This was in the Houston paper a few days ago from Richard Justice....
Oct. 12, 2006, 8:53AM
Jones loves commotion T.O. creates
By RICHARD JUSTICE
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
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-->IF you think the Dallas Cowboys regret the signing of Terrell Owens, you don't understand the Dallas Cowboys.
Never mind that Owens isn't among the NFL's top 30 receivers in catches, touchdowns or yards this season. Never mind the injuries and tantrums and seemingly obsessive need to be the center of attention
Never mind the dozens of ways his personality and behavior can tear at the fabric of a team. The Cowboys believe it's not really about that stuff anyway.
Owner Jerry Jones is proudly and unashamedly redefining why sports teams exist, and he's using Terrell Owens every bit as much as Owens is using him. Theirs is a perfect marriage.
The Cowboys enter Sunday's game against the Texans with a 2-2 record. Yes, the Cowboys have just one more victory than our own overmatched little club.
More attention than W's
There's one big difference. Thanks to Owens, the Cowboys have gotten more newspaper, television and magazine coverage than any other NFL team. By miles. They're the team that's talked about on Sunday mornings. They're the team the guy at the water cooler won't shut up about.
Thanks to T.O., they've gained in visibility, and most likely, value. T.O. has been good for the bottom line no matter how many passes he catches or games he wins.
We tell one another we've had enough of T.O., but we can never really get enough. We read. We watch. We wait for the next explosion. That next explosion occurred Wednesday afternoon when Owens held a 45-minute news conference to talk about topics ranging from loneliness to, well, his need to catch more passes.
He didn't say as much about winning more games, but presumably that topic was on his mind as well. Jones must have been proud. At a time when the Colts and Bears are undefeated, when 15 teams have won more games, it's the Cowboys you want to watch and read about.
Winning isn't everything
Perhaps more than any other pro sports owner ever, Jones understands there's something more important than winning. Think how long it has been since the Cowboys mattered. I mean since they really mattered as a Super Bowl contender.
The Cowboys are approaching the 10th anniversary of their last playoff victory. Roll that thought around in your head. Once upon a time, the Cowboys defined winning.
No more. In the decade since, they've had more head coaches (four) than winning seasons (three). They've had a revolving door at quarterback and running back since Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith left.
Have the Cowboys been hurt? No, they haven't. Despite a decade of mediocrity (66-82), they're the NFL's third-most valuable franchise at $1.2 billion. That number will go way up when Jones finishes construction on a new stadium that promises to be a monument to excess.
As for Owens, maybe he's still capable of being a dominant player, but he has shown no evidence of it in almost two years. Since then, he has become a freak show, a Dennis Rodman without the championships or the production.
In other words, he has become the perfect Dallas Cowboy. If Jones knew then what he knows now, he'd almost certainly do it all over again.
Flash back 17 years when Jones bought the Cowboys. At the time, the franchise was losing money, a product of both bad teams and ownership that didn't see where the NFL was headed.
Jones did. He crafted his own sponsorships. He protected his logo and brand name better than any other owner. He created a new way of doing business. He paid $150 million for a franchise that's now worth eight times that much.
He'll eventually get it right on the field, too, but every other owner could study how he has operated the Cowboys. He understands that fans won't go to games unless there's a compelling reason to go. A winning team is compelling. A train wreck is compelling.
Meanwhile, Owens popped off Wednesday, saying: ''I do have a problem when I don't feel like I'm involved enough."
The Cowboys opened their locker room to reporters for 45 minutes, and Owens spoke for every one of them. He talked and talked and talked. He revealed he'd been sitting home in the dark, that he doesn't have much of a life away from the practice field. He refused to criticize his teammates or coaches. He just said he should be more involved.
''Dude, I am playmaker," he said.
Indeed.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/justice/4253357.html