And you seem to forget the Cowboys aren't the only game on Turkey Day; the Lions have been playing on Thanksgiving since the mid-thirties, and the AFL played a Thanksgiving Day game every year of its existence (note: Dallas was never an AFL team. )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_Classic

Note in particular that the Lions owner wanted to do it in the first place to get fans to games (yes, it's a terrible hardship being THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN rather than competing with a dozen other games each Sunday; wonder (but not much) how they convince teams to play on MNF. )

'Course it is; not like he did the same thing to Troy Aikman ten years later....

Danny White almost certainly has permanent nerve damage in his throwing hand; he was never the same after that injury, because it's hard to have a good release when you can't feel the ball leaving your hand. However they felt about him he was no longer a starting QB. I'm not convinced he was ever more than Staubachs backup anyway. Which brings us to a classic example of what I mean:

They drafted an Annapolis man who declined a Stateside posting he could've requested and received. There was a war on, so he did a tour over there, then came Stateside a couple years and finally, five years after they drafted him, Dallas got their 27 year old rookie in 1969. I guess missing the first two Super Bowls was worth the marketing value that earned Americas Team. Dallas' team leadership (not ownership) was such Boy Scouts my father used to chuckle all the time over conflicts between Ditka based on one simple thing:

Ditka being Ditka, if someone gave him a cheap shot he gave it back with interest, and, Landry being Landry, the coach did not approve (back then the displeasure of Dallas' head coach was relevant even to star players. )

I wonder what Landry thought of the arrogance of claiming to represent the country, but he supposedly didn't like the name "Americas Team" (given by NFL films, not the Cowboys themselves) because he thought it would incite other teams to play them harder (he seems to have been right. ) That's before we get into the team prayer before every game. Not hard to see why guys like Hollywood lasted no longer than guys like TO or Keyshawn would've. By the end even Landrys greatest fans thought his playcalling too conservative, and perhaps it was; he didn't have much to work with then (not like the first seasons under Jimmy were so impressive; he got talent fast, but he had to get it before they could win) but that means taking chances to have a hope of winning. Landry didn't take chances.

Not that they were perfect, certainly in the front office; Wikipedia claims the Redskins owner so jealously guarded HIS heavily marketed position as the Souths only pro team Murchison and Co. knew he'd veto an attempt to get Dallas a team--and when he did they informed him they'd bought the rights to "Hail to the Redskins" and two could play the "proprietary" game. As a Houstonian it doesn't bother me that public support (and funding) for Texas Stadium ran out before they could complete the worlds first dome. Then there's that book Scott McClellans dad wrote, not that I buy it. On the other hand, they were dubbed Americas Team because they were clearly the most popular, not the reverse, and I don't think that's because America had no taste for the team that won twice as many SBs that decade, or the only perfect one in modern history. America saw something they liked, respected and identified with, or wanted to, and that's because Landrys players walked the walk or they didn't remain his players. Sure, my lenses are probably a little rosy; it would be hard to avoid, all things considered, but it's far from all in my head. Wasn't my idea, y'know.