Here is one of the biggest reasons why I love NASCAR–it’s run like a business:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2010/11/nascar-jimmie-johnson-jeff-gordon-chase-sprint-cup.html

This past weekend, something extraordinary happened at Texas Motor Speedway. Jimmie Johnson, fighting for yet another Sprint Cup, changed his crew. Even more surprising, he’s announced that he’s going to continue with the new crew for the rest of the year.

Here is how Johnson explained the decision: “You watch pro sports and if people aren’t getting the job done you’ve got to pull them out and put someone else in. I really do care for these guys with the bottom of my heart. They’re my guys. But, man, we have to perform.”

This is such a great example for all of us: business is about performance. And sports should be, too. We could all learn from Jimmie Johnson. I just wish Jerry Jones ran his football team with this much decisiveness.

Jerry Jones has a history of some narcissus tendencies. And the word “tendencies” may be a bit soft. In the early 1990s the Cowboys were on a winning streak which was a result of the October 12th, 1989 trade of Herschel Walker to the Vikings for some 18 players and/or draft picks. The end results of that single trade was a few guys you may have heard of….Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland, Kevin Smith, Darren Woodson and Clayton Holmes.

Add in Troy Aikman who had been drafted the year before and whom the media and every other local considered to be the next Cowboys quarterback when he was in Dallas playing in the Cotton Bowl for UCLA. Tom Landry who planned to draft him, watched Troy practice at Texas Stadium weeks before Jerry bought the team and fired him.

My point is this… Jerry didn’t like Jimmy getting the credit for the teams success so he ran him off. Barry coached one more winning season but since then Jerry’s Team has been a bust.

In 1989 they had nothing but a stack of Tom Landry’s scouting reports and Herschel. They rolled the dice and got lucky…real lucky.

Someone once told me that Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.

Jerry’s luck ran out in February19 94 when he ran off Jimmy.

Here is a hypothetical for you.  What would you say about the leader of an organization who had the following track record:

His organization hadn’t won a big award in years;

He consistently hired the wrong people who were unable to do the job right;

His competition consistently outperformed him in the marketplace;

He occasionally hired people with either criminal backgrounds or a history of causing problems with their coworkers;

And he spent an amount equal to the value of the entire company on a new corporate headquarters.

You would say that leader should be fired, right?  So would I.  Only the person I just described isn’t a hypothetical leader with a hypothetical organization.  It’s Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys.  Did you realize:

His team hasn’t won a playoff game in 13 years?

He has presided over some of the worst drafts in franchise–if not league–history?

The Cowboys routinely lose games, especially toward the end of the season?

He has brought in low-lifes like Terrell Owens and Pac Man Jones?

And he just opened up a new stadium that is roughly equal to his entire franchise?

If this were any other business, Jones would be fired.  But since this is football and he owns the team, we’re stuck with a man who doesn’t know what he’s doing running the team.

It will be a long time before this team wins another Super Bowl.

WHY JERRY GAVE UP ON T.O.

Now that Terrell Owens has left the Cowboys, people are beginning to wonder why Jerry Jones gave up on him. After all, it was Jerry, over the advice of then-coach Bill Parcells, who insisted on bringing T.O. to Dallas. So why pull the plug now? This week the Fort Worth newspaper gave us a hint:

http://www.star-telegram.com/cowboys/story/1245141.html

Come to find out, there is one person Jerry will listen to: his son, Stephen. Evidently, Stephen is quite unlike his father. He is calm and rational and can make sound business decisions. That’s why he recommended to his dad that T.O. be let go. It’s a great testament to Stephen that he was able to convince his father to do the right thing. After all, T.O.’s production has gone down while his antics have gone up.

But while this impresses me about Stephen, it still depresses me about Jerry. Did he really need someone to convince him what a disaster T.O. was? The guy divided the locker room during a crucial period late in the season. What more evidence did Jerry need?

As a Cowboy fan, I’m ready for the Jerry Jones era to end and the Stephen Jones era to begin.

So the House that Jerry Built has run into some problems:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/cowboysstadium/stories/022109dnmetstadiumdevelop.40c84e1.html

The first problem is that he hasn’t been able to sell out the seats.  Imagine that: here is one of the most storied franchises in sports history moving into a brand new stadium and yet Jerry hasn’t been able to sell the new place out.  Incredible.

The second problem is Jerry hasn’t been able to get a naming deal done on the building.  He had originally thought he would get countless dollars for placing a corporate name on the stadium.  But so far, he hasn’t had any takers.

The third problem is that all the development that was planned around the new stadium simply hasn’t happened.

Sure, the economy is partly to blame for these problems.  But let’s not lose sight of the real cause: the owner himself.  If Jerry wants to be the great owner he thinks he is, he should practice some accountability.  And he could start by telling us how many season tickets remain unsold.  After all, he used millions of dollars in public funds to help build this stadium.  So the taxpayers have a right to know some details.

Jerry is once again showing us a recipe for failure.  What should be a great moment in this franchise’s history is turning into another embarrassing moment for Jerry.

-Randy Hill

Saturday night was not the farewell to the home field of America’s Team.  It was the effort of one man to exploit a once great franchise for his own purposes.

So many great men! So many great moments! So many opportunities for Jerry Jones to grandstand!

If Jerry were the promoter he thinks he is, he would have done a much better job Saturday night. As I flipped back and forth from Channel 33 to the NFL Network, I could not believe that this was happening. The sound was bad, the videos were stale and the entire production was second rate.

Has Jerry Jones lost it?

A few weeks ago I noticed that the Cowboys had hired an auction company to sell Texas Stadium Memorabilia. They sold $245,000 worth of memories. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-stadiumsale_23met.ART.State.Edition2.4a86522.html

I wish we could see what Jerry spent on his ticket and box seat promotion via the Cowboy Hall of Famers.

For all his success, Jerry Jones fails at one of the major tests of leadership: he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.  Someone on his staff should have told him that commemorating Texas Stadium should not have been transformed into a commercial for buying season tickets at the new stadium.  There will be plenty of time for that.  But Saturday night should have been about remembering the past, not selling the future.

Randy Hill