Hello all,Just got through watching the final game of the Dallas Cowboy's season. They lost to the two win (now 3 wins) Detroit Lions. Apparently the hole in Texas Stadium is there as a vent for the smell..because they stink! (sports humor...zing!)
There was a time that I was a huge Cowboy's fan. They were my first and only team. As a kid, I would wait every year to get the free McDonald's team poster, put it on my wall and memorize the players. My room was all football, NFL logo bedspread, pennants on the wall etc. My family lived and died with the cowboys, race home from church on Sunday, watch the game and then head out to the yard to pass the football with my brother..(I was always Roger Staubach). Later, as an adult, I had a pre-game ritual that consisted of sitting down to watch the game no later than 30 minutes prior to the game, while wearing a cowboy sweatshirt, t-shirt and..I kid you not..cowboy's boxers, (under a pair of pants of course). I had a authentic NFL football that I had to hold the entire time the game was on and I couldn't leave the room during the game..(Ladies, is any of this OCD behavior turning you on? The line forms to the left) Granted (we) won three super bowls in four years, so I felt it was worth it...I still feel I should get a ring..don't get me started.
But now I find the entire experience of watching football to be less than satisfying. I'll occasionally watch a game, but the passion has long since left. There are many reasons, the hyper-commercialized feel of the game, the massive amounts of media coverage, fantasy football overload etc...all of these have helped dull my intrest for the sport.
I did however, have the game on yesterday and from time to time would look up to see what was going on. That is until my latest annoyance, my kryptonite, came on the television..those life force draining spots for Chevy trucks..John Mellencamp's "This is our country" ad campaign. These 30 second spikes through the head are filled with the sentimental images of puppies, bald eagles, parades, apple pies cooling on the windowsill and of course flags, lots and lots of flags..American ones. For those of you unfamiliar with Mr Mellencamp's work, this Chevy song is very similar to his previous spelling song, "R-O-C-K in the -U-S-A...rockin' in the USA"....minus the complexity.
Oh well, football may have changed, but I'll always have my memories. Every once and a while, when I'm feeling nostalgic, I like to put on those old Dallas Cowboy's boxers and run out into the street, giggling like a child as I toss my old football high into the air. Eventually yes, the approaching sounds of the police siren, the inevitable sting of the pepper-spray will remind me that I do live in a heavily populated area and I maybe should have worn pants..but not now.. for now I am lost in the childhood memory of being the quarterback on another Super Bowl winning Cowboy team.
Happy New Year everyone.
s
