Almost two years to the day after Netflix announced they had paid the Dallas Cowboys $50-million to produce a multi-episode documentary on Jerry Jones and his historic “transformation” of the Cowboys, we’ve got a title, a release date, and a two-minute trailer. They’re calling it “America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys.” It will run for ten episodes. And it premiers on August 19. Here’s the trailer, which features Jimmy’s “asthma field” rant, Michael Irvin’s cocaine arrest, President George W. Bush’s explanation for the hole in the roof at Texas Stadium, and Jerry saying he likes to do things “our way.”
Netflix has continually promoted this documentary as the story of how Jerry “transformed” the Cowboys and how Jerry “established” the Cowboys legacy.
First, Jerry didn’t establish anything. The Cowboys had already played in a dozen NFC Championship Games and five Super Bowls when Jones bought the team. They had already been dubbed “America’s Team” by the NFL and were the most popular football team on the planet. That wasn’t Jerry.
Secondly, Jerry did transform the Cowboys, but not in the way his Netflix special is going to suggest. Jerry has successfully transformed the Cowboys from perennial contenders and Super Bowl champs to irrelevant also-rans. In the franchise’s first 29-years under the leadership of Clint-Tex-Tom, the Cowboys went to twelve conference title games and five Super Bowls, winning two. In the past 29 years under the leadership of Jones-Jones-Jones, the Cowboys have not won a single divisional playoff game and have the NFC’s longest championship game appearance drought by a whopping 14 years!
Thank you, Jerry. Great job. You’re right, there should be a documentary. True crime.
The thing that eats me the most is the documentary’s title: “The Gambler and HIS Cowboys.” That title perfectly captures the core of what’s wrong with the Cowboys and the heart of my hatred for the whole scene. Jerry Wayne sees the Cowboys as his, not ours. He never understood that the Cowboys belonged to all of us, collectively. They represented us, stood for us, embodied us. He only sees the Cowboys as his, to do with whatever he likes, to exploit for his own personal gain, to use as an “in” to whatever monetary windfall or celebrity access or boy’s club membership he desires. He shamefully betrayed a public trust. And he brazenly and unapologetically continues that betrayal every day.
It galls me that the very thing that has led to the Cowboys’ demise is being used as the celebratory centerpiece of this puff-doc. Yes, Jerry gambled and, yes, he won and he keeps on winning at the thing he cares about the most: his money, his status, his celebrity, his power. And Cowboys fans keep losing the thing they desire the most: a divisional playoff win, relevance, on the field respect, a championship.
I’m going to watch this show for a number of reasons–I won’t miss an episode. But I’m most curious as to how they’re going to trumpet Jerry’s accomplishments, his innovations, his successes, his genius, while acknowledging at the same time his team’s 29-year divisional playoff win drought.
They probably won’t. They won’t even mention it. Right? We know this. This will be a ten-episode flashback to the glory days of Jimmy and the Triplets and they’ll act like it happened five years ago. That’s another thing that so perfectly captures what Jerry’s Cowboys are all about: pretending like this historic drought isn’t really a thing.
Peace,
Allan
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