OPINION: Philadelphia is better choice for America's Team

I have nothing against the city of Dallas. In fact, I have been there many times, mostly on business, and have enjoyed good restaurants and Rangers’ baseball games in the neighboring city of Arlington. Nor do I have any beef with the Dallas Cowboys football team. Their history seems like that of many professional football teams, such as the Green Bay Packers — periods of greatness followed by what is called “rebuilding” phases. They appear to be going through such a phase right now. In fact, the latest game between the Cowboys and Packers seems to indicate both teams are progressing well.

But what is the deal with the sobriquet, “America’s Team?” How did they get that irritating name? For the longest time I assumed that this was just an example of Texas bravado, exemplified by John Steinbeck’s famous quote while extolling the beauty of Montana: “Montana seems to me what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”

So, I finally decided to investigate the source of that label. Of course I consulted the gospel according to Google. I learned that the title was the invention of a non-Texan editor of NFL Films, Bob Ryan, who noticed that Cowboy fans were rabid, even when attending away games. Personally, I’m skeptical about fan rabidity being a criterion for calling a team America’s Team. To me, a bunch of pudgy, shirtless, white guys in the stands wearing cheese wedges on their heads in subfreezing weather set the bar for fanaticism.

Yet, I was surprised to learn that even Dallas Cowboy managers were reluctant to use the name at first, for obvious reasons. If you called your team America’s Team, it might trigger a response from residents of 31 other cities and 49 other states like, “What makes them think they are America’s Team?” But, sadly, the name stuck.

To me, the best solution is for the media to stop using the name, period. As a past resident of Detroit, Baltimore, Washington, Chicago and Seattle, I happen to think their teams are just as American as the Cowboys.

However, if there must be an Americas Team, I have two possible solutions. The first would be to give the name to the team that won the last Super Bowl: in this case, Philadelphia. A second solution would be to honor the city that was the seat of our democracy — the city wherein the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written and which served as the nation’s first capital. Philadelphia.

Jeffrey Mitchell is a resident of Albuquerque who has lived in many American cites and one European city and enjoys watching football games.