The media has finally reached the end of their ridiculous obsession with the Dallas Cowboys. In previous seasons NFL fans have been bombarded with their predictions and visions of grandeur that this would be the year that their prognosticating would come true and the Cowboys would go all the way and restore order within the glorified franchise and all would be right with the world.
After all until the 2009 season Dallas had endured a 13 year long drought without a playoff win; so what's wrong with beefing up expectations to heights that even most anti Cowboys fans would deem unreasonable.
The 2010 season for the Cowboys began with tremendous promise. The exciting first round draft pick, former Oklahoma State WR Dez Bryant, set the fans of America's Team on fire and featured a team mostly left intact during a busy off season for the franchise. All that seemed to be missing from the 2010 season was a triple dose of bloated expectations and enormous pressure for a team that had only done what seemed impossible a year ago, when they made it past the first round of the playoffs.
With "Jerry's World" aka Cowboys Stadium set to host Super Bowl XLV, the media conjured up their story and stuck to it, plugging it into every facet of the Cowboys storyline from week to week. The stars were aligned for the team and all they needed was the season to begin for everything to fall into place just as it had been planned. That is until the Cowboys decided to change the script by only managing to win one game over the first six weeks of the 2010 season. Having already had their bye in week 4 the Dallas Cowboys have not lived up to the promise they made for themselves and in front of a national audience they've all but killed the hope of being the first team to play in a Super Bowl hosted in their own stadium.
Until now all many can do is scratch their heads and wonder what happened? How did things get so ugly so quickly when it was all laid out for them and all they had to do was execute and stick to the program? You see the Cowboys haven't just let themselves down, they've let the world down *insert sarcasm* as the media would like for everyone to believe...because after all they wrote the story and no one likes to be let down so soon. This season so far for the Cowboys and their devoted lovers in the media reminds me a lot of what happens in relationships that begin online or with little to no contact with the actual person you've decided to fall in love with. Before ever stepping foot onto the field to show their 2010 selves their characters had already been written as they were built up to the some of the loftiest of expectations. It's just like that man or woman you finally meet...the kiss isn't the kiss you dreamed of where your hair blows and it sends shivers down your spine leaving you paralyzed with love. It turns out the kiss was just a kiss and the Cowboys are just another NFL team trying to win just like everyone else. The media created an image and persona in their minds paying absolutely no mind to what the Cowboys could do and only focusing on what they should do.
Someone recently told me that "the dark side was strong within me" and that I needed to let it out. Well here's what I think about the media and how they failed the Dallas Cowboys and set them up for disappointment in the process. Predictions and breaking down a team is one part of the game...but catapulting one to the Super Bowl on sheer convenience because of location is both unfair and utterly ridiculous. The Cowboys should not be expected to live up to the expectations of location because they have the talent to do and how far it goes for storylines and articles.
They should have been given the same opportunity to open the season with the same expectations as every other NFL team and that's to win games, make it to the playoffs and then to the Super Bowl. Their failure as a team at 1-4 is not just a reflection of mental and physical mistakes on the field but it's also in part because for once they weren't given a chance to just play ball because to some, that's just not "interesting" enough. The darker side of me sympathizes with the Dallas Cowboys because they don't always choose the storylines they're often pressured into carrying out. The game is played to create storylines, not to act them out as part of a script. If one develops then great, but manufacturing one just to fit the needs of entertaining an audience is just plain wrong and I don't think any NFL team deserves that much pressure. Have the Cowboys let themselves down with the start of their season this year...yes? However, who else they disappointed is of no consequence if the expectations were unrealistic to begin with.