Dallas Morning News: The Chiefs have replaced the Cowboys as America's Team

[Hammock Parties]

Brings a tear to my eye. Almost full circle from childhood. I used to sit and read Tim at my breakfast table in Carrollton.

A (Taylor) Swift reaction: The Chiefs have replaced Cowboys as America’s Team https://t.co/Ss34ekpk2i

— Tim Cowlishaw (@TimCowlishaw) September 28, 2023

As majestically as the Cowboys soar when they pocket a couple of victories to start a season, a loss in Arizona mandates an equally spectacular fall back to earth. That’s what has me pondering this week whether the wrong team left Dallas 60 years ago.

Aren’t the Kansas City Chiefs “America’s Team” at this point?

For those who weren’t around in 1963 (and by “around,” I mean I was migrating reluctantly from New Jersey to Dallas as an 8-year-old that summer), the Dallas Texans and Dallas Cowboys went head to head for attention at the Cotton Bowl for three seasons before the Texans packed bags and became the Kansas City Chiefs.

Many years ago Lamar Hunt bragged to me in his office that the Texans, of the upstart American Football League, actually outdrew the expansion Cowboys in those days. To which President Tex Schramm replied, “Yes, I’m sure they gave away more tickets than we sold.”

The Chiefs actually got the upper hand on the Cowboys by playing in the first Super Bowl. The name even came from Hunt, after seeing one of his kids play with a super ball. Dallas just missed the first Super Bowl by losing to Green Bay — and then Kansas City won Super Bowl IV in New Orleans before the two leagues officially merged their schedules, creating the NFC and AFC in 1970. You never would have known the Chiefs were defending champs of anything. They played in one AFC title game, losing to Buffalo in 1993, over the next 48 years.

The Cowboys, of course, played in five Super Bowls during the 1970s, winning two of them. They became unofficially branded “America’s Team” by NFL Films, a nickname that stuck for better or worse through the years as they regained their footing and won three more Lombardi Trophies in the 1990s. The Cowboys won five of the first 30 Super Bowls. They participated in 16 of 30 NFL or NFC Championship games. There was no one like them, certainly not the Chiefs who had that one uneven loss to Buffalo during Joe Montana’s career send-off to their credit.

Then a Texas Tech quarterback arrived in Kansas City. The NFL shifted on its axis. The Chiefs have played in three of the last four Super Bowls. They won two of them. Their most impressive stat, to me, is not that they have played in five straight AFC Championship games, but that they have hosted five in a row. That requires maximum effort throughout the regular season, no stumbles in order to maintain that home-field edge. Mahomes led Kansas City to 12-4, 12-4, 14-2, 12-5 and 14-3 records to keep those games in Arrowhead Stadium.

Andy Reid’s next win ties him with Tom Landry for fourth on the all-time list (250) although Reid’s winning percentage is substantially higher. Of course, Reid never had to coach an expansion team that was given no draft picks in 1960, which meant an 0-11-1 start out of the gates for Dallas.

With all this going in their favor, the Chiefs discovered the only way to blow the doors off their competition. Taylor Swift showed up in a Kansas City suite last week, standing and cheering in Chiefs’ gear along tight end Travis Kelce’s mother, and she apparently will attend the Chiefs-Jets game in New York on Sunday night.

This isn’t fair. The Cowboys used to own the dating world along with the occasional Lombardi Trophy. It started with Lance Rentzel and Joey Heatherton. That didn’t end well for reasons we won’t even dive into. More recently, you had Tony Romo with Jessica Simpson or Carrie Underwood. Does anyone recall Miles Austin and Kim Kardashian? If you blinked, you missed it, but it happened.

Now, we have rumors of young Dallas tight end Jake Ferguson dating one of the Cavinder twins of University of Miami basketball and TikTok fame. That’s a noble effort, but you don’t understand the Swifties and the phenomenon that Taylor Swift brings to the Chiefs just by showing up for a few games.

Every professional sports franchise — Cowboys included — would love to sell out their stadiums at Taylor Swift prices. When she played three straight nights at AT&T Stadium this year, resale tickets for obstructed view seats went for at least $900. Imagine attending a Cowboys game at that price and not having a clear view of Dak throwing a 2-yard pass to Luke Schoonmaker.

Mahomes is the finest quarterback of this era and will be regarded as one of the five best ever when he’s done. Kelce might already be the game’s all-time greatest tight end. Reid is sliding past Landry toward Bill Belichick on the wins chart. And now the mighty force that is Swift joins the club. It has been said that Swift already had all the teenagers and younger music lovers in her camp, then figured out how to grab their dads with two Americana-type albums (folklore and evermore, which come highly recommended by this columnist) released during the pandemic.

With Mahomes, Reid, Kelce and now the powerful Swift, the Chiefs have it all. It’s an embarrassment of riches, a marketing guru’s dream team.

The Cowboys? It’s 27 seasons and counting since that last NFC title game. Currently a very good 2-1 team that has not fixed last year’s biggest defensive issue and may have created new ones on offense with its glacial-like Texas Coast offense.

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot. The Cowboys get Chris Christie in the owner’s box.

Now tell me which one of these is America’s Team.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

The more bandwagoners the better.

Tell them to get on social media and complain about THEIR right tackle being targeted by the evil refs.

Fair.

[ThyKingdomCome15]

Never. Thought. I'd. See. That. Ever.

[ThyKingdomCome15]

It reminds of the Greatest Show on Turf in 99. They had it all, including Nelly. This is a bit more being Kelce and Swift are America's couple and the Chiefs are an official dynasty with a Super Bowl victory.

[Wisconsin_Chief]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

The more bandwagoners the better.

Tell them to get on social media and complain about THEIR right tackle being targeted by the evil refs.

Exactly this. I couldn’t care less about Taylor Swift, but the more popular we are in the mainstream, the less likely we’ll get screwed by bullshit calls down the stretch. You don’t want millions of Swifties rioting after the AFC title game because a ref threw a cheap flag to give the Dolphins a win. They will take out every Starbucks and Kate Spade store in the US!

[The Iron Chief]

Originally Posted by RealSNR

As an out-of-area fan, people used to be really interested when I'd say I'm a Chiefs fan. They'd want to know the story. They would try to empathize when I shared my misery and frustration. At worst, I was inoffensive. At best, I was a wise soul who commanded respect.

Now? I get dirty looks. I have to explain, "No, see, I was a fan long before Mahomes got there" and that just makes it worse because people don't want to hear from a former pauper about how great their life is compared to what it was. I don't get to share anything about who I am as a fan. All I'm allowed to do is smile and admit that I'm lucky.

And then I have to come home to my man cave full of two years' worth of Super Bowl shit and stare at it and ponder the human connection that is now gone from my life and feel bad that I really actually don't ****ing give a shit, and that I'd gladly be completely ostracized by all future strangers I meet for another handful of Super Bowls and more Super Bowl shit to stare at and appreciate.

The Chief fan's burden, I tell ya...

I'm 58 and you described my situation to a tee.
I live in upstate Ny.
Decades of snickers from all 3..err..2 of the NY teams and now I get dirty looks especially The Bills fans.

Pitty from them has been replaced by jealousy.

If they ask how I became a Chief fan its not to hear why the fck!?

Its more to check if Im a bandwagoner.

Nope been a Chiefs fan since 1980.

Suffered hard.

And now I made it to the promise land.

[mdchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by RealSNR

As an out-of-area fan, people used to be really interested when I'd say I'm a Chiefs fan. They'd want to know the story. They would try to empathize when I shared my misery and frustration. At worst, I was inoffensive. At best, I was a wise soul who commanded respect.

Now? I get dirty looks. I have to explain, "No, see, I was a fan long before Mahomes got there" and that just makes it worse because people don't want to hear from a former pauper about how great their life is compared to what it was. I don't get to share anything about who I am as a fan. All I'm allowed to do is smile and admit that I'm lucky.

And then I have to come home to my man cave full of two years' worth of Super Bowl shit and stare at it and ponder the human connection that is now gone from my life and feel bad that I really actually don't ****ing give a shit, and that I'd gladly be completely ostracized by all future strangers I meet for another handful of Super Bowls and more Super Bowl shit to stare at and appreciate.

The Chief fan's burden, I tell ya...

Pretty much. I’ve had a Chiefs wallpaper on my laptop since I started my current job 10 years ago. Twice a month, I teach classes and have to hook my laptop up to a projector. The reactions I have received over the last 10 years as people have seen that wallpaper have been interesting to watch as the Chiefs’ success has increased.

[Monticore]

Living up here , football fans have increased over the years but mostly Buffalo but a few other teams sprinkled in , the Chiefs are slowly taking over so when I say I am a chiefs fan they tend to roll their eye and I used to try and convince them with my knowledge of older Chiefs players , Okoye, Deberg, Paige , Gonzalez, DT and I usually end up getting a Who? But now I just laugh maniacally in their face And embrace the hate , it’s glorious , I wear my Mahomes jersey to as many of my kids hockey games /practices as I can knowing it’s going to trigger people .

[Rainbarrel]

People be digging for scandals and cocaine

[AdolfOliverBush]

The Cowboys have never been "America's Team". It's just a dumb, made-up slogan.

[Eleazar]

Obviously this Dallas newspaper is trolling, but I don't know how a Chiefs fan can read that and consider it remotely true. We get more hate now from fans of other teams than we ever have. Most of them will tell you they are sick of the Chiefs. All of them are jealous of the Chiefs and are really frustrated that the Chiefs keep getting the better of their teams. One visit from a pop star hasn't changed any of that.

People talk more about the Chiefs now, and all their teams' fortunes have to go through the Chiefs, but I don't see any groundswell of support from "America" in general. The way most other fans talk we've just assumed the role of being hated for success like the Patriots were, like Dallas was in the 90s, etc.

[kysirsoze]

Originally Posted by Razaele

Obviously this Dallas newspaper is trolling, but I don't know how a Chiefs fan can read that and consider it remotely true. We get more hate now from fans of other teams than we ever have. Most of them will tell you they are sick of the Chiefs. All of them are jealous of the Chiefs and are really frustrated that the Chiefs keep getting the better of their teams. One visit from a pop star hasn't changed any of that.

People talk more about the Chiefs now, and all their teams' fortunes have to go through the Chiefs, but I don't see any groundswell of support from "America" in general. The way most other fans talk we've just assumed the role of being hated for success like the Patriots were, like Dallas was in the 90s, etc.

Well yeah. That's what being "America's Team" means.

[Gravedigger]

The fact that they ever did the America's team thing was so preposterous. They haven't been good for decades, always over-inflated egos headed by Jurry Jones, then they tried to give that title to the Saints when Katrina happened. Just stop with the America's team bullshit, there's 32 teams in America that play this sport and you look like a jackass when you keep claiming yourself as that. Everyone on this team would probably say that's ****ing stupid.

[chiefzilla1501]

I don’t live in Missouri. But all my friends young kids are obsessed with Patrick mahomes and it drives the parents ****ing bonkers. He is easily the most marketable superstar they’ve had in ages. It took the nfl a million years to realize marketing likeable, fun superstars is way better for the sport than marketing a villain like the patriots.

They have family photos of parents watching their games with Steelers or browns jerseys, and there are 1-2 kids just sitting there with a mahomes jersey. It’s ****ing beautiful and I haven’t seen a player have this kind of appeal in ages.

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by kysirsoze

Well yeah. That's what being "America's Team" means.

Dallas started calling themselves that because of the idea that they had a national fan base and were the most popular team in the country.

I would guess that while we might have gained some casuals and some front-running fans nationally, with actual football fans we are less popular now than at any time in the Chiefs franchise's history.

And outside of our territory, there will still always be more reeruned Cowboys or Steelers or Packers fans wherever you go.

[philfree]

I was thinking this yesterday. It doesn't matter though unless the Chiefs can go win the Super Bowl.