“I’ve had people say that, ‘Jerry, you subject yourself to so much criticism; you need a buffer.’ I don’t like it like that. I like the pain.” ~Jerry Wayne on why he won’t hire a real General Manager to run the Cowboys
I knew it was contrived. I knew the whole thing was mostly scripted. I knew Netflix paid Jerry Wayne $50 million two years ago for the rights and the access to produce this eight part documentary with the caveat that the show’s final episode would feature Jerry and Jimmy Johnson burying the hatchet on their 30-year feud and Jimmy finally being inducted into the Cowboys Ring of Honor. They were both mic’d up and the Netflix cameras were rolling when Jerry and Jimmy had that staged conversation in the owners box five months later. I know the only reason Jerry finally did the right thing was because Netflix paid him to do it. I know it was for the show, for a dramatic moment in Jerry’s self-proclaimed “24-hour soap opera.”
And I still cried when it happened.
The finale of “America’s Team: The Gambler and his Cowboys” was perfectly produced, just like each one of the previous seven episodes, to communicate to everyone watching that Jerry and Jimmy together created the perfect team at the perfect time and, because of Jerry’s continued malpractice, it will never happen in Dallas again. The episode revolves around Jimmy’s long overdue Ring of Honor induction–it’s emotional and tear-jerky and real. But it ends with that same hopeless feeling, that same dread. The Super Bowl days have been over a long, long time in Big D. Likely never to return.
Netflix follows old footage of Jimmy and Jerry saying mean things about each other with 2023 film of both men expressing regret about the state of their relationship. Remorse over some of the horrible things they said about each other. Reflection on what they did together. Admiration for each other’s talents. Jerry says, “I should have hung my hat on the fact that I knew that Jimmy Johnson wasn’t perfect and he knew I was one of the most imperfect people he’d ever been around.” Jimmy says, “It wasn’t just Jerry; we both screwed it up.” And then they cut to that December night in 2023 when Jerry put Jimmy in the Ring.
Johnson’s speech was energetic and gracious, kind and intense. He was surrounded on the field by some of the greatest Cowboys legends of all time, men like Roger Staubach, Bob Lilly, Mel Renfro, Drew Pearson, and Cliff Harris. But, more importantly, his own players were on the field with him: Darren Woodson, Charles Haley, Larry Allen, Troy, Michael, Emmitt. There’s something really special about the bond between a coach and his players, something unexplainable, especially a group like this that had worked so hard together to transform a loser into a three-time Super Bowl champion. Jimmy thanked everybody, including Jerry. He thanked the millions of Cowboys fans and the millions of fans who hate the Cowboys. He was so happy. He was so grateful. He was so satisfied. The vibe was over-the-top. Everybody was smiling, laughing, giggling.
Then Jimmy said, “I’ve got just one more thing to say!” And he milked it. Man, he milked it. With a massive ear-to-ear grin, he milked the whole thing, looking around at each of the players on the field, making direct eye contact with each of the triplets, moving closer to those three so that he was directly in front of them when he finally hollered out, “How ’bout them Cowboys!” and fell into the arms of Troy, Michael, and Emmitt.
And I cried. Man, they did a great job with that.
It’s a beautiful storybook ending to the docuseries. Netflix wrote it and produced it perfectly. Nice job. The problem is that the story’s not over. The Cowboys still play games every year and Jerry Jones is still the owner, president, and general manager.
There are a couple of quotes from this final episode that shine a bright light on the never-ending issue. The first one is from a conversation Jerry is having with Rams president Kevin Demoff at the beginning of a joint Cowboys-Rams training camp practice two summers ago. Jerry and his son, Steven, were recounting what they had just said in a news conference earlier that day, that they were tired of winning the regular season, that they wanted to win in the playoffs, they wanted to win Super Bowls. Then Jerry said to Demoff, “I don’t have the %#@!! to put it all out there the way y’all did on that quarterback! I won’t do that!” Jerry was referring to Demoff’s trade for Matthew Stafford and the Rams subsequent Super Bowl championship. No, Jerry, we know you won’t. He fancies himself a gambler. But he’s really not.
In another scene from this episode, Jerry tells the interviewer there is no limit to the amount of money he would spend to win a Super Bowl. “Put any amount on the check,” he says, “and I’ll sign it to win a Super Bowl. Whatever that number is, I’ll sign it. There goes the inheritance to the kids.”
We hear this line quite often from Jerry. He’s telling us that he’s doing everything he knows how to do to win a championship, that there’s nothing he wouldn’t give up to return the Cowboys to those Super Bowl days. But, he’s lying. I think you could promise Jerry a Super Bowl win for his Cowboys if he agreed to step back from the spotlight and he wouldn’t do it. Jerry, you’ll win the Super Bowl, guaranteed. But you have to give up your TV and radio shows, you can’t appear in any commercials, you can’t do press conferences, or stand on the sidelines or hang out in the locker room. If you do that for one year, your team wins the Super Bowl. Will you make that deal, Jerry?
No way. You and I both know he wouldn’t do it.
The final scene of the final episode is Jerry at that big fake desk with that big fake backdrop looking right into the camera and saying, “It’s impossible for me to think about doing something different. I’ll probably continue right on out ’til the end.”
Yeah, it’s impossible for any of us to imagine anything different. You’ve killed the whole thing, Jerry Wayne. The standard has been irreversibly lowered. The expectations are forever dulled. Yes, the Cowboys are all yours, Jerry, and you can have them. Congratulations on another chapter in your “soap opera that never gets canceled.”
Fly Eagles Fly
Allan
The grandsons saw Santa Claus over the weekend and, by all accounts, killed it. Not a problem. Elliott didn’t fully embrace the experience the way Samuel did. But he didn’t cry. He endured.
If our teenagers at GCR know anything, it’s that the adults in our church love them and support them and want the best for them and enjoy spending time with them. We work really hard to ensure our young people know they are a vital part of our community of faith. And these same teenagers are pouring into our children’s ministry, too. One of the coolest things I’ve seen at GCR was at the kids’ Christmas pageant Wednesday evening when four rows of our youth group showed up to support and cheer on the children!
I thank God for what he’s doing in and through our youth group. These are all fabulous kids who really do love this church and each other. I’ll continue to say that if you want your kids to truly be more like Jesus, if you’re really serious about the spiritual formation of your teenager, you want him or her to spend as much time with Jadyn and J.E. as possible. And with this group.
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