Hating the Cowboys, sort of

Dallas is one of those teams that people in New York have always despised. Some of it is that they were good (see above.) Mostly it was this whole "God's team" nonsense. Other than the cheerleaders (who are still hot but, you know, whatever), who were a big deal once upon a time, the organization was the subject of much East Coast vitriol. Now? Still are, but not as much.
Part of the reason is Tony Romo. While his "aw shucks" thing is getting a little old, and the fact that he was hanging with Carrie Underwood and didn't do much of anything with her makes some people wonder about him, he just doesn't inspire the hatred that previous players have.
Why not?
- He came out of nowhere: this always helps. This isn't Ryan Leaf, a highly touted QB who was a major bust (not to mention a bit of a dick.) I remember when nobody thought for a second that Bill Parcells would ever dump Drew Bledsoe for Romo in midhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif-season.
- He replaced Drew Bledsoe: Bledsoe really seems like a jerk. Whether he's yelling at Keyshawn Johnson on the sidelines or just plain old whining about something, he was never particularly likable. Granted, he never had the career he thought he would have, but then again, who among us has? Shut up and play.
- That whole "aw shucks" thing: Let's be honest. We want our athletes to be people. We hate A-Rod (well, I do) partly because of his crappy post-season performance, partly because of the naked pictures of him in the New York tabloids, but mostly we hate him because of the tightly controlled image he tries so hard to project and protect. Romo seems to be having the time of his life, the way we imagine we would if we had enough athletic ability to play professional sports. Even when he played horribly in a game earlier this year, he handled it well.
So can we still hate the Cowboys? Oh, no doubt. It's just more difficult to hate the QB.