Title: Cowboys Folklore

General information about item:
Folklore
Language: English
Country of Origin: United States
Informant: Brendan Harmon
Date Collected: 5-20-20
Informant Data:
Brendan Harmon is a close friend who was in my graduating class of 2018 at my high school. He has grown up in Dallas his whole life. He is currently playing football at Abilene Christian University. For all of his life he has been a die hard cowboys fan. He regularly watches the games every Sunday. He plans to hopefully play in the NFL one day.

Contextual Data:
The context behind being a cowboys fan is super fascinating. For Brendan’s generation the cowboys have not been that good of a team. I am talking about the stretch from 1997 to 2020. During this time the Cowboys have not made it to the Conference Championship and let alone the superbowl. The generation before had the upper hand because during the early 90’s the cowboys won 3 superbowls in 4 years.
Item
Cowboys fans traditions and rites of passage. There is a tradition that I found extremely interesting that is held by most if not all cowboy fans and that is every year the football season comes around that will say that it is their year to win the superbowl. The rite of passage comes when you ask someone if they are a die-hard cowboys fan. If they say yes, you ask them if it is their year to win the superbowl if the fan says yes then they have passed the rite of passage and are a die hard cowboys fan.
Collectors Name: John Paul Flores
Tags and Keywords
Cowboys
Rituals

General information about item:
Ritual
Language: English
Country of Origin: United States
Informant: Robbie Mangas
Date Collected: 5-21-20
Informant Data:
Robbie Mangas is a Sophomore at Dartmouth College. He is due to graduate in the year 2022. Robbie is also a starting member of Dartmouth’s Football team. He has played the past two years at the Tight End position. He loves playing football and lifting weights. Robbie plans to play football in the NFL someday.
Contextual Data:
The context behind the pregame rituals is a sort of a mixed bag. There are some things that people hold dear and believe will help them win the game. There are other superstitions that many players have about whether they put on one sock first or how they do their hair. For the most part every player has their little thing that they do in order to get themselves ready for the game mentally and physically.
Item:
Pregame football rituals the people that I talked really fell into two categories either a pre game ritual that involved some sort of spirituality or a ritual that they did before every game. For spirituality the people would often read a passage of the bible before the warm-up, the other aspect was when the players ran onto the field they would run to the opposite end zone and kneel and pray. Other people’s pregame rituals involved listening to the same song or putting on eye black the same way.
Collectors Name: John Paul Flores
Tags and Keywords
Ritual
Dartmouth Football