6 New Reasons Dallas Cowboys Are Hated by NFL Fans

America’s Tease: 6 New Reasons Dallas Cowboys Are Hated by NFL Fans … plus Dallas Mavericks pickin’ and rollin’, Texas Rangers hunted by one of their own, and beware “Bollywood,” all in this week’s DFW sports notebook.

They have not beaten a team with a winning record. Half of their victories are over sad-sack opponents that are 2-8. Their signature “win” is a close loss. The nine teams they’ve played are a combined 33-52. (They are also a scary 5-8 in their last 13 road games!)

But the screaming headlines this week sound like a juggernaut that is 9-0, not 6-3. They also serve as a reminder as to why the Dallas Cowboys are both “America’s Team” and America’s Most Hated Team … with six headlines from this week alone as illustration …

1 – CeeDee Lamb claims he’s (one of) the best receivers in football.

2 – Jerry Jones pushes Dak Prescott for MVP

3- Coach Mike McCarthy boasts his offense is “hitting on all cylinders.”

4 – Micah Parsons gets attention for having zero sacks or tackles in the win over the Giants.

5 – Trevon Diggs attempts to play GM … for the Buffalo Bills.

6 – Bill Belichick is tied to Dallas – even though he’s not.

The Cowboys – and the media – have long been adept at turning Dallas’ molehills into mountains. But this is next-level nauseating.

Are the Cowboys a talented team? Yup. Are they a good team that can beat up on bad teams? Sure enough. Are they a great team? TBD.

They’ve played two playoff-bound opponents – the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers – and are 0-2. They also managed to lose by 12 points to the 2-8 Arizona Cardinals without Kyler Murray.

Lamb is on record-setting roll, but you can name at least five better receivers off the top of your head. Prescott’s interceptions are down and his legs are back, but MVP? He’s not even the best quarterback in his own division (Jalen Hurts?) or maybe his own state (C.J. Stroud?). McCarthy must not remember the offense’s literal missteps at the end of the Eagles loss two weeks ago. And Diggs might be looking out for his brother in Buffalo, but the trading deadline has already passed so put a sock in it.

The Cowboys will wallop the 1-win Carolina Panthers Sunday (and maybe Micah will get a sack) and the 4-6 Washington Commanders (where Belichick might end up) on Thanksgiving. They’ll be 8-3 and the roar of momentum will be deafening.

Then, finally, their season will start. The Cowboys can finally beat a winning team when it hosts the 6-3 Seattle Seahawks Nov. 30, and then the Eagles Dec. 10.

Running up the score on the 2-8 New England Patriots, 3-6 Los Angeles Rams and 2-8 New York Giants (twice) is great for style. But with this team – same as it’s been since 1996 – we’re still waiting for some substance.

*Love me some Mark Follwill, but nonetheless I watch Dallas Mavericks games on mute. Listening to one analyst finish every opinion with a superfluous “as a player” and the other analyst try soooo hard to be soooo hip takes away from the beauty of basketball.

I feel kinda the same way about the Mavs studio shows where a mix of homers takes turns gushing over a win or a “great effort” in a loss. But then last week came an award-winning rant by Brian Dameris.

He delivered a scathing analysis of James Harden, punctuated by “You’re not The Beard … You’re the Problem.” It was raw. It was real. It was factual. It was fantastic. It was viral. It was … taken down?

Originally posted to Bally Sports Southwest’s Twitter, it was deleted by someone (Mark Cuban, I’d be looking at you but word is this isn’t the handiwork of the team). Shame. Something finally worth hearing on a Mavs TV broadcast and … poof.

*Hunters for 51 years, the Texas Rangers are already being hunted. By one of their own. In his first press conference this week, the new manager of the Los Angeles Angels promised to make the Rangers’ time at the top short.

“Our whole focus is to run the West down,” he said. “You can take that to the bank and deposit it.”

The manager? Ron Washington.

Bruce Bochy is obviously a baseball savant and a nice enough guy, but wouldn’t the Rangers’ World Series triumph have been even sweeter if Wash was the manager? For Bochy, it was unexpected icing on his Hall-of-Fame cake. For Wash, it would have been the highlight of his career and oh-so-sweet redemption for 2010-11.

*Wait, Texas A&M is paying Jimbo Fisher $76 million to simply go away? I find that so hilarious it’s as if my hahaha’s had a baby with my lol’s. Time to dust off this old Dallas Observer column, because it’s as true today as when I wrote it in 2011. Aggie jokes never get old, do they? No. No they do not.

*Beware Bollywood. Stumbled upon the old Sambuca360 night club in Plano’s Shops of Legacy last weekend. Once the home of suburban soccer moms lettin’ loose on a Saturday night, it was instead “Bollywood” night. Ya know, with authentic Indian beats and all. The cover charge was $20, so I gladly paid the $40 for me and my date. But, um, couple days later my credit card showed the charge for $43.30.

*Toldja! I’ve long bemoaned the “evolution” of sideline reporters. What started as a great idea to have eyes and ears near team benches for breaking injury news or mood updates has through the years deteriorated into “Sideline Barbie” canned, pre-fabricated vignettes. More often than not, the “reports” are not newsy at all, bur merely cutesy vignettes spoon-fed to the reporter from a team’s media relations department. Or, in the case of Fox’s Charissa Thompson, the information is merely “made up.” Football would be a better sport without archaic chains or needless sideline reporters.

*Those of you who claimed Tyron Smith was “washed” need to get your apologies in order.

Smith, who will turn 33 in a month, hobbles around. Doesn’t practice during the week. And just so happens to be one of the NFL’s best offensive linemen on game days. Pro Football Focus ranked him as the league’s No. 1 pass-blocker in Week 10, and in 231 drop-backs this season he has allowed exactly zero quarterback pressure, much less a sack.