How I Became a Dallas Cowboys Fan

Every time I meet someone and they ask me which football team is my favorite, I get one of two follow-up questions when I say, "the Dallas Cowboys."  One: How did that happen? Two: "You did say your from New York right?" The answers are both "yes."

So how did a kid from Brooklyn, NY become a Cowboys fan? My passion for the Dallas Cowboys started with my dad, I just didn't know it until I was already a fan.

My dad is a die hard Giants fan and has been my whole life, but before I was born in 1985 my dad was a Cowboys fan. As a kid growing up in the 1960s my dad was naturally accustomed to watching the Cowboys play on television, but on a fateful day in 1982 his whole life changed.

That day was January 10, a day all Cowboys fans past and present know, even if like me, they weren't alive to see it.

It was the day of "The Catch" and the day my dad stopped being a Cowboys fan. My Dad said later, "When I saw Joe Montana running around I thought he doesn't have a shot in the world to get find someone open, but when I saw Dwight Clark catch that ball I was so upset I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't want to be a fan of the Cowboys or anyone else."

So, my Dad stopped watching football until 1985 when he started watching the Giants.

The funny thing about all of this is I never knew it until I had been a Cowboys fan for years. Actually it wasn't until 1998 when I found out from my Uncle that my Dad was formerly a Cowboys fan. My Uncle told me because he knew my Dad would never say anything. In fact, my Dad would put down the Cowboys every chance he got.

When I was eight I sat with my dad and watched the Cowboys play the Giants on TV. As we watched Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irving dismantle the Giants, I kept wondering to myself, "Why is this team so good? How come the Cowboys are so confident?" I knew right then and there that although my Dad was a Giants fan, the Cowboys were a better team and they were also my team.

Recently I asked my dad why he didn't just go back to the Cowboys when he started watching football again, he told me it was because he wanted to be a fan of a team that played in NY and the Jets were a joke to him. But eventually he told me about "The Catch."

Since then my Dad and I make sure we watch at least one Cowboys-Giants game together every season.

There is a lot of screaming, trash-talking and food, but at the end of each game for a moment it doesn't matter who won, just that I'm able to spend time with my Dad. Which is immediately followed by me laughing at my Dad cause the Giants lost another game to the Cowboys, the team I love.