| Why The Cowboys Are America's Team After each season, personnel at NFL Films put together highlight films of each team's games. After editor Bob Ryan prepared the tape of the Dallas Cowboys following Super Bowl XIII, he had to come up with a title. By 1978, the Cowboys had been on national television far more than any other NFL franchise. Dallas players, from Roger Staubach to Tony Dorsett to Randy White to Too Tall Jones to Harvey Martin, and on and on, were household names regularly featured on billboards and in television, radio, and print advertising. Considering the team's popularity - or notoriety, a term Cowboys haters preferred - Ryan came up with the title of "America's Team." It caught on.
Tom Landry hated the appellation. He thought it would provide extra incentive to opposing teams. Eventually, though, he resigned himself and actually came to like it.
Dallas players, too, had their doubts.
The nickname has stuck with the Cowboys ever since.
-Excerpt from the book "Dallas Cowboys: Our Story"
"After the '78 season, the Cowboys had just lost a
crushing Super Bowl to the Steelers. I wanted to come up
with a different twist on their team highlight film. I noticed
then, and had noticed earlier, that wherever the Cowboys
played, you saw people in the stands with Cowboys
jerseys and hats and pennants. Plus, they were always the
national game on television. If you think back, there has
always been one team in each sport that has support from
fans nationwide: the Yankees in baseball, Notre Dame in
college football, the Boston Celtics in pro basketball. They
are all America's teams. So I put that name on the Cowboys'
film, and in 1979 the TV announcer for their first game
introduced the Cowboys as 'America's Team.'
They took a lot of heat for it, but it stuck. Later other clubs
like the Atlanta Braves and the U.S. Olympic hockey team
have tried to call themselves 'America's Team.' But that
name belongs to the Cowboys."
-Bob Ryan, Vice President and editor-in-chief, NFL Films
WHY THE COWBOYS REALLY ARE AMERICA'S FAVORITE TEAM
The ESPN Chilton Sports Poll, conducted over 12 months in 1998-99 made it official: The Dallas Cowboys really are America's favorite team.
Sports enthusiasts around the country were each asked to name their favorite professional sports franchise. Teams in any pro sport were eligible. Only one team scored in double digits. The top 10: - Dallas Cowboys (10.7%)
- San Francisco 49ers (6.8%)
- Chicago Bulls (5.6%)
- Atlanta Braves (3.4%)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (3.0%)
- Miami Dolphins (2.5%)
- Washington Redskins (2.2%)
- Green Bay Packers (2.0%)
- Chicago Bears (2.0%)
- Oakland Raiders (1.8%)
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