At least the Patriots are still not hated as much as the Cowboys.

[El Supremo]

The public has weighed in on Deflate-Gate: A plurality of Americans think the Patriots cheated.

A survey by Public Policy Polling found that 41 percent of Americans think the Patriots cheated by underinflating footballs for the AFC championship game — compared with 27 who think they did not.

Among self-described NFL fans, the spread was bigger — 50 percent labeled the team cheaters, compared with 28 percent who went the other way. Republicans were closely split, while Democrats came down 2-to-1 for cheating.

The polling company also found that Americans are rooting for the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX, 36 percent to 29 percent. And even if they did cheat, the Patriots still come in behind the Dallas Cowboys for the title of most hated team.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/super-bowl-xlix/deflate-gate-more-americans-think-patriots-cheated-poll-finds-n295236

That should cheer up Joeybee!

[Jamaal510]

1. Aside from

having an owner who donates to RW causes, I don't see much worthy of hating on the Cowboys for (unless a person's favorite team shares the same division). It's been a while since they appeared in and won a SB, plus at least they haven't been caught up in any big cheating scandals. I never had a strong opinion about Dallas either way.

[hughee99]

2. I agree. The only reason I can think of is that Dallas has a lot of fans all over the country,

many people know at least one Cowboys fans, and when football season comes around, they can be as annoying as fuck. How often do most people come to work on Monday morning and the first word out of their friend's mouth is "How bout them Buccaneers!".

[ProfessorGAC]

3. There's A Long Term Reason Too, Hugh

Despite the myth, Tex Schramm was instrumental in getting Sabol to start using the term "America's Team" on NFL films.

And, the team promoted that to no end. For people around the country loyal to their more local teams, the idea that one team was suddenly America's team when there were better teams (although the Cowboys were good) rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way.

I readily admit i'm one of them. To me, the Packers (small town, community ownership, 8 decades of existence, no threats to move, no banging the drum for a new modern stadium, play in the elements, etc.) are more worthy of the title. And i'm a Bears fan.

So, i think there is still some hangover from that.