2 Teams, 2 Chances to Lose

I’ve been a Dallas Cowboy fan since I was a child. I’m not sure why I chose to pull for the Cowboys but it may have been the fact that I liked the idea of being a cowboy with a gun belt shooting outlaws. Who knows. I remember listening to one specific game, as a child, with the Cowboys playing in a playoff game on my little gray A.M. radio as I was supposed to be going to sleep. They were losing and it wasn’t good. It was back in the days when Danny White was the quarterback, but he was playing so bad that the crowd began to chant for “Dandy” Don Meredith to come out of the commentator booth and quarterback the cowboys. They lost that game. I’m not even sure who they were playing, but if wikipedia is correct, it may have been back in 1985 when they lost to the L.A. Rams 20-0.

Oh, those were the days, back when the NFL didn’t mind letting games broadcast over the radio and wouldn’t make you miss a game on TV just so they can push their own NFL channel that they charge so much for that Time Warner won’t even provide it! But I digress.

Now, since the advent of the Carolina Panthers, my allegiance swings between the 2 of them, but my passions still run deep for the Cowboys. In fact, now I say that I pull for whoever is having the better season. And it seems that the Panthers were that team this 2008 season. But even they managed to disappoint me as they were shut out by the Cardinals last night 33-13. I wish it had been closer, so at least I could say they fought a valiant fight. But it was pretty much a massacre, with 5 interceptions and a fumble.

And the Cowboys, well, they pretty much just fell apart this season into something that didn’t even look much like a team. It’s funny, they probably had the one of the best chances of going to the Superbowl this year when the year started, but they played so bad that they didn’t even make the playoffs. Don’t get me wrong, their defense actually looked pretty good in the second half of the season, but the offense couldn’t muster many points in the face of opposing defenses. In fact, as I see it, their offense is in shambles at this point. I love Romo, but he had trouble getting the ball to his receivers accurately, and when he did, they had trouble catching it. Thanks T.O. At this point I don’t think I’ve ever been so disgusted with the Cowboys.

But, as always, I will be hoping that next year both the Cowboys and the Panthers can fix their problems and get back to the playoffs. Meanwhile, I’ll be paying some attention to the Tarheels, who is currently losing to Wake Forest 81-73 with 3:30 still on the clock, and dreading baseball season which I have no real passions for at all.

I hope August comes soon. Go Cowboys!