Silver and BlueBlood

Rival Coaches

There was a time when the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins comprised one of the NFL’s fiercest and most notable rivalries. All of the cliches about “throw the records out the window when these two hook up” really did apply.

There was no love lost between the teams. Cowboys players like Staubach and Lilly really did despise those Redskins. The coaches didn’t like them either. And the feeling was mutual. It was, most fans thought, a rivalry for the ages.

Great stories exist between the two franchises, stories that date back to the very birth of the Dallas Cowboys. While original Cowboys’ owner Clint Murchison was trying to bring the NFL to Dallas, he bought the rights to the Redskins’ anthem, “Hail to the Redskins.” Murchison threatened to prevent the Redskins from using the song unless Redskins’ owner, George Preston Marshall agreed to back Murchison’s bid to land an NFL franchise. Marshall agreed to back the bid and Murchison returned the rights to the song to Marshall.

Then there was the flap over the original NFL “spy gate.” Before George Allen became the head coach of the Redskins, he was with the Los Angeles Rams. Dallas Cowboys’ General manager Tex Schramm claimed that Allen had sent his head scout to spy on a Cowboys’ practice. Schramm even filed an official complaint with the league that never went anywhere.

The unflappable Allen countered by claiming they had spotted Cowboys’ scout Frank “Bucko” Kilroy spying on their practice from the limb of a Eucalyptus tree. Kilroy was a 300 pounder. It was a good joke on Schramm and his Cowboys and it would later serve to fuel the Cowboys – Redskins rivary when Allen was named the ‘Skins’ head coach.

Then there was those classic games. From Clint Longley’s incredible comeback victory over the Redskins on Thanksgiving Day, 1974 to Staubach’s miraculous fourth quarter comeback victory in 1979 (final score: 35-34), Cowboys fans have many fond memories of this storied rivalry.

But so do Redskins’ fans. In the 1972 NFC Championship Game, the Redskins defeated the Cowboys, earning the right to play Miami in the Super Bowl. The Redskins would win their first Lombardi trophy that year.

The two teams have combined for 31 NFC East division titles and eight Super Bowl victories. Yes, it is a rivalry for the ages.

Or is it?

These days, it seems it is mostly just a rivalry for the aged.Only those fans with enough snow on the roof to remember the glories of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s can really appreciate the significance of Cowboys – Redskins.

For the Dallas Cowboys fan, the Redskins today are but a blip on the radar. Much more angst and ire are reserved for the hated Filthadelphia Eagles and the New York Giant-Pains-In-The-Arse. Those teams, year in and year out, represent a genuine threat to ruin any Cowboys’ hopes of winning the division.

The reason for the shift, one might think, is simple enough. The two teams just aren’t what they were. Neither the Cowboys nor the Redskins have fielded legitimate Super Bowl contending teams in a decade or more. When one has been decent, the other has been horrid. Just simple math.

Mere win-loss records, however, are not enough by themselves to shoot a good rivalry in the foot. It takes more. And we got it.

For the Cowboys fan, the trouble started when the Redskins hired Joe Gibbs. Here is the likable, upstanding, Christian coach who does everything the right way and never stirs the pot of controversy with ridiculous claims or incendiary remarks. Now, how is the Cowboy nation supposed to hate a man who reminds them so much of their beloved Tom Landry?

Then, there is that thing that has diluted all NFL rivalries: namely, Free Agency. Gone are the days when players spent their entire careers with the same team and played twice per year against the same divisional rivals. The players and coaches could really build up some animosity.

Not now. It’s just laundry. You play against the same uniforms every year (well, sort of; they are subject to frequent changes, too), but not the same team.

It isn’t just a problem of player movement, though. It is also the coaching carousel. The Cowboys had one coach patrolling the sideline for 28 years. In the last twenty years, they have had six. Not even the coaches have enough time to get really tired of losing to the same team every year.

So, when the Cowboys and Redskins line up against each other today, it won’t be to renew a rivalry. They will just be getting acquainted.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Jerry Jones and the Way We Were

Landry's Long Shadow

Can it already be twenty years? Is it really possible that it was two whole decades ago that Jerry Jones informed the disbelieving Dallas Cowboys nation that he would be involved in (and in charge of) everything regarding the team, right down to the “socks and jocks?”

It has not been easy for old school Cowboys fans to accept the brash, swashbuckling, micro-managing owner’s ways. This isn’t the way we were taught a successful team was built and managed.

Clint Murchison, The beloved and long-since passed original owner of the Cowboys, the man who gave the team life and then entrusted it to the tender loving care of Tex Schramm and Tom Landry, was the antithesis of Jerry Jones. Murchison loved football, obviously, but never fancied himself a football man. Instead, he identified a man with a personality as big as the state after which he was named and a reputation for knowing the game, hired him, and gave him the reins.

Schramm immediately went after the young defensive coordinator of the New York Giants, a man known for his steady ways and extraordinary football acumen, a man destined to become one of the NFL’s most recognized and recognizable figures, the Fedora-wearing, sharp-dressing, seldom-smiling, franchise cornerstone, Tom Landry.

Together, Murchison, Shcramm, and Landry carved out a legacy. They built what would become one of the NFL’s flagship franchises, a team that NFL films would one day dub “America’s Team.”

And then along came Jones. (Of course, there was the Bum Bright interlude, but it is hardly worth remembering, so we will just pretend it wasn’t there, for argument’s sake.)

Jerry Jones and His Coaching Carousel Versus Clint Murchison, Tex Schramm, and Tom Landry

Twenty years is long enough for Jones to have established a legacy. Since Murchison only owned the team four years longer than Jones has at this point, it is not too early or unreasonable to compare eras and try to answer the nagging question: which was better?

Old timers will answer without reading another word. “Of course the Murchison years were better! Jones is a total idiot. He couldn’t carry Murchison’s jock strap.”

The kids will say, “Who the heck is Murchison? When were the Cowboys great? They haven’t won a playoff game since I was like 5 or 6. They suck, man.”

The thirty-something crowd will say, “Three Super Bowl Rings, Holmes! Jones wins, hands down, even if he is an idiot.”

Inside the Numbers

But what do the facts say? If we compare the two eras side by side, how does one measure up against the other?

Glad you asked.

I have compiled some data for your consideration. We will look at winning percentages, playoff appearances, Conference championship appearances, Super Bowl appearances, and Super Bowl wins.

1. Winning Percentages. Each regime got off to a slow start. The Murchison era because it was an expansion franchise with little on-field talent, and the Jones era because it was an aging team in decline when he bought it and subsequently blew it up to essentially start from scratch.
   • The Murchison Record: 223-126-6. That is a winning percentage of 64%
   • The Jones Record: 179-149-0. Winning percentage of 55%
   • Edge: Murchison by a healthy nine percentage points.
2. Playoff Appearances.
   • Murchison, Schramm, and Landry: 17 playoff appearances in 25 years (68% of the time), including one streak of eight consecutive years (1966-1973) and another of nine straight years (1975-1983). Those streaks were only separated by one aberrant season, meaning they made the post-season 17 times in 18 years.
   • Jones and Company: Eleven playoff appearances in 21 seasons (53%), including a streak of six consecutive years (1991-1996), and eight times in nine years.
   • Edge: Murchison, Schramm and Landry (and not even close.)
3. Conference Championships.
   • Murchison (Old School): Landry’s teams appeared in a whopping twelve conference championship games in those first twenty-five years, winning five of them (42%).
   • Jones (Old Fool): Jones’ teams (most would correct this to Jimmy Johnson’s teams) made four consecutive conference title games, from 1992 to 1995. They won three of the four (75%).
   • Edge: Murchison for the sheer numbers, but Jones’ teams had an incredible success rate in the big games, so that narrows the gap some, but not enough to give Jones the nod.
4. Super Bowl appearances.
   • M-L-S: Five Super Bowl appearances in the 1970s.
   • JJ: Three Super Bowl trips in the 1990s.
   • Edge: Murchison, et al.
5. Super Bowl wins.
   • Murchison, Schramm, and Landry won three of their five Super Bowls (40%)
   • Jones, Johnson, and Switzer won all three of theirs. (That is 100%, if you are keeping score.)
   • Edge: Jones and Company.

So, out of five major categories, Murchison and the dream management team he assembled win four of them. Jones, many might argue, more than redeems himself with three Lombardi Trophies in four years, and that is a valid consideration. However, the current twelve year drought without a playoff victory would seem to dilute that argument just a little.

Outside the Numbers

When you consider intangibles, such as structure and stability, the scale tilts even more in favor of the Murchison team. For its first 28 years, the Dallas Cowboys had one coach, and that coach led them to 12 conference title games and five Super Bowl appearances. In Jones’ first 21 seasons, the team has plowed through five head coaches and is now on its sixth.

On the business side, Jones may be peerless in the NFL. He took one of the great sports brands and built it into a franchise which Forbes Magazine has valued at somewhere around 1.5 billion and rates the number one professional sports franchise in the world.

Confusion of Biblical Proportions

When I think of Jerry Jones and how confusing it can be to determine whether he is one of the best or one of the worst owners in the NFL, I am reminded of a story in the Old Testament, in the book of Ezra. Zerubbabel led a group to rebuild the temple, which had lain in ruins for many years. When it was done, there was a celebration.

Ezra 3:11-13 describes the scene. It tells us that the young men were shouting for joy while the old men, the ones who remembered the glory of Solomon’s temple, wept. The shouting and the weeping mingled together, so that you could not distinguish one from the other.

That is kind of how it feels to be a Cowboys’ fan. You shout for the joy of those unforgettable, magnificent teams of the nineties, but you weep for the glory of the past, a glory that may never be duplicated or restored.

Twenty years of Jerry Jones, and I still don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Popularity: 19% [?]

“Football incorporates the two worst elements of American society: violence punctuated by committee meetings.”

~ George Will, author, commentator, humorist

The game of American football – especially at the professional level – lends itself to copious and memorable quotes, like the one above. The Dallas Cowboys organization has been home to great leaders, singular players, and colorful characters throughout its noble history. Many of them have, with their words, weaved a colorful and rich tapestry, a verbal masterpiece draped on the walls of our memories.

Meredith: Always Quotable

If you are old enough to have been there, and if you can quiet your spirit enough, you can almost hear the even, measured words of  Tom Landry, uttered in that south Texas drawl, words of wisdom, words to play – and to live – by. You can hear the even more Texas twang of the witty Walt Garrison deadpanning about his coach. You can hear the almost musical quality of Meredith’s smooth delivery of yet another masterful bonmot.

It is not easy to sift through these treasures and find the ten most memorable, or ten most representative of the franchise’s history. I doubt I have succeeded in doing so. I am sure you will correct me…and add your own sweet memory to this tapestry.

Number Ten: “That was the triumph of an uncluttered mind.” ~ Blaine Nye on Clint Longley’s Thanksgiving Day performance

Number Nine: “If ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts, wouldn’t it be a merry Christmas?” ~ Don Meredith

Number Eight: “He couldn’t spell ‘cat’ if you spotted him the ‘c’ and the ‘a.’” ~ Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson on Terry Bradshaw

Number Seven: “There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” ~ Roger Staubach

Number Six: “Leadership is getting someone to do what they don’t want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve.” ~ Tom Landry

Number Five: “He’s a perfectionist. If he was married to Raquel Welch, he’d expect her to cook.” ~ Don Meredith on Coach Landry

Number Four: “If the Super Bowl is the Ultimate Game, why are they playing it again next year?” ~ Duane Thomas

Number Three: “If it was third down, and you needed four yards, if you’d get the ball to Walt Garrison, he’d get ya five. And if was third down and ya needed 20 yards, if you’d get the ball to Walt Garrison, by God, he’d get you five.” ~ Don Meredith on Walt Garrison

Number Two: “Nope. But I have only been here nine years.” ~ Walt Garrison, when asked if he had ever seen Tom Landry smile.

Number One: “Texas Stadium has a hole in its roof so God can watch his favorite team play.” ~ D.D. Lewis

Like I said, it was quite difficult to narrow them down to just ten. These are my ten. It is entirely possible that the reader remembers ten others that were just as memorable, witty, or astounding. If so, feel free to reply and add your own list…or at least your own favorite quote.

As for me, I will let the most quotable Cowboy of them all get the final word…

“Turn out the lights: the party’s over.”

Popularity: 100% [?]

“Early in the third quarter, the Giants had their backs to the wall, just as they had all season. They were an established NFL power in America’s greatest city, with a lineup of star athletes expected to dominate the league for years to come…”

So writes Mark Bowden, author of The Best Game Ever. With an eye for detail and a flair for stating the dramatic in a sufficiently understated way so as to make it more dramatic, Bowden weaves the story of the game many still say is the greatest ever played.

From My Library

The 1958 NFL championship game at Yankee Stadium between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts was a game for the ages. It would be the first nationally televised NFL championship game. It would pit, as Bowden aptly points out, the league’s stingiest defense (the Giants) against the league’s most powerful offense (the Colts). It would become the first NFL game to go to sudden death overtime…and it would officially awaken the consciousness of a nation to the sport that had long labored under the long shadow of major league baseball. Today, no sport is more widely followed by American sports fans. No league is more wildly successful and lucrative.

This was not the case in 1958.

In 1958, the great postwar boom was still in full stride, but some new and discordant notes had sounded…Just over the horizon was a decade of restless social, political, and cultural upheaval, but none of that was obvious yet. Americans had never been more affluent, and had never had more leisure. And pro football, which was about to catch hold, would just shoulder on through all this coming change, growing ever more popular and ever more rich.

The names involved in this championship game alone make it singular. Baltimore players sported name like John Unitas, Raymond Berry, Alan Ameche, Art Donovan, Lenny Moore, “Big Daddy” Lipscomb, and Gino Marchetti. The Giants fielded giants, as well. Their players included Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, Rosey Grier, and Pat Summerall. The Colts were led by now legendary coach Weeb Ewbank, who would become the only man to win both the NFL and AFL championships as a head coach. Flanking Giants’ head coach Jim Lee Howell were offensive coordinator Vince Lombardi and defensive coordinator Tom Landry.

It was the greatest concentration of football talent ever assembled for a single game. On the field and roaming the sidelines, including Giants owners Wellington and Jack Mara, were seventeen future members of the NFL Hall of Fame.

The game itself was a masterpiece, but the stories surrounding the game were also the stuff of legend. From the wit and humor of the gregarious Art Donovan to the meticulous – obsessive, even – work habits of Raymond Berry and John Unitas, Bowden opens the curtains to the behind-the-scenes action and drama leading up to, surrounding, and following the great game.

The chapter on Raymond Berry depicts the story of achievement in the face of odds and athletic accomplishment despite physical limitations, the likes of which would never be written as a work of fiction because it would be considered entirely too fanciful. Writes Bowden:

The story of Raymond Berry is more than the story of an overlooked, talent-deprived young athlete who by dint of sheer effort, will, and dedication turns himself into a star. There are players who fit that description on every team…His personality and his obsessions changed not only his own life, but those of his teammates and the Colts’ organization, and ultimately the history of pro football.

The other stories and back stories are equally important and receive attention from Bowden’s keen eye and sharp pen. He doesn’t overlook the influence of the father of modern football, Paul Brown, on the game. He doesn’t miss the unlikely way the Colts got hold of the man who would become forever the gold standard for pro quarterbacks, John Unitas. He highlights the genius of Lombardi and Landry. He reveals the chess game that played out on the field between the defensive guru Landry, his star linebacker Sam Huff, and Unitas.

Adding to the book’s appeal are odd insertions of the stories of random fans who were watching the game. People whose names may have never appeared in a published work before and may never after give color and clarity to the meaning and magnitude of this game. Consider Ed Chaney, Jr…

At Henry Mack’s pub on Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie, Maryland, Ed Chaney, Jr., one of about three dozen Colts’ fans watching on TV, called his boss at a nearby service station to say he would be late for work. The boss fired him. Chaney hung up happily and ordered another beer.

We may debate which is the greatest pro football game ever played, as my Dad would say, until the cows come home. But any honest debate, even a half century after the fact, must include the 1958 NFL championship game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants. For people like me who were born after the fact – I would not enter the world until 1961 and would not develop a fully functional pro football consciousness until about 1970 – this book brings to life the game that changed the game forever, and the men who made it what it was.

The Best Game Ever may not be the greatest sports book ever. But for a true fan of the NFL, for a fan who wants to look beneath the glitz and glamor of today’s game and understand its roots, this book is a must read.

And it’s a good read, which makes it all the better.

Popularity: 4% [?]

As part of the SilverandBlueBlood.com Top Ten Top Ten Lists, I present for your amusement, argumentation, and amendment the top ten Dallas Cowboys non-players of all time. This would include coaches, management, ownership, and all other non-player personnel.

Plenty of men have played a role in team history and then gone on to make their real mark on the world in other places. In compiling this list, I concerned myself solely with the impact a person had on the Dallas Cowboys.

And now for the list:

10. Norv Turner, Offensive Coordinator (1989 – 1993). Head Coach Jimmy Johnson was the motivational and organizational leader of the team that would become a dynasty. Norv Turner was the X’s and O’s man. He was the steady hand at the wheel of an offense that was both remarkably simple and simply remarkable. Troy Aikman credits Turner with helping to mold him into the successful Hall of Fame quarterback he became. Norv Turner is the only assistant coach to make this top ten list…and he deserves to be here.

9. Stephen Jones, Executive Vice President (1989 – Present). Stephen has been credited with getting in Jerry’s ear about cutting ties with Terrell Owens. As he takes on a larger role and higher profile, Cowboys fans can at least take consolation in the fact that he is lucid. Where Jerry often engages in crazy talk no one can quite follow, Stephen is well-spoken and thoughtful in his communication. Stephen is involved heavily in the negotiation of player contracts and the management of the salary cap.

8. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (1972 – Present). The brainchild of Tex Schramm, this is the most recognizable group of its kind in the world. They had a TV movie made about them in 1978 that received a 48% share in its time slot. They have toured the United States and overseas, performing for soldiers for the USO.

7. Barry Switzer, Head Coach (1994-1997) – Many see Switzer as a bumbling buffoon and a blight on the history of the franchise. Fans, still bitter over the departure of Jimmy Johnson while the team was at its zenith, saw the Switzer hiring

Where's My Couch?

as insult added to injury. Switzer was the antithesis of Johnson. Jimmy was a manipulative, mind-game playing, whip-cracking motivator. Switzer was a relaxed, laissez-faire coach who believed that the players, if not interfered with too much, would perform. They were men and he intended to treat them as such. Truthfully, Johnson’s approach was better suited to a young, inexperienced team. As the players gained experience and matured, the games he played would inevitably become less effective. Switzer may well have been a mistake, but he is one of only three coaches in team history to coach a Super Bowl winning team, and the only coach besides Johnson to win both an NCAA championship and a Super Bowl. Barry may well have been, as Jones once intimated, “one of five hundred” coaches who could have coached that particular team to a Super Bowl. but he is the one who did it. Besides, you have to love a guy who is so relaxed he is seen eating a hot dog on the sidelines while coaching in the Pro Bowl.

6. Gil Brandt, Vice President of Player Personnel (1960-1988). Brandt revolutionized the way NFL teams scouted and found players. He was the first to use computer analysis on prospects. He found prospects in small colleges, playing basketball, and running track. Cliff Harris, Drew Pearson, and Everson Walls were some of his undrafted, free agent triumphs. Brandt stood alongside Schramm and Landry as one of the architects of America’s Team.

5. Jerry Jones, Owner/General Manager (1989 – Present). Perhaps no NFL owner is more maligned than Jerry Jones. Fans of his team hate him with as much fervor (albeit for different reasons) as those who despise the Cowboys. Local media types have consistently called for him to fire himself as GM of the team, some going so far as to challenge him to do so in interviews. He did not endear himself to the Metroplex when, shortly after acquiring the team, he unceremoniously fired the city’s greatest icon, Coach Tom Landry. For all of his misfires, missteps, and miserable attempts at expressing himself, the man did oversee the resurrection of a franchise that had plummeted to the hard rock bottom of the NFL. He helped construct the first NFL team to win three Super Bowls in four years. While most pundits reserve all the credit for that accomplishment for Jimmy Johnson, that hardly seems fair. If not for Jones, Johnson would never have been given the opportunity to do the things he did.

4. Clint Murchison, Owner (1960 – 1984). Murchison was the antithesis of Jerry Jones. He was the ultimate non-meddling owner. He hired football men, gave them long contracts, and let them do their jobs. The result was twenty straight winning seasons from 1966-1985, five Super Bowl appearance, and two wins. The only gripe any fan would have about Murchison is that, when he sold the team, he sold it to a bum…Bum Bright.

3. Jimmy Johnson, Head Coach (1989 – 1994). Jimmy took over a franchise in decline. The whole thing bottomed out in his first year, when the team posted only one win. He had just one player on that team with superstar status: the

Jimmeh!

great Herschel Walker. He and Jones knew they needed much more than one aging star to put the team back on track, so they traded the running back to the Minnesota Vikings. It was the biggest trade in NFL history, and a coup for the Cowboys. Emmitt Smith, Darren Woodson, and other key pieces of the Cowboys soon-to-be-Super Bowl team became part of the haul from the Walker trade. Johnson became the first coach to win both an NCAA championship and a Super Bowl. He won back-to-back Super Bowls and was set to make a run at a third. The relationship between Johnson and Jones, however, had deteriorated to the point that Jimmy ended up accepting a buy-out and walking away from the team he had helped to build. Most people blamed Jones for the loss of Jimmy. There was, in fact, plenty of blame to go around. Nonetheless, Jimmy had forever made his mark on the franchise and the league, and established his legendary status.

2. Tex Schramm, Team President/General Manager (1960 – 1989). During his reign over the Cowboys’ organization, Schramm was widely recognized as one of the NFL’s most powerful GMs. He had carte blanche from owner Murchison

Architect Par Excellence

to operate the club, including voting on behalf of the organization at league meetings. Schramm hired Landry. Schramm envisioned and brought to reality the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Schramm aided in the negotiation of the merger between the AFL and NFL. Schramm was the chief influence behind the rookie combine as it is known today. A bigger than life figure with one of the all-time great names in pro football history, Schramm was ultimately slighted an honor he greatly deserved. As the founder of the Ring of Honor and, for twenty-nine years, its one-man election committee, Tex was himself denied induction due to a strained relationship with new Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. In fact, Texas E. Schramm was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame before he was inducted into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor. Finally, in 2003, Jones decided to put Schramm in, but the great architect of America’s Team died before his induction.

1. Tom Landry, Head Coach (1960-1989). Hardly anything need be said here. Any legitimate list of top five coaches

Man in the Funny Hat

in NFL history would have the name of Tom Landry on it. His 29-year tenure is surpassed only by George Halas. His 270 career wins is third all-time. His team posted an unprecedented twenty consecutive winning seasons. He coached the Cowboys to five Super Bowls, winning two of them. He was the architect of the Flex defense and the Mutliple offense. He revived the Shotgun.  Tom Landry is not only the greatest icon of the Dallas Cowboys; he is the greatest icon in the city’s history. No politician, no businessman, no athlete or celebrity ranks above the man Roger Staubach affectionately dubbed “The Man in the Funny Hat.”

Popularity: 10% [?]

Jerry Jones recently announced that there would be no new additions to the Ring of Honor in the 2010-11 football season. For a man with such business acumen, that seems like a horribly short-sighted decision. Of all the years to forgo such a celebration! The debut season in the new stadium is tailor-made for the revelings and ritual associated with a Ring of Honor induction ceremony.

If there were no worthy candidates, then I would support Jones on this front. He certainly should not force the issue by shoehorning in some marginal talent. No thoughtful Cowboys fan wants to see the NFL’s most glorious franchise water down what is tantamount to the team’s hall of fame. Only the best of the best should find their names among the Landrys, Staubachs, and Aikmans of the world.

The arguments for and against inclusion in the RoH have been many and varied. Some would have it limited to those Cowboys whose busts reside in Canton. Others want every Cowboy who was slightly above average elevated to those lofty heights.

The first extreme is too reactive. The Ring of Honor may indeed be a sort of precursor to NFL Hall of Fame induction, but membership in the RoH ought not be contingent on membership in the HoF. The RoH is the horse and the HoF the cart. Let’s not get the cart ahead of the horse. Besides, Cowboys fans who remember the glory of the Seventies understand that the HoF has some glaring omissions when it come to the men who wore the silver star to five Super Bowls in that decade. (They rectified one of those when they honored the great Rayfield Wright a couple years ago.)

One can be too restrictive with Ring of Honor honors. But one could also be too liberal. To date, the liberal thing has never been a problem. We don’t want it to become one. That said, there are right now enough legitimate, bona fide Cowboy greats standing in the line of left-outs to insure that a RoH celebration this year would not need feature a “how-in-the-heck-did-they-let-that-guy-in-there” dud.

It says here that Jerry should choose two men to induct – one from the old regime and one from the Jones era. In doing so, he could both right an old wrong and celebrate his own success as owner and General Manager. In one fell swoop, he could bridge the ever-widening generation gap and open the new state-of-the-art stadium with a grand celebration of glories past and yet to come.

It makes perfect sense. Maybe it makes too much sense for Jerry “The Ringmaster” Jones.

In our next offering, I will submit the names of the men I think should top the list of candidates. I will do so with the solemn vow that there won’t be a dud in the whole she-bang.

Stay tuned…

Popularity: 13% [?]

Wonder what would prompt a man on the backside of his 40s to dedicate a blog – and a good deal of time and effort – to a NFL team? The answer, for me, is simple: it is a part of who I am.

I was a child of the sixties, and a teen in the seventies. My childhood and teen years are filled with memories of watching the great Dallas Cowboys teams take the field every week. There were breath-taking, Staubach-led come-from-behind victories. There were brilliant catches by acrobats like Drew Pearson, and bone-jarring tackles by headhunters like Cliff Harris. But above it all, hovering over the greatness that was – and is – the Dallas Cowboys’ organization, there was, as Roger Staubach fondly called him, “The man in the funny hat.” There was the always-stoic, never rattled, well-dressed, well-mannered, football genius…who just happened to be a man of ideals and principles. There was Tom Landry.

For twenty-eight years, Tom Landry was the steady hand at the wheel, guiding, directing, driving the men fortunate

Handle With Care

enough to wear the star. When Jerry Jones unceremoniously dumped the man whose name was synonymous with the Dallas Cowboys, it caused no small outcry among the fans. I know plenty who have never forgiven him for the clumsy way he handled our coach.

I was as angry as anyone, but I got over it. Jones realized the mess he had made of things, and, while it took awhile, he did mend the bridge between himself and his team and the man most responsible for building that team into unprecedented greatness.

When I came across the Dallas Morning News note that the 9′ statue of Landry, commissioned by the Jones family, and standing guard outside gate 1 at Texas Stadium, was to be moved to the Cowboys’ new digs, it made me nostalgic. I am comforted to know that the brilliant future Jones envisions for his team will not dismiss the glories of the past.

That magnificent likeness of The Coach will be a prominent reminder of the instrinsic values and singular focus that provided the bedrock foundation upon which greatness was built.

Tom Landry’s Legacy:

• Record: 250-162-6
• 14 Division titles
• 5 Conference titles
• 2 Super Bowl victories
• from 1966 – 1985, made 18 playoff appearances in 20 years
• from 1966-1985, 20 consecutive winning seasons

Popularity: 2% [?]