Let’s get this out in the open right up front: I have never – and will never – be a Dallas Cowboys fan (despite my Dallas-born father’s attempts during my early childhood).
But I was drawn to watching the eight-part documentary series on Netflix titled “America’s Team, The Gambler and his Cowboys” for the same reason everybody else watched.
Fascination.
If you are a die-hard fan, you can watch it for the enjoyment of re-living the thrill of three Super Bowls in four years – and that is the dominant theme throughout.
If you can’t stand them, you can watch it for the crash-and-burn-and-still-burning theme that has carried on ever since.
But my fascination with it all had a single source: Jerry Jones.
In my early days as a sports writer, I covered a lot of the Cowboys in the Tom Landry days, even going to a training camp in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and getting a first hand look at just how different professional athletes are.
Once Jones became an owner in 1989, I still covered a few games and the difference in how the franchise had changed was obvious.
I was there for the Bounty Bowl when they basically had to scrape Troy Aikman off the Texas Stadium turf after a 27-0 beatdown by Philadelphia. The definition of a beatdown.
I remember thinking the franchise may never recover from that season, in which the Cowboys were 1-15, and Jones was simply in over his head.
First of all, the documentary is extremely well done. If there was a base to touch, they touched it. There are insightful interviews from the people you’d expect – Aikman, Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith – but also opposing players (namely some of the ‘90s 49ers), a commissioner (Roger Goodell) and even a former president (George W. Bush). There was also some pretty amazing footage that somebody spent months digging up.
But Jones was the (blue) star of the show, which was exactly the point.
I found Jerry Jones to be totally and completely fascinating in the documentary. I don’t know if I agreed or disagreed with what he said in the nine hours of screen time, but I hung on every word.
To me, the biggest revelation came almost at the end of the final episode when Jones said “I’m often asked the question, ‘Why don’t I hire a general manager? … You need a buffer.’
“I don’t look it like that,” Jones said. “I like the pain.”
He must, because he’s had plenty of it.
Unapologetic, but then again, why would you expect anything else?
Is he too much of a showman? Probably. Is he overmatched as a GM? Not when you consider how well the Cowboys have drafted over the years, but go ahead and go there if you’d like.
But the bottom line goes all the way back to what made Jerry Jones who is in the first place. Right or wrong, he’s going to do things his way.
As an NFL businessman, he may be the greatest the league has ever known. (And don’t say that doesn’t matter.)
He may not run his team like other owners do, but there is never any doubt as to where he stands.
It’s just like it was during his oilman days, when he bet all he had on a well that is still paying off decades later.
He’s the boss. And you’re not.
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com