Is it time for the Washington-Dallas rivalry to return?
Oh, faux hype has kept the Football Team-Cowboys enmity a flicker, but it's nothing like the 1970s when Washington coach George Allen offered to fight Dallas counterpart Tom Landry at midfield for the victory. (I think Ron Rivera could take Mike McCarthy, though.)
Allen knew Dallas was the team to beat if Washington was to succeed, so he put everything into a propaganda campaign to turn the Cowboys into bad guys. There were outside factors, like some Washingtonians hating Dallas because it was where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Some didn't like the Cowboys essentially blackmailing Washington into approving their NFL entry by buying the rights to "Hail to Redskins" and barring the team from playing it unless agreeing to a new team in Washington's southern radio network. That Harvey "Too Mean" Martin threw a funeral wreath into Washington's locker room after the Cowboys knocked Washington from the playoffs in 1979 was damned near an act of war.
Oh, it used to be one mean series, but that was a lifetime ago when players spent careers with one team before free agency turned everyone into NFL players. It's hard to hate the other side when chances are they might have played or will play for them. Such groupthink doesn't create hatred compared to the old days when facing the same crew.
Fans took sides, too. There's always one family member who wants to root for the other side. The common joke is a Washingtonian that hates their parents becomes a Dallas fan. Some Black Washingtonians started rooting for Dallas because of its stars, like Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin, while Washington was also the last NFL team to integrate, before being forced by the federal government in 1962. Dallas owner Jerry Jones often says there are more Cowboys fans in Washington than any city outside of Texas. Then again, Jones has said that in many cities.
It takes two great teams to really have a rivalry. Green Bay-Chicago was once among the top rivalries, but the Bears have been bad for so long that Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers openly mocked fans earlier this season after a fourth quarter score, yelling, "I still own you!" At 21-5 lifetime, he's right. But still . . .
Washington hasn't been good for a generation and that old Dallas week animosity barely has a pulse anymore. Finishing the season with four games versus Dallas and Philadelphia before ending at New York will increase intensity, though. There are no more outside distractions of playing AFC teams. If Washington can emerge past its rivals, it makes the postseason. If not, players will long remember who knocked them out.
And that makes for rivalries.
Rick Snider has covered Washington sports since 1978. Follow him on Twitter: @Snide_Remarks.
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