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Packers and Steelers, there is only one America's Team
Posted Friday, Feb. 04, 2011 25
All kinds of crazy has gone down in the lead-up to Super Bowl XLV.
We had Ice-apalooza followed by an actual snowstorm, which, since we have almost zero plan for ice other than "Hey, let's wait until it melts," led to the always fun ice hidden by snow and its corollary -- watching cars skid haphazardly because Texans, myself included, either have no clue or have forgotten how to drive on anything besides scorching hot pavement.
And visiting media types from tropical destination cities like Green Bay and Pittsburgh and Bristol, Conn., have been especially critical because Super Bowls are supposed to be sunny and warm with marshmallow kisses. Of course, NFL cities are supposed to be in places reachable by something other than covered wagon, yet the NFL has not dumped the Packers.
Outrage has been a theme. We have had outrage about Ben R going out in Fort Worth and drinking responsibly and being what sounds like a fun time. And we have outrage about the outrage in a favorite journalistic endeavor: making non-news news by talking about how it is not news.
And then there was The Situation being actually treated like a celeb by Radio Row when his only discernible talent appears to be amazing abs and a crappy MTV reality show, and SI's Peter King tweeting this Super Bowl has been a "debacle," and news from well-respected Buster Olney that Ranger types indeed have continued to shop shortstop Michael Young, despite protestations to the contrary.
OK, that last part is probably only crazy to locals.
But the craziest thing, by far, in this week is this enduring assumption that the title of America's Team needs to be transferred from the Cowboys to the Steelers. Or if not them, the Packers. The premise behind the question, which was asked almost daily in hopes Brett Keisel's beard might just go off on the subject, seems to be the Cowboys at the moment are embarrassing and thereby America needs a new team. Why not the blue-collar-ed goodness of The Rooney Family enterprise in Pittsburgh or of the very egalitarian Green Bayers?
Well, to that I say, of course we are embarrassing. And we are still America's Team.
There has been one playoff win in 14 seasons and, for the last four years of that ugly stretch, Coach Wade was being broadcast everywhere saying things like "The best team lost" and "We won the bye week." The best we can say about the owner is at least he is not that idiot Daniel Snyder, which I really hope does not get me sued. I promise idiot is meant in the most nondenominational of ways. We have been through jiving at The Joule, and T.O. accusing his quarterback and tight end of having secret meetings without him, Quincy Carter and Roy Williams and more, embarrassing then is fair.
But the Cowboys are still and always will be America's Team, probably never more so than now.
Because is there anything more American than building oneself up into an iconic standard by which all others are judged only to stumble and fall flat on your face? If we had a national theme, this would be it.
And lest anybody argue the point, the Cowboys of the 1970s and 1990s practically defined what it meant to be American. Captain America was not simply a nickname for Roger Staubach, it fit. And the Cowboys of the 1990s, with Troy and Michael and Emmitt, were equal parts flash and achievement.
Super Bowls were won. The best cheerleaders in the world were created. Fans were added from every section of the globe. Call it marketing, or hype by Tex Schramm then Jerry Jones, but it is ultimately genius. It is why the Cowboys are among the most profitable franchises in sport and why the star is one of its most enduring symbols.
Of course, it sets the bearers of the title up for kicking when hard times come like they have for the Cowboys. The haters revel in the dysfunction and misery. The locals looked a little embarrassed.
But you do not stop being America's Team because things are not going well at the moment. It makes you more one of us than ever. Americans love a train wreck -- look at Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan. We love style over substance. We love the rock star, even if he has no pants on, over the boring guy who just goes about doing his job. We love the over-the-top stadium, even when it is occupied by an underwhelming array of mediocre.
Because we know the Cowboys will be back.
That is part of the narrative we love as well, the bounce back. We love the American car companies who battle back from bankruptcy. We love anybody who overcomes anything even if what he is overcoming is his own stupidity. We even love The Bachelor who "courageously" comes back for another season to redeem himself and find true love.
So go sell crazy elsewhere.
The Cowboys are America's Team and our local embarrassment, and we love them for it.
Jennifer Floyd Engel 817-390-7697
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/02/04/2824969/sorry-packers-and-steelers-there.html?#ixzz1DCLBw3yU
Posted Friday, Feb. 04, 2011 25
All kinds of crazy has gone down in the lead-up to Super Bowl XLV.
We had Ice-apalooza followed by an actual snowstorm, which, since we have almost zero plan for ice other than "Hey, let's wait until it melts," led to the always fun ice hidden by snow and its corollary -- watching cars skid haphazardly because Texans, myself included, either have no clue or have forgotten how to drive on anything besides scorching hot pavement.
And visiting media types from tropical destination cities like Green Bay and Pittsburgh and Bristol, Conn., have been especially critical because Super Bowls are supposed to be sunny and warm with marshmallow kisses. Of course, NFL cities are supposed to be in places reachable by something other than covered wagon, yet the NFL has not dumped the Packers.
Outrage has been a theme. We have had outrage about Ben R going out in Fort Worth and drinking responsibly and being what sounds like a fun time. And we have outrage about the outrage in a favorite journalistic endeavor: making non-news news by talking about how it is not news.
And then there was The Situation being actually treated like a celeb by Radio Row when his only discernible talent appears to be amazing abs and a crappy MTV reality show, and SI's Peter King tweeting this Super Bowl has been a "debacle," and news from well-respected Buster Olney that Ranger types indeed have continued to shop shortstop Michael Young, despite protestations to the contrary.
OK, that last part is probably only crazy to locals.
But the craziest thing, by far, in this week is this enduring assumption that the title of America's Team needs to be transferred from the Cowboys to the Steelers. Or if not them, the Packers. The premise behind the question, which was asked almost daily in hopes Brett Keisel's beard might just go off on the subject, seems to be the Cowboys at the moment are embarrassing and thereby America needs a new team. Why not the blue-collar-ed goodness of The Rooney Family enterprise in Pittsburgh or of the very egalitarian Green Bayers?
Well, to that I say, of course we are embarrassing. And we are still America's Team.
There has been one playoff win in 14 seasons and, for the last four years of that ugly stretch, Coach Wade was being broadcast everywhere saying things like "The best team lost" and "We won the bye week." The best we can say about the owner is at least he is not that idiot Daniel Snyder, which I really hope does not get me sued. I promise idiot is meant in the most nondenominational of ways. We have been through jiving at The Joule, and T.O. accusing his quarterback and tight end of having secret meetings without him, Quincy Carter and Roy Williams and more, embarrassing then is fair.
But the Cowboys are still and always will be America's Team, probably never more so than now.
Because is there anything more American than building oneself up into an iconic standard by which all others are judged only to stumble and fall flat on your face? If we had a national theme, this would be it.
And lest anybody argue the point, the Cowboys of the 1970s and 1990s practically defined what it meant to be American. Captain America was not simply a nickname for Roger Staubach, it fit. And the Cowboys of the 1990s, with Troy and Michael and Emmitt, were equal parts flash and achievement.
Super Bowls were won. The best cheerleaders in the world were created. Fans were added from every section of the globe. Call it marketing, or hype by Tex Schramm then Jerry Jones, but it is ultimately genius. It is why the Cowboys are among the most profitable franchises in sport and why the star is one of its most enduring symbols.
Of course, it sets the bearers of the title up for kicking when hard times come like they have for the Cowboys. The haters revel in the dysfunction and misery. The locals looked a little embarrassed.
But you do not stop being America's Team because things are not going well at the moment. It makes you more one of us than ever. Americans love a train wreck -- look at Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan. We love style over substance. We love the rock star, even if he has no pants on, over the boring guy who just goes about doing his job. We love the over-the-top stadium, even when it is occupied by an underwhelming array of mediocre.
Because we know the Cowboys will be back.
That is part of the narrative we love as well, the bounce back. We love the American car companies who battle back from bankruptcy. We love anybody who overcomes anything even if what he is overcoming is his own stupidity. We even love The Bachelor who "courageously" comes back for another season to redeem himself and find true love.
So go sell crazy elsewhere.
The Cowboys are America's Team and our local embarrassment, and we love them for it.
Jennifer Floyd Engel 817-390-7697
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/02/04/2824969/sorry-packers-and-steelers-there.html?#ixzz1DCLBw3yU
