No Fun Loving Cowboys AND Giants
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“I was just a little kid.”
That’s been my stock answer whenever asked – always in a “You’re a what?” tone of disbelief – how in the world I can be a fan of the Dallas Cowboys AND the New York Giants. I was just a little kid. That’s how.
And while many folks act like I’m getting over on the system, or I have an unfair advantage compared to typical fans, there’s nothing fun about watching my teams face one another. Let’s just say I know how Richard Williams must feel when he watches Venus and Serena compete against each other.
My Giants beat my Cowboys on Monday Night Football, and like every other time they’ve met in my lifetime, it was pure misery. My daughters get a big kick out of my agony, repeatedly asking who I’m rooting for. It’s simple: I root neither for nor against either team when they butt heads. I just sit there in pain.
Yeah, it’s great being a Cowboys and Giants fan on those two or (God forbid, three) weekends per season, when I can’t fully enjoy either team’s success. I couldn’t cheer wildly for Dez Bryant’s touchdown return, or Eli Manning’s passing clinic. Toward the end of Monday night’s game, I even started feeling resentful that New York was whipping Dallas so thoroughly, as if the Giants were piling on.
Of course, if it was any other team, I’d be whooping and hollering and loving every second. But not when they play each other. On those occasions, I figuratively curl into the fetal position and suffer until the game ends.
What can I say? I was just a little kid.
Although I’ve loved the Cowboys for as long as I can remember, I assume the Giants came first. We usually only got two games in New York – the Giants and the Jets – and I watched a lot of horrible football while growing up. From my ninth birthday through my 18th, the G-men never won more than eight games and they reached that total just once. Somewhere along the way, in elementary school, a classmate turned me on to Dallas, and the Cowboys became my team, too.
I never suffered any real internal conflict when they played back then. I could convince myself I was faithfully rooting for the home team, fully aware that victory was impossible. But it was telling when the Giants finally became good under Bill Parcells and the Cowboys stood in the way. That’s the first time I pulled really hard, with all my might, for the Giants. The Cowboys had played in five Super Bowls by then and won two. They posted double-digit victory totals on a regular basis. But I had NEVER experienced life as a satisfied Giants fan and I was eager to taste it.
Pretty much ever since then, it’s been torture when they play. Especially in the playoffs. The worst was in 2007, when they met in the divisional round. Yes, the Giants prevailed and eventually won the Super Bowl. But I was sick as they battled the Cowboys and pulled out a 21-17 victory. You might call it a win-win, but I call it a lose-lose, because I can’t enjoy either one’s success in those games.
And it’s not like this is the life I chose.
I was just a little kid.
DS
