DERBY DAYS AMERICAN FOOTBALL DALLAAS COWBOYS v WASHINGTON REDSKINSA FAMOUS American TV advertisement in 1983 involved the Dallas Cowboys' head coach Tom Landry entering a Wild West saloon and finding himself surrounded by locals wearing the jerseys of the Washington Redskins. According to the ad, only an American Express card could save Landry (see it at http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=nyO2NKC8MqM )
By the 1980s Dallas versus Washington was among the most anticipated clashes in US sport.
The year the ad first aired, the Redskins demolished the Cowboys 31-17 in the NFC Championship, the crucial moment coming late in the second period when the Cowboys' quarterback Danny White was hit so hard by Washington's Dexter Manley he suffered a concussion.
The Redskins advanced to Super Bowl XVII and beat Miami, 27-17, but it was the game against the Cowboys - the home team sealing victory by converting two late turnovers into 10 points - that brought most satisfaction around the Robert F Kennedy Stadium.
Later that year at the same venue, the Redskins looked to be kicking off the new season on a high in front of 55,000 partisans, the scoreboard reading 23-3 to the home side at half-time. Danny White started finding his range, however, and the Cowboys won the second half 28-7 to steal a famous 31-30 win.
For almost 50 years the pendulum has been swinging between Dallas and Washington.
So where did it all start?
As rivalries go, this one - between teams separated geographically by almost 2,000 kilometres - had perhaps the strangest genesis of all.
The Washington Redskins were already established for more than two decades when, in the late 1950s, a Texas oil tycoon, Clint Murchison jr, attempted to establish an NFL team in Dallas.
After several failed attempts, he approached George Marshall, owner of the Redskins, in 1958.
Marshall was willing to sell his team, but negotiations eventually ended in acrimony.
The Redskins' band director, who had written the music to the Redskins celebrated fight song, was particularly aggrieved the deal fell through and mischievously sold the rights to the music to Murchison, who had by now decided to create his own team from scratch.
There was, however, a major obstacle. Murchison would need the unanimous approval of the NFL owners. Only one opposed the move, George Marshall, but he relented when Murchison mentioned his ownership of the fight song (the lyrics of which had been written by Marshall's wife). A deal was done. Murchison got his Dallas Cowboys. Marshall got his song back.
The season after they first arrived on the scene, the Cowboys were placed into the same division as the Redskins and so, since 1961, the teams have met twice every regular season. The rivalry between the owners found a new outlet and, as with so many other sporting rivalries, the intense competition spurred both teams to success. Between them, the two have won 13 Conference Championship (eight to the Cowboys) and eight Super Bowls (five to the Cowboys).
And the rivalry has endured.
Two years ago the pair played one of the strangest games in NFL history. With just 31 seconds left on the clock, and the game in Maryland tied, the Cowboys had a 49-yard field-goal attempt blocked. Washington's Sean Taylor recovered the ball and was brought down on the Dallas 45-yard line. Time was up, but because a Dallas player was flagged for a 15-yard penalty, and a game cannot end on a defensive penalty, the ball was moved to the 30-yard line and Nick Novak kicked the field goal for the win.
The reason the rivalry has proven so durable, even in barren periods for both teams, is down to two men: Landry - who when telling TV viewers a plastic card could overcome Redskins had been with the Cowboys for more than two decades - and the Redskins coach George Allen.
Landry is considered by everyone in Dallas, and most outside the city, as the greatest NFL coach of all time. In 1956 he became the defensive co-ordinator for the Giants (the legendary Vince Lombardi being offensive co-ordinator).
He became Dallas head coach in 1960 and stayed 29 seasons, during which he won two Super Bowls (1972 and 1978), five NFC titles and 13 Divisional titles.
It is no coincidence the rivalry between the Cowboys and Redskins intensified when Allen became coach at Washington in 1971. Both coaches cultivated the notion the other side would stoop to anything to gain an advantage. Landry would stop training if a helicopter passed overhead. Allen once claimed he saw a Dallas scout hiding in a tree.
By the time the teams met in the Thanksgiving Day game in 1974, the rivalry had assumed a certain bitterness.
Under Landry, the Cowboys claimed a record-setting 20 consecutive winning seasons and Roger Staubach was a major factor. Before the game in Dallas, the quarterback was publicly singled out by the Redskins as needing special treatment, and Dallas were losing 16-3 in the third quarter when the visitors got their chance to dish it out.
"We put Staubach out and all they've got is that Longley kid," the Redskins' Diron Talbert apparently said as the Cowboys' star player was carried off the field and the unknown Clint Longley was sent on.
The rookie led the home comeback and, with 28 seconds left on the clock, threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to give the Cowboys a 24-23 victory.
Longley instantly became a hero in Dallas, though he ensured he would be forever remembered for that one game when, two seasons later, he sucker-punched Staubach during training, thus ending his Cowboys career.
Staubach stayed until the end of the 1979 season, when, in the final game in Dallas he underlined his legend by throwing two late touchdown passes for a 35-34 victory over Washington.
Before the game the Cowboys' defensive end Harvey Martin was sent a funeral wreath. Martin hardly needed extra motivation for the biggest rivalry in the NFL, but, just to be sure he didn't forget the importance of a Cowboys versus Redskins clash, he kept the wreath in his locker.
