Sports Fan
Writer Skip Bayless talks about the Dallas Cowboys, Bill Parcells, and his pick for next year's Super Bowl winner.
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I hadn't planned to write any more Cowboys books, but the next thing I know Jerry and Jimmy are coming on strong and going at it, and it just was rich. I told my editor at Simon and Schuster, and he said, "Let's do another one. Let's do the 1992 football season." And he gave me an advance to do my second book, The Boys, a one-year look at one team and one dynamic of Jerry and Jimmy.
My problem, though, was that I was in the middle of it. I was on the radio, I was doing my columns, and it wasn't a healthy position for me because I knew I had to go back to the Cowboys after writing the book. You end up liking some of them and not liking some of them, but I was so close. I lived with the team, I lived inside the coaching staff for a whole year. And not that I was trying to do an exposé, because I wasn't, but the Jimmy and Jerry thing screamed for reporting and I knew it, so the tone of that book was "this is not going to last"—and it didn't.
texasmonthly.com: Now that the Big Tuna is in Big D do you wish you were still in Dallas writing about the Cowboys? There could be some great stuff for a fourth book about America's Team.
SB: I'm booked out on the Cowboys, although I still have overtures to do one big look-back book.
texasmonthly.com: You once said that "Johnson and Jones were Lennon and McCartney." So what relationship would best explain new coach Bill Parcells and Jones?
SB: I don't know yet, but Parcells is a much more mature Jimmy Johnson, even though there isn't that much age difference between them. It's as if Parcells and Jones have each been through three or four marriages before coming together, and by this point they know what kind of give-and-take they're willing and able to bring to the relationship. It wouldn't surprise me if they win at least one Super Bowl together.
texasmonthly.com: You've had your share of Super Bowl coverage lately with the Oakland Raiders making it to January's Super Bowl. How does the football atmosphere on the West Coast compare with the atmosphere surrounding the Cowboys?
SB: It's quite a different dynamic. The West Coast has so much more to offer in the way of entertainment because it has two good teams (the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers) who have an inter-area rivalry, and it has the San Francisco Giants who almost won the World Series in October. The passion that Cowboys fans have stems from their reliance on their football team to improve the image of the city. The Dallas Mavericks' recent success has been helping to ease the pressure off of the Cowboys, though, but Dallas remains your basic nice place to live but not to visit.
texasmonthly.com: Dallas owner Jerry Jones or Oakland owner Al Davis—who's the more dominant head honcho?
SB: Well, Al Davis taught Jerry Jones everything he knows about being a football owner—which is basically, the owner should coach the coach. Al has a better feel for football overall because he was a coach, the [AFL] commissioner, and a pretty good general manager. And Al doesn't need to be in the spotlight. He doesn't grant interviews. He only needs the Sunday performance. Jerry needs the Sunday performance and every other day of the week too!
texasmonthly.com: Cowboys coach Bill Parcells or your debate colleague Gary Cartwright—who's more disillusioned about Jones ?
SB: Gary. He speaks like the way most fans do about Jerry Jones who dismiss him as an Arkansas hillbillly who bought his way up and ruined the team that Gary grew up loving. One thing I didn't say in the debate, though, is that Jerry deserves credit for his inclination, his drive, and his money in pulling off two major acquisitions over the years. The first was Charles Haley in 1992, who is just the best bona fide game-changing pass-rusher. Jerry recognized that Haley had burned his bridges with the 49ers and stole him away. It was the steal of the century, and it was all Jerry. Jimmy was not interested. And then Jerry bought Deion Sanders away from the rival 49ers in 1995, which was the only reason the Cowboys were able to win their third Super Bowl in four years.
texasmonthly.com: You were named Texas sportswriter of the year three times. Let's say your Mercury News editor were to up and redesign the sports section and leave you with table scraps of a column—would you head back to Texas and try for a fourth?
SB: (chuckling) I would consider that, I mean, the Southwest, that mentality is in my blood. I'm comfortable there. Of course, the Dallas Morning News is the only place I could go to do what I do, but I burned my bridges there, although I loved all those people.
texasmonthly.com: So . . . let's test your football aptitude. Who do you foresee in the Big Dance at next year's Houston-hosted Super Bowl?
SB: I haven't thought about that, but considering the shock value of the last three Super Bowl winners, I'd have to say the Cincinnati Bengals are going to win it, based on picking the least likely team. As far as teams who are on the verge, I'd say the Philadelphia Eagles matched up against the New York Jets.
texasmonthly.com: And don't forget about your prediction for another Lombardi Trophy in Dallas . . .
SB: The Cowboys won't be in the Super Bowl next year, but they will make it into the playoffs. Parcells will win Jerry at least one, maybe two, more rings before he leaves though.
texasmonthly.com: Rock me!
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