I've was born and raised in Pennsylvania and am the biggest and most REAL Cowboy fan you'll ever meet. Show me the rule or law that states you must root for the team you live near, thats the dumbest thing I ever heard of. Why should someone be forced to root for a team they don't like?? Thats assinine.

What your peabrain fails to comprehend is that the Cowboys are America's Team and I share their wins and success with many fans here in PA. You talk as though Cowboys fans outside the State of Texas are scarce when actually the opposite is true.

Not only that, but I've attended several Cowboys games at Texas Stadium over the years, and at least half of the Cowboys fans in attendence are from OUTSIDE the State of Texas. I recently attended the Pats/Cowboys game, and I met many fans from all over the country ranging from PA to State of Washington, and even fans from Canada.

I also got news for you, your Eagles aren't winning the SB anytime soon, you blew your opportunity the last few years, be prepared for the Cowboys to dominate this division and the league like they did in the '90s when we were stompping all over your asses, just like we will on Sunday.

Enough said.

People become "fans" of a team for a lot of different reasons.  They catch the team at a moment of greatness and fall in love with the emotions that team generates in them.  Their dad or grandpa or stepdad loves a team so they get brainwashed into that team.  They like a team because their brother loves the team's rival.  

There is nothing that says "geography" should guide you to the team you love, or the team you hate.  It has nothing to do with it.

In other words "They're frontrunners"

Go over the BTB and you'll see most of the bloogers there are not from Dallas either, even Grizz resides outside of Dallas, who by the way is the best blogger in SB nation.

LMAO

This entire post makes no sense whatsoever.

You can root for what ever team you damn well want to. Just because you don't or can't live in the same city where they play doesn't mean you are not a true fan.

If you love and follow a team your whole life through good times and bad, that is the mark of a true fan. It is certainly not defined by a person's geographic location.

My family is old original Philadelphian, from back in 1685, but they hadn't lived in the area since the early 1800's.  My parents just kind of coincidentally moved back.

My dad grew up in Tennessee and North Carolina in the 1950s, so he didn't have any local teams to root for as there was no professional sports south of the Potomac and Ohio back then.  Other than being a UNC and Northwestern fan, since he went to school at those places, he was just kind of a generic fan of baseball and a bit of football.

As a kid growing up here in the 1970's, it was very easy to pick up the local enthusiasm for the Eagles, Phillies, and Flyers from my friends and the neighbors.  My dad started taking me to Phillies games because I became an absolute Phillies nut once I started playing Tee-Ball and needed a baseball cap.  I would wear my Phillies cap around the clock until it fell apart, then beg him to get me a new one.  When I learned to read and do a little math in 1st grade, I started reading the sports page of the Inqy and playing with baseball stats.

I picked up my love for football at block parties in Mt. Airy starting in 1979 when Vermiel first took us back to the playoffs and I was 4 1/2.  One of my favorite memories was the NFC Championship party our block held in January 1981.  My dad made homemade ice cream for the party and we all - adults and kids - went crazy as the Eagles stomped the hated Cowboys.

As to the Flyers, my best friend in elementary school was a big hockey fan and played hockey as his sport.  He had season tickets with his dad on the Blue Line.  He taught me street hockey and ice hockey and got me into playing and watching the game.  Then I started begging my dad to get us tickets so we could go to games too.

My one exception to this is that when I went to college in Pittsburgh and then married a girl from Butler, I grew to have an appreciation of (though not fanhood for) of the Steelers (which she and her brothers are diehard fans of) and the Browns (which her father is a diehard fan of).  They ard fun to watch and cheer for to with my brothers-in-law and father-in-law, though I'd never buy a jersey or spend time on a Steelers blog or wave a terrible towel.  And when they play the Eagles of course I have to sit on the other side of the room or even a different room or go to a bar because those guys are so diehard they don't want any part of an opponent of their team sitting on their couch and drinking beer and eating chips while they are cheeringf for their team!

In my mind, all that is real fanhood.

As to liking frontrunning teams from across the country.  WTF are you guys thinking?  What is so damn exciting about celebrating some other city's triumph?  When the Eagles went to the Super Bowl in 2004, it was cute to see my kids learn "Fly Eagles Fly" in pre-school, and it was electric to listen to the cheers and kids marching around and banging pots after the Eagles smoked the Falcons.  When the Phillies stomped the hated Mets this year in a 4 game sweep we were all listening in the office at work and when we took the title on the last day we all stopped work at our construction project on the El to listen to the final outs.  That's our fanhood.

Heck when my wife and I were dating and she was living in NYC in 96, it was exicting while driving up 3rd Avenue one evening to see the bars suddenly empty and car horns all start blaring as the Yankees won the world series, even if she and I could give a crap about the team, because it was exciting to watch a city and its people celebrate a triumph and feel the energy of winning.  That's real fanhood at work.

And again when I was in college in Pittsburgh int he early 1990s, and Cowher was first doing great things with the team and the Penguins were going for a Threepeat, it was exicting to see the buzz in the city, listen to the fans and cheers on the radio, talk to fans at school and at Church and generally share in the energy that real fans give off.  Again I didn't really care what happened, since it wasn't my teams, but the energy in the city was amazing.  That's what real fanhood is about.

Cheering on Dallas in a cave in central Pennsylvania or a darkened basement in South Philly is not fanhood.  Its anti-social cockroachhood - cowering in the dark, celebrating with yourself.  WTF?  I mean really - WTF?  Are you the sort of guy who prefers pulling his own pud instead of making love to his girl?  That's the only thing I can think of like cheering on an out of town frontrunning team.  Its like you are saying to everyone: "Oooooo - look at me!  I'm a fan of the **BEST** team, not the local losers!"

i have to say that i think it speaks better of me that i didn't jump onto the bandwagon of one of the two "local" teams that did make the super bowl during that time (the giants or the patriots).

I remember Cowboys fans being particularly obnoxious growing up, but was still too young to realize most were just bandwagoners.  I don't remember many Cowboys fans existing between 97-05.  I don't live in Philly anymore, so can't comment on the "reemergence" of FFS (Fake Fan Syndrome), but it might be similar to a more nationwide trend of Pats fans emerging.  Although, even these new Pats fans weren't quite as tiresome as the Dallas wannabes.

And in some ways that's why I love philadelphia fans so much.  We haven't really had much to brag about for a long time, and our tenacity and our loyalty is something I'm very proud to be a part of.

I think its important for me to explain that I'm not saying ALL dallas fans are arrogant. I've met regular cowboys fans from philly and from dallas.  It's just that there seems to be a tendency in dallas fans in particular to spout some arrogant bullshit and talk down on other fans...and that just pisses me off.

Although to be fair, I've met my fair share of Patriots fans who do that too.  Trust me...it sucks living in boston right now.

The definition is a fan who just cheers or roots for a team when the are on top or really good and goes away when they suck. That is what you call a fake fan.

You are not a fake, bandwagon or frontrunner fan if you stick with your team through the good times and bad, no matter what reason you choose to become a fan of that team in the first place.

If a Dallas fan from Philly came to the Linc back when the Cowboys sucked and cheered them on during those times, they are a true, real fan, no question about it.

To criticize that type of fan just stems from pure jealously because the only Eagles fans that exsist are locals and bandwagoners. The Eagles simply don't have the national fanbase of the Cowboys and never will and therein lies your resentment and jealously from which this attack on Cowboys fans outside the southwest stems.

The Delaware Valley Cowboy fan is far worse. Every one of these douche's that I grew up with liked the `Boys because they love being "that guy" that everybody hates. It's an annoying, childish, contrarian plea for attention. As with all annoying children they should just be ignored.

Go Birds.

I hate the cowboys probably more than the eagles but bashing on people because they cheer for a team they dont live by is rediculous.

And for the yankees fan above me how do you think steinbrenner pays for all these players??? its because of his HUGE fan base all over the country who pay for merchandise, Tv etc. If there werent allowed to be fans all over the country they couldnt afford one person on their roster. so remember that before you wanna act like your the only so called true fans out there. Most people find favorite teams outside of their area becuase of certain coaches or players etc. Becuase they enojy watching them

One more thing this picture is rediculous too. Beucase you have some stupid eagle fan HARRASSING cowboys fans which looks to be a father and his kid just going to enjoy the game.

The NY media market is one of the largest in the world, and that's just counting the five boroughs. When you add in North Jersey across the river and southern Conn to the north--to say nothing of the rest of NY State--Steinbrenner doesn't have to sell so much as a baseball card west of Newark and his team would still be very wealthy. This of course is not to mention the mindbogglingly valuable real estate on which The Stadium sits and let's not forget profits of the YES Network which only broadcasts in the NY area.  

Sorry to side-rail the discussion.

Go Birds.

Live long and prosper, boyz...you is going down, and even ROCKY can't save you!! MUAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA

I think you need to take extenuating circumstances into account when calling all Dallas fans outside Texas state lines "fake fans."

I will admit this ... I am a Dallas fan that was born and raised in California. I started "watching" the Cowboys during the dynasty years of the early 90s ... probably the first season I watched all the games was in 91 or 92. Why? I think I was 4-5 at the time. Is it my fault that the age when I could cognitively appreciate watching football was the time when my team was the best it's been in 20 years? I'd like to think not.

Why the Cowboys? Well, that's easy. My parents are both from Dallas. If I were a fan of anything else (even my hometown Chargers, whom I have nothing against), my parents would probably disown me, or leave me in a dumpster or something like that.

There are plenty of people like that as well ... a  lot of Texans leave Texas because (I'll admit it) Texas sucks. And yes, I've been, and I've even run the turf at Texas Stadium. But the wayward Texans still keep their old affiliations with them.

And as aforementioned above, I'd say the diehard fans outside of Texas are true fans, so long as they aren't bandwagoners or fans who don't know a damn thing about their team. I know I've caught Hell in sportsbars, schools and opposing stadiums rockin' the Dallas jerseys. And I don't do it to "be the guy everyone hates." I do it because I'm showing support for the team I've supported since I knew what football was.

Hell, I'd say it's even harder for fans my age. The last Dallas Superbowl was in 1995 ... I was eight at the time. Eight. That means my team has licked Donkey balls for the last 12 years of my fandom, but other fans still hate us like we're the Football Yankees (when in reality, we all know that George Steinbrenner dresses in drag and masquerades as Danny Snyder on weekends).

Anyway, that's all I had to say. In summary: there are "true" Dallas fans outside North Texas.

You may now resume your regularly scheduled Dallas bashing.