Thursday, May 2, 1996
Jerry Jones says negative publicity can inspire
Cowboys
By DAVE GOLDBERG
AP Football Writer
(May 2, 1996)
NEW YORK (AP) - Jerry Jones has found on-field inspiration
for the Dallas Cowboys in the off-field adversity of one of his
players - Michael Irvin's arrest on drug-related chargers.
"We were thinking of ways to get our people fired up,"
the Cowboys' owner said on Wednesday. "Thanks to the bad
judgment of some of our players, we've found a way to circle
the wagons."
Jones was in New York on Wednesday to talk to the Newspaper Association
of America, pleading the case for the joint interest of the newspaper
industry and pro sports.
"Even when you're critical of us it generates interest in
our game," he said. "And I know because I've been told
that when we win, we sell more newspapers in Dallas."
Jerry being Jerry - a man who never met a public forum he didn't
like - he wasn't in the attack mode in an address to many of
the nation's top newspaper executives.
But he couldn't help wondering how attention has shifted from
the Cowboys' success on the field to the troubles of his players
off it.
He never mentioned Irvin by name, but he didn't have to - his
star receiver's indictment on drug charges has been the signal
event of the postseason.
He noted, for example, that a major newspaper had devoted a major
story to the Cowboys' troubles on the same day it devoted "only
one inch" to Emmitt Smith getting his college degree.
"I'd hope," he said, "that we could concentrate
on the positive example on someone who makes millions of dollars,
one of the most visible stars in American sports, going back
to college to get his degree."
But Jones said he understood.
"You can win a Super Bowl," he said. "You can
win three Super Bowls.
"But you're not as important as the undercurrents surrounding
the personal vagaries of some of your players."
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