Why There Is One Fewer Fan in Dallas Cowboys Nation Today

Matt called in with a formal request. He wanted a document drawn up so he could resign his fandom from the Dallas Cowboys.

"Wow, already?"

Already. And to his credit, he was honest about who put him in this position.

"This offseason, y'all bought me in," he said. "I was feeling the hype."

He was getting 2014 Dak Prescott vibes and thought this could be the year. His projection was specific in the way only a long suffering fan's projection can be. A 16-2 season, followed by getting knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.

That is the part worth sitting with. Even his best case scenario ended in disappointment.

Then Week 1 happened, and the math stopped working.

"How bad were they exactly?" the desk asked.

"It was hard to watch when your defense has absolutely zero pressure and is crumbling apart, and you have absolutely zero to no production from your offense in the first half."

Matt's credentials as someone with a high pain tolerance are real, by the way. He has been a Mississippi State fan since he was three years old. When a person like that says it is time to find somebody new to love, the situation is serious.

TJ was asked for sage advice and had some, because he recently went through it himself. He gave up his Clippers fandom after 26 years.

The framing was delicate. The Sixers were the main one. The Clippers were the side.

The reason he had to choose was a friendship with Dan Lanning, which came with the condition that he give up a team in order to bring Oregon in. The Clippers drew the short straw.

He says he feels lighter and genuinely good about it. He also says Clippers fans who chose to hang on are saying wild things to him in the comments, things they would never say to his face.

"Well, that's what comments are for."

Nobody tried to talk Matt out of it, exactly. TJ said that if Matt has reached the end, he will not stop him, and wished him well in his future endeavors. Colleen was warmer about it, telling Matt she was sorry for his loss and hoping the next team brings him love and happiness.

There was one condition attached.

"Just don't be coming to the Eagles."

Matt has candidates. He recently moved to the Southeast and is tired of the Alabama and Auburn business, so his options are the Saints or the Falcons. The desk warned him to choose carefully, because those two hate each other, and that there is no backsliding once he commits.

Somebody made the practical case for staying. He is walking away from a franchise with five championships for two teams that have a combined one.

Matt's answer was the most honest thing in the segment.

"I wasn't even born when they were going on their run."

He has no allegiance to it, no memories of it, no attachment. He just hears about the good days. He listens to Troy Aikman every Monday and wonders what it feels like to win multiple playoff games.

That landed, because at least one person in the room remembers being a young man when Dallas won those three, and describes it as the greatest stretch of his life. He understood completely why a fan who never had that would not stay for it.

Matt did throw one more grenade before leaving. Since 2014, he has concluded that Prescott does not have a clutch bone in his body, and that Mississippi State would probably have won a national championship that year if not for Nick Saban.

"Oh no, the slander."

The show's parting advice was to slow down. Do not let 60 minutes of football decide this. Give it two to four weeks. Give it until Halloween. Real football, as everyone knows, does not start until after Thanksgiving.

Call back then.