As long as I’ve been a fan of the Washington Redskins, I’ve always hated the Dallas Cowboys.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s Tony Romo, Troy Aikman or Roger Staubach under center, the quarterback for the Cowboys is always going to be one of my least favorite people on earth!  I’m not alone in that sentiment.  Lots of people share that same view here in Washington and wherever else the Redskins fan nation has grown.

When the mainstream media talk about the best all-time rivalries, the Redskins-Cowboys rivalry is usually on the list.  SportsIllustrated said it’s the top rivalry in the NFL of all time, and I’m not surprised, since there have been 100 games played between the two clubs in the regular season since 1960.  Maybe right now the Cowboys fans don’t have the same ire for the Redskins, but that’s because they’ve been winning a bunch – and winning at FedEx field 8 of 13 times.  Whenever the Redskins get a few wins going against Dallas, that’s when the Cowboys fans step up and take notice, but I’d expect nothing less from them, since that’s their attitude.  They say they’re America’s Team.  They think they’re God’s Gift to football.  What’s their playoff record in the past ten years, huh?  Bring that up and they get all upset, but otherwise they’re proud and they look down their noses at most of the other teams they don’t consider “elite”.

Today I read an article hosted on the internet by the WashingtonPost where the DC Sports Bog and Dan Steinberg dismissed the idea that the Redskins should be hyping up their home opener.  He took issue with the fact that the Redskins printed up the following tshirt:

Aside from the gold color, I got no problem with those shirts.  In fact, I like the layout of it and I might even buy one today.

Steinberg doesn’t think the Redskins fans should be getting excited for this game just because Washington has “lost three straight in the series, and 19 of the last 25”.  I say that’s all the more reason to want to have a great showing in the opener and stuff those over-rated Cowboys back into their private jet and send them crying back to Dallas!  I think Steinberg’s out of touch with the fans reality.  He says “it feels a little bit desperate to pump up the glorious return of a rivalry to a stadium that hosts that rivalry every single year”.  Oh yeah?  And when’s the last time Steinberg saved up his money to buy tickets to go out to the stadium to support a team he’s been a fan of for years on end?  Last time I checked, the media folks don’t have to pay for tickets, usually don’t have to buy food from the concession stands, they don’t cheer for either team openly… which means they’re not actually fans!  They’re just analyzing, and in this case, I don’t think they can really analyze what’s going on because they lost perspective on what it means to be a fan and take a side in this rivalry.  Do the Redskins fans care if Dallas has “Beat Washington” shirts?  No.  They’d rather pretend like they’re champions, just because their stadium gets to host the Super Bowl.  That’s the Dallas attitude.  They don’t want to give anybody credit.  They just want to self promote themselves and pretend they’re rockstars.

You don’t think there’s a market for that shirt?  You think it’s just a marketing attempt to drum up interest in one of the regular season home games?

Listen to all the “We Want Dallas!” chants that rumble through the stadium in the weeks prior to playing the Cowboys.  The fans let you know what’s going on.  There’s a reason why there’s no “BEAT THE GIANTS” shirts being advertised, and it’s not because the Dallas game is the first week, I can tell you that.

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