Hostile
The Duke
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A long time ago I had a dream of playing for the Dallas Cowboys. Like the song said, "I was Roger Staubach in my back yard..." Well, for me that extended to the street where as the biggest kid in the neighborhood I had to be all time Quarterback or no one wanted to play. One of the other teams was always the Eagles and the other was the Commanders. That way the Cowboys always beat one of them in my imagination.
But I didn't just pretend to be Roger. I used to run through the desert in New Mexico with a football in the crook of my arm. The greasewood and mesquite bushes were the Commanders or the Eagles Defense and I was Tony Dorsett. If the leaves or limbs touched me I was tackled. It was a great game until one day I turned a corner to discover a 6 foot long rattlesnake. I was running full blast into it. I say it because there was no way I wanted to get close enough to determine male or female. All I knew was that I had to jump over a very big snake just as it curled up and rattled.
Fear is great for adrenaline. I broke a world record that day. From where I took off to where I landed was a jump neither Bob Beamon nor Carl Lewis could have done. At least not without my snake under them. I walked through the desert to the nearest road and ran home on the road, never to run through the desert with a football again.
Just about everyone knew these were my dreams. Some jokingly called them my nightmares. Alice Cooper sang it just the way I think it.
Welcome to my nightmare
I think you're gonna like it
I think you're gonna feel you belong
We sweat, laugh and scream here
Cuz life is just a dream here
You know inside you feel right at home
Here is where we all as Cowboys fans dream of being. In the playoffs, slightly feared and even slightly fearful because there's always a little bit of danger lurking near. I confess I like it. Nothing restores my dreams quite like the Cowboys in the post season. If these are my nightmares I do feel I belong.
The greatness of the Cowboys gives most of us old timers a sense of entitlement. We dwell too much on the glory of the past because it was so full and fulfilling. In 1966 the Cowboys had their first winning season. That was the first of 20 straight winning seasons that saw us go to 5 Super Bowls and play for an amazing 12 NFC Championships. We won our division 13 times in that stretch of 20 years.
Forgive me, I have told this next part before, but it feels relevant to tell it again. In 1988 I stood at the bedside of my grandmother as she lay dying. We had a bond that formed in 1983. That bond was the Dallas Cowboys. Her husband had played for and been employed by the Packers for many years. She hated football.
In the Summer of 1983 I was at her home and the Cowboys were playing the Steelers in preseason. She came and sat down on the couch next to me and asked me why I wasn't swimming with the other kids. In her hand was a glass of bourbon and she was already feeling no pain. I assured here that I did not want to swim while the game was on. That baffled her. She asked me to explain "this damned game" to her. She was married to a football man and didn't know the game. That baffled me.
I tried to, but it was impossible through the laughter. You see, for some reason my Grandma got excited about the Cowboys. At the snap of the ball she was jumping off the couch, careful not to spill her bourbon, and yelling "kill him! Break his legs!" And a lot of other wild comments that I had never heard from her before. We had a ball. It is probably my all time favorite football game and I don't even remember who won because I have never cared about the pre season.
I know it was 1983 because Bill Bates was a rookie. John Madden and Pat Summerall were doing the game. They started talking about Landry's admiration of Bates who would "hit anything." On one play Franco Harris got a handoff and he barreled up the middle and right over Bates. I still remember John Madden's exact words. "Mr. Bates, welcome to the NFL." My Grandma told John to shut the hell up.
On the next play Bill Bates blitzed and he hit Franco about the same time the ball hit his belly. After the play I remember 3 things. I remember Franco Harris retrieving his shoes because Bill Bates knocked him out of them. I remember John Madden saying, "Mr. Harris, welcome back to the NFL." I remember my Grandma yelling at the TV as Franco headed to the sidelines.
I have serious doubts that my Grandma became a football junkie like me. But she followed the Cowboys from that day on. When we talked we always talked about the Cowboys and my dreams. She knew how they were doing so I know she at least looked at the standings in the Albuquerque Journal. It became a bond between us.
1988 the Cowboys were not doing so well. I think we were either 2-6 or 2-7 at the time. I know it was late October when we were summoned to come say our goodbyes. I was the last grandchild to go in and see her. She said, "oh Mike, what are we going to do about our Cowboys?" The last thing I told her was that we were going to Draft Troy Aikman the QB at UCLA and win a couple more Super Bowls. She smiled, squeezed my hand, and went to sleep. That was the last thing she ever said to me, or me to her.
In 1992 the Cowboys, led by Troy Aikman, ended a 15 year Super Bowl drought. It wasn't a post season drought like we are in now. We did win some post season games in the interim. My wife was pregnant with our first child at the time. I kept begging our daughter not to be born during the Super Bowl. At halftime Michael Jackson was the show and we thought my wife was going into labor. She was just kicking to the beat of Billie Jean. I was a nervous wreck.
In 1993 Troy Aikman and company finished the business of fulfilling my death bed promise to my Grandma. I remember when the game was over and the post game was all wrapped up I went outside on the balcony of our apartment. It was dark and a bit of a chill in the air. I looked up to heaven and said, "Grandma, they did it." Even now I remember the warmth of my tears on my cold face and the smile that was plastered on my ugly mush.
There is a feeling in the air around me that we are back from the dead. In 2007 I thought that was the year. I am not really talking about the Super Bowl. I don't want the cart in front of the horse. I want to win this week more than I want a Super Bowl right now. Oh don't get me wrong, the Steelers winning their 6th before we got there pisses me off more than the Guidelines here will let me state.
I don't want to fast forward to a Super Bowl. I would like the Cowboys to deliver a little pain along the way. I can't think of a more deserving fanbase than Eagles fans. Last week was just an appetizer. Get ready for the main course.
They're going to sweat, we're going to laugh, and then they're going to scream. They will feel right at home because we own them. It will be familiar. Welcome to my nightmare. I think you're gonna like it.
We do belong.
But I didn't just pretend to be Roger. I used to run through the desert in New Mexico with a football in the crook of my arm. The greasewood and mesquite bushes were the Commanders or the Eagles Defense and I was Tony Dorsett. If the leaves or limbs touched me I was tackled. It was a great game until one day I turned a corner to discover a 6 foot long rattlesnake. I was running full blast into it. I say it because there was no way I wanted to get close enough to determine male or female. All I knew was that I had to jump over a very big snake just as it curled up and rattled.
Fear is great for adrenaline. I broke a world record that day. From where I took off to where I landed was a jump neither Bob Beamon nor Carl Lewis could have done. At least not without my snake under them. I walked through the desert to the nearest road and ran home on the road, never to run through the desert with a football again.
Just about everyone knew these were my dreams. Some jokingly called them my nightmares. Alice Cooper sang it just the way I think it.
Welcome to my nightmare
I think you're gonna like it
I think you're gonna feel you belong
We sweat, laugh and scream here
Cuz life is just a dream here
You know inside you feel right at home
Here is where we all as Cowboys fans dream of being. In the playoffs, slightly feared and even slightly fearful because there's always a little bit of danger lurking near. I confess I like it. Nothing restores my dreams quite like the Cowboys in the post season. If these are my nightmares I do feel I belong.
The greatness of the Cowboys gives most of us old timers a sense of entitlement. We dwell too much on the glory of the past because it was so full and fulfilling. In 1966 the Cowboys had their first winning season. That was the first of 20 straight winning seasons that saw us go to 5 Super Bowls and play for an amazing 12 NFC Championships. We won our division 13 times in that stretch of 20 years.
Forgive me, I have told this next part before, but it feels relevant to tell it again. In 1988 I stood at the bedside of my grandmother as she lay dying. We had a bond that formed in 1983. That bond was the Dallas Cowboys. Her husband had played for and been employed by the Packers for many years. She hated football.
In the Summer of 1983 I was at her home and the Cowboys were playing the Steelers in preseason. She came and sat down on the couch next to me and asked me why I wasn't swimming with the other kids. In her hand was a glass of bourbon and she was already feeling no pain. I assured here that I did not want to swim while the game was on. That baffled her. She asked me to explain "this damned game" to her. She was married to a football man and didn't know the game. That baffled me.
I tried to, but it was impossible through the laughter. You see, for some reason my Grandma got excited about the Cowboys. At the snap of the ball she was jumping off the couch, careful not to spill her bourbon, and yelling "kill him! Break his legs!" And a lot of other wild comments that I had never heard from her before. We had a ball. It is probably my all time favorite football game and I don't even remember who won because I have never cared about the pre season.
I know it was 1983 because Bill Bates was a rookie. John Madden and Pat Summerall were doing the game. They started talking about Landry's admiration of Bates who would "hit anything." On one play Franco Harris got a handoff and he barreled up the middle and right over Bates. I still remember John Madden's exact words. "Mr. Bates, welcome to the NFL." My Grandma told John to shut the hell up.
On the next play Bill Bates blitzed and he hit Franco about the same time the ball hit his belly. After the play I remember 3 things. I remember Franco Harris retrieving his shoes because Bill Bates knocked him out of them. I remember John Madden saying, "Mr. Harris, welcome back to the NFL." I remember my Grandma yelling at the TV as Franco headed to the sidelines.
I have serious doubts that my Grandma became a football junkie like me. But she followed the Cowboys from that day on. When we talked we always talked about the Cowboys and my dreams. She knew how they were doing so I know she at least looked at the standings in the Albuquerque Journal. It became a bond between us.
1988 the Cowboys were not doing so well. I think we were either 2-6 or 2-7 at the time. I know it was late October when we were summoned to come say our goodbyes. I was the last grandchild to go in and see her. She said, "oh Mike, what are we going to do about our Cowboys?" The last thing I told her was that we were going to Draft Troy Aikman the QB at UCLA and win a couple more Super Bowls. She smiled, squeezed my hand, and went to sleep. That was the last thing she ever said to me, or me to her.
In 1992 the Cowboys, led by Troy Aikman, ended a 15 year Super Bowl drought. It wasn't a post season drought like we are in now. We did win some post season games in the interim. My wife was pregnant with our first child at the time. I kept begging our daughter not to be born during the Super Bowl. At halftime Michael Jackson was the show and we thought my wife was going into labor. She was just kicking to the beat of Billie Jean. I was a nervous wreck.
In 1993 Troy Aikman and company finished the business of fulfilling my death bed promise to my Grandma. I remember when the game was over and the post game was all wrapped up I went outside on the balcony of our apartment. It was dark and a bit of a chill in the air. I looked up to heaven and said, "Grandma, they did it." Even now I remember the warmth of my tears on my cold face and the smile that was plastered on my ugly mush.
There is a feeling in the air around me that we are back from the dead. In 2007 I thought that was the year. I am not really talking about the Super Bowl. I don't want the cart in front of the horse. I want to win this week more than I want a Super Bowl right now. Oh don't get me wrong, the Steelers winning their 6th before we got there pisses me off more than the Guidelines here will let me state.
I don't want to fast forward to a Super Bowl. I would like the Cowboys to deliver a little pain along the way. I can't think of a more deserving fanbase than Eagles fans. Last week was just an appetizer. Get ready for the main course.
They're going to sweat, we're going to laugh, and then they're going to scream. They will feel right at home because we own them. It will be familiar. Welcome to my nightmare. I think you're gonna like it.
We do belong.
Awesome simply awesome.
