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It’s Time to Name These ‘Boys Sue

October 20, 2008

“And he said: ‘Son, this world is rough,
And if a man’s gonna make it, he’s got to be tough,
And I knew I wouldn’t be there to help you along.
So I give you that name and I said goodbye,
I knew you’d have to get tough or die…”

– Johnny Cash, A Boy Named Sue

Rams 34, Cowboys 14.

We’re angry.  We’re indignant.  We’re embarrassed. But we’re Cowboys’ fans.  Let’s not pretend we’ve never seen this before:

  • 1970, week 9 — Cardinals 38, Cowboys 0.  A second consecutive loss that drops the ‘Pokes to 5-4;
  • 1971, week 7 — Bears 23, Cowboys 19.  A loss to a weak Bears team in the infamous QB rotation game leaves Dallas 4-3.
  • 1978, week 10 — Dolphins 23, Cowboys 16.  A second consecutive loss, this one in dreaded Miami, where Tom Landry always lost, drops the Cowboys to 6-4.
  • 1981, week 6 — 49ers 45, Cowboys 14.  A second consecutive loss drops Dallas to 4-2 after a 4-0 start.
  • 1992, week 5 — Eagles 31, Cowboys 7.  Dallas comes out of its bye week and gets thrashed on a Monday Night in Philly.
  • 1995, week 15 — Eagles 20, Cowboys 17.  Dallas loses its second in a row and third in five weeks in the infamous 4th-and-1-x-2 game.  Their record is 10-4 but they’re being written off as yesterday’s champs, done in by Jerry’s meddling and Barry’s ineptitude.

Every one of these teams made it to the conference championship game.  Five of them made it to the Super Bowl.  Three of them won it.

I’m sure most of the Max Mercys in the press corps are writing about a coaching change today.  I’m sure if they were around in ‘70 they would have been calling for Tom’s head too.  Some of them were around in ‘95 and I know they wanted Barry axed immediately.   Don’t be led along.  You might want Wade Phillips and a couple of assistants fired too.  He might deserve to be fired.  But it’s not going to happen now.  When did a mid-season firing ever send a team on a tear?

This year’s team will have to look within itself, as these other Cowboys teams did.  It will have to draw on the devotion and camaraderie voiced by Nate Newton in the Philly locker room after that embarrassing ‘95 loss, when he said, “there’s too much love in this locker room for us to turn on each other.”

We’re going to learn how much these guys love each other, and how much they really trust each other.  Because today, each other is all they got.

So in the spirit of helping, and because I need to laugh to keep from grinding my teeth to the gums, I’m going to do my small part.  I will henceforth refer to the ‘08 team as “the ‘Boys Named Sue.”

They’ll either get tough or die.

Written by Rafael Vela · Filed Under Games | 128 Comments 

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