DALLAS — It’s him. Hi. He’s the problem. It’s him.
On the surface, you wouldn’t know it. Miles Andres is a sweet, idealistic young man, determined to make the community a better place. He’s taught elementary school, coached youth sports, worked on a couple of political campaigns and intends to pursue a master’s degree in public policy. Something darker lurks, though: his birthday. He’ll turn 27 on Feb. 21, which, save for a playoff miracle, will correspond directly with the length of the Cowboys’ Super Bowl drought.
Miles is an Anti-Hero or a curse. At least to his older brother, Louis.
“Every year, at playoff time, it’s referenced consistently,” said Miles, who is living with his parents while applying to grad school. “The texts start as soon as they lose: ‘We all know why they didn’t win. It hasn’t happened since February of ‘96. And we know what happened then’.”
Ah, yes, older siblings. What are they for, if not to mercilessly trash the younger ones?
But who could blame a generation of young adult Cowboys fans for developing a complex? All their lives, their parents have told tales of successful Hail Mary passes, triumphant Triplets and a notion the Cowboys were America’s Team. All they hear now is ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith cackling every time the Cowboys lose. They are a group facing down 30, starting to marry and have their own kids. They’ve grown up in a world where the Cowboys and the Detroit Lions are basically equals. Gen Z? Call them Gen L.
Since the Cowboys beat Pittsburgh, 27-17, on Jan. 28, 1996, in Super Bowl XXX, they are 4-11 in the postseason. The Cowboys, woeful Washington Commanders and downtrodden Detroit are the only NFC teams to not even make it to the conference championship game in that span. St. Louis, which no longer has a team, has hosted a conference championship more recently than the Cowboys. And, on Monday, to conclude wild-card weekend, the Cowboys face the GOAT, Tom Brady, and Tampa Bay. The Cowboys are 0-7 against the 45-year-old.
Vivid memories
Generation gaps have always existed. In the Technology Age, when parents ask kids to make their toys work instead of the other way around, it’s even more evident. And so it exists now between Cowboys fans. Parents grew up when Sundays, church attendance and vacations all revolved around Cowboys kickoffs; kids today, give ‘em NFL RedZone and a fantasy football app and they’ll gladly leave emotional outbursts to silly adults.
Take the Andres family. Dad, Marc, is a Dallas real estate developer who was born in 1960. Same year as the Cowboys. He grew up hanging out at the old practice facility on Forest Lane. Once did an impression of Cowboys legend Harvey Martin for an audience of Martin, but only after teammate Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson had seen it first and gave his seal of approval. His father was a Day 1 season-ticket holder at the Cotton Bowl; Marc still has tickets at AT&T Stadium.
He won’t draft Eagles, Giants or Commanders players on his fantasy football team because, as he says, “I’d rather lose than cheer for them.” He has a vintage Cowboys light in his home that he got as an 18-year-old. He lights it every Sunday ahead of kickoff. He says it has “magical” properties.
“It’s more cult-like for me,” Marc said. “It was a different time. When I was a kid they were the only team in town. They were ‘Next Year’s Champion.’ It was everything. The difference for me really shows up on fantasy football. They have no respect for my approach. They look at me like I’m an idiot. They think I’m too much of a homer.”
Said Miles Andres: “It’s grown past the phase of disappointment when they lose. It’s expected. It’s a devastating thing to say. From ages 9-15, it derailed my week for 48-72 hours if they lost a game. Now, it doesn’t really matter because I figure they are just going to lose in the playoffs. I mean, my most vivid Cowboys memories, none of them are wins.”
Muting Aikman
Victor Alvarado grew up in the heart of Cowboys country: Clint, Texas, 20 miles southeast of El Paso.
His mother and father, Ysela and Rey Alvarado, planned Sunday Mass attendance based on Cowboys kickoffs. On game days they didn’t watch at home, they’d venture into El Paso for huge Cowboys watch parties. When Victor, now 45, became a father, he immediately bought his son Adrian a baby Cowboys jersey, set him in his chair and took his first portrait.
A few years ago, Adrian bought dad a gift for his birthday: A Deion Sanders jersey. A Falcons Deion Sanders jersey. He had no idea how blasphemous the act was. Then again, Sanders played his last game as a Cowboy in 1999. Adrian was born in 2003, twins Adam and Anthony five years later.
“That’s just how much they are unplugged,” said Victor, who now lives in North Richland Hills. “[The Cowboys] have just never really caught their attention the same way. The younger generation just isn’t into it the way we were. Maybe it’s because they just haven’t been very good. Maybe the Cowboys are different. Maybe the game is different.”
His family is a study in the generation gap. His parents, who still live in Clint, remain resolute believers. To this point: Ysela, a huge Troy Aikman fan when he played, mutes him on TV now because as she told Victor, “he gave up on them” as he’s often critical of the Cowboys. Victor calls himself more of a “realist.” Living where the airwaves are saturated with Cowboys talk, he’s more aware of the organizational “dysfunction” that has correlated with the long playoff drought.
His kids: They spend most of their Sundays watching highlight-laden NFL RedZone, getting all the touchdowns from around the league, without any of the emotional investment. Of course, it still seeps in.
“I think they are more fans of RedZone than the Cowboys,” he said. “But my oldest told me I can’t wait until the first round is over, so once the Cowboys are out, I can just enjoy watching a football game. That’s how he views the playoffs. He said it’s embarrassing being a Cowboys fan.”
Said Adrian: “Watching them is stressful. I want them to win. I cheer for them. But I think they will lose. Some people tell me I’m not a real Cowboys fan for that, but reality just sets in quickly for me. I just expect the worst because there has just been a lot of disappointment.”
Adrian, a college sophomore, will watch the game at a friend’s place on campus in College Station. He attends and roots for Texas A&M. That’s another chapter in then-and-now football fandom.
Almost a Jets fan
Meet the Russells.
There is dad, Randy, who is 59 and raised three boys in Allen. Randy is still something of a believer. He watched the ′70s Super Bowl runs. He lived through what seemed like an interminable 13-year drought between those teams and the ′90s dynasty. He knows droughts end.
He thinks.
“As a fan, you are always sitting there thinking: ‘This could be the year,’ ” he said.
And then there are the kids: Evan, 35, who has faint memories of the ′90s teams; Will, at 28, who has known nothing but failure; and Matt, 24, who was once so over the Cowboys, he was ready to become a Jets fan.
“I think of the Cowboys as more a laughing stock than anything else,” Matt said during a Zoom with his brothers and father this week. “I see Stephen A. [Smith] on TV making fun of them at every opportunity. I’m more prepared for a loss than a win. I’d be more surprised if they won.”
Said Evan, jumping in: “I haven’t believed since Cabo,” a reference to that now infamous trip Tony Romo and Jason Witten took during their bye week in the 2007 playoffs.
That team, of course, went 13-3 and then lost a fourth-quarter lead to Eli Manning and the Giants. The playoff run ended when Romo was intercepted in the end zone with 16 seconds left to play.
It should not be confused with the Russell boys’ other enduring Cowboys’ memories: Romo’s botched snap on a go-ahead field-goal attempt in Seattle during the 2006 wild-card round, the Dez (didn’t) catch-it game at Green Bay after 2014 or Green Bay’s Mason Crosby hitting a game-winning, 51-yard field goal as time expired after 2016. Each of the brothers cited one of those as their most vivid memory.
There isn’t a fourth child to even speak for last year’s 23-17 loss to San Francisco.
Some things are better left unsaid.
And yet Monday, they will be tuned in to watch the Cowboys and Buccaneers. They’ve all played it out in their heads. The Cowboys will score late to take a lead. Tom Brady will march Tampa Bay back down the field. The Bucs will win in a walk-off. They will try not to be disappointed.
“We all enjoy watching the Cowboys,” Randy said. “It’s a bonding experience. But they’ve never seen ultimate success. All they’ve known is futility. There is a whole generation like that.”
Call them Gen L.
