Since the beginning of Jerry Jones’ 23-year tenure as owner of the Dallas Cowboys he’s gone out of his way to make his presence felt. From the unceremonious ousting of both Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson, to crowning himself as General Manager and all out ‘H.B.I.C’ Jones has carried the task of being the target of disgruntled Cowboys fans’ ire with a snark sense of arrogance and all out stubbornness. As the seasons continue to pass by and more and more playoff trips (yet alone wins) slip from their grasps, despite Jones’ blowing money fast financial strategy it’s looking more and more that it is Jones’ mere presence that’s hindering the Cowboys.
23-years of hands on ownership has yielded 3 championships from 1993, 1994 and 1996 and since then it’s been 15 years of just one playoff victory. Over the span Jones’ involvement with the team as only increased, from ostentatious spending which resulted in a $1 billion stadium which hasn’t even hosted a playoff game yet. The personal connection Jones has to the team goes way beyond personal investment, anyone can sense that Jones is living the NFL career he never had vicariously through his ownership duties. Seeing Jones operating one on one with his players is almost akin to seeing an episode of ‘Dance Moms’ where over controlling parents essentially try to live out their dreams through their children to the extreme. But in Jerry’s case, he’s a lot more coddling of his players and hence the crux of the undisciplined nature of his teams and overwhelming air of culpableness that the team reeks of. In a way, due to his seemingly dire need to stick his hands into every single facet of any and everything Cowboys related, and his grandiose attempts to get the team mentioned Jones is very much hurting more than helping.
No better example of this came than in Superbowl XLV where Jones seemed more preoccupied in actually hosting the Superbowl than getting his team there in the first place. He put a premium on breaking the all time attendance record to help christen in what he was hoping would be a blazing start to his billion dollar palace. The quest proved to be quite the fail with snow (yes, snow in Dallas) dashed away all hopes of accomplishing the ‘feat’ and even a taxi strike going on that weekend just added to the rain the pelted down on Jones’ proverbial parade. It a way it almost felt like an excellent microcosm of the Cowboys’ current predicament, the more involved Jerry is and more lavish he gets the more damage he ends up doing. Jones has taken on a double life as a ‘player’s owner’ who despite his elderly age and billion dollar net worth could relate to his players. And to the dismay of Cowboys fans Jones is in every way eating up the heaps of publicity he gets despite his team’s lack luster effort year after year.
Today’s Dallas Cowboys are living off glory days from years long passed, and had they not have such a controversial owner they probably wouldn’t even be discussed with any sense of seriousness yet alone picked year after year to somehow win the NFC East despite the mediocre blob that has become Tony Romo. The micro/lasssez-faire bipolar management style of Jones is enough to make Cowboys fans world wide want to rip out chunks of hair, but if there is one bright side it’s that no one can deny that Jones loves this team to death and unlike most owners it’s not just another tax write off or splurge, his heart and soul is on that field right there with the players. But sometimes you have to concede into the cliche of if you love something or someone it’s best to set it or them free…maybe Jerry should consider drastically limiting his everyday involvement, after all something has to give, right? While maybe it’s a stretch to call Jones the ‘Kim Kardashian’ of sports owners–in that he craves media attention despite not having the merits of late to have earned such attention the fact remains that the antics mixed with the extravagance needs to stop.
Plus this video doesn’t really help either
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