A couple of weeks ago, the Chicago Bears thumped the Dallas Cowboys. From all of the talk, the writings, you would have thought the universe had been torn apart. How could this be?
Well, it was simply Tony Romo’s fault … the Eastern Illinois quarterback who found fame and fortune in the NFL. But all of this pointing at Mr. Romo is wrong. He did not have a good game, but even the best of quarterbacks have losing games. He was a victim of circumstances. The hand-picked head coach is a place to start. Not too good. How about the cast and character of the receiving core? They couldn’t catch a cold in that game. And the offensive line was about as strong as Charmin.
The real villain of this piece is a man who owns the entire shooting match … Mr. Jerry Jones.
Jerry Jones is the owner, president and CEO. Now, these jobs are important, and time consuming. But he is also the general manager of the football team. He buys and sells players, makes deals, decides on raises, and is by all of these jobs the face of the franchise. And just to keep from being bored, he also built the biggest and the best arena for football, the Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
Now I submit to you that Jerry Jones is rich, decently smart, and he has bitten off more than any man can chew.
Paul Brown, back in the day, who was founder of the Cleveland Browns and later the Cincinnati Bengals, was at one time owner, general manager and head coach of his franchises. But it was a different time and the game was played under much less scrutiny than it is today. Paul Brown also was not a cheerleader for his franchise. He won many titles while being president, GM and coach.
I’m not saying these men of yore were smarter than Jerry Jones. I am saying they handled the time and place better than does Mr. Jones. I realize he has sunk all the money into it. I understand his great deal of pride, and I even understand his wanting to be the main cheerleader of all that he owns.
Frankly, it’s too much. He has hand-picked the head coach, many of the players, including the current quarterback, and if there’s any blame to be assessed it’s the man who is the boss of the Dallas Cowboys.
Here’s something for everybody to understand. No business ever rots from the bottom up, they all rot from the top down. And, that is the problem. It doesn’t matter what kind of business. No business ever failed because the janitor was sloppy. It fails because the No. 1 suit is making No. 1 boner decisions. Ahh, Jerry Jones. Look into your mirror when you shave tomorrow morning and you will find the culprit of your problems. I doubt your ego will allow you to do anything about it, but you will at least be able to look your problem right in the eye.
Ronn Mott, a longtime radio personality in Terre Haute, writes commentaries for the Tribune-Star. His pieces are published online Tuesday and Thursday on Tribstar.com, and in the print and online editions on Saturday.
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