Netflix has its own titles for each of the eight episodes of their “America’s Team” documentary that dropped yesterday. But, while I watch this series, I’m naming my daily thoughts and reflections for the weirdest thing that comes out of Jerry Wayne’s mouth in each episode.

“I intend to have an understanding of the cleat situation. I intend to have an understanding of the player situation. I intend to have an understanding of the socks and jocks.” ~Jerry, during the Saturday night massacre, explaining to the Dallas media his intent to be involved in every aspect of the operations of the Cowboys

Jim Tuttle and I promised each other that we would not binge this Cowboys documentary, that we would watch one episode at a time, one day at a time, so we could properly process it, digest it, and discuss it together. So, last night I watched the opening episode, which details how Jerry came into the money to buy the team, his manic gale-force arrival in Dallas, his ill-planned firing of the legendary Tom Landry, and his hiring of Jimmy Johnson.

This first episode was remarkably wonderful. If this is any indication of what’s coming in the next seven, we are in for something really special. They’ve interviewed everybody, they’ve uncovered tons of never-before-seen footage, and they’ve packaged it perfectly. It’s so well done. And it seems that nothing is off limits. It’s not going to be the fluff piece on Jerry Wayne that I feared it might be. See for yourself. I don’t want to waste space here telling you how great it is. Trust me: it’s pretty great.

Three things really stood out to me in episode one: a stark reminder about something we already knew, a brand new revelation that caused my jaw to drop, and genius depictions of Jerry’s fatal flaw.

The Reminder: One of the many reasons I hate the Cowboys now is that Jerry has so lowered the standard for the team and its fans. Netflix did a great job of reminding us how bad things were for the team in 1988.

The Cowboys were in the longest playoff drought in franchise history–they had gone six straight years without winning a divisional playoff game. It was unheard of for a franchise that had been to five Super Bowls and twelve NFC/NFL Championship games in its first 29 years. Six years without an appearance in a title game??!! Texas Stadium was half empty, advertisers were dropping out, and we were all calling for dramatic change. The great Tom Landry and Tex Schramm were being openly questioned by fans and the media. And by me. And, if you were around back then, probably you. The local headlines in the Times Herald and Morning News were asking if it was time for Landry to go. Fan polls at the time suggested it was. The Cowboys were no longer “America’s Team.” The game had passed them by. We needed new blood and new ideas and new ways of thinking. The whole thing needed to be blown up. Everybody was saying it in 1988. Why? Because it had been a franchise record six years since an appearance in a championship game!

Remember?

I do. I remember being enraged that Jerry fired Landry in public during that Saturday night press conference (more on that below), but I was not so upset that Landry had been fired. Landry needed to be let go. The team needed a drastic change.

Look at what Cowboys fans tolerate now. This upcoming 2025 season will be the 30th in a row since Dallas last won a divisional playoff game. Yet, the stadium is sold out every Sunday, Cowboys merchandise outsells all the others by a million miles, and the Cowboys are the most valuable sports franchise on the planet. There’s no standard, no expectations for the team to be anything more than mediocre. I hear some Cowboys fans say Tony Romo should be in the Ring of Honor. Wait. What? Danny White led the Cowboys to three straight NFC Championship Games and we hated him for it! The bar is so low now.

The Revelation: Michael Irvin said something that I have never heard before. He claimed that when he left the University of Miami early to enter the NFL draft, his coach, Jimmy Johnson, who had just led the Hurricanes to the national title, told him that if the Cowboys drafted him, he should go, because he had a friend who was thinking about buying the Cowboys and, if he does, “I’ll be joining you.”

Whoa! At this point in the documentary, my mouth fell open and I immediately hit ‘pause’ on the remote. I looked at Carrie-Anne on the other side of the couch. What??!! Jimmy told Michael Irvin about the potential sale and about possibly taking the Cowboys job in April of 1988? A full football season and more than ten months before it actually happened?!? Wow. Mind-blowing. If that’s true—again, I have never heard this in my life–that means Jerry was talking to Bum Bright for a long time before he claims he saw the newspaper headline while vacationing in Mexico announcing that Bright wanted to sell the team. It also means that Jimmy coached UofM that whole ’88 season with one eye on Dallas. If this is true, it does help explain how Jimmy was able to say ‘Yes’ and walk away from the ‘Canes and into the Cowboys so quickly.

The Fatal Flaw: Jerry is all about Jerry. Always has been. Always will be. And while his gargantuan ego has served him well financially–is there a better marketing and business genius working in any industry the past fifty years?–it does not win football championships. When you own a football team, especially a public trust like the Dallas Cowboys, winning championships should be the most important thing. But, with Jerry, it’s not. Being the center of attention is the main thing with Jerry.

In one of the earlier scenes in the episode, Jerry is talking about his decision to buy the team when his eyes light up. He realizes the potential of what might be. “This could be a soap opera 365 days a year. I’ll get the eyeballs and the platform and juice it up a little bit.”

That explains a lot, huh?

Jerry stirs things up just to stir things up, just to generate some curiosity, just to get more attention. It doesn’t matter if it’s bad for the team, it doesn’t matter if it distracts from the on-field goals of the players and coaches; he just wants to be the lead story on SportsCenter and the hot topic on the podcasts.

That’s the main reason he botched the firing of Tom Landry so horribly. It was Jerry’s idea to celebrate with Jimmy at Mia’s on Lemon Avenue the Friday night before the massacre. Jimmy advised against it; Jerry insisted. When a Morning News writer saw the two and phoned a photographer to come get a picture, Jerry called him over and offered to pose. Well, of course, the photo is on the front page the next morning: Jimmy Johnson is in Dallas, eating enchiladas with the new owner, so Landry is obviously out. That’s how Landry found out he was fired! Landry flies to Austin Saturday morning to play golf, just to get out of town, and Jerry is forced to fly down there and fire Landry at Lakeway Country Club! Instead of taking the time and doing it right and having a face to face conversation with Landry before it all went down, Jerry got out over his skis because it feels good to him to have his picture on the front page. It feels good to have all that attention.

That’s why Jimmy was gone after back to back Super Bowl titles. That’s why Jerry hires only coaches nobody else wants. That’s why he spends all the cap money on three big name stars, leaving none for the linemen and special teams. That’s why he built the only east-west oriented football stadium on the planet. That’s why he had to be tackled in the draft room so he wouldn’t call in Johnny Manziel. That’s why he drags out contract negotiations with his best players.

It’s the main reason the Cowboys are entering their 30th straight season without winning a divisional playoff game.

And the documentarians at Netflix are doing a terrific job of telling it.

Peace,
Allan