Football territory has Rangers fever

ARLINGTON, Texas — With the home team struggling, the crowd began to chant, “Let’s go Rangers! Let’s go Rangers!”

Down on the field, the Dallas Cowboys weren’t inspired. But that rallying cry heard during their game Monday night sent a clear message.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is no longer dominated by football.

Not this fall, at least, and certainly not this week.

The Texas Rangers may not be “America’s Team,” but they are American League champions, and right now that’s more important.

They have brought the World Series to Arlington this weekend, a first in the franchise’s 39 years here. Fans are so giddy that not even opening the series with a pair of crushing losses in San Francisco can dampen the mood.

“I think it’s fantastic,” former Cowboys great Roger Staubach said. “It would be phenomenal if they won it.”

How’s this for a sign of the times: At a luncheon Thursday marking the 100-day countdown to the Super Bowl being played in Arlington, former Cowboys greats Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Daryl Johnston and Drew Pearson, as well as team owner Jerry Jones, all slapped on red Rangers hats.

“When you’ve got the World Series in town, this should be a baseball town,” Jones said.

It’s pretty wild to think the World Series is beating the Super Bowl to town, especially considering the pedigree of both teams and the popularity of both sports in the state.

The Rangers moseyed into Arlington in 1972, just a few months after the Cowboys won their first Super Bowl title. While the Cowboys have won four more Super Bowls, the Rangers never even won a postseason series until this month.

They have been so bad for so long that it seemed like there was a secret clause when they moved fromWashington - the Rangers were allowed to borrow the sports spotlight from April to August, then had to get out of the way for pro, college and high school football. After all, the joke in Texas is that there are only two seasons: football and spring football.

Now the Rangers are messing with Texas traditions in a big way. They are playing meaningful games later in the calendar than the Cowboys, Longhorns and Aggies.

“If you would have looked at the season and said the Rangers are going to be in the World Series and the Cowboys are 1-5, you would think somebody was smoking something,” Staubach said.

Aikman said the Rangers being up while the Cowboys are down has helped the baseball team’s rise in prominence.

“Good for them,” Aikman said. “They’ve embodied, really, what team is all about. It’s been a good story. I’ve certainly been proud to watch them and the way that they’ve played. I hope they can pull it around and win a World Series.”

Aikman has lived in the area for 21 years, so he’s not too surprised by the shift in loyalty among local fans.

“I’ve always said Dallas is a winner’s town,” he said. “It might be a Mavs town next week.”

Rangers merchandise is selling so quickly that stores are replenishing their inventory daily. Interest was rising throughout the playoffs, then became overwhelming the minute the Rangers beat the Yankees for the AmericanLeague pennant.

“The line was wrapped around the store - in fact, behind the parking lot,” said Robert Desimone, promotions coordinator for Academy Sports & Outdoors, who was at his chain’s store about 25 miles from the stadium in the Mesquite suburb. “We had fans just going nuts, screaming, doing the wave. People were driving by honking horns.

“You can tell everybody has Rangers fever.”