What's it like to be a Cowboys fan now compared to before?

[MarionBarberThe4th]

My own fellow fans annoy me way more than before.

Why?

 

[Boyzmamacita]

My fanaticism has probably grown with age and I do miss those invincible days of the 70s and 90s. I have mellowed as far as how bad losses affect me, but being a Cowboys fan means that every loss is rubbed in your face by the media. I don't think this dynamic exists for other fans. If the Bears lose, their fans can say "Oh well, better luck next week", but if the Cowboys lose it's shouted from the mountain tops. On the other hand, wins are downplayed and gloom is predicted for the future. I guess I should just stay away from the media, but I crave Cowboys news. The cure will be winning another Super Bowl. The beauty of that is no one can say a damn thing about your team afterwards. Not a damn thing. I can't wait for our young fans to experience it.

 

[DallasEast]

how has your cowboy fandom changed over the years

My love and loyalty has always been centered on the franchise, which is a good thing since players, coaches and even owners come and go. My fandom has never wavered but has continually grown for this reason. My perception has changed or evolved over the years in consideration of what the definition of fandom means to others.

In my youth, I thought the concept was harmonious. It's not and never was. Of course, humanity itself has always been enormously varied philosophically and the individual interpretation of fandom is not an exception within that diversity.

The short answer would be my fandom hasn't changed at all but what I conceive as fandom in others has changed immensely.

 

[haleyrules]

I bleed silver and bluish green.

 

[haleyrules]

Watched the Cowboys since the 60's. Its always been a rollercoaster ride with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Its been a great ride with the greatest memories.

 

[Longboysfan]

how has your cowboy fandom changed over the years

It's always been a roller coaster.

But.....

A great ride. Bends - turns - up's - Downs (although there have not bee a lot of downs).

 

[GhostOfPelluer]

I used to live and die with the Cowboys. A loss would ruin my week. A playoff loss would ruin my mood for a month.

I still follow really closely but my emotional attachment isn't nearly as strong. After covering the NFL for a bit I realized that too many players are just collecting a paycheck and aren't really emotionally invested. It's way more business than I used to realize. Not that I totally blame them, for the most part owners treat players like commodities and not like people.

So even though I still love the game and root for the team, I'm not going to punch any walls when things go poorly.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I don’t think it has changed very much other than gaining a little more knowledge of what the organization and the coaches are trying to do and what other organizations and coaches do and their philosophies. This allows me to make more accurate judgments where in the past I may freak out over something insignificant and not be positive on something that is a good sign and vice versa.


I’ve never liked the media in Dallas since I used to get the DMN and FWST at the newsstand back in the late 80’s. I tend to dislike the local media even more these days, but I understand that the FWST needs to be more negative and controversial to drive more readership than the much bigger DMN. And because ESPN plays such a larger role in pro sports these days and my perspective on ESPN is so terrible, it’s made learning about the team even more tedious and having to dig further. It does hamper the enjoyment of rooting for and following the team when the media loves nothing more than to make the Cowboys the butt of their jokes and get the fans in an uproar…meanwhile actual important information doesn’t get reported.


Other than that, I’ve always been a huge Emmitt fan but I realize how much I miss him as a player and just how great he was. Troy is dead to me and I have become to appreciate Tom Landry even more (which I didn't think was possible).





YR

 

[cowboyblue22]

have been a fan since the late 60's the 70's and early 90's were golden times of the dallas cowboys and the nfl in general now its all about the money and the show I get over the loses the pretty easy now because I don't have a lot of expectations I just realize its all a show and the money is tops and every thing is come together around that

 

[Boyzmamacita]

I don’t think it has changed very much other than gaining a little more knowledge of what the organization and the coaches are trying to do and what other organizations and coaches do and their philosophies. This allows me to make more accurate judgments where in the past I may freak out over something insignificant and not be positive on something that is a good sign and vice versa.


I’ve never liked the media in Dallas since I used to get the DMN and FWST at the newsstand back in the late 80’s. I tend to dislike the local media even more these days, but I understand that the FWST needs to be more negative and controversial to drive more readership than the much bigger DMN. And because ESPN plays such a larger role in pro sports these days and my perspective on ESPN is so terrible, it’s made learning about the team even more tedious and having to dig further. It does hamper the enjoyment of rooting for and following the team when the media loves nothing more than to make the Cowboys the butt of their jokes and get the fans in an uproar…meanwhile actual important information doesn’t get reported.


Other than that, I’ve always been a huge Emmitt fan but I realize how much I miss him as a player and just how great he was. Troy is dead to me and I have become to appreciate Tom Landry even more (which I didn't think was possible).





YR

Why is Troy dead to you? He's too talkative as an analyst and I don't like it when he and Buck announce our games (one overcompensates for being a former Cowboy; the other is just a jerk), but I will always love Troy for what he did for us.

 

[willia451]

Is this something you think should change or is wrong?

Not necessarily. Times have changed.

But for me at least, it was just a lot easier to care about the team when the players stayed on your team for 8, 10, 12 years and all stayed together for the most part. It was like they were part of your family in a sense. It was easier to feel like you had a tangible stake in their successes and failures.

You felt really great for them when they had success. And were really, really low when they failed.

I've only been to the new Cowboys stadium one time. And I live in Fort Worth. Its like a mall. Its not a football stadium. Its an entertainment complex. Complete with big screen TVs, stores, and go-go dances in the windows.

I'll never go back.

Maybe its just me. Just showing my age I guess.

 

[BourbonBalz]

I'm still just as big of a fan as I was back in 1970-71. I was only 8 or 9 years old then when I first became a fan. I'm probably even more fanatical now. The biggest change has obviously been free agency. Back in the day, you knew all of the players and there was very little roster turnover from year to year, especially among the better players. It just seemed like you identified with the individual players much more because they were on the team for so many years. As great as the 90's were, there was just a different type of mystic surrounding the Cowboys in the 70's. Maybe it's just because I was a kid then.

 

[CIWhitefish]

I don't think anything has changed from my first game in 1978 until now from my own standpoint. What's changed is the same thing that's changed for everything else in this country....the increase of media coverage and polarization of the people who consume it. Over time people move into two camps and there is very little of us in between...just like politics or anything else that gets a lot of attention.

 

[MileyDancer]

I been one since day one and have this to say about your comments.

You ain't doin' it right.

I'm not doing what right? Commenting (giving opinions) on a message board? Is there like an online class I can take? Do you, perhaps, teach by the hour? I can pay you in cigarettes. I don't smoke. It's the currency in the trailer park we use to rent the dial-up Internet here.

 

[Redball Express]

how has your cowboy fandom changed over the years

We used to have more big rivalries.

When they had coaches on the other side like Lombardi, George Allen, Buddy Ryan, Parcells and other well-known coaches playing against us..

there was alot more stuff going on.

Not so much now.

This generation of coaches is less of the leaders of their teams.

They are game managers now.

Very different.

 

[T-RO]

I agree with some of the not-as-good-back-in-the-day comments. I'm not a fan of the seflie cel phone culture and some of the other cultural changes.

But let me push back on that a little:
-All the changes in personnel and free agency give us a lot more to talk about
-The amount of news and youTube videos and blogs and insightful stats is way higher
-I love the HD and 4k broadcasts of games
-The higher scoring games with more passing are more entertaining
-It's easy to watch most any game you want and find old games on YouTube

You can go back and watch games from the eighties...and there were some pretty ugly games. Nostalgia has a way of changing our perspective.

 

[TheDuke]

my interest and die hard level was never the same after the 2007 season.

I can't stand to be around other cowboys fans either.

 

[pugilist]

early 80s when we sucked I didn't care, I was like 5 - 9 years old, but remember both parents always yelling at the TV. I was like whatever, I'm going to jump sand dunes on my bike with my neighborhood friends
the 90s were awesome (obviously), but I think I took them for granted. In hindsight I wish I would've soaked in the glory more. I thought they'd win the SB for the next decade (lmao)
the 00s I cared and yelled a lot and was depressed until Romo started... a glimmer of hope
the 10s it's been up and down. Right now I'd say I have a positive outlook on the franchise (granted certain personnel remain in tact)

 

[waldoputty]

cannot decide if this season is more like the 1991 season or the 1992 season.
still remember saving all the newspaper clippings starting with the draft of 1991.
the 2017 draft was more like the draft of 1992 with the kevin smith and woodson, but we did not nail the war draft trade of haley.
even with the 13-3 record, team seems to be more like the team before 1991 draft of maryland, harper, edwards, myles and williams.
still not quite sure.

 

[Vintage]

Mainly, when someone sees me in a Cowboys shirt or my Cowboys hat and introduces themselves as a Cowboy fan, I walk right past them without acknowledging them.