideas of a sea of blue in Fed Ex won't happen. I hope it will. I admit part of this is pure bitterness that I am missing out.
The all time series stands at 58-37-2. We are 25-24 in Washington, DC and 7-5 at Fed Ex Field. On top of this if we win it will be our 15th season sweep of the Commanders and first since 2004.
In other words, damn a win would feel good.
This primer isn't going to rehash some of the previous primers I've given you for the Commanders. In the past I have talked to you about the Commanders racist past, a stupid Commanders fan who didn't know crap about the History of his team, and about how Clint Murchison took George Preston Marshall to the woodshed and whipped him at every turn to secure a team for Dallas.
I don't want to bore you with repeating these stories. Even though I love telling them because they make Skins fans so apoplectic.
So I wanted to focus this primer in a slightly different direction. Unfortunately I ran into a partial brick wall. I asked percyhoward and AdamJT13 if they know where to find some missing information I was looking for. If they find it I will update this post.
I thought I'd tell you a little bit about Sunday Night Football. In 1987 ESPN started broadcasting a game on Sunday nights for the last part of the season. ESPN was trying to get a foot in the NFL pie and make their cable package more valuable. The NFL Network is following this blueprint in trying to bring their coverage into the mainstream.
This strategy by ESPN continued for the last half of the season until 1989. The next season TNT got into the picture too. They broadcast the Sunday night game for the first half of the season then ESPN took over for the 2nd half of the season.
TNT continued this way until the year 1997. In 1998 ESPN took over and had weekly Sunday night games. This continued until 2005.
During this period of time the Sunday night games weren't really the prime time game they are now. They were the stepping stones though and gradually the NFL started giving ESPN decent games to broadcast and ESPN made the most of it.
When ABC lost Al Michaels and John Madden to NBC it marked a rise in the NFL of a prime time game. Sunday Night Football went from an evening service on a rising network to a major part of the NFL fan experience. In 2006 Sunday Night Football hit the big leagues.
ESPN struck a counter blow by getting the contract for Monday Night Football. The cable conglomerate hit prime time. It started with them broadcasting on Sunday nights.
The Cowboys struggled when the SNF games were not yet the big leagues, but since SNF moved to prime time and NBC they have been the best in the NFL.
There is one issue. I can't find ESPN's results for 1991, 1992, and 1993. So these numbers may not be exactly correct.
The Cowboys are 5-12 in the games aired by ESPN and TNT. One of these wins was a highlight for Cowboys fans. In 1989 the Cowboys lone win of the Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones genesis was the SNF win over the Washington Commanders, 13-3. In fact two of the Cowboys 5 wins in those seasons were over the Commanders.
When the games switched to NBC in 2006 the Cowboys fortunes changed. Their record on NBC is 9-3 and they are 1-1 this year. The Giants opened our new house with a loss. We rebounded with a win over the Eagles in Philly.
This is the 4th time the Cowboys and Commanders will face each other on Sunday night. The record stands at 3-0.
With the Cowboys game being played on Saturday night and the Commanders on Monday Night it means we have an extra 2 days over them to recover for the matchup. This is vitally important to the season. One more win this year will mean we have reached double digit wins in 25 of our 50 seasons. We need the Cowboys to achieve this mark. It will mean the Cowboys have never had a decade where the winning % was .500 or lower.
Here is how each decade breaks down through Saturday's win over the Saints.
1960's...67-65-6, .508 winning %
1970's...105-39, .729 winning %
1980's...79-73, .520 winning %
1990's...101-59, .631 winning %
2000's...80-78, .506 winning % as of right now with 2 games left to play.
Winning out would be a .513 winning % for the decade. A split would be the .506 we are at now. Losing both is .500. That would suck.
I also like to look at the calendar date and see how we have done. Here's a hopefully good omen for you. Our game next week is being played on December 27th. In 1959 on that date Clint Murchison hired Tom Landry to be his future Head coach of the Cowboys. He had not even been granted a team yet, but he had his architect.
The Cowboys have played on December 27 three times. They have won all 3 games. The last time they played on this date was against the Washington Commanders. It was in 1998. They won the game 23-7 and completed the only sweep of all 4 teams by 1 team in the History of the NFC East. With the NFC East reducing to 4 teams that feat will never be accomplished again without expansion.
A win preserves a lot of positive History and it also makes the Playoffs a much better proposition.
I would be going to this game if it weren't for a lying Commanders fan and jury duty. I should have won two tickets to this game courtesy of the Cowboys 14-10 win last November. Though the loser of that bet was here in October without an explanation of any kind he has failed to pay up the bet. Typical of a Commanders fan I guess. That accent color really is yellow. I got offered a ticket by a member here and unfortunately had to turn it down. My wife got called to Federal jury duty and I could not get a flight back in time to see the game and take care of all I need to here.
I have a feeling this game will have a huge Cowboys flavor to it. This is courtesy of Dan Snyder's stupidity in thinking he can censor all negative criticism of the management of his team. Commanders fans were pissed off. Several planned to sell their tickets only to Cowboys fans hoping to embarrass Little Napoleon on National TV with a pro Cowboys crowd. They got part of their wish with the exodus of Vinny Cerato. Perhaps they will drink the Koolaid for another week and the ideas of a sea of blue in Fed Ex won't happen. I hope it will. I admit part of this is pure bitterness that I am missing out.
The all time series stands at 58-37-2. We are 25-24 in Washington, DC and 7-5 at Fed Ex Field. On top of this if we win it will be our 15th season sweep of the Commanders and first since 2004.
In other words, damn a win would feel good.
