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When stadiums were rising in the 1960s and ‘70s, some of us thought they would be shrines forever. My, how forever arrives earlier and earlier.

Busch Stadium in St. Louis is no more; it was such a palace replacing Sportsman’s Park, the home to the old Browns and Cardinals. Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia is gone; Three Rivers and Riverfront in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati have been replaced.

The Eighth Wonder of the World—the Astrodome—wonders how long it must sit and watch football fans file into Reliant Stadium.

So, of course, we are now in Irving where the successor to the Cotton Bowl can no longer say it will ever again have a game matching the stature of Texas-Oklahoma.

Texas Stadium: 1971-2008, a quality life but not a particularly long one.

Goodness, Baltimore closed down two landmark venues in a matter of months: the Orioles lost to the Yankees, 7-3, September 21, in the finale at Yankee Stadium, but the Ravens turned the bitter-sweet festivities even more bitter with a 33-24 victory over the Cowboys in Texas Stadium’s farewell match, December 20.

The Stadium opened October 24, 1971, and Dallas walloped New England, 44-21. I was living in California at the time but happened to be on vacation in the Dallas area on that day, so, being a Cowboy fan since 1965, I went to the game.

My sharpest memory: the Patriots, once, faced a fourth down and about 40. (Mac Engel’s book on the Stadium correctly reports North Texas State’s 20-17 win over Louisville beat the Cowboys-Pats’ kickoff by eight days.)

Dallas got to the Super Bowl in the ‘71 season, but lost the Blunder Bowl, 16-13, to Baltimore—the Colts—young man, not the Ravens. Roger Staubach led the ‘Boys to a 24-3 Super Bowl win over Miami one year later. Bob St. John of the Dallas Morning News wrote: “Free at Last”—it was in reference to Next Year’s Champions always losing the Big One.

Tom Landry, Tex Schramm and Lee Roy Jordan; Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett; Bob Lilly and Troy Aikman; Chuck Howley and Cliff Harris; Randy White and Danny White; Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin; Bob Hayes and Duane Thomas; Rayfield Wright and Ralph Neely; John Niland and Larry Cole; Ed “Too Tall” Jones and Darren Woodson; Jason Witten and Dat Nguyen; Moose Johnston and Jay Novacek; Drew Pearson and Mark Stepnoski; Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer. Please feel free to write in your own favorites.

Everson Walls, are you listening? He was just too big, and it really was their day, the beginning of their dynasty.

I’m no different than a zillion other Cowboy fans: the Clint Longley game, Nov. 28, 1974, has to be my favorite. This unknown rookie (calling him an unknown is like saying The Big Three carmakers have had a tough year) comes in for an injured Staubach and Dallas down, 16-3, to Washington—on Thanksgiving Day!

He does it all and finally hits Drew Pearson with a touchdown pass with 28 seconds left, and the Blue and Silver wins, 24-23. Mac Engel didn’t have to tell me, but Longley’s name will live forever—at least as long-ly as the new stadium lives in Arlington.

In 37 years and a couple of months, the team with the Star on the helmet won five Super Bowls; that’s tied with San Francisco and Pittsburgh for most in the NFL. Emmitt Smith, of course, set the all-time career record for rushing yards on the Texas Stadium turf in 2002.

Everyone will remember Leon Lett chasing after that blocked field goal attempt by Miami in the snow on another Thanksgiving Day in 1993.

He chased, and he touched the ball, but the Dolphins, down by a point, recovered it on a play that should have ended Miami’s last-second hopes for a win—the Dolphins got a much closer second- chance three-point try and won, 16-14. (Lett and his teammates truly had the last laugh—they went on to win the Super Bowl for the second year in a row.)

I admit I always felt closer to the Cotton Bowl than Texas Stadium, but any time a sports structure shuts down I see a bit of my life being exorcised in favor of the future that, alas, will do wonderfully without me.

Of course, I shouldn’t complain. I didn’t need a sleeping tablet when I was much younger and Crosley Field fell in Cincinnati and Forbes Field was removed in Pittsburgh. Gracious, if I’m upset, what about the fans in New York who had to say goodbye to the Polo Grounds where the baseball Giants played and, for heavensakes, THE Stadium in the Bronx?

And will old or young alike get over the demise of the Dodgers in Brooklyn and Ebbets Field? What about Kezar Stadium in San Francisco and Municipal Stadium in Cleveland and the REAL Boston Garden?

Texas Stadium, you did well, and you were indeed a Shining Star in 1971. Good luck to your next of kin in Arlington.

May it have a long life filled with exciting games and lots of triumphs—maybe it will hang around for awhile and someday rival the status of a Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium or Fenway Park or the remaining Field brothers—Soldier, Wrigley, and Kyle.