Growing up as a Dallas Cowboys fan, there are numerous teams that I have been bred to dislike. The Cowboys feature one of the most passionate fan bases in all of professional sports and the enemies of the Cowboys are Public Enemy No. 1. Much like the New York Yankees fans hate the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Lakers fans hate the Boston Celtics, here are the biggest rivals of the Dallas Cowboys.
There is no team in the world worse than the Washington Redskins as far as Dallas fans are concerned. From the start of the franchise, Washington was the enemy. The Redskins owner tried to block the Cowboys from entering the league and Dallas responded by taking their all-pro quarterback in the expansion draft. Since then, there is no one that Dallas wants to beat more than the Redskins especially when, in 1989, it was the only team they could beat.
It all started in the 1970's. Dallas had the Doomsday Defense and Pittsburgh had the Steel Curtain. Pittsburgh had Terry Bradshaw and Dallas had Roger Staubach. They were the best teams the NFL had to offer. They faced off twice in the Super Bowl, two of the best games in Super Bowl history, and the Steelers won both times. Dallas gained some revenge in the '90s when they finally knocked off Pittsburgh but the memories of the '70s domination lingered.
"The Catch." That one title should make all Dallas Cowboys fans cringe as it was the play that Joe Montana and Dwight Clark took control of the NFL. With one catch, the era of Dallas dominating the NFC ended and the era of San Francisco being king of the hill began. Dallas could never seem to knock off the 49ers, and from The Catch on, the Cowboys fell into the basement of the NFL. Then, in the '90s, Dallas rebounded. In the 1993 NFC Championship game, Ricky Watters fumbled and it is still a memory I cherish today. While Washington and Pittsburgh are teams I have hated for a long time, San Francisco is one that always just exasperated me.
The Philadelphia Eagles threw a snowball at Troy Aikman with a battery in it. The Eagles fans cheered when Michael Irvin went down with a career ending injury. Philadelphia fans booed Santa Claus. Those things I just listed explain how many of Dallas' fans view the Eagles. I am sure they have lots of bad things they can say about Dallas as well. It is easy to see the hatred going both ways when they boo Irvin every time he visits as an announcer. This isn't the longest standing rivalry but it is one of the most heated in today's NFL.
Author Shawn S. Lealos has followed the Dallas Cowboys since he was a child, his favorite players range from Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett to the Triplets of the 90s. Through the great years of the '90s and the hard times of the '80s, Shawn never turned his back on America's Team.
Source: Dallas Cowboys website
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