On a JerryWorld stage Thursday, Stephen Jones stood among real-life cowboys as well as a few other pretenders, notably Kid Rock, promoting his Rock N Rodeo on May 17 at the home of the Cowboys. That is, when it’s not commandeered by bullriders or singers or soccer matches or Jake Paul fighting 58-year-old Mike Tyson, who ought to have better things to do. Like making it to 59.
Stephen was on hand Thursday to represent the empire in yet another of its many secular interests. Whatever else you make of the Joneses, you must admit they’re good at making money.
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Only the football part exceeds their grasp.
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Anyway, Stephen addressed the media who asked what the Joneses have been doing when not hawking bulls, and he wants you to know the family feels your pain. They want to win, too. They ask only for your patience.
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That and your money.
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Look, I don’t begrudge anyone out to build generational fortunes. I wish someone had built one for me. But it seems we’ve got more than our fair share of owners around here who have enough on their hands just turning a buck without competing against executives who work at football or basketball pretty much on a full-time basis.
Nolan Ryan didn’t own the Rangers, but he was the face of them both as a player and executive. Many of you still operate under the assumption that he built the Rangers’ first two World Series rosters despite evidence to the contrary. Some of you just prefer to believe a legitimate Texas icon did it instead of a kid from Queens. The facts are Nolan simply didn’t have time to build a roster. Too busy selling beef and foundation repair and a statewide brand. He didn’t get to the office all that much.
You’d like to think everyone could have made it work because it was a wonderful mix of talent. But Ray Davis ultimately decided the Rangers were better served with a president who could devote his full attention to the position. Because the owner certainly wasn’t going to do it. Makes him unique in this market.
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As brilliant as Mark Cuban is, it sure seems like he’s got a lot going on with TV and untold business interests, not to mention a potentially groundbreaking pharmaceutical line. Maybe even a presidential bid someday.
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Yet, with all that on his plate, he’s still making personnel calls on the Mavs. Or at least he was before the Adelsons bought out his majority interest.
Once Patrick Dumont settles in as the Mavs’ governor, I plan to ask who’s calling the shots these days. Remind me sometime, in case it slips my mind, which gets more slippery by the day.
All things considered, Cuban has done a good job as an owner. Besides producing the organization’s only title, he’s poured millions into the pursuit. Poured too much, in fact. One of the reasons the Adelsons occasionally turn up courtside.
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But, if I had one complaint about Cuban’s reign, it’s that there never seemed to be a coherent long-range plan. Unless you count chasing free agents who wouldn’t be caught.
Meanwhile, the Spurs and Heat created cultures as well as identities. In just three years, Brad Stevens reinvented the Celtics. Sam Presti built a colossus in Oklahoma City, tore it down and built another.
Cuban could never quite bring himself to raze his roster and start all over again. He kept trying patches, right up to the present model.
Would the Mavs be better off now if Cuban had hired a good GM and let him do his job unfettered by the owner’s interference? Only seems logical that a person in charge who spends every waking hour thinking about improving his team would enjoy an advantage over someone who has other things on his mind.
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Same goes for Jerry Jones, who, unfortunately, bought the Cowboys so he could run them. This he did in the image of his hero, Al Davis. Once upon a time, a visionary such as Davis could make it work. But NFL teams are no longer mom-and-pop organizations. Might explain why the Raiders, like the Cowboys, mostly look back fondly at the good times.
If you want to give Jimmy Johnson credit for three of the Lombardi Trophies in the lobby of The Star, you’ll get no argument here. For that matter, Tex Schramm crafted the image of America’s Team. But Jerry gold-plated it, to the extent that it’s now in his image.
And what, exactly, is that image? Players around the league will tell you that the Cowboys are more style than substance. Brand over football. That’s not to say Jerry doesn’t care about winning, because he does. He wants, above all else, to prove he can win a Super Bowl without Jimmy. He also wants to win because winning sells.
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Selling shouldn’t be the concern of a general manager, who should be preoccupied with winning instead. No one’s got enough brain for both. Takes all I’ve got just to get through this column.
Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Jerry, Stephen Jones want Cowboys to win. Non-football interests keep them from that goal
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