The last major banner unfurled for the Dallas Cowboys was in 1996, for its 1995 Super Bowl title.
2021 should feature a new banner: "2020: World Record for Attendance During a Pandemic."
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones celebrated the "achievement" a few days after his team's most recent disappointing season ended, in a radio interview on 105.3 The Fan.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer said, "I think we set, and I'm going to arm-wave, but I think we set world record for attendance of a venue this year in our stadium, in the middle of a pandemic. The results were extremely safe."
Not only does this record not exist, it's preposterous to know if the results were "extremely safe."
This is one of those "achievements" you just don't discuss publicly.
For those of you who ripped Jerry for this latest tone-deaf celebration, this is a not case of Jerry bein' Jerry, but rather a Texan bein' a Texan.
2020 was miserable, but it is why Texas is the very best in sports. We are literally willing to die for them.
It doesn't quite have the same ring as the Davy Crockett, William Travis and Jim Bowie at the Alamo, but it's the same concept.
The Cowboys fit in 219,021 fans for its eight home games in 2020, tops in the NFL. Second was Jacksonville where 127,355 fans watched the Jags pursue Trevor Lawrence and the top pick in the 2021 NFL Draft with their sterling 1-15 record.
2020 began with the Dallas Stars hosting the NHL's Winter Classic at the Cotton Bowl in front of 85,630, which would turn out to be the second largest crowd for a sporting event in the year. We were all so innocent then.
(Because of the size of the facility, NASCAR's Daytona 500 run in mid-February is likely your winner in that category, but that organization does not release official attendance figures.)
The year ended with Mississippi State and Tulsa brawling at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth after the Armed Forces Bowl in awful conditions in front of a reported 9,000. There were more people on the field than fans in the stands.
As ugly as the fight was, it was an appropriate end to sports in '20, and the best place for it was Texas.
In between the Winter Classic and Fight Night at Amon Carter, Texas had a NASCAR race in front of fans, the 2020 World Series, a boxing match with Errol Spence at AT&T Stadium, 2020 New Mexico Bowl, and the 2020 National Finals Rodeo.
Also, Texas A&M led the nation in home average attendance in college football, 24,876.
The Aggies would have led the nation in total attendance, but its date against Mississippi was canceled which limited their home schedule to four games.
Oklahoma led the nation in total attendance, 113,500. The Sooners did this in five games.
It does not matter if you think having fans attend sporting events in 2020 was a good idea; this is what we do.
2020 is not the first time Texas led the "world in attendance" in sporting events during an outbreak of a global virus. Or at least football.
Back in 1918, during not only World War I but the outbreak of the Spanish Flu pandemic, college football pushed through as did Major League Baseball.
With fans. In masks. Same for the umpires.
This was during a season when some college football teams played just two games, such as Washington and Colorado State.
The University of Texas played eight of its nine games at home; this was the year UT started the UT v. Texas A&M Thanksgiving tradition.
That's right -- UT and A&M agreed to play each other during The Spanish Flu, but won't even talk now.
Although attendance figures from the 1918 college season were not kept, it's believed UT set the "World Record For Attendance During a Pandemic."
There is no record of then 'Horns coach William Juneau appearing on his weekly radio show to boast about that.
You can rip Jerry Jones, or anyone else in this state for hosting all of these games in 2020 with fans, but this was a case of Texans doing as Texans do.
No state in the nation loves sports the way we do.
We love them so much we will die for them.
Raise the banner.