Miller, Jeff. Dallas Cowboys: Yesterday & Today. Lincolnwood, IL: West Side Publishing. 2010 160p, illus. 24.95 (list) ISBN 978-1-60553-902-7

(These remarks are based on a review copy received July 26, 2010)

The first thing I noticed when I opened the book to a random page was a nice two-page spread about Dallas Cowboy collectibles. In fact, there are fifteen such "Collectibles" photo-spreads scattered throughout the book. Pictures of pennants, football cards and other memorabilia are also scattered throughout the text, adding a nice touch to the standard fare of commentary and photographs.

Miller does a good job of covering a lot of ground in very little space: the book is only 160 pages long. Subtracting thirty pages for the collectibles, five pages for the table of contents and front-matter, and seven pages for the index and end-matter, leaves only 118 pages to cover the fifty-year history of the team in words and pictures.

I note that the book was not written specifically to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Cowboys (in fact I don't recall a single mention of the team's 50th anniversary in 2010). Instead, this title is just one in the 'Yesterday & Today' series (others have been published about the Chicago Bears, New York Mets, etc.). Miller organizes the book into six chapters:

• The NFL comes to Dallas (1960-65)
• The Cowboys Become Champions (1966-74)
• The Cowboys Become America's Team (1975-81)
• The End of an Era (1982-88)
• A New Dynasty (1989-97)
• The Cowboys of Today (1998- )

The book makes for an easy read because within each chapter, the articles are usually only a page or two long. In fact the longest articles (for Super Bowls VI, XXVII and XXX) comprise only four pages each. If you find yourself squinting at the chapter or article headlines, its not your glasses or contacts: the type font is a dark blue with silver-gray trim that makes the letters appear kinda fuzzy (or maybe I'm just getting old). Although the book issued as a hardback, I would've preferred a cloth binding instead of the paper that was used (probably in a cost-saving move).

Also, while the book was well researched, some errors crept in, beginning right on the dust-jacket. Miller (or whoever wrote the jacket notes) says the 1960 Cowboys were "unable to bring in new pro players straight from college". That would come as news to Don Meredith (rookie from SMU), Don Perkins (rookie from New Mexico) and the other rookies who made the squad in 1960 as free agents out of college.

The Cowboys also had four players in the College All-Star Game in Chicago in 1960, so clearly the Cowboys DID sign some players directly out of college. Miller makes a similar error on page 15 when he says only two rookies made the 1960 roster (Meredith & Perkins). In fact, six true rookies made the 1960 Cowboys roster playing all or parts of that initial season.

Meredith didn't "sit" his rookie season (page 28), if by that Miller means Meredith never played in 1960. Meredith played in six games, going 29-68 for 281 yards, 2 TDs and 5 INTs. He even started one game, going 9-28, 75 yds, 3 INTs against the Rams.

On p54 Miller writes that all of the "Dirty Dozen" eventually were starters for the Cowboys or other teams, but that isn't true. WR Percy Howard and C Kyle Davis never started for any team in their admittedly short NFL careers. On p56 the author writes that "America's Team" was the name of the '77 team hi-light video, but it was actually the name of the '78 hi-light video.

On p74 he writes that Clint Longley came off the bench to toss three TDs in the famous 1974 Thanksgiving Day win over the Redskins. That sounds good, but Longley actually tossed only two TDs, sandwiched around a one-yard TD plunge by FB Walt Garrison. And on p89 a caption identifies an LP as the Cowboys '86 Christmas Album but it is actually the '85 LP.

On the flip side, I didn't know that the AFL Chiefs hosted a Thanksgiving Day Game from 1967-69, so I learned something (which is always nice). And as a book-lover, I liked the sidebars featuring books by Lance Rentzel (When All the Laughter Died in Sorrow) and Pete Gent (North Dallas Forty).

The book ends rather abruptly with an article about Cowboys Stadium; there is no transition to the future of the Cowboys, so that left me scratching my head a bit.

Miller is a former reporter for the Dallas Morning News. His other books include 'Going Long' (a history of the AFL) and 'Game Changers' (about the greatest plays in Buffalo Bills history). All in all, this book is well-written and accomplishes its mission of covering the Cowboys of yesterday and today. I recommend it for your bookshelf, but save room for some of the twenty other Cowboys titles due out in 2010!

© Copyright Fred Goodwin, July 30, 2010
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