Guns now join the sex and drug scandals the Dallas Cowboys are trying so hard to dodge. What could be more American? This is no way to change the image of America’s Team.
When owner Jerry Jones appeared before cameras last week to fine coach Barry Switzer $75,000 for inadvertently carrying a concealed weapon into Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, he never was more serious. Tears actually welled up in his eyes as he told of imploring his team to not let “the pain” of this incident go for naught.
“Our team has for several months been focused on being smart, being sensitive and recognizing we have a responsibility and accountability on and off the field,” Jones said. “We have to send a message that we get it.”
Since the suspension of five Cowboys for NFL substance-abuse violations in the last three years, and the ramifications of a party house leased by players near the practice facility, Jones has been sending all kinds of messages to indicate he does indeed “get it.”
He has tried to convince his players they are targets, victims of a society that clamors for their autographs and then “holds us to a higher standard.” He has installed video cameras in dormitories at training camp and made the Cowboys’ Cafe in Dallas off limits to the tune of a $10,000 fine, a steep cover charge even for a millionaire athlete. The Cowboys say it was only coincidence that young tight end Kendall Watkins was released after defying the edict.
Jones said last week he had not heard from any sponsors regarding Switzer’s gun-toting “nor on any other matter, for that matter.” Yet protecting his huge investment is the bottom line for any smart businessman. It is Jones who leads the league in stadium revenue by far because he challenged league rules and sold advertising rights to Pepsi, Nike and American Express. The result was a $40 million haul in stadium revenues last season compared to only $700,000 for the Indianapolis Colts.
While guns are mighty popular in America, you don’t see many Smith & Wesson billboards inside stadiums. So Jones sounds like he gets it when he says: “Just being sorry or just because the action is unintentional is not enough. As an analogy, we know we can let a lot of people down by an unintentional mistake on the football field. Our organization is trained to work against making mistakes. We feel this matter is another reminder we need to step it up.”
The exorbitant fine for Switzer seemed to serve its purpose. Before the announcement, players couldn’t figure out the big deal.
“A fine should be a penalty for a knowing action detrimental to the ballclub. For something like this, even though it was serious, I think a fine would be completely out of order,” tight end Scott Galbreath said.
“I don’t see that as doing anything wrong,” said defensive end Broderick Thomas, who has been arrested twice on weapons charges during his career.
After the fine, Thomas said: “Rules are rules. We get the picture.”
Jones concedes more trouble is inevitable.
“There is no way we won’t have incidents or mistakes, intentional or otherwise,” he said. “What we need to do is when we do make mistakes, look at the hurt it causes and the pain it causes and say that’s not the way we want it to be and learn from it.”
Players say they accept the increased security around training camp as protection rather than invasion of privacy.
“If you can’t stop everyone from outside, you have to put guidelines on the players,” said ex-Bear Vinson Smith, who used to be a Cowboy and saw changes when he returned this summer. “The media hype is crazy now. I’m sure the Bulls have certain things they have to do to secure the players and protect the players. If Michael Jordan walked out by himself, it could cause murders.”
Guard Nate Newton sounded like he got it when he said: “Mr. Jones has meant a lot to me. He asked us not to go into the Cowboys’ Cafe not because we are bad people and we are going to cause trouble, but because something is not right at the Cowboys’ Cafe. What’s wrong with that?”
But then Newton added: “Right down the street is the County Line; they serve more booze and alcohol and got more women than anybody.”
Newton gave his version of the history of America’s fun-loving team:
“When coach (Tom) Landry was here, every guy on the team was scared to do anything. Guys wouldn’t have a drink right around the corner. Mr. Jones and coach (Jimmy) Johnson came in and said, `Hey, if you want a drink or you want to go out and talk to a female, it’s your business.’ Some of us, maybe myself and a few others, got a little carried away. We flaunted it. So now we’ve got to close it back down.”
The idea is not to build better citizens, or even better football players; it is to build a better image. In that vein, Jones and Switzer have managed to convince players to circle the wagons to protect themselves from the outside world, with the media perceived as the primary enemy. Newton, for one, gave his version of various levels of “scum” covering the team, from beat writers to television cameramen.
Through all their travails and efforts at reform, the basic arrogance of the Cowboys, as with many good sports teams, remains intact.
“When you have a team with this much popularity, you have to have security because everyone is after these players. A lot of people try to put you in position to make things happen,” Vinson Smith said.
“The problem, thanks to you guys who created it, is wherever we go, people frequent,” Newton said. “They come just to get a shot, an autograph, tell you how ugly you are, how fat you are, or even to sue you.”
Jones hired former Cowboys stars Calvin Hill and Robert Newhouse to consult players on adjustments to NFL life and retirement.
Aikman, so respected by the organization that he got involved this year in scouting draft choices, remains the clearest voice regarding the team’s makeover.
“If you say because you ban some establishment that will make you a better football team, it doesn’t tell you a whole lot about our team,” Aikman said. “I think the focus and emphasis we’ve had in the off-season and training camp will help if we can carry that through the regular season. The sad thing is some of those measures had to be taken in order for us to take a harder look at what’s important.”
In proper balance, adversity often galvanizes sports teams. Last year, too much adversity distracted the Cowboys. So with “here we go again” echoes ringing in his ears, Switzer said: “I talked to the team and expressed there’s no way this won’t allow us to carry on and do the job at hand.”
Said Aikman: “I’m not expecting the severity of some of the crises we went through a year ago, but nevertheless we’re going to have some. If we handle them like we have in the past, we’re not going to achieve the things we hope to. If we do, we have a good chance.”
