An innocuous line in an NFL Films production of the 1978 Dallas Cowboys highlight film led to a nickname that all non-Cowboys fan quickly grew to hate.
The highlight film called the Cowboys “America’s Team.” It stuck. It wasn’t awarded by any scientific method, but that hasn’t stopped Cowboys fans from crowing about it for about four decades.
It also leads to plenty of trolling of the Cowboys. The Cowboys are an easy target this season. They’re 2-6 and fell again Sunday, losing 24-19 to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger questioned the Cowboys’ title of “America’s Team,” then proclaimed the Steelers to be the “World’s Team.”
Ben Roethlisberger: “We know that everybody is coming for us. I don’t want to take any shots at anybody, but if you didn’t know who America’s Team was then you should’ve seen the stands and all the Terrible Towels. Dallas might be America’s Team but we are the World’s Team.”
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) November 9, 2020
For a higher entertainment value, read those quotes as if Roethlisberger was doing a WWE shoot interview.
Only a few other teams can reasonably argue they’re even close to as popular as the Cowboys or Steelers. Cowboys fans are seemingly everywhere. Any time the Steelers play a road game, their fans are an undeniable presence all over the stadium.
You’ll never get a definitive answer on which franchise is more popular. But after yet another loss, Cowboys fans had to listen to Roethlisberger pile on a little more.
Ben Roethlisberger isn’t impressed with Cowboys fans. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
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