Football

Turn Out the Lights

The Dallas Cowboys old-timers reunion is over, but for one evening it was possible to remember when pro football was fun, players were loyal, and even a sportswriter could fall in love with his team.

The Jones Gang

You know the real reason Texas Stadium has no roof? So Jerry Jones can get his head inside. (Or, how the Cowboys owner’s ego makes it hard to root for America’s Team.)

Spoils Sports

Oilers owner Bud Adams is hightailing it to Nashville; Drayton McLane may move the Astros too—or sell. In Houston and across the country, rooting for the home team is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

Down and Out

My firsthand experience with the hard times that humbled my hero, former Dallas Cowboys star Golden Richards.

Getting His Kicks

He scored big for UT and four NFL teams; now Raul Allegre is back in the game with his weekly Spanish-language football show.

Hero Worship

Barry Switzer Gets the Last Laugh

The rookie Cowboys coach has turned out to be exactly what all the critics said he wasn’t: a winner.

Vain Glory

Jerry Jones may have the biggest ego in football, but don’t bet against him. Even without Jimmy Johnson, he still has the best team.

The Crying Game

When Houston’s pro sports teams collapse late in the season—as they may do this year—faithful fans like me are never surprised. We’ve almost come to expect it.

Tom Who?

Jimmy Johnson said he’d see us in the Super Bowl, and he was right. Now he is a hero, and his critics are eating crow.

The Hungriest Coach

Three years after he replaced Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson is giving Dallas Cowboys fans something to cheer about—and his critics are eating their words.

To the Brilliant Victor

Southwest Conference trophies, commemorating long-forgotten triumphs, are still winners.

Can’t Win for Losing

When San Antonio’s Memorial Minutemen took on a crosstown rival, all they had to lose was their chance to go down in history as Texas’ worst high school football team.

Texas Primer: Football Hand Signals

From “Hook ‘em, Horns” to “Peck ‘em, Owls,” the Southwest Conference is football’s most hospitable habitat for hand jive.

Football? What’s the Big Deal?

As much as I hated playing football, I hate watching it more.

Autumn Leaves

Turn off the AC, stop pretending you’re a reptile, welcome the whooping cranes back. It’s fall!

Texas Primer: Clint Murchison, Jr.

He was one tycoon who enjoyed the hell out of his money.

Gambling on the Gamblers

Jerry Argovitz made himself unpopular with NFL management as an abrasive player’s agent. Now that he owns Houston’s new football team, he finds himself on the other side of the table—and the issues.

Passing the Bucks

Football recruiting makes the NCAA see red, but SMU sees orange.

Coach Royal Regrets

Does Texas’ greatest college coach miss football? Nope.

The Modified Triple-Reverse, Double-Handoff Option

Football has degenerated into a routine encounter between two sets of programmed, steroid-stuffed robots. These trick plays could change all that.

The Real Mean Green

Talk to coaches and team owners about AstroTurf and you’ll hear all its advantages. Talk to the players and you’ll hear a different story.

The Joy of Cheerleading

One week with a thousand cheerleaders.

The Aging of the All-American Boy

Roger Staubach is one Cowboy who always wears a white hat.

The Rites of Autumn

You don’t have to be crazy to attend Texas-OU Weekend, but it helps.

The Ultimate Game

Not all the action was on the field at Super Bowl X.

Coming of Age in the Locker Room

What football does to its people.

Tom Landry: Melting the Plastic Man

Behind the mask is a man of God, a man devoted to the all-American goal of winning the all-American game as few have done before him.

Tuning in Dandy Don

Don Meredith brings football and TV into focus.