"Worse: You're in Texas!"– Chris Rock
-- Nurse Betty
This past Sunday, the New York Giants lost 20-15 to the Jacksonville Jaguars. At home. They have now lost 17 of their last 22 games.
This coming Sunday, they travel to play the Dallas Cowboys, in what Texas native Molly Ivins – frequently sarcastically – called The Great State.
An example of her writing: "In the Great State, you can get 5 years for murder, and 99 for pot possession." (I once sent the late, great newspaper columnist an e-mail asking if it could be knocked down to 98 years if you didn't inhale. Sadly, she never responded.)
If there is one thing that fans of 31 out of the 32 NFL teams can agree on, it's that they hate the Cowboys. Or, as is said from New York to San Francisco, from Seattle to Miami, and especially in Philadelphia and Washington, "Dallas Sucks!"
Before You Go. It's not just The South, it's Texas. This is the State that elected George W. Bush, Rick Perry, Greg Abbott and Bill Clements Governor; Dick Armey, Tom DeLay, Ron Paul and Louie Gohmert to the House of Representatives; and Phil Gramm and Ted Cruz to the Senate -- and thinks the rest of the country isn't conservative enough. This is the State where, in political terms, somebody like Long Island's conservative Congressman Peter King is considered a sissy.
This is a State that thinks that poor nonwhites don't matter at all, and that poor whites only matter if you can convince them that, no matter how bad their life is, they're still better than the (slur on blacks) and the (slur on Hispanics).
So if you go to Dallas for this game, it would be best to avoid political discussions. And, for crying out loud, don't mention that, now over half a century ago, a liberal Democratic President was killed in Dallas. They might say JFK had it comin''cause he was a (N-word)-lovin' Communist. (Such people have included Clint Murchison, father of Clint Murchison Jr., the Cowboys' original owner, in the conspiracy theories, due to JFK's interest in eliminating a tax break known as the oil-depletion allowance.)
No. I'm not kidding. There are some Texans think like this -- and, among their own people, they will be less likely to hold back. So don't ask them what they think. About anything.
At any rate, before we go any further, enjoy Lewis Black's R-rated smackdown of Rick Perry (then the Governor, now the U.S. Secretary of Energy) and the State of Texas as a whole. Perry is so stupid and myopic, he makes Dubya look like Pat Moynihan.
Also within the realm of "It's not just The South, it's Texas," you should be prepared for hot weather. It's not just the heat that's so bad, it's the humidity. And the mosquitoes. You think it was only the heat that made the Houston Astros build the Astrodome? Sandy Koufax said, "Some of the bugs they've got down there are twin-engine
So, before you go, check the websites of the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (the "Startle-gram") for the weather. Right now, they're talking about it being in the high 80s during daylight, and the mid-70s at night, and rain throughout the weekend. Most likely, this would mean the roof will be closed. Regardless of what the newspapers say, bring bugspray, and remember to keep yourself hydrated.
Texas is in the Central Time Zone, 1 hour behind New York. (The exception is the southwestern corner, including El Paso, which borders New Mexico, so it's in the Mountain Time Zone.) Adjust your timepieces accordingly.
Despite Texas' foreignness -- and that's before you factor in the Mexican-American presence, which improves things -- and its former Confederate status, you do not need to bring your passport or change your money.
Tickets. AT&T Stadium -- not to be confused with AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants; or the AT&T Center, home of the San Antonio Spurs -- is the largest in the NFL, and, last season, the Cowboys averaged 92,721 fans per home game, the highest in the league. Officially, there are 80,000 seats, but, with standing-room, they can reach 108,713 (for the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, the largest attendance ever for a basketball game, at any level, anywhere in the world).
For the stadium's opening game, against the Giants on September 21, 2009, 105,121 people crammed in, a record for a regular-season game in any of the 4 major North American sports. You might remember Jason Tynes winning the game for the G-Men with a last-second field goal. (The largest crowd ever to see an American-style football game is 112,376, for a preseason game between the Cowboys and the Houston Oilers at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City in 1994.)
What I'm trying to say is, if you haven't already found tickets, you're probably not going to get them from the Cowboys' website, and you're certainly not going to walk up to the stadium 5 minutes before kickoff and say, "Gimme the best pair of seats you got left" and walk away with anything but frustration. You'll have to go to the NFL Ticket Exchange, StubHub, or (not that I would ever recommend this, especially for an away game) a scalper.
You know the old saying that everything is big in Texas? Count football ticket prices in that. The best seats available are in the Main Level, the 200 sections, and are going for $164. Seats way up in the 400 level are going for $99. Standing room tickets are going for $30. I don't know about you, but I'm not standing for 3 hours to watching the goddamned Dallas Cowboys unless they pay me at least $30.
Be warned: Those giant viewscreens hanging from the roof block some views, so that, despite being arguably the "most modern" stadium ever built, some seats at this place are obstructed-view, as if it had been built 100 years earlier. Jerry Jones had years to plan this stadium out, and, whatever else he might be, he's no dummy. So for him to have allowed this to happen is inexcusable.
Getting There. It is 1,551 miles from Midtown Manhattan to downtown Dallas, and 1,564 miles from MetLife Stadium to AT&T Stadium. So unless you want to be cooped up for 24-30 hours, you... are... flying.
Nonstop flights on United Airlines from Newark, Kennedy or LaGuardia airports to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport could set you back a little more than $800 round-trip. DFW is a major airline hub: American Airlines has its corporate headquarters there. And yet, American offers fewer nonstops at considerably higher prices. There is Orange Line rail service from the airport to Dallas' Union Station, but it will take about an hour and a half.
Dallas' Union Station
Amtrak offers the Lake Shore Limited (a variation on the old New York Central Railroad's 20th Century Limited), leaving Penn Station at 3:40 PM Eastern Time and arriving at Chicago's Union Station at 9:50 AM Central Time. Then switch to the Texas Eagle at 1:45 PM, and arrive at Dallas' Union Station (400 S. Houston Street at Wood Street) the following morning at 11:30. It will cost a lot more than usual this time: $703 round-trip.
As with American Airlines, Dallas is actually Greyhound's hometown, or at least the location of its corporate headquarters: 205 S. Lamar Street at Commerce Street, which is also the address of their Dallas station. If you look at Greyhound buses, you'll notice they all have Texas license plates. So, how bad can the bus be?
Well, it costs around the same: $520 round-trip, and advanced purchase can get it down to $391. But it won't be much shorter: It's a 40-hour trip, and you'll have to change buses at least once, possibly twice.
Oh... kay. So what about driving? As I said, over 1,500 miles. I would definitely recommend bringing a friend and sharing the driving. The fastest way from New York to Dallas is to get into New Jersey, take Interstate 78 West across the State and into Pennsylvania, then turn to Interstate 81 South, across Pennsylvania, the "panhandles" of Maryland and West Virginia, and across the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia into Tennessee, where I-81 will flow into Interstate 40.
Take I-40 into Arkansas, and switch to Interstate 30 in Little Rock, taking it into the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, a.k.a. "The Metroplex." Between the forks of Interstate 35, I-30 is named the Tom Landry Freeway, after the legendary Cowboys coach. Exit 29 is used for the stadium. If you've ever seen TV footage of the team's previous home, Texas Stadium, it will look like an updated version of that.
Once you get across the Hudson River into New Jersey, you should be in New Jersey for about an hour, Pennsylvania for 3 hours, Maryland for 15 minutes, West Virginia for half an hour, Virginia for 5 and a half hours (more than the entire trip will be before you get to Virginia), 8 hours and 15 minutes in Tennessee, 3 hours in Arkansas, and about 3 hours and 45 minutes in Texas.
Taking 45-minute rest stops in or around (my recommendations) Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Charlottesville, Virginia; Bristol, on the Virginia/Tennessee State Line; Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee; Little Rock and Texarkana, Arkansas; and accounting for overruns there and for traffic at each end of the journey, and we're talking 31 hours. So, leaving New York at around 7:00 Eastern Time on Saturday morning, you should be able to reach the Metroplex at around 1:00 Central Time on Sunday afternoon, giving you 2 hours before kickoff.
But it would be better to leave on Friday afternoon, reach the area on Saturday night, and get a hotel. Fortunately, AT&T Stadium is in Arlington, midway between the downtowns of Dallas and Fort Worth. Well before either the Rangers or the Cowboys set up shop in Arlington, Six Flags Over Texas did so, as the original theme park in the Six Flags chain (opening in 1961), and so there are plenty of hotels available nearby. They're also likely to be cheaper than the ones in downtown Dallas.
Once In the City. Dallas (population about 1.3 million, founded in 1856) was named after George Mifflin Dallas, a Mayor of Philadelphia and Senator from Pennsylvania who was James K. Polk's Vice President (1845-49). Fort Worth (about 850,000, founded in 1849) was named for William Jenkins Worth, a General in the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War. And Arlington (400,000, founded in 1876) was named for the Virginia city across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., as a tribute to Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
The population of the entire Metroplex is about 7.7 million and climbing, although when you throw in Oklahoma, southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana, the total population of the Cowboys'"market" is about 19 million -- a little less than the New York Tri-State Area, and soon it will surpass us.
Commerce Street divides Dallas street addresses into North and South. Beckley Avenue, across the Trinity River from downtown, appears to divide them into East and West. The sales tax in the State of Texas is 6.25 percent, in Dallas County 8.25 percent, and in Tarrant County (including Arlington and Fort Worth) 8 percent even.
ZIP Codes for the Dallas side of the Metroplex start with the digits 75; and for the Fort Worth side, 76. The Area Codes are 214, 469, 940 and 972 for Dallas; and 817 for Fort Worth and Arlington.
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) runs buses and light rail trains. A 2-hour pass costs $2.50, and a day pass is $5.00 local and $10.00 regional (if you want to go beyond Dallas to Arlington or Fort Worth).
Green Line train just outside downtown
Dallas' beltway is named for 2 Presidents: Interstate 635, to the north, is the Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway; while Interstate 20, to the south, is the Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway. I-20, along with Interstate 820, the Jim Wright Freeway (named for the local Congressman who was an ally of LBJ's, an enemy of Reagan's, and Speaker of the House from 1987 to 1989), is Fort Worth's beltway. And, as I said, I-30, the Tom Landry Freeway, connects the 2 cities and goes through Arlington.
Dallas proper is about 42 percent Hispanic, 28 percent white, 24 percent black, and 3 percent Asian. South Dallas is mostly black, while North Dallas is mostly white. The northern suburbs are rich, and so conservative, they make New Jersey Republicans look like Socialists.
They like fireworks at this stadium.
Public transportation is a relatively new idea in Texas. While Dallas has built a subway and light rail system, and it has a bus service, until recently, Arlington was the largest city in the country with no public transportation at all.
If you got a hotel near the various Arlington attractions, you're in luck: The Arlington Entertainment District Trolley goes to the area hotels and to the stadiums and theme parks. But if your hotel is in Dallas, you'll have to take Trinity Rail Express (TRE) to Centerport Station, and then transfer to bus 221, and take that to Collins & Andrew Streets. And even then, you'd have to walk over a mile down Collins to get to the stadium. The whole thing is listed as taking an hour and 50 minutes.
But at least it's now possible to get from Dallas to a Cowboy game and back without spending $50 on taxis. So how much is it? From Union Station to Centerport, each way, is $2.50. I don't know what the zones are for the bus, but a Day Pass is $5.00, meaning that getting there and back could top out at $10, which is reasonable considering the distance involved.
There are 12,000 parking spaces on site, and another 12,000 are available at the nearby Rangers ballpark. Parking is $15, and tailgating is permitted.
Most likely, you'll enter at the northwest corner of the stadium. The field is laid out northeast to southwest, which is usually frowned upon due to the angle of the sun. But the stadium is so large, and the roof, even when open blocks out so much of the sky that the sun is not a problem for offenses. The field is "Matrix artificial turf." The Cowboys haven't played a home game on real grass since 1969, at the Cotton Bowl.
Originally named Cowboys Stadium, but nicknamed the Palace In Dallas, the Death Star, Jerry World and Jerr-assic Park, it has now hosted a Super Bowl (XLV, Green Bay over Pittsburgh), a College Football National Championship Game (2014-15, Ohio State over Oregon), an NCAA Final Four (in 2014, Connecticut over Kentucky), some major prizefights and concerts (including Texas native George Strait opening the stadium with Reba McIntire, and recently holding the final show of his "farewell tour" there), and, as mentioned, the 2010 NBA All-Star Game.
It hosts several special college football games: The annual Cotton Bowl Classic, the annual Cowboys Classic, the annual Arkansas-Texas A&M game, the Big 12 Championship, and, on January 12, 2015, it hosted the 1st National Championship game in college football's playoff era: Ohio State 42, Oregon 20.
Mexico's national soccer team has now played there 6 times. The U.S. team has played there twice: A 3-1 win over Hondruas in the CONCACAF Gold Cup on July 24, 2013; and a 2-0 win over Costa Rica in the Gold Cup on July 22, 2017. The national teams of Brazil and Argentina, Mexican clubs Club America and San Luis, and European giants Chelsea, Barcelona and AS Roma have also played there.
They really, really like fireworks here.
Inside and out. And big screens.
On September 12, 2017, this post, Thrillist had an article ranking all 31 NFL stadiums. I don't know how much the author of the article was bribed, but he actually listed AT&T Stadium at Number 1:
You'll get more than good food and a quality football game. Modern art abounds inside AT&T Stadium, from sculptural installations to paintings, to huge murals designed to complement the escalators. Throw in the shockingly strong resurgence of America's Team and you have hands-down the best game-day experience in the NFL.
And if you believe that, he's got some beachfront property to sell you, right where Texas Stadium used to stand.
Food. Going along with the "Everything is big in Texas" idea, you would think that the Cowboys' megastadium would have more concession stands than any stadium in the NFL, and big portions. They don't disappoint. I can't even list the cardiac-crushing stuff they serve, you'll have to click this link.
Team History Displays. At Texas Stadium, the Cowboys used to hang a Super Bowl banner at each end. Once they started winning them again in the 1990s, the 2 from the 1970s were placed at one end, and the new ones at the other. Now, the 5 are all hung together at one end. Although the Cowboys have won 8 NFC titles and 21 Divisional titles, they do not hang references to those anywhere in the open area, much as the Yankees, Boston Celtics and Montreal Canadiens only display references to World Championships.
An intelligent fan who knows his history will remind them that things that happened in the NFL from 1920 to 1966 do count, and that the actual count is Giants 8, Cowboys 5. (This also boosts the Green Bay Packers past the Cowboys, going from 4 to 13, and the Chicago Bears from 1 to 9. It also makes their arch-rivals, the Washington Redskins, equal, going from 3 to 5.)
Although legendary uniform numbers such as 8, 12, 22 and 74 are not handed out anymore, the Cowboys do not officially retire numbers. Instead, they have a Ring of Honor, originally around the facing of the upper deck at Texas Stadium, in white letters on a blue background; now around that of the current facility, but with blue letters on white. There are currently 21 honorees:
* From the 1960s, but not lasting until Super Bowl VI: Quarterback Don Meredith, Number 17; and running back Don Perkins, 43.
* From the Super Bowl VI team that won the 1971 NFL Championship: General Manager Tex Schramm, head coach Tom Landry; quarterback Roger Staubach, 12; receiver Bob Hayes, 22; offensive tackle Rayfield Wright, 70; defensive tackle Bob Lilly, 74; linebackers Lee Roy Jordan, 55, and Chuck Howley, 54; and cornerback Mel Renfro, 20.
All but Jordan and Howley are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That team also featured 4 Hall-of-Famers better known for playing for other teams: Forrest Gregg and Herb Adderley of Green Bay, Mike Ditka of Dallas, and Lance Alworth of San Diego.
* From the Super Bowl XII team that won the 1977 NFL Championship: Schramm, Landry, Staubach, Wright; running back Tony Dorsett, 33; receiver Drew Pearson, 88; defensive tackle Randy White, 54; and safety Cliff Harris, 43. Dorsett and White are in the Hall of Fame.
* From the Super Bowl XXVII, XXVIII and XXX teams that won the 1992, 1993 and 1995 NFL Championships: Quarterback Troy Aikman, 8; running back Emmitt Smith, 22; receiver Michael Irvin, 88; guard Larry Allen, 73; defensive end Charles Haley, 94; and safety Darren Woodson, 28. All but Woodson are in the Hall of Fame. The Super Bowl XXX team also had Hall-of-Fame cornerback Deion Sanders, 21. Since this team, the Cowboys have had just 1 player make the Hall, and he was only there 3 seasons: Receiver Terrell Owens, 81.
Dorsett's and Schramm's Ring of Honor notations
Johnson, formerly of the University of Miami, and Switzer, of the University of Oklahoma, not only competed against each other for National Championships -- and for Statewide bragging rights, as Johnson's previous job was at Oklahoma State -- but they are also the only coaches to win both an NCAA and an NFL title. Pete Carroll would have been the 3rd with the Seattle Seahawks' title earlier this year, but his USC team had to vacate their 2 titles.
Lilly was named to the NFL's 75th Anniversary Team in 1994. So was Ditka, who ended his playing career and began his coaching career with the Cowboys under Landry. Lilly, Ditka, Staubach, White, Dorsett, Aikman, Smith and Sanders were named to The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Football Players in 1999. Those players, as well as Michael Irvin and Larry Allen, were named to the NFL Network's 100 Greatest Players in 2010.
Stuff. There are souvenir stands and shops all over the place, some of them selling Western wear (actual "cowboy" clothing, including oversized Cowboy hats) with team logos in it. Some of these items may have the always-ridiculous "America's Team" slogan on them.
As you might expect from the glitziest (though not the most glorious) team in the NFL, there are DVDs galore about them. All 5 Super Bowl wins are available in a single highlight package. NFL Films' Production The Dallas Cowboys -- The Complete History is no longer all that complete, only going up to 2003, but at least (if you're a Cowboy fan) you won't have to sit through the failures and foibles of Tony Romo.
There are videos about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (oh yes, they may have been a product of the Salacious Seventies, but they still exist), and a DVD titled Dallas Cowboys Heroes looks at such figures as Landry, Lilly, Staubach, Aikman, Smith and, yes, Romo.
NFL Films also produced Dallas Cowboys: 10 Greatest Games. It includes the original network broadcasts of all 5 Super Bowl wins, plus the NFC Championship Games from the last 3 Super Bowl seasons, the 1975 Playoff against the Minnesota Vikings featuring the Staubach to Pearson touchdown that made "Hail Mary" a football term for a desperation pass (and which Cowboy-haters still say was offensive pass interference), and a 1981 Playoff comeback against the Atlanta Falcons.
You don't usually think of Dallas having much of a literary tradition -- or of Cowboy fans being functionally literate -- but there are a few books about the Cowboys. Some praise them. But why would you want to read that kind of crap? Well, in 1997, John Eisenberg wrote Cotton Bowl Days: Growing up with Dallas and the Cowboys in the 1960s, telling of the time before the team and its fan base got so arrogant.
Two recently-published Cowboy-hater books are Jeff Stevenson's Dallas Cowboys, "America's Team" No More (note the quotation marks, as he knows they were never really that), and I Hate the Dallas Cowboys: Tales of a Scrappy New York Boyhood by Thomas R. Pryor.
Chad Millman and Shawn Coyne wrote The Ones Who Hit the Hardest: The Steelers, the Cowboys, the '70s, and the Battle for America's Soul. It does a terrific job of telling the cultural histories of both Pittsburgh and Dallas, and the teams that played in those cities, up until their meeting in Super Bowl XIII on January 21, 1979.
The problem is, the book ends with the postgame of that Super Bowl, and doesn't really explain who won "the battle for America's soul." Indeed, while the Seventies Steelers are now regarded as one of the greatest football teams of all time, and the Seventies Cowboys are a level below them (the Steelers beat them in Super Bowl X, too), looking at America from the Eighties onward, we have become much more like Dallas and the Cowboys (materialistic, self-indulgent, instant-gratification-seeking, drug-ridden, yet sanctimonious about religion) than we have like Pittsburgh and the Steelers (hard-working, patient, team-oriented, magnanimous in victory, appreciative of the people who got us there).
It's a very good book, but the lack of a true epilogue stops it from being a great book. But it is as good a look at the 1st 20 years of the Cowboys (or the building of the Steeler dynasty) that we are likely to get anytime soon.
Skip Bayless, formerly of ESPN and now of Fox Sports, grew up in Oklahoma City as a Cowboys fan, and has written 3 books about the team: God's Coach: The Hymns, Hype, and Hypocrisy of Tom Landry's Cowboys; The Boys: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys' Season on the Edge (the 1992 Super Bowl XXVII season); and Hell-Bent: The Crazy Truth About the "Win or Else" Dallas Cowboys.
During the Game. A recent Thrillist article cites the Cowboys as having the 3rd most obnoxious fans in the NFL, behind only New England and Oakland. (However, they rate the Jets 4th and the Giants 8th, so take it all for whatever you think it's worth.) Okay, they're stupid, and they're obnoxious. But are they rough? Well, I would advise you against wearing Philadelphia Eagles, and especially Washington Redskins gear.
However, while they certainly don't like New York in Texas, wearing Giant gear probably won't get you in trouble. And, this being a stadium, you're gonna get searched, and so is everyone else, so Texas' infamously lenient gun laws will be rendered useless. You're not going to get shot. Even JFK and J.R. Ewing wouldn't have gotten shot at AT&T Stadium.
From September 1 to 7, 2017, at the start of NFL National Anthem protest controversy,
FiveThirtyEight.com polled fans of the 32 NFL teams, to see where they leaned politically. Cowboy fans were rated 2.7 percent more conservative than liberal, a surprisingly low total, meaning they probably got a lot of black and Hispanic fans to respond. They were 1 of 6 teams whose fans were more conservative than liberal.
Freddie Jones, the leader of the Freddie Jones Jazz Group, plays the National Anthem before every game, on his signature blue Martin Committee Trumpet. The Cowboys don't have a fight song, and as far as I know there are no common chants. But you might hear fans shout out Jimmy Johnson's old line, "How 'bout them Cowboys!"
The Cowboys' mascot is Rowdy, whose cherubic face bears a striking resemblance to the mascot of burger chain Bob's Big Boy. Otherwise, he wears a Cowboys jersey and a cowboy hat with the team's star logo on it. Interestingly, he debuted during the 1996 season, and the Cowboys haven't been back to the Super Bowl since. The Curse of Rowdy?
Wilford "Crazy Ray" Jones, who began as a vendor at Cowboys games at the Cotton Bowl in 1962, became sort of an unofficial mascot, eventually getting an all-access pass to Texas Stadium, before diabetes claimed him in 2007. In all that time, he missed only 3 home games, and he became probably the most popular person associated with the team: While even Tom Landry and Roger Staubach had people who hated them, everybody liked Crazy Ray.
Zema Williams, the unofficial mascot of the Redskins known as Chief Zee, actually missed his team's 2007 home opener to go to Dallas to pay tribute to his friendly rival, escorting his wife out to midfield for a standing ovation. (His absence at the Redskins' opener, along with his own health issues and the news of Crazy Ray's death, led many Washington fans to be concerned that he had died, too. However, he lived on until 2017.)
Rowdy and the late Crazy Ray
After the Game. Dallas has a bit of a bad reputation when it comes to crime, but you'll be pretty far from it. Not only is the stadium not in a bad neighborhood, it's one of those stadiums that's not really in any neighborhood. As long as you don't make any snide remarks about the Cowboys, or make any liberal political pronouncements, safety will not be an issue.
Buffalo Joe's, at 3636 Frankford Avenue, is the local Giants fan bar. But it's 22 miles due north of downtown Dallas. Even further, the Cape Buffalo Grille, at 17727 Addison Road in Addison, 28 miles northeast of AT&T Stadium, has been described by a Giant fan as "a lifesaver for people from New York and New Jersey." Humperdink's, at 6050 Greenville Avenue in north Dallas, 15 miles north of downtown, seems to be the local home of Jet fans.
If you visit Dallas during the European soccer season, as we are now in, the best-known "football pub" in town is Trinity Hall, at 5321 E. Mockingbird Lane, just off the SMU campus. Blue Line to Mockingbird Station.
Sidelights. Despite their new rapid-rail system, Dallas is almost entirely a car-friendly, everything-else-unfriendly city. Actually, it's not that friendly at all. It's a city for oil companies, for banks, for insurance companies, things normal Americans tend to hate. Despite its reputation for far-right political craziness, Texas still prides itself on its hospitality to visitors; and, as one Houston native once put it, "Dallas is not in Texas."
In fact, most Texans, especially people from Fort Worth (and, to a slightly lesser extent, those from Houston) seem to think of Dallas the way the rest of America thinks of New York: They hate it, and they think that it represents all that is bad about their homeland. Until, that is, they need a win. Or money.
Don't bother looking for the former home of the Cowboys, Texas Stadium, because "the Hole Bowl" was demolished in 2010. If you must, the address was 2401 E. Airport Freeway, in Irving. The Cowboys reached 7 Super Bowls, winning 5, while playing there, made their Thanksgiving Day home game an annual classic, and became "America's Team" there.
![]()
So many games were broadcast from there that some people joked that CBS stood for Cowboys Broadcasting Service. SMU played some home games there, and the U.S. soccer team played there once, a 1991 loss to Costa Rica.
![]()
The North American Soccer League's Dallas Tornado played most of its home games there, featuring native son Kyle Rote Jr., son of the SMU grad who played for the Giants in the 1950s. They hosted the 1973 NASL Final, but lost to the Philadelphia Atoms.
But they won the 1971 Final, 2-1 over the Atlanta Chiefs, at what was then their home field, Franklin Stadium, across from Hillcrest High School in North Dallas. 10000 Hillcrest Road, about 8 miles north of downtown. Red Line to Walnut Hill, then transfer to Bus 506 to Meadow & Stone Canyon, and then walk about half a mile west.
The Cowboys' 1st home, from 1960 to 1970, was the Cotton Bowl, which also hosted the Cotton Bowl game from 1937 to 2009, after which it was moved to AT&T Stadium. On 5 occasions, the game decided the National Championship: 1959-60, Syracuse over Texas; 1963-64, Texas over Navy; 1964-65, Arkansas over Nebraska; 1969-70, Texas over Notre Dame; and 1977-78, Notre Dame over Texas.
It also hosted the original NFL version of the Dallas Texans in 1952; the AFL's Dallas Texans from 1960 to 1962, before they moved and became the Kansas City Chiefs; some (but not all) home games of Southern Methodist University between 1932 and 2000; the Tornado in their 1967 and 1968 seasons' some games of soccer's 1994 World Cup, 7 U.S. soccer games, most recently a draw to Mexico in 2004; and an Elvis concert on October 11, 1956, the 20,000 fans being his biggest crowd until he resumed touring in 1970.
![]()
But it's old, opening in 1930, and the only thing that's still held there is the annual "Red River Rivalry" game between the Universities of Texas and Oklahoma, and the "Heart of Dallas Bowl," a very minor game.
Buffalo Joe's, at 3636 Frankford Avenue, is the local Giants fan bar. But it's 22 miles due north of downtown Dallas. Even further, the Cape Buffalo Grille, at 17727 Addison Road in Addison, 28 miles northeast of AT&T Stadium, has been described by a Giant fan as "a lifesaver for people from New York and New Jersey." Humperdink's, at 6050 Greenville Avenue in north Dallas, 15 miles north of downtown, seems to be the local home of Jet fans.
If you visit Dallas during the European soccer season, as we are now in, the best-known "football pub" in town is Trinity Hall, at 5321 E. Mockingbird Lane, just off the SMU campus. Blue Line to Mockingbird Station.
Sidelights. Despite their new rapid-rail system, Dallas is almost entirely a car-friendly, everything-else-unfriendly city. Actually, it's not that friendly at all. It's a city for oil companies, for banks, for insurance companies, things normal Americans tend to hate. Despite its reputation for far-right political craziness, Texas still prides itself on its hospitality to visitors; and, as one Houston native once put it, "Dallas is not in Texas."
In fact, most Texans, especially people from Fort Worth (and, to a slightly lesser extent, those from Houston) seem to think of Dallas the way the rest of America thinks of New York: They hate it, and they think that it represents all that is bad about their homeland. Until, that is, they need a win. Or money.
Don't bother looking for the former home of the Cowboys, Texas Stadium, because "the Hole Bowl" was demolished in 2010. If you must, the address was 2401 E. Airport Freeway, in Irving. The Cowboys reached 7 Super Bowls, winning 5, while playing there, made their Thanksgiving Day home game an annual classic, and became "America's Team" there.
"The hole in the roof is so that God can look down on his favorite team."
Sorry, cowboy, but the Yankees don't play football.
So many games were broadcast from there that some people joked that CBS stood for Cowboys Broadcasting Service. SMU played some home games there, and the U.S. soccer team played there once, a 1991 loss to Costa Rica.
But they won the 1971 Final, 2-1 over the Atlanta Chiefs, at what was then their home field, Franklin Stadium, across from Hillcrest High School in North Dallas. 10000 Hillcrest Road, about 8 miles north of downtown. Red Line to Walnut Hill, then transfer to Bus 506 to Meadow & Stone Canyon, and then walk about half a mile west.
It also hosted the original NFL version of the Dallas Texans in 1952; the AFL's Dallas Texans from 1960 to 1962, before they moved and became the Kansas City Chiefs; some (but not all) home games of Southern Methodist University between 1932 and 2000; the Tornado in their 1967 and 1968 seasons' some games of soccer's 1994 World Cup, 7 U.S. soccer games, most recently a draw to Mexico in 2004; and an Elvis concert on October 11, 1956, the 20,000 fans being his biggest crowd until he resumed touring in 1970.
The Cotton Bowl, in its best-remembered configuration,
before its recent renovation and expansion
But it's old, opening in 1930, and the only thing that's still held there is the annual "Red River Rivalry" game between the Universities of Texas and Oklahoma, and the "Heart of Dallas Bowl," a very minor game.
The Cotton Bowl, in all its maroon (Oklahoma) and burnt orange (Texas) glory.
Texas vs. Oklahoma is held at the Cotton Bowl every 2nd Saturday in October, and that's only because that's the weekend when the Texas State Fair is held, as the stadium is in Fair Park. (Just look for the statue of "Big Tex" -- you can't miss him.) While it doesn't seem fair that Oklahoma's visit to play Texas should be called a "neutral site" if it's in the State of Texas, the fact remains that each school gets half the tickets, and it's actually slightly closer to OU's campus in Norman, 191 miles, than it is from UT's in Austin, 197 miles. The address is 3750 The Midway.
Next-door is the African-American Museum of Dallas. 1300 Robert B. Cullum Blvd., in the Fair Park section of south Dallas. Bus 012 or 026, or Green Line light rail to Fair Park station. Be advised that this is generally considered to be a high-crime area of Dallas.
Globe Life Park in Arlington (formerly known as The Ballpark In Arlington, AmeriQuest Field and Rangers Ballpark) is at 1000 Ballpark Way, off Exit 29 on the Landry Freeway. It sits right between Six Flags and AT&T Stadium. The 2 stadiums are 7/10ths of a mile apart. You could walk between them, if you don't mind losing 5 pounds of water weight in the Texas heat.
Globe Life Park's days as an MLB facility are numbered. A stadium with a retractable roof is finally under construction, across Randol Mill Road to the south of the current ballpark. It will be named Globe Life Field, and is scheduled to open for the 2020 season. The current ballpark will be refit as part of the Texas Live! entertainment complex.
Across Legends Way from the ballpark is a parking lot where the original home of the Rangers, Arlington Stadium, stood from 1965 to 1993. It was a minor-league park called Turnpike Stadium before the announcement of the move of the team led to its expansion for the 1972 season.
The WNBA team formerly known as the Detroit Shock and the Tulsa Shock is now the Dallas Wings, and plays at the College Park Center. Opening in 2012, this 7,000-seat arena hosts the athletic teams of the University of Texas at Arlington. 601 S. Pecan Street, about 2 miles southwest of the Rangers' and Cowboys' stadiums. TRE to Centerport, MAX Bus to Center & Border.
The NBA's Dallas Mavericks and the NHL's Dallas Stars play at the American Airlines Center, or the AAC. Not to be confused with the American Airlines Arena in Miami (which was really confusing when the Mavs played the Heat in the 2006 and 2011 NBA Finals), it looks like a cross between a rodeo barn and an airplane hangar. 2500 Victory Avenue in the Victory Park neighborhood, north of downtown. Bus 052 or Green Line to Victory station.
Before the AAC opened in 2001, both teams played at the Reunion Arena. This building hosted the 1984 Republican Convention, where Ronald Reagan was nominated for a 2nd term as President. To New York Tri-State Area fans, it is probably best remembered as the place where Jason Arnott's double-overtime goal won Game 6 and gave the New Jersey Devils the 2000 Stanley Cup over the defending Champion Stars. The 1986 NCAA Final Four, won by Louisville over Duke, was held there.
It was demolished in November 2009, 5 months before Texas Stadium was imploded. The arena didn't even get to celebrate a 30th Anniversary. 777 Sports Street at Houston Viaduct, downtown, a 10-minute walk from Union Station.
The Major League Soccer club FC Dallas (formerly the Dallas Burn) play at Toyota Stadium, at 9200 World Cup Way in the suburb of Frisco. It's 28 miles up the Dallas North Tollway from downtown, so forget about any way of getting there except driving. The U.S. soccer team has played there 4 times, notching a win and a loss against Guatemala, and wins over Honduras and Ecuador. The National Soccer Hall of Fame will open there on October 20, 2018.
The Dallas Sportatorium was built in 1935 to host professional wrestling, burned down in 1953 (legend has it that it was arson by a rival promoter), was rebuilt as a 4,500-seat venue, and continued to host wrestling even as it was replaced by larger arenas and fell into a rat-infested, crumbling decline, before a 2001 fire (this one was likely the result of the neglect, rather than arson) finally led to its 2003 demolition. Elvis Presley sang there early in his career, on April 16, May 29, June 18 and September 3, 1955. The site is now vacant. 1000 S. Industrial Blvd. at Cadiz Street, just south of downtown.
The Dallas Memorial Auditorium opened in 1957, and hosted some Chaparrals games. The Beatles played there on September 18, 1964. Elvis sang there on November 13, 1971; June 6, 1975; and December 28, 1976. It is now part of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, named for Texas' 1st female U.S. Senator. 650 S. Griffin Street, downtown.
Elvis also sang in Fort Worth, at the Tarrant County Convention Center, now the Fort Worth Convention Center, on June 18, 1972; June 15 and 16, 1974; and June 3 and July 3, 1976. 1201 Houston Street. A short walk from the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center.
The Major League Soccer club FC Dallas (formerly the Dallas Burn) play at Toyota Park at 9200 World Cup Way in the suburb of Frisco. It's 28 miles up the Dallas North Tollway from downtown, so forget about any way of getting there except driving. It hosted the MLS Cup Final in 2005 and 2006, and the U.S. soccer team has played there 3 times: A win and a loss against Guatemala, and a win this past July 7 against Honduras.
Before there was the Texas Rangers, and before the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs minor league team that opened Turnpike/Arlington Stadium in 1965, there were the Dallas team alternately called the Steers, the Rebels, the Eagles and the Rangers; and the Fort Worth Cats. Dallas won Texas League (Double-A) Pennants in 1926, 1929, 1941, 1946 and 1953. They played at Burnett Field, which opened in 1924, and was abandoned after the Dallas Rangers and the Fort Worth Cats merged to become the Spurs in 1965. Currently, it's a vacant lot. 1500 E. Jefferson Blvd. at Colorado Blvd. Bus 011.
The Cats won TL Pennants in 1895, 1905, 1906, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1930, 1937, 1939 and 1948. Those 6 straight Pennants in the Twenties became a pipeline of stars for the St. Louis Cardinals, and the 1930 Pennant featured Dizzy Dean and a few other future members of the Cards' 1930s "Gashouse Gang."
The Cats played at LaGrave Field, the first version of which opened in 1900, and was replaced in 1926, again after a fire in 1949, and one more time in 2002, as a new Fort Worth Cats team began play in an independent league. 301 NE 6th Street. Trinity Railway Express to Fort Worth Intermodal Transit Center, then Number 1 bus.
Lone Star Park is the region's major horse racing track. It hosted the 2004 Breeders' Cup. 1000 Lone Star Parkway in Grand Prairie, 12 miles west of downtown Dallas, and about halfway between Arlington and Irving. No public transportation.
One more baseball-themed place in Texas that might interest a New York sports fan: Due to his cancer treatments and liver transplant, Mickey Mantle, who lived in Dallas during the off-seasons and after his baseball career, spent the end of his life at the Baylor University Medical Center. 3501 Junius Street at Gaston Avenue. Bus 019.
Merlyn Mantle died in 2009, and while it can be presumed that Mickey's surviving sons, Danny and David, inherited his memorabilia, I don't know what happened to their house, which (I've been led to believe) was in a gated community and probably not accessible to the public anyway; so even if I could find the address, I wouldn't list it here. (For all I know, one or both sons may live there, and I've heard that one of them -- Danny, I think -- is a Tea Party flake, and even if he wasn't, the family shouldn't be disturbed just because you're a Yankee Fan and their father was one of the Yankees.)
If you truly wish to pay your respects to this baseball legend: Mickey, Merlyn, and their sons Mickey Jr. and Billy are laid to rest at Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery. Also buried there are oil baron H.L. Hunt, his son the AFL founder and Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, tennis star Maureen Connolly, Senator John Tower, Governor and Senator W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel, bluesman Freddie King, actress Greer Garson and Mary Kay Cosmetics founder Mary Kay Ash. 7405 West Northwest Highway at Durham Street. Red Line to Park Lane station, then 428 Bus to the cemetery.
If there were a Mount Rushmore of Texas football, it would be these 4 guys: Number 49, Number 33, Number 22 and Number 37. Tom Landry is buried at the State Cemetery in Austin, 195 miles south of downtown Dallas. Sammy Baugh is buried at Belvieu Cemetery in Rotan, 242 miles west. Bobby Layne is buried at City of Lubbock Cemetery, 344 miles west. And Doak Walker was cremated, with his ashes given to his family, so there's no grave to visit.
If there's 2 non-sports things the average American knows about Dallas, it's that the city is where U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, and where Ewing Oil President J.R. Ewing was shot on March 21, 1980. Elm, Main and Commerce Streets merge to go over railroad tracks near Union Station, and then go under Interstate 35E, the Stemmons Freeway – that's the "triple underpass" so often mentioned in accounts of the JFK assassination.
If you truly wish to pay your respects to this baseball legend: Mickey, Merlyn, and their sons Mickey Jr. and Billy are laid to rest at Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery. Also buried there are oil baron H.L. Hunt, his son the AFL founder and Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, tennis star Maureen Connolly, Senator John Tower, Governor and Senator W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel, bluesman Freddie King, actress Greer Garson and Mary Kay Cosmetics founder Mary Kay Ash. 7405 West Northwest Highway at Durham Street. Red Line to Park Lane station, then 428 Bus to the cemetery.
If there were a Mount Rushmore of Texas football, it would be these 4 guys: Number 49, Number 33, Number 22 and Number 37. Tom Landry is buried at the State Cemetery in Austin, 195 miles south of downtown Dallas. Sammy Baugh is buried at Belvieu Cemetery in Rotan, 242 miles west. Bobby Layne is buried at City of Lubbock Cemetery, 344 miles west. And Doak Walker was cremated, with his ashes given to his family, so there's no grave to visit.
If there's 2 non-sports things the average American knows about Dallas, it's that the city is where U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, and where Ewing Oil President J.R. Ewing was shot on March 21, 1980. Elm, Main and Commerce Streets merge to go over railroad tracks near Union Station, and then go under Interstate 35E, the Stemmons Freeway – that's the "triple underpass" so often mentioned in accounts of the JFK assassination.
The former Texas School Book Depository, now named The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, is at the northwest corner of Elm & Houston Streets, while the "grassy knoll" is to the north of Elm, and the west of the Depository. Like Ford's Theater, where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, and the area surrounding it in Washington, the area around Dealey Plaza is, structurally speaking, all but unchanged from the time the President in question was gunned down, an oddity in Dallas, where newer construction always seems to be happening.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was shot in Dallas and died, while John Ross Ewing Jr. was shot in Dallas and lived. Where's the justice in that? J.R. was shot in his office at Ewing Oil's headquarters, which, in the memorable opening sequence of Dallas, was shown to be in the Renaissance Tower, at 1201 Elm Street, 6 blocks east of Dealey Plaza.
In addition to the preceding locations, Elvis sang in North Texas:
* At the Carthage Milling Company in Carthage, 160 miles southeast of downtown Dallas, on November 12, 1955 (the night of the dance in Back to the Future).
* At the high school gymnasium in DeKalb, 150 miles northeast, on March 4, 1955.
* At Owl Park in Gainesville, 70 miles north, on Apirl 14, 1955.
* In Gilmer, 125 miles east, at the Rural Electrification Administration Building on January 26, 1955, and at Trinity High School on September 26, 1955.
* In Gladewater, 120 miles east, at the Mint Club on November 23 and Dcember 24, 1954, the high school gym on April 30 and November 19, 1955, and at the baseball park on August 10, 1955.
* The City Auditorium in Greenville, 50 miles northeast, on October 5, 1955.
* In Hawkins, 110 miles east, at the high school on December 20, 1954 and the Humble Oil Company Camp on January 24, 1955.
* In Henderson, 140 miles southeast, at the Rodeo Arena on August 9, 1955.
* In Joinerville, 130 miles southeast, at Gaston High School on January 28, 1955.
* At Driller Park in Kilgore, 120 miles east, on August 12, 1955.
* At the Reo Palm Isle Club in Longview, 130 miles east, on January 27, March 31, August 11 and November 18, 1955.
* At the American Legion Hall in Mount Pleasant, 120 miles northeast, on December 31, 1954.
* In New Boston, 150 miles northeast, at the Red River Arsenal on December 31, 1954, and at the high school, first at the gym on January 11, 1955, and then at the football stadium on June 6, 1955.
* At the Boys Club Gymnasium in Paris, 100 miles northeast, on October 4, 1955.
* At the Recreation Hall in Stephenville, 100 miles southwest, on July 4, 1955.
* At the Mayfair Building in Tyler, 100 miles southeast, on January 25, May 23 and August 8, 1955.
* At the Heart O Texas Coliseum (now the Extraco Events Center) in Waco, 100 miles south, on April 23, 1955, and April 17 and October 12, 1956.
* And in Wichita Falls, 140 miles northwest, at the M-B Corral on April 25, 1955, at Spudder Park on August 22, 1956, and at the Memorial Auditorium on January 19 and April 9, 1956.
The real Southfork Ranch is at 3700 Hogge Drive (that's pronounced "Hoag") in Parker, 28 miles northeast of the city. (Again, you'll need a car.) It's not nearly as old as the Ewing family's fictional history would suggest: It was built in 1970, only 8 years before the series premiered. It's now a conference center, and, like the replica of the Ponderosa Ranch that Lorne Greene had built to look like his TV home on Bonanza, it is designed to resemble the Ewing family home as seen on both the original 1978-91 series and the 2012-14 revival. It is open to tours, for an admission fee of $9.50.
Dallas values bigness, but unless you count Southfork and Dealey Plaza, it isn't big on museums. The best known is the Dallas Museum of Art, downtown at 1717 N. Harwood Street at Flora Street. Nearby is the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, named for ol' H. Ross himself, at 2201 N. Field Street at Broom Street.
The Dallas area is also home to 2 major football-playing colleges: Southern Methodist University in north Dallas, which, as alma mater of Laura Bush, was chosen as the site of the George W. Bush Presidential Library (now open); and Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.
SMU played at Ownby Stadium (when not playing at the Cotton Bowl) from 1926 to 1998. The Dallas Tornado of the old North American Soccer League also played there from 1976 to 1979. It was demolished, and replaced with the 32,000-seat Gerald F. Ford Stadium in 2000. No relation to the 1974-77 President who'd been a star center on the University of Michigan football team, this Gerald Ford is a billionaire banker who gave $42 million of his own money to build it.
Ownby Stadium's dedication game,
November 25, 1926, defeating arch-rival TCU
According to a plaque at Ford Stadium, original stonework and plaques from Ownby Stadium were incorporated into Ford Stadium's west and north facades. 5800 Ownby Drive.
SMU is also home to Moody Coliseum, home court of their basketball team. The Dallas Chaparrals played ABA games there from 1967 until 1973, when they became the San Antonio Spurs. 6024 Airline Road. All SMU locations can be accessed by the Blue or Red Line to Mockingbird Station.
SMU has produced players like Doak Walker, Forrest Gregg, Dandy Don Meredith, and the "Pony Express" backfield of Eric Dickerson and Craig James (both now TV-network studio analysts), while TCU has produced Slingin' Sammy Baugh, Jim Swink and Bob Lilly. Both schools have had their highs and their lows, and following their 1987 "death penalty" (for committing recruiting violations while already on probation), and their return to play in 1989 under Gregg as coach, SMU are now what college basketball fans would call a "mid-major" school.
Ironically, TCU, normally the less lucky of the schools, seriously challenged for the 2009, 2010 and 2014 National Championships, but their own "mid-major" schedule doomed them in that regard. TCU's 45,000-seat Amon G. Carter Stadium, built in 1930, last renovated in 2012, and named for the founder of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, hosted the U.S. soccer team's 1988 loss to Ecuador. 2850 Stadium Drive. Trinity Rail Express to Fort Worth Intermodal Station, transfer to Bus 7 to University & Princeton, then walk 6 blocks west.
Movies about, or involving, the JFK assassination usually have to shoot in Dallas: The 1983 NBC miniseries Kennedy with Martin Sheen, JFK, Love Field, Ruby, Watchmen, LBJ (with Bryan Cranston as the Texan who succeeded him), and the Hulu series 11/22/63, based on Stephen King's fantasy novel.
Other movies shot in the city include the 1962 version of State Fair, Bonnie and Clyde, Mars Needs Women, Logan's Run, The Lathe of Heaven, Silkwood, Tender Mercies, Places in the Heart, The Trip to Bountiful, Born on the Fourth of July, Problem Child, My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (not about the football team), The Apostle, Boys Don't Cry, Dallas Buyers Club, the football films Necessary Roughness and Any Given Sunday, and, of course, the porno classic Debbie Does Dallas.
However, it might surprise you to know that RoboCop, which was set in a Detroit that was purported to be in a near future when the city was even worse than it then was in real life, was filmed in Dallas. What does that say about Dallas? (To me, it says, "This is another reason why Dallas sucks.")
Texas is a weird place, and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is no exception. But it's a pretty good area for sports, and it even seems to have finally embraced baseball as something more than something to do between football seasons.
If you can afford it, go, and help your fellow Giants fans make the Cowboys feel like they're in the Meadowlands. But remember to avoid using the oft-heard phrase "Dallas Sucks." In this case, keep the truth to yourself!