The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 on Saturday night and in doing so reached the Western Conference Finals. It is the second appearance in the round over the last three years for the Mavs.
Less than 24 hours earlier, thanks to a double-overtime game in their own Game 6, the Dallas Stars also reached the Western Conference Finals. It is the second straight appearance in the round for the Stars.
In the world of Major League Baseball, the Texas Rangers won the World Series last year so obviously reached their own version of the conference finals in the American League Championship Series.
You can clearly see where we are going with this.
The Dallas Cowboys are the only DFW team to not reach the conference finals in the last year
In their defense, the Dallas Cowboys did reach the playoffs last year so at least the metroplex can claim that all of their four major sports teams were in the postseason in their last attempt. But with the Rangers, Stars, and now Mavericks, all at least a round away from the title match with the first of them having won it all in their attempt, the Cowboys clearly stand out.
To be fair this is a joyous time for fans of all of the major DFW teams. Consider that the Stars and Mavericks are both in the conference finals for their sports (they both happen to be the Western Conference Finals) in the same season for the first time ever.
But the Cowboys are all by themselves and by a very wide margin. As noted up top the Stars and Mavericks both have very recent appearances in their conference finals. While the Rangers had not been to one for a moment before last year, the moment in question was only a decade and change (the Rangers won the ALCS in both 2010 and 2011). The Dallas Cowboys have not reached their conference finals, the NFC Championship Game, since the 1995 season. Consider that at that moment the Stars we are talking about had just finished their second season in Dallas after having moved from Minnesota.
The Cowboys’ drought continues to be made worse by so many different things as time goes on. Pressure mounts as a result and the only way it will dissipate is if the team manages to do what has felt impossible – reach the promised land themselves.
But we aren’t even talking about the promised land. Just the round before it. That has become the bar around here.
