In The Spotlight

Are you ready for some football? I'm delighted to announce that my celebrity profile of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is now online. Learn more about the third-most proficient passer in NFL history by clicking here.

You've Got To Be Joking

Joe, Port Orange, FL
Subj: America's Team
Why were the Cowboys given the title of “America’s Team” the first place? When I think of America's Team, I think of the Pittsburgh Steelers. They have the best following of any team in sports. Steelers bars can be found in just about any major city. Therefore I think the Steelers should be referred to as “America's Team”.

Superb question, Joe! The term was coined by sportswriter Bob Ryan in 1979, although he didn’t have the Cowboys in mind when he created it. "After the '78 season, the Cowboys had just lost a crushing Super Bowl to the Steelers,” he recalls. “I wanted to come up with a different twist on a story I was doing. So, I asked the Rooney family if I could name the Pittsburgh Steelers, ‘America's Team’. But, I was surprised when the Rooney family said no. The next year I asked the Cowboys franchise and they said yes." Other media personalities soon adopted the colorful phrase and within a matter of weeks football fans from coast to coast were referring to Dallas as America’s Team. Surprisingly, Steelers owner Dan Rooney still has no regrets about declining the honorific title. 'We didn't want that,” he says. “We're a Pittsburgh team. We feel strongly about that."

Ask Ryan - Swinging For The Fences

Hi Gang,
Welcome back for another edition of Ask Ryan, the column where sports and entertainment go together like football and tailgating. This week's mailbag is bursting at the seams with queries about baseball's most overpriced superstars, Reggie Jackson's first run-in with a professional scout and Bill Belichick's unrelenting drive to the Super Bowl. Read all about it at: http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/7419684