From A&M to the Dallas Cowboys, Texas is tops in football crowds (and COVID cases)
As our local hospital beds fill up, so will AT&T Stadium.
Because the chance to watch a 3-7 Dallas Cowboys team play a 3-7 Washington Team Football (WTF) on Thanksgiving is a YOLO moment.
Sorry doc, and eat it Fauci, first place in the NFC East is at stake.
I jest because we don’t care. We are the rebuilding football team that keeps signing old guys in hopes of it fixing the problem.
Because we think we will live forever. Because it won’t happen to us. Because it won’t be that bad. Because it’s a creation of the media. Because we’re already being careful.
Whatever the reason, we here in Texas are done with COVID.
We don’t care about the numbers. We don’t care about the anecdotal evidence from El Paso to our hometown hospital beds.
Unless COVID has had a direct impact in our family, or immediate circle of friends, it’s becoming apparent most of us down here regard coronavirus as a bad cold. Or, as my mom called such ailments, “a bug.”
Speaking of senior citizens, where is my great Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick? No one wanted fans in the stands more than Danny P, and it’s odd that he hasn’t been in the front row with his giant foam finger.
We are winning in both the number of COVID cases, and football attendance.
The Dallas Cowboys will not finish first this season, but they will lead the National Football League in average home attendance, which is better than a Super Bowl.
The Cowboys are averaging 25,750 fans through five home games in 2020; the next closest figure in the NFL is the Jacksonville Jaguars at 15,617.
The other 31 NFL franchises have had fluid policies regarding fans in the stands, while our Cowboys have been consistent all season long. They have allowed Jerry World to be at 25 percent of capacity, which is under Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s allowances.
Meanwhile, all over Texas we are near the top in attendance.
The Houston Texans’ average of 12,409 fans is fourth in the NFL.
Texas A&M is actually on track to have its best season in a decade, which in 2020 doesn’t mean that much, and the Aggies lead the nation in home attendance average with 25,299 fans in their three games at Kyle Field.
Yep, that needs a banner. (Sorry, Aggies, but that will always be funny.)
If Texas is serious about potentially changing out coach Tom Herman, he needs to tell the fat cat boosters that his Longhorns currently rank third in the nation in overall attendance, 69,135.
Texas Tech hasn’t been relevant since Patrick Mahomes, but coach Matt Wells does have the Red Raiders ranked fourth in the nation in overall attendance at 68,649.
So, lot of pluses thus far this season.
And, even better news, on Tuesday the New Mexico Bowl announced the 2020 edition of this storied game will be played in Frisco at Toyota Stadium.
Re-arrange your calendars, the New Mexico Bowl will be played in Texas.
So the Metroplex will have hosted a neutral site World Series, a bowl game that should be in Albuquerque, and the National Rodeo Finals that normally is in Las Vegas.
Kinda wish we had gone for the Indianapolis 500, Kentucky Derby, and the New York City Marathon.
Please just disregard the COVID statistics. As of Tuesday at 3 p.m. CT, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services we Texans had logged 1.18 million COVID cases, and 21,144 deaths.
Not sure why I’m advising anyone to disregard the COVID statistics, when it’s become apparent we were way ahead of the national curve on this.
I’m not judging — at least not this time. I’ve gone to some of these events. I’ve flown.
I’m right there at my gym convincing myself I’m being “smart,” wearing my mask, wiping down whatever, all in an effort to demonstrate I “get it” when I know deep down this is not the best idea.
All of this has made me fantasize about eating in a restaurant indoors, which is followed by repressing the urge to take the latest home project and throwing it through one of the six unfinished home projects.
We now treat these epidemiologists in the same manner we regard our local weather forecasters; we listen, we plan, and then we do what we want when we want for as long as we want.
Because we all know the most accurate weather forecaster is always wrong, so what do these doctors and scientists know?
Besides, kickoff is coming and some things are worth it, like the 3-7 Dallas Cowboys versus the 3-7 Washington Team Football on Thanksgiving Day in the 2020 YOLO Bowl.
