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Q: Why are the Cowboys always one of the teams that are playing on Thanksgiving?
A: The Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers played each other on Thanksgiving day for many years. In the mid 1960′s, as the NFL grew bigger and gained more national media attention, they wanted to add a second game to their Thanksgiving day schedule.
No other NFL teams had interest in playing a mid-week game near the end of the season. However, Tex Schram the Cowboys’ GM at the time, saw it as a chance to put his 5 year old team in the national spotlight. So, on November 24, 1966 the Cowboys played the Cleveland Browns and came away with their first Thanksgiving Day victory.
It worked out so well that the Dallas Cowboys have become a big part of many football fans holiday celebration and it certainly hasn’t hurt the Cowboys desire to become America’s Team.
March 31st, 2011 at 3:32 pm
Thanksgiving without the Cowboys…that’s like Thanksgiving without a turkey (well kind of). As a die hard Cowboys fan, I’m all for keeping the tradition of some good ol’ Cowboys football on every thanksgiving, but I can understand how fans of other teams might want to change that. Especially when the Lions and Cowboys are not in the playoff hunt anymore.
In the end I say don’t mess with tradition and let the Cowboys and Lions play. GO COWBOYS