Dallas Cowboys were once the NFL standard
BY TOM SORENSEN
Charlotte Observer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Bank of America Stadium will be jammed on Saturday for several reasons. The weather will be perfect. Almost nobody has to work. And if Carolina wins, it makes the playoffs for the third time in franchise history and could clinch the NFC South.
And the opponent is Dallas. Dallas is the real deal, the establishment, the team that's too big to ignore. You beat Dallas, you feel as if you accomplished something.
You feel this way even though the Cowboys have not won a playoff game since the 1996 season, or a Super Bowl since the 1995 season. Dallas has been away from the elite so long that there are 10-year-olds who think of the Cowboys the same way they think of the Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints.
But Arizona and New Orleans have never been good. The Cowboys were the best. They won five Super Bowls, three in the mid-1990s.
And there was a glitter to them. They are the team for which Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach passed, Michael Irvin and Bob Hayes caught and Emmitt Smith and Tony Dorsett ran.
Bill Parcels coaches them. Jerry Jones owns them. You only thought the Washington Redskins did.
The Cowboys gave us North Dallas Forty, Pete Gent and Dandy Don Meredith. Meredith is the one man in the history of "Monday Night Football," and the world, who could deflate the pomposity of MNF mate Howard Cosell with a simple, stinging phrase.
Who was the opponent in the two biggest home games the Panthers have played? Dallas. Carolina has hosted two playoff games, beating the Cowboys, 26-17, in 1996 and 29-10 two seasons ago.
The Panthers' cheerleaders get attention for off-duty adventures in Tampa, Fla. The adventures of the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders include entertaining the troops in Iraq.
The Cowboys are the standard for today's dance lines. The next time you think about white vinyl boots, which you probably won't today because it is Dec. 24 but might start again Dec.26, remember the Cowboys cheerleaders. These women single-handedly kept a once thriving fashion institution alive. Without them, white vinyl I don't even want to think about it.
OK, so the Cowboys are like the rock group the Eagles in that they get attention for what they used to be. Here's their record since 1997: 6-10 that season, 10-6, 8-8, 5-11, 5-11, 5-11, 10-6 and 6-10 last season.
This season, they are an 8-6 team in an 8-6 conference. Of course they have talent. But the offensive line is so fragile, the Cowboys ought to be negotiating with the parole officer of former Cowboy (and Panther) Nate Newton.
The Cowboys still can make the playoffs. But they have to win Saturday.
Carolina has to win if it wants to leave the NFC's middle class, a neighborhood that includes every team in the conference with a winning record except Seattle.
Although the Panthers are only 11 seasons old, they have established a nice little tradition. They have twice ended the season of the Cowboys.
They will have accomplished something if they do it again Saturday.
Charlotte Observer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Bank of America Stadium will be jammed on Saturday for several reasons. The weather will be perfect. Almost nobody has to work. And if Carolina wins, it makes the playoffs for the third time in franchise history and could clinch the NFC South.
And the opponent is Dallas. Dallas is the real deal, the establishment, the team that's too big to ignore. You beat Dallas, you feel as if you accomplished something.
You feel this way even though the Cowboys have not won a playoff game since the 1996 season, or a Super Bowl since the 1995 season. Dallas has been away from the elite so long that there are 10-year-olds who think of the Cowboys the same way they think of the Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints.
But Arizona and New Orleans have never been good. The Cowboys were the best. They won five Super Bowls, three in the mid-1990s.
And there was a glitter to them. They are the team for which Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach passed, Michael Irvin and Bob Hayes caught and Emmitt Smith and Tony Dorsett ran.
Bill Parcels coaches them. Jerry Jones owns them. You only thought the Washington Redskins did.
The Cowboys gave us North Dallas Forty, Pete Gent and Dandy Don Meredith. Meredith is the one man in the history of "Monday Night Football," and the world, who could deflate the pomposity of MNF mate Howard Cosell with a simple, stinging phrase.
Who was the opponent in the two biggest home games the Panthers have played? Dallas. Carolina has hosted two playoff games, beating the Cowboys, 26-17, in 1996 and 29-10 two seasons ago.
The Panthers' cheerleaders get attention for off-duty adventures in Tampa, Fla. The adventures of the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders include entertaining the troops in Iraq.
The Cowboys are the standard for today's dance lines. The next time you think about white vinyl boots, which you probably won't today because it is Dec. 24 but might start again Dec.26, remember the Cowboys cheerleaders. These women single-handedly kept a once thriving fashion institution alive. Without them, white vinyl I don't even want to think about it.
OK, so the Cowboys are like the rock group the Eagles in that they get attention for what they used to be. Here's their record since 1997: 6-10 that season, 10-6, 8-8, 5-11, 5-11, 5-11, 10-6 and 6-10 last season.
This season, they are an 8-6 team in an 8-6 conference. Of course they have talent. But the offensive line is so fragile, the Cowboys ought to be negotiating with the parole officer of former Cowboy (and Panther) Nate Newton.
The Cowboys still can make the playoffs. But they have to win Saturday.
Carolina has to win if it wants to leave the NFC's middle class, a neighborhood that includes every team in the conference with a winning record except Seattle.
Although the Panthers are only 11 seasons old, they have established a nice little tradition. They have twice ended the season of the Cowboys.
They will have accomplished something if they do it again Saturday.
posted by The Gryphon at 9:00 AM
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