Meeting America’s Team

In Texas, they do things big. On May 27, 2009, Jerry Jones, the owner of the NFL football team, the Dallas Cowboys, completed building the biggest football stadium in the world for his team and fans. The stadium isn’t extraordinary just on the fact of its vastness, but once there the sheer grandeur would make any Cowboys fan proud. Being a Cowboys fan my whole life, I made it my goal this year to attend a home field game in the ‘Big D’ rooting on ‘America’s team’ in the biggest stadium in the world and for my 21st birthday I got to do just that…But wait it gets better! Not only did I get to attend the game, I was able to meet and have dinner with some of the players just for being a fan the night before. Has your team done this for you? No, I am not biased at all.

On Monday through Saturday you could most likely find me at some coffee shop, beach, concert, or on some shopping adventure. On Sundays, however, you’ll most likely find me watching football rooting on my team, so when I arrived in Texas on October 31st knowing I would have dinner with 4 players of the Dallas Cowboys. Not just the third or second string but current first string defensive players: pass rusher DeMarcus Ware who lead the league in 2008 with 20 sacks, just three short of setting the NFL’s all-time single-season record, cornerback Orlando Sandrick, cornerback Mike Jenkins, and 3x Superbowl and 2x pro bowler defensive tackle legend Leon Lett. So you could say I was a tad excited. I was able to attend this special dinner by being a part of the Dallas Cowboys True Blue Fan Club which does these kinds of events quite often for their fans.

When I arrived at the diner within a couple minutes DeMarcus Ware, Orlando Sandrick, and Mike Jenkins arrived and opened the evening up with questions from the fans. The first was about Ware’s recent contract extension of six years through 2015 for $78 million with $40 million guaranteed, making him the highest paid defensive player in the NFL. His first reaction was telling the fans he would probably be a Dallas Cowboy his whole life. Jenkins and Sandrick said they looked up to a player like Ware for being patient, staying humble, and working hard every step, or rather sack, of the way.

After the questions I able to meet the players and have them sign autographs. I told Ware since it was my birthday if he could get a good sack and win for me tomorrow, which happened in the last play of the third quarter sacking Seattle Seahawk quarterback Matt Hasselbeck for a seven-yard loss which set up a field goal for the Cowboys in the fourth quarter.

After Ware, Jenkins, and Sandrick left after signing since they had the big game the next day, Leon Lett arrived within minutes afterwards and had dinner and talked to all the fans for a couple of hours. Lett told stories of how he played basketball, baseball, and other sports than just football and of his glory days playing with Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin, who is currently on Dancing with the Stars.

The next day I woke early to attend the game, driving over to the stadium which you could see from the massive white roof poking out from the vibrant changing colored leafed trees of Texas. Walking up the stadium the striking features of white and silver stand out as a “huge spaceship” as DeMarcus Ware calls it. With massive glass doors on each side that were retracted for the game, ten levels with field level suites, 3,000 Sony LCD displays throughout the whole stadium, retractable roof that can open so “God can look on his team” as some fans say, 80,000 seats but is expandable to hold up to 111,000 through the use of standing areas, and of course the colossal 160 by 72 ft, 11,520-square-foot, 10,584,064 LEDs, consuming some 635,000 watts, biggest high-definition video screen in the world hung from 20 yard line to 20 yard line which cost just on itself more than the last Cowboys’ previous stadium. In times like these, the coolest part for the fans might be the Party Pass of only $25 dollars located at the standing areas with great views.

With this grand of a stadium, the roar of the fans throughout can make any player make a play with that much enthusiasm and energy. When explaining their loss, Seahawks wide receiver Deion Branch said in an interview “Playing in a stadium like this, their home-field advantage, that momentum swing is hard. Everybody starts making plays.” And indeed the Cowboys did with five touchdowns and a field goal winning the game at 38-17. As a Cowboys fan, I can now say I was part of it.