Jim Souhan: It should be a great show

Welcome back to the big time, boys. And 'Boys. Welcome to the biggest game of the best weekend of the NFL season.

The Vikings and Cowboys haven't played each other in a game of this magnitude since the 1970s. The Cowboys haven't played this late in the season and with such high expectations since the mid-'90s. The Vikings haven't offered such promise since Gary Anderson missed that field goal in '98 and Vikings fans dumped their car flags along the streets of Minneapolis.

This game isn't just X's and O's, this is an NFL culture war -- hoodies vs. hair spray, Teflon vs. fritted glass, hotdish vs. Tex-Mex, Super Bowl angst vs. Super Bowl parades, a stadium filled with nightclubs vs. a stadium filled with mold.

Dallas offers glitz. Minnesota counters with slush.

The Vikings play in a dump that cost them $55 million in the early '80s. The only solace offered by the dirt-gray Teflon roof is protection from persistent cold. The Cowboys just built a $1.2 billion stadium that features nightclubs flanking the players' entrance to the field. Cowboys Stadium is like Vegas, only with more strip clubs. "In the Dome, you're lucky to get through the tunnels and find the field," Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell said.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he wanted his team to play to the level of his new stadium. The Vikings hope their players perform with the ferocity of the Dome's malnourished rats.

Jones is our nation's foremost self-promoting, entrepreneurial sports owner. He's like the Steinbrenners, only without the crippling shyness. I was there the day he fired Tom Landry. It was like watching someone do Jell-O shots at a wake.

If you're the Cowboys' quarterback, you spend bye weeks with Jessica Simpson in Mexico. If you're the Vikings' quarterback, you fly home to mow the lawn in Mississippi.

The Cowboys are America's Team. The Vikings are America's Farm Team -- Rich Gannon and Brad Johnson won Super Bowls and Randy Moss starred in an undefeated regular season after the Vikings got rid of them.

The Cowboys have won five Super Bowls. The Vikings have lost four. The Cowboys remember "The Hail Mary"; the Vikings remember "The Push-Off."

Cowboys cheerleaders dance for the viewing pleasure of the national audience that follows their TV show. Vikings cheerleaders dance to stay warm.

"There's certainly a charm to this organization and the ownership and the approach we have, and where we play and where we practice," Longwell said. "It's kind of all about football. The Cowboys, everybody in the country knows them. My wife and daughter Tivo the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders show, so we're well-versed in Dallas Cowboys lore."

It's like comparing Google and the Farmer's Almanac. Today, the stars wearing the star descend upon the ugly mushroom, and Vikings players know what's coming.

"There are some good games this weekend," cornerback Antoine Winfield said on Friday, "but this is the game. We're playing against America's Team."

"This is one of those games that happens every year, or every few years, and you know you're part of something special," Longwell said. "Obviously, the Monday night game with Brett going back to Green Bay was something special. This is one of those games."

Big games have flummoxed Favre in the past. Longwell thinks his buddy is primed to play well in this one.

"I think this is totally different," Longwell said of Favre's late-career playoff meltdowns. "Brett is playing as well as he ever has. I think now he has the perspective of 19 years of knowledge, knowing how hard it is to get to this point with a chance.