I was fortunate to have spent much of my youth in Thousand Oaks and Newberry Park, CA. In mid-to-late '70s, I was able to go to Cal Lutheran College (CLC) and watch the Dallas Cowboys train. This was during the Tom Landry, Staubach/White, Dorsett/Newhouse, Pearson/Hill (Tony) days. Things were different, as a 10YO kid, I could just walk right up to the field.
I ran laps with Tom Landry. I carried many players' helmets to and from the dorms. I even exhanged a few letters with Tony Hill.
Funny thing is, they would ask me who my favorite team was and I unashamedly always said it was the "Rams". They would laugh and give a little bit of "crud" but never did anyone tell me to leave them alone or stop letting me carry helmets/pads. Times were just different.
It's crazy that 40 (or so) years later, CLC becomes Cal Lutheran University (CLU) and the Rams train there for several years. I left SoCal back in the late '80s and have returned sparingly to visit familyt and friends. But, if I still lived in that area I would probably end up losing my job because I'd be at CLU watching as often as I could.
So, the Cowboys have never been my "other team", but they helped me to love football and they gave me some great stories to tell about the "olden days".
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2026 11:17AM by PSJRam.
