When listing the best rivalries in football, we usually look at teams in the same division. Teams that play each other twice per year, like Packers-Bears and 49ers-Seahawks.
But one of the best rivalries in football involves teams that are guaranteed to face off only once every four years: Cowboys-Steelers.
They’ve met in three Super Bowls. In all, they’ve played each other 33 times. The Cowboys lead, 17-16. On Sunday night, the Steelers have a chance to even things up.
The Cowboys-Steelers rivalry stirs bittersweet memories for me. Two of the best Super Bowls of the ‘70s were played by Pittsburgh and Dallas. In Super Bowl X (for which Dallas qualified after Drew Pearson shoved Vikings cornerback Nate Wright to the ground in the divisional round before catching the original Hail Mary), Lynn Swann’s acrobatic levitations gave everyone a glimpse of the excitement that flows from a robust passing game. Jack Lambert’s handling of Cliff Harris after he disrespected Roy Gerela continues to be one of the all-time great football highlights. In Super Bowl XIII, one of the all-time worst highlights happened when tight end Jackie Smith dropped a touchdown pass in an exciting, back-and-forth 35-31 game.
There’s another personal wrinkle that puts a smile on my face and forms a tear in the corner of my eye. My dad, who was a bookie in a town only 60 miles from Pittsburgh, hated the Steelers. As they emerged as a powerhouse in the 1970s, his customers would consistently bet on the local team. He always needed them to not cover the spread.
And which team did he love? The Dallas Cowboys. Despite the self-applied “America’s Team” moniker, they were the ones the folks in our town loved to hate — and thus to bet against.
Some of that bookie anti-Steeler bias makes its way into Father of Mine, my novel inspired by the exploits of the crew that ran Wheeling, West Virginia when I was growing up. The sequel, Son of Mine, is also available, too.
Here’s where I make the periodic pitch to buy one or both. Father of Mine can be had for $3.99 in ebook form and $14.99 in print. Son of Mine is $4.99 and $14.99. (They’re both pretty damn good, especially if you’re partial to the mob genre.)
If you haven’t gotten a copy of either book, here’s an easy way to get started. Since I’m feeling charitable today, and given that I have an unexpected surplus of hard copies of Father of Mine (that’s a story for another day), I’ll give away five signed, personalized copies this weekend, in honor of the latest Cowboys-Steelers game.
Send an email to florio@profootballtalk.com, with this subject line: “Father of Mine 10/4/24 Giveaway.” Add your name, address, and preferred inscription.
Actually, let’s make it 10 copies. Since that was the number of their first Super Bowl meeting. It was an outcome that made my dad very happy, since the 21-17 final score meant that the Steelers failed to cover the seven-point spread.