dallas cowboys have the audacity to call them selves America's team.
FYI - the Dallas Cowboys did not coin the term "America's Team"
It came from and was popularized by the media, a television announcer named Bob Ryan, in 1979. Perhaps if you consider these facts, you might understand why he said it and how it became to be popularized throughout the media:
- Dallas ended the decade of the 1970s as the most winningest NFL team.
- Dallas won their division 7 times during the decade.
- Dallas made the playoffs 9 times during the decade
- Dallas went to the Super Bowl 5 times during the decade, winning it twice.
- Dallas had a gifted and popular quarterback, NFL legend Roger Staubach.
- The 1978 SuperBowl, which Dallas won, was the first ever to be broadcast in Prime Time. At the time, it was the #4 highest Nielsen rated show of all time (it's still in the top 10).
At the time, Dallas was
THE winning team with the best overall winning record and the most Super Bowl appearances for the ENTIRE DECADE of the 1970s.
And if there's one thing American sports fans love, it's winners.
So when that lone announcer called the Dallas Cowboys "America's Team" on the first game of the 1979 season, it just sorta stuck. I mean, at the time, who was to argue? My God, they'd just won out the damn
decade, and everyone watched them do it during prime time television. Other than the NY Yankees, no other sports franchise had ever dominated at that level for that long with that much media attention focused so strongly on them.
But make no mistake:
The Dallas Cowboys
themselves did not come up with the term (and in fact Coach Landry disliked it). It's a media thing, designed to get ratings.
So don't blame the Cowboys--blame the media.