Editor’s Note: Roland S. Martin is a syndicated columnist and author of “The First: President Barack Obama’s Road to the White House.” He’s also a die-hard Houston Texans fan who says they are now Texas’ team. For a rival view read Dallas Cowboy fan Eliott McLaughlin’s counterpoint.
Story highlights
Roland Martin says he can't stand the Dallas Cowboys
The Houston Texans fan says "football greatness has moved from Dallas to Houston"
Martin: "The Cowboys are truly a has-been team"
I hate the Dallas Cowboys.
No, I don’t dislike them. I flat out cannot stand anything about the Dallas Cowboys.
The year they went 1-15, I was ticked they won that one game.
When they played in those three Super Bowls in the ’90s, I rooted hard for the opposition.
Hell, I hate them more than the Ku Klux Klan!
That’s why I take great pleasure in seeing the transfer of power in the Lone Star State, where the football greatness has moved from Dallas to Houston.
For decades, all of the talk has been about the Cowboys, that damn star, and lately, the monstrosity of a football palace built by owner Jerry Jones. But with the NFL playoffs kicking off this weekend, the only football they’ll witness at Cowboys Stadium is Kansas State and Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl.
Another opinion: Why the Cowboys still rule in Texas
But 250 miles south of Dallas, the Houston Texans will take on the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC wild card game.
For Cowboys fans, it’s over. No longer can you talk supremacy over Houston. The expansion Texans is the talk of the state, and all the Cowboys fans can do is complain about Tony Romo and Jerry Jones.
And they might as well get used to it. The Cowboys are truly a has-been team. Those five Lombardi trophies? Well, you better keep watching NFL Films. That will be the only way to see Dallas raise that again.
The Texans are a young and talented team that could have done better than 10-6 had we not been hit with injuries to our top three players. We are about to see a tremendous run by the Texans, and when it comes to pro football in the state, no one will be talking about the bumbling Cowboys.
America’s Team? Hell, you’re barely Arlington’s team with the rise of the Texas Rangers in back-to-back World Series.
You don’t even have the best-looking cheerleaders in the NFL (I’ll vote for the Miami Dolphins).
Houston has always been a world-class city, and one satisfied with being a Texas town. Dallas? It’s always desired to be another Los Angeles and New York. Just get your own identity and stick with it.
Sure, Dallas will talk a lot of smack about being the Texans’ big brother, and before that, the Houston Oilers.
But I don’t care. I was a “Luv Ya Blue” fan before Bud Adams bolted to Tennessee, and now I’m a season ticket holder for the Texans.
I would continue, but I need to pack for my flight Friday to Houston for the game. All the Cowboys fans will be packing is a bunch of Haterade for the new King of Football in Texas: the Houston Texans.