Funny Cowboys Fans Give Head 2019

Jose Espinoza wears his commitment to the Dallas Cowboys' on his back.

The Oxnard native has a gigantic mural of the NFL team's logo tattooed on his back. The years of each of the Cowboys' five Super Bowl titles appear on each tip of the star, which stretches from the end of his collar to the end of his back.

"I wanted the biggest star I could get," Espinoza said.

Greats like Emmitt Smith, who Espinoza once traveled to Texas to see break the NFL rushing record, Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman, Tom Landry and, of course, a Cowboys cheerleader are featured prominently.

The work, which took at least 10 sittings of 2-3 hours apiece with artist Gilbert Salas in Oxnard, cost "a couple thousand." For Espinoza, it was worth the money to pay tribute to the team which has a unique connection with his hometown.

"For us to have a professional team practicing in our backyard, it's an amazing feeling," said Espinoza said. "It gives us something to look forward to every summer and we want to support them."

The Cowboys may be known as America's Team, but many in Oxnard feel a special bond with the national brand since the team has held summer training camps for the past 13 years on the Ventura County coast.

"I try not to miss work," said Espinoza, who works as a construction laborer, "so when they come I can actually have some time to see them."

Local Cowboys have also been waiting and saving for a moment like Saturday night, when their team visits Los Angeles for the NFC divisional playoff game with the Rams at the Coliseum.

That's why Rams head coach Sean McVay this week asked season ticket holders to resist cashing in on the team's success by selling tickets to Cowboys fans.

"Don't do that," McVay flatly said Tuesday.

The Rams' return to Los Angeles three years ago was certainly celebrated by the long-suffering fan base they abandoned in 1994.

But Southern California-based fans of the league's other 31 teams have also enjoyed the NFL's return to the region. Visits by Philadelphia and Green Bay over the past two seasons drew droves of green-clad visitors to the Coliseum, memorably producing a college-like atmosphere at USC's football cathedral.

But the Cowboys could represent an even stiffer test to the Rams' home-field advantage Saturday.

"We've had great turnouts at home this year," McVay said. "It's been great atmospheres and environments, but Dallas is one of those franchises that travels really well."

More importantly, the Cowboys have their own history in the greater Los Angeles region.

Despite being located more than 1,200 miles east, Dallas has pitched its training camp in Ventura County for 39 of the past 55 summers.

"We've got thousands of fans that are generational in Los Angeles," Dallas owner Jerry Jones said on Monday on Dallas' 105.3 FM The Fan. "We do feel very comfortable going to Los Angeles playing. That's not to say the Rams are going to make it comfortable for us."

The Cowboys trained on the campus of California Lutheran University — a Roger Staubach throw from where the Rams' built their current, temporary football headquarters — for nearly the entirety of Landry's tenure as head coach.

"I used to carry Billy Joe DuPree's helmet from dorm to the practice field," said Bob Froio, a Cowboys fan from nearby Simi Valley.

Bryan Stange of Oxnard grew up going to the Cowboys camp at River Ridge in Oxnard.

"I've been going since I was a kid," Stange said. "I usually get VIP passes, which makes it super easy to get pictures and to talk to them. … When you see them up close and personal over here, you feel like you know them. It makes you root harder for them when you see them live on TV."

The impact Cowboys fans could make Saturday was felt in the hours after Chicago kicker Cody Parkey missed a potential game-winning field goal against Philadelphia last Sunday in the wild-card round, sending Dallas to Los Angeles.

Froio was watching the game at home with his Cowboys-loving brother-in-law.

"We looked at each other and said, 'Hey, we should grab tickets,' " Froio said.

Within moments, Froio, who attended the Rams' first regular-season game back against Dallas in 2016, received an email from the Rams' ticket services.

Thousands of other Angelenos had the same idea. Within hours of Parkey's miss, tickets on the secondary market nearly doubled in value

By Thursday, Rams vs. Cowboys, with an average price of $708, was the most expensive divisional round ticket this decade, according to TicketIQ.com.

"We know the Rams are building a following out there quickly," Dallas executive vice president Stephen Jones said in his radio spot Tuesday. "But they're just getting going out there again and hopefully that will pay off for us.

"We've been going out just north of L.A. for quite some time out in Oxnard. Hopefully some of those tickets will be floating around and end up in the hands of Cowboys fans."

Rams season ticket-holder Joey Velasco, who is also from Oxnard, has seen the impact opposing fans have had on the atmosphere at the Coliseum over the past three seasons.

He was proud of the Rams' fans turnout for the Monday night win over Kansas City, but isn't concerned about a potential invasion from Cowboys fans on Saturday.

"I'm just glad they're back in L.A. and it's important to Southern California," Velasco said of the Rams. "It's a playoff game. The way I feel, they've got to get over that hump of winning their first playoff game. Once they get that threshold and beat the Cowboys, I think we'll go to the Super Bowl."

Saturday night's playoff game doesn't just have a berth in the NFC Championship on the line. There are also regional and national implications as the Rams rebuild their bond with Southern California and attempt to break through as a national brand like the Cowboys and other traditionally successful teams like the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots.

"The Rams are always going to be the bigger team in California because this is their homeland now," Stange said. "But as far as nationwide, you have to go with the Cowboys, with the way that they travel and how big their fan base is."

Cowboys fans are expected to fill 31 percent of the Coliseum's capacity, according to Vivid Seats.

Ticket brokers have picked up on the story line to move supply. On Thursday, Stubhub sent out a "RAMS ALERT!" mobile push, telling potential Rams fans that "they need every fan there on Saturday."

It's safe to assume that McVay would approve of that message.

"We've been so appreciative of the support that they've shown us throughout this year and it means a lot," McVay said. "Being able to have that home-field advantage is something that we truly cherish. Hopefully, they'll make us feel that way on Saturday night and we'll give them a product they deserve."

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Source: https://www.vcstar.com/story/sports/nfl/rams/2019/01/11/cowboys-fans-sure-heard-playoff-game-rams-home-field/2541942002/

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