Step Down: Should Cowboys' Jerry Jones Follow President Joe Biden's Lead?
Joe Biden, 82, crafted a sparkling 51-year career in politics. Jerry Jones, 81, has authored a 35-year Hall-of-Fame legacy as an NFL trailblazer and owner/grand poobah of the Dallas Cowboys.
But because all good things must eventually come to an end, Biden recently voluntarily halted his campaign to be re-elected as President. We know Jerry will never sell the Cowboys, but is he closer than ever to handing the keys to the castle of the world’s most popular and profitable sports franchise to his son and vice president, Stephen?
After painfully watching Biden try to navigate stairs and sadly lose his train of thought during a June debate against Donald Trump, some of his closest advisors made the heartbreaking call to ask him to step down. After another training-camp opening press conference in which Jones again stubbornly touted a precious blueprint that hasn’t worked in more than a quarter-century, will any Cowboys’ “congressmen” have the guts to publicly tell him what fans have been urging for years? Exit stage left.
Troy Aikman? Roger Staubach? Jimmy Johnson? Michael Irvin?
Stephen Jones? Charlotte Jones? Will McClay?
It wasn’t that Jerry showed signs of “slippage” Thursday in Oxnard. For years he’s camouflaged subtle misspeaks with folksy charm. This year he called long-time Fort Worth Star-Telegram beat writer Clarence Hill “Terrance,” admitted at one point “I forgot your question,” couldn’t remember that it was Zack Martin who held out of camp last year in a contract dispute, and playfully asked “Are we in Oxnard?”
He also, seriously, compared himself to Kansas City Chiefs' three-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes.
Prefaced Jerry before another answer, “Let me take this first, then you can hear from the guy who really knows what he’s talking about.”
Enter, Stephen.
Jerry can still spin a yarn, recount a fable and turn an obscure word into a rallying cry with the best of them. One year it was “Glory Hole.” Thursday: “Am-buh-goo-it-ee.”
Jones has his yacht. Biden has Air Force One. Both men have had their dalliance with a “white house.” But it wasn’t really how Jerry said things Thursday, it was what he said.
With fans clamoring for a new message – something fresh or at least different to give them confidence that another 12-win regular season won’t merely set them up for another early-round playoff gut-punch loss – Jones instead doubled-down … on himself.
“I’m all in,” Jerry said. “They get a full-time me.”
Asked for the gazillionth time if he, in light of the 28 consecutive seasons of relative failure, would consider tweaking the Cowboys’ organizational flow chart which ultimately has him as a committee of one, Jones – for the galllionth time – politely, steadfastly declined.
“I’m only comfortable doing it this way,” he said. “I can’t delegate. That implies that it’s me sitting up here throwing darts, but that’s not the case. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not slow. I listen to a lot of input.”
In his opening press conference at Valley Ranch on Feb. 25, 1989 Jones announced he’d be in charge of everything “from jocks to socks ... I will be a part of every decision.”
In his latest press conference - 35.5 years later - it was the exact same message.
In between, the Cowboys have won three Super Bowls. But they haven’t played in as much as an NFC Championship Game since Jan. 14, 1996.
If Jerry is the Cowboys’ Biden, who’s gonna tell him?
What's Trending
