It’s time for another session of Jayadev’s sports trivia! Answer this question correctly and win 1,000 Jaydollars (Exchange rate: one Jaydollar = $0 U.S. dollars.)

This once proud football franchise has fallen on hard times of late. The Moose Call is no longer heard, a formerly strong defense is being shredded and one of the NFL’s most durable backs can’t find the end zone. Despite having a long and storied tradition, the NFL’s lone remaining Texas team is now under .500. Popularly known as Da Boys, they won three of four Super Bowls from 1993-1996. Who are they?

The Dallas Cowboys, of course. Ah, how uplifting it is to see a team finally get what it deserves. Da Boys were a team which ran up the score, laid late hits in dead games and had plenty of talent but very little character. Sure, there were a few good guys on the team, but Jerry Jones’ slick personality oozed over them all.

Yes, I am going to gloat over the Cowboys’ demise. I am going to kick them when they are down, just like they used to do to teams they beat. Part of this is bitterness. The Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills are my favorite teams. The Cowboys ran up the score on the Bills whenever they played, in January or November. The Dolphins lost last year to Barry Switzer’s evil hordes, and there were late hits galore on Dan Marino.

But hey, what goes around comes around. The Cowboys are getting a good dose of bad luck and finally their bad apples are showing up, bright and clear. Leon Lett is spending a good part of the season tinkling into a cup, as Michael Irvin did last season. Deion is finally being exposed as a cornerback who can’t tackle a man to save his life.

The Cowboys can’t dictate things in the trenches anymore. While their formerly dominant lines have stayed the same, others have become bigger, stronger and faster. Troy Aikman is good, but people finally realize he is not a great quarterback. Marino is a great quarterback. He can do amazing things with a bunch of no-name receivers (O.J. McDuffie is tops on the depth chart, for God’s sake!) Troy Aikman is struggling with great receivers such as Irvin and Anthony Miller.

The tight end position is not what it used to be either. Eric Bjornson and David LaFleur just cannot replace Jay Novacek. The once great backfield is in shambles. Emmitt does not have that nose for the end zone anymore. So much so that the Cowboys are last in the league in red-zone scoring percentage. A lot of Emmitt’s struggles are compounded with the silencing of the Moose Call. Darryl “Moose” Johnston, the premier blocking back in the league, is out for the season with a serious neck injury.

People I know say that Da Boys will return, that they always come back from tough situations. Not this time, they won’t. And they’ve had chances. Against San Francisco, Deion picked off a pass but couldn’t get past Steve Young, Emmitt was knocked out and Aikman threw the game away with a late pick. Against the Eagles, they couldn’t punch it in the paydirt, and their defense broke when it mattered most. Against the Giants, they killed themselves. Aikman threw passes for TDs in the wrong direction (or for me, the right direction) and Emmitt couldn’t score. Against the Redskins, they couldn’t score or make a stop. Heck, the Cowboys even lost to Arizona! Yes, it’s payback time.

It’s the end of an era in Big D, and it’s hard to accept for Cowboys fans. I just laugh at them. They’ve done it to me and my teams many, many times before.

Jayadev Athreya is a sophomore in mathematics from Ames.