It’s Dallas week in Philadelphia, and the juice level is next to nothing. It’s like an orange that’s already been squeezed and added to the compost pile. What once was the greatest week of the Eagles season is now a desiccated citrus of normalness.
Why? Why does Dallas week not seem to be a big deal anymore? Well, for starters, the Cowboys stink. They’re 3-5 and Dak Prescott is injured, which means we’ve got another Cooper Rush game coming up. If this was Dak vs. Jalen Hurts and both teams had a winning record, we’re talking heightened levels of awareness. But as it is, this is just another game on the Eagles’ schedule.
It’s been that way for some time, since the Cowboys haven’t been an NFL power since the Nintendo 64 launched. Kids played Goldeneye 007 more recently than they watched Dallas win a Super Bowl, so when you’re mediocre for a long time, the buzz wears off.
In honor of Jerry Jones and company not winning a ring since January 28th, 1996, here’s a list of 25 things to happen in the meantime:
Long, long ago, Dallas Cowboys fans used to make fun of the Eagles for not having a championship in the Super Bowl era.
The Eagles had championships before the Super Bowl, of course. But in Cowboys fans' minds, those didn't count because they were so old.
Well. Guess what.
It's been close to 30 years since Dallas won a Super Bowl. Here's an inexhaustive list of things that didn't exist on January 28, 1996:
Things That Didn't Exist When the Cowboys Won Their Last Super Bowl
- DVD players
- Pokemon
- USB flash drives
- The Daily Show
- Everybody Loves Raymond
- Jalen Hurts
- Saquon Barkley
- Camera phones
- Xbox
- The Baltimore Ravens
- The Houston Texans
- King of the Hill
- Sabrina Carpenter
- The Euro (currency)
- CeeDee Lamb
- Nintendo 64
- Happy Gilmore
- Febreze
- Tamagatchi
- Bryson Stott
- Bluetooth
- South Park
- YouTube
- Big Mouth Billy Bass
- The Arizona Diamondbacks
- The Tampa Bay Rays
- Scream (the movie)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Micah Parsons
- Windows 98
- Billie Eilish
- Harry Potter
- Tyrese Maxey
- All but three of the Star Wars movies
- Dexter's Laboratory
- Matvei Michkov
- Blue's Clues
- Ice Spice
- Tom Holland
- Toyota Prius
- Cadillac Escalade
- Dawson's Creek
- That '70s Show
- Titanic (the movie)
- Titanic (the real thing, probably)
The Real Thing, Probably?
Now, there are a few items on this list that might make you raise an eyebrow. For example, the real Titanic being a thing. While it is true that the ship sank in 1912, the Titanic was not discovered by Robert Ballard until 1985. So technically, while the wreck itself always existed, it wasn't really a "thing" that people knew about until 1985. Maybe that's just semantics, but I felt the need to point it out.
The same can be said for the Euro. While the European Union was established in 1993, the Euro was not officially adopted until 1999. So, technically, the Euro did not exist in 1996, even though the Eurozone was a thing that existed in 1996.
The Dallas Cowboys' Super Bowl Drought
We could argue about the technicalities of these items all day long. But the reality is that the Dallas Cowboys haven't won a Super Bowl since 1996. That's a long time. And it's a long time for Cowboys fans to be waiting for their team to return to the top of the NFL. The Dallas Cowboys have had moments of brilliance, but they have not consistently competed for championships like they did in the 1990s. So, while things have changed a lot since the Cowboys last won a Super Bowl, one thing has remained the same: Dallas fans are still waiting for a return to glory.
Will This Be the Year?
So, what does the future hold for the Dallas Cowboys? It's impossible to say. But one thing is for sure: the team is going to need to make some major changes if they want to make it back to the Super Bowl. It's a long shot, but it's not impossible. This could be the year! Maybe the Cowboys can find a way to break their drought and finally win another championship. If they do, it will be a long time coming and something we haven't seen in a long time. It will be a true testament to the grit and determination of the team and the fans who have been waiting for so long. This could be the year, or it could be another year of disappointment. But one thing is for sure, Dallas fans are not giving up hope. They've waited this long, they can wait a little longer. They're still hoping for a Super Bowl victory. They're still hoping for a return to glory.
Go Cowboys!
