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Call from the Bullpen by David Maull

The Bullpen | NFL | Sports Front Page

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Same Old Problems Visit Cowboys
From the August 20, 1998 TV Times

January 28, 1996. The waning moments of Super Bowl XXX. The Dallas Cowboys are minutes away from clinching a hard-fought 27-17 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers and winning their third world championship in four years.

As the celebration begins on the Dallas sideline, giddy Cowboys owner Jerry Jones stands in his private box at Arizona's Sun Devil Stadium autographing dollar bills presented to him by friends.

No image better captured the win-at-all-costs, throw-money-at-a-problem-to-make-it-go-away business philosophy that now threatens to bring the franchise to its knees. As cameras caught the moment on live television, one could almost see horns protruding from Jones' head, smoke emanating from his nostrils and a pitchfork resting in his left hand.

And after two years of misfortune, including a dismal 6-10 record last season, those business practices still appear to be in full force.

The latest evidence came last week when a Dallas newspaper reported that Jones brokered a six-figure settlement between wide receiver Michael Irvin and guard Everett McIver, whom Irvin allegedly stabbed in the neck with a pair of scissors during an altercation last month.

The report shows that Jones apparently wanted McIver to keep quiet about the incident and not jeopardize Irvin's four-year probation stemming from a 1996 felony cocaine possession conviction.

A big fat payoff to prevent McIver from pressing charges and possibly condemning Irvin to 20 years in prison. That's the Dallas Cowboy way.

The newspaper report quoted unnamed sources and was vehemently denied by Jones and Irvin. But is it still not believable? The team's past history with the law and the intense secrecy surrounding the alleged incident make it hard not to give the report credence.

If it is true, those eloquent preseason theories about how the Cowboys have cleaned up their act and are again ready to dominate the NFC East will be debunked. The team may improve on the field but its off-field behavior still needs plenty of work.

Even if Irvin wasn't involved, something still happened that resulted in McIver receiving a two-inch gash to the neck.

Not even the relocation of training camp to Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls could save the team from the swirl of controversy its childish behavior attracts.

But what is most alarming is that nobody in the organization, especially Jones, seems to want to solve the problem.

After Irvin was caught in a hotel room with cocaine and two exotic dancers in 1996, the Cowboys should have released him immediately.

The Steelers went that route with star running back Bam Morris after he was caught with a few pounds of marijuana in his car shortly after the aforementioned Super Bowl. The only way spoiled millionaire athletes learn anything is by losing something - their jobs, cars, mansions, marriages, etc.

But cutting Irvin loose would have significantly weakened the Cowboy offense and reduced its chances of WINNING. In the Jones era, that simply will not do.

So Irvin was kept around and two years later has been accused of stabbing a teammate in the neck with a pair of scissors during a dorm room scuffle over something as silly as a haircut.

To make matters worse, Jones reportedly doesn't allow McIver to decide for himself whether to press charges. Instead, Irvin allegedly waves a wad of cash and whole problem just goes away. Never mind that McIver probably wouldn't have filed charges against a teammate anyway.

The Dallas Cowboys are the ultimate case study on the corrupting power of money. And it all starts at the top.

Its been said that winning without class is the same as losing. In a few years, all involved in these never-ending sagas will realize what they sacrificed for their love of money and power.

Their souls.