I’m all in on the upcoming free agency period. I believe we will sign some LBs and linemen.
I‘m all in on the draft. I believe we will bring in players based on the FA signings that will improve the team for 2024 and beyond.
I will eventually be all in on the 2024 season, sometime by August 2024.
Naive, dumb, maybe worse. That’s just who I am.
I‘m 67 years old, and since I was 9 years old, I’ve been a baseball fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, a basketball fan of the New York Knicks, and a football fan of the Dallas Cowboys.
I’ve been a proud fan through all the glorious championship seasons of each franchise and a long suffering fan through the horrible laughing stock years of those three franchises. There have been many many seasons in all three sports when I knew my team was not the best, sometimes closer to the worst, but there was always hope on opening day, always hope that they’d make the playoffs so I could watch my team in the post-season, and there have been many years when that didn’t happen and the postseason had no allure, so I pulled for my team to ruin someone else’s dream as the seasons drew to a close. Even with the long seasons of baseball and basketball, I have never purposely missed watching one of my teams play when on TV no matter how bad they were.
I don’t love everything or everyone. I couldn’t stand Duane Thomas because he wasn’t a team player and because I loved Calvin Hill and his running style, all elbows and knees. I cursed Parcells on every 2nd down run that got stuffed after a first down inc pass because everyone watching knew we were running after an inc pass. I hated both Jerry and Jimmy for what they did. I’ve been disgusted with every offseason when every fan knew we needed to improve the OL and the defense but didn’t. Nothing has embarrassed me more than the way Arizona, Miami, Buffalo, SF, and GB ran the ball down our throats this season.
More importantly, even if Dallas does nothing to improve the run game or the defense for 2024, I’ll still be excited about every game, no matter what our record. I’ll cherish anytime the network or streaming app broadcasts the national anthem from Dallas with the lone trumpet player featured, followed by the helmets with the star appearing from a tunnel. That’s just who I am. I know the franchise hasn’t won anything more than a divisional title since 1995. I see the disfunction in the front office. I’ve watched the Bobby Carpenters and Taco Charltons come and go. I see us win because of certain players one week and lose because of them the next. I’ve seen Hall of Fame coaches on the sideline for Dallas, along with guys who never did better than 5 wins.
I‘m as frustrated as any fan by the two #1 seed teams in the NFC that lost their first playoff games despite two different teams, coaches, QBs, etc. But I’m still all in on the offseason and the 2024 season because …… well, I know no other way. I cannot become a fan of any other teams. I cannot live in negative misery for more than a few days at a time after a loss. That’s what I loved about sports when I played them and what I love about golf, the only thing I can still do. There’s always the next day, the next game, the next round or shot, the hope of improvement.. The Dallas Cowboys have made me happy when they were the bottom of their division and when they won Super Bowls. When the time comes to rebuild and we stink, I’ll still enjoy a valiant effort, the occasional win, and watching players like Bill Bates struggle to just be a part of the team.
So, yes, I’m all in! Not because I think they’ll win, not because Jerry sells me on his empty promises, not because we do this or do that, not because we pay this player or that player. I’m all in because they were My Dallas Cowboys long before they were the Jones‘s or Jimmy’s or Garrett’s or Aikman’s or Dak’s or anyone else’s. I’m all in because they are the Dallas Freakin’ Cowboys and they bring me joy.
