Move over Dallas Cowboys. There’s a new “America’s Team” in this town…according to Bob Costas.
The phrase “America’s Team” has loosely been thrown around for decades, most of the time in association with the Dallas Cowboys. Their moniker was apparently born back in 1979, when CBS’s Pat Summerall called the Cowboys “America’s Team” during a national televised game.
Seems like it’s kind of a stretch to just say that and it stick, but hey, it wouldn’t be the first time that the Dallas Cowboys claimed to be something they are not (“back,” “Super Bowl contenders,” “different team than last year,” etc.).
It took over 50 years for someone to finally question why the Cowboys are “America’s Team,” and I’m really not sure why it took that long. I’d say the more accurate description would be “America’s Favorite Team…To Hate.”
And the legendary Bob Costas had the guts to come out and straight up say that the Cowboys aren’t “America’s Team” anymore. In a recent interview on CNN, Costas comfortably claimed that the Kansas City Chiefs now hold the title of “America’s Team,” saying:
“I think the Chiefs, now it can safely be said, are ‘America’s Team.’ The Dallas Cowboys have had that moniker for a long time, and they’re still a glamour franchise, but they haven’t been at the Super Bowl since the mid-’90s…But now the Chiefs have been to four of the last five Super Bowls.”
I’d love to see all of the Dallas Cowboys fans reading this and steaming with rage (as they photoshop NFL free agents into Dallas uniforms to hype themselves up for next year).
Costas makes an interesting argument though for Kansas City overtaking Dallas as the nation’s favorite team, and he had some supportive points to prove why he’s right saying so:
“They have the best quarterback (Patrick Mahomes) in the game, even though there are others who are really good. He’s exciting. He improvises. He’s charismatic. They’ve got him.
Andy Reid has been around a long time. Went to the Super Bowl with Philadelphia, and now with the Chiefs. They’ve got Travis Kelce and his romance with Taylor Swift. It was a big deal to begin with but now it blows up bigger.
Plus the State Farm commercials…you don’t have to know the a screen pass from a field goal to know something about the Kansas City Chiefs. So they’re ‘America’s Team.'”
And if another important part of being “America’s Team” is having a large majority of the population rooting against said team, then the Kansas City Chiefs have certainly earned the nickname. I’d say a lot of NFL fans are finding themselves rooting for the San Francisco 49ers in this year’s Super Bowl.
