Dallas City News

Will Homer Simpson be coming out of the bushes to show his love for the Dallas Cowboys, or disappearing into them following another loss? Yes, this is a real question, as it relates to the Cowboys Week 14 home game against the Bengals on Monday, December 9th. While Week 8 of the NFL season concluded in Pittsburgh with a Steelers win over the Giants this Monday, ESPN announced their week 14 Monday Night Football telecast from AT&T Stadium will have an alternate Simpsons character broadcast available on both ESPN+ and Disney+ streaming services.

Some of America’s most recognizable characters from the show that’s been on the air since 1989 have been chosen to represent the two teams, with Bart Simpson on the visiting Bengals side and Homer repping the Cowboys. America’s animated comedy dad, meet America’s Team. Here’s a cold Duff beer.

This dip into the Simpsons-verse for the Cowboys and Bengals is the fifth straight season with some kind of animated crossover being used for at least one game. The wacky concept has been done starting with Nickelodeon as the partner in 2021 when the Saints and Bears went underwater to play in the deep sea realm of Spongebob. ESPN got in on the action last year during a London game between the Falcons and Jaguars that was alternatively available as Toy Story characters.

This same concept was actually used for a Cowboys home playoff game in 2021, as the Cowboys lost to the 49ers 23-17 in the Wild Card round. Talk about opening up fresh wounds, as the current 2024 Cowboys are coming off their fourth straight loss to the 49ers when this news broke. Would either game have been less painful to watch in animation? Anyway…

There is so much to be said about the way football can make an event of itself both in person or on television. The NFL is so unique in this way, and has only continued to push the envelope of their target audience being “literally anyone that spends any amount of time looking at a screen”. Be it kids interested in Spongebob and Toy Story, or now the rabid Simpsons fandom that remains strong as the show is in it’s 36th season, there has truly never been more ways to enjoy a singular professional sport. Both Thursday Night Football having a more analytical second broadcast and Monday Night Football having the Manningcast adds to this on a more consistent weekly basis, making the entertainment side of the game unavoidable.

Football on TV is as much of a tradition as anything. The games kick at the same times. The pregame shows start at the same times. Familiar voices and faces enter our living rooms, and by the end of the action you’re facing the reality of either turning to 60 Minutes and staring down another Monday or continuing to escape and maybe stick with the postgame Simpsons episode that was always there. This sums up part of my experience growing up around football and learning to love it, and I know I’m not alone in this – also having some level of interest in seeing what a Bart vs. Homer game looks like later in the season.

The matchup is fitting, as fans of both teams watching at home from their couches have probably felt like their team’s seasons are elaborate couch gags with no end in sight. This is of course how every episode of the Simpsons starts, with some variation of the Simpson family gathering on the couch but with a twist each time. Maybe at some point soon the twist can be sitting down to enjoy a Cowboys win? Dallas is currently 3-4 on the season having lost two straight, while Cincinnati is 3-5. Both teams sit at third in their divisions at the moment. Things can always change quickly in the NFL, but at the moment this feels like a game that every broadcast will have to fluff up however possible to keep interest, and playing in the alternate reality of Springfield with the Simpsons is certainly one way to achieve this.

Football and the Simpsons have gone together for a long time actually. Back in 2014, NFL.com’s Adam Rank put together this list of episodes that either have football tie ins and/or guest cameos by NFL players. In episode 12 of season 10, which aired on New Year’s Eve in 1999, former Cowboys QB Troy Aikman makes an appearance. Now in 2024, he’ll be calling a Cowboys game that also takes place in the Simpsons-verse for ESPN. Talk about full circle!

It is worth noting that the town of Springfield, which is where the Simpsons takes place, also has their very own football team called the Atoms. Being America’s Team with a nationwide fanbase though, it’s established as early as season two that Homer is a Cowboys fan. We here at Blogging The Boys could not find a Bengals fan in Springfield to comment for this story. D’oh!

Truth be told, there is not a whole lot of good news or positive things to talk about when it comes to the Cowboys right now. When it comes to things like new ways to bring in viewers and the cross section of marketing and football, it’s refreshing to have this Simpsons endeavor as a project of ESPN and ABC exclusively instead of something specific to the Cowboys that the Jones’ are trying to sell amidst a tough season. The alternate broadcast is sure to bring back a lot of memories for long times fans of either football, the Simpsons, or both. Like the show, it may just provide us with a few needed laughs as well.

The Cowboys and Bengals kick off at 8 PM Eastern time on this Monday night in December.