Jerry Jones: Is the World Cup bigger than Dallas Cowboys football?
WITT’S END: 6/17/22
If you are at the end of your coffee, your day, your week, or even your rope, welcome to Whitt’s End…
*Football, run a little football.
What were you doing 28 years ago?
After straight 11-win and 13-win seasons, the Dallas Mavericks were two weeks away from picking a future Hall of Famer point guard named Jason Kidd. The Dallas Cowboys were at the height of their dynasty, winning three Super Bowls in four years and only three months away from Jerry Jones and Jimmie Johnson’s bitter divorce. Backed by José Canseco, the Texas Rangers were headed for the best record in the American League West, with no World Series chance due to a players’ strike that halted the season after six weeks.
Also in June 1994, DFW was introduced – as the host of the 1994 World Cup – to football. Fast forward to Thursday at AT&T Stadium and, of course, what you sow is what you reap.
Dallas was once again named host city for the World Cup, this time at AT&T Stadium in 2026.
Cowboys quarterback Duck Prescott filmed a congratulatory video that featured Mavericks Luka Doncic and Dirk Nowitzki, and Jones even committed blasphemy against football, not football, when asked if the World Cup in his stadium was bigger than his team. won the Super Bowl.
Jerry said, “Honestly, I think it’s broader interest from a Dallas perspective.”
How Fort Worth Star-Telegram writer on the cusp of his 30th birthday, I was assigned to cover the 1994 World Cup from start to finish. I remember going to the Rose Bowl for the final between Italy and Brazil in which neither team scored in 120 minutes of regulation time and – yawn – in overtime. I also apparently attended the game between Nigeria and Bulgaria in the Cotton Bowl. it gave some frivolity.
The World Cup was supposed to awaken America to the “beautiful game” of the globe. But has Major League Soccer, which was created in 1993 specifically to help bring the US into the World Cup, really come into its own in our sports landscape? Three decades later in North Texas, football is still seen as a skill-building hobby played by kids who eventually grow into football, cheerleading or TikTok.
My most vivid memory of that month when I immersed myself in football 28 years ago was huddling around the TV shoulder to shoulder with the international media in the Cotton Bowl press room and watching…O.J. Simpson’s slow chase.
*Second NFL team in DFW? I think Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson’s idea is brilliant. Think of all the local sports fans who love football but hate Jerry Jones, the owner, because he won’t fire Jerry Jones, the CEO. Wouldn’t all these people want to support a team that really kicks Jerry’s ass?
*Last week in this space I openly longed for—re:whining—the Mavericks’ new big man who could defend the ring and average out a double-double with little to no play requirements. The player, I thought, was like Christian Wood from the Houston Rockets. Pah-pah! It’s perfect, except maybe for the part protecting the rim.
But none of the Mavs sold in the deal were rotational players, so kudos to General Manager Nico Harrison for amplifying weakness without weakening the present or mortifying the future.
* According to my math, The Golden State Warriors, who won the title on Thursday night, mark the sixth time the future NBA champion has defeated the Mavs en route. The other five are the Lakers in ’88, the Heat in ’06, and the Spurs in 2003, 2005, and 14.
We feel better because the Warriors won, right?
*The next time you jump into the water, pinch your nose so you don’t swallow brain-eating amoeba found in Texas which has a 97 percent chance of killing you.
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*Once Matt Moore was Southpaw with Cy Young potential for the Tampa Bay Rays. He went 17-4 in 2013. Then came Tommy John surgery, a career detour in Japan, and—now—a prominent role in the Rangers’ resurgence. An amazingly reliable hand in the Texas bullpen, Moore is 3-0 with a save and a heartbreaking comeback story.
*you read about my Big Brothers Big Sisters guide me Jah’s little brother. One of the most helpful things I have ever done. There are currently 430 children on the mentor waiting list at DFW.. If you are interested, you can learn more and register here. Highly recommend.
*Why did I run in 102-degree heat last weekend? To get used to the discomfort. This, and because I’m going to try to survive this crazy spartan saturday at AT&T Stadium. Proactive thoughts and prayers please.
*Hot.
*No.
*For the first time in the regular season, the Cowboys hit an unfathomable penalty before the snap. Recall back in June when coach Mike McCarthy disrupted a mini-camp practice to take his team for a game of fake golf.
It will probably be me, if you think about it. And I’ll be right.
*Received first dose of shingles shot last month. – you have to wait two months between shots – and Paralyzed face of Justin Bieber makes me glad I did.
*Wait like me Turning Mike McSofty into a highlight, he…was penalized for his team being too physically active during off-season training in Frisco. For the second year in a row, the NFL slapped the Cowboys, this time with a $100,000 penalty and the loss of one OTA day the following season.
I wonder who blabbed?
*The Mavs barely pushed the Warriors in a 4-1 series loss in the Western Conference Finals. But you know they didn’t—unlike the Boston Celtics—go down 21-0 in the final game and watch the NBA championship celebrate on their own court.
*It happened in Uvalde and this week it happened at my alma mater Duncanville High School. The bandit entered the field house with a gun and opened fire on the children’s camp before the police quickly reacted and killed him. Look, we can keep all the guns while we make $10,000 bullets. For now it’s good to see a bipartisan bill that tries to take even tiny steps in the right direction.
*Of course the Rangers are under .500. But ask any fan – before spring training or after their terrible 6-14 start – would they go 30-33 with 99 games remaining and 100 percent say yes. Do it “Hell yeah!”
*They were furious that the Fed raised interest rates this week three-quarters of a point to 5.78 percent, consider this: When I bought my first home in 1995, I was thrilled to have my 30-year fixed mortgage fixed at a low, low rate of 8.25.
*Speaking of money, those cutesy “Crypto is dead!” naysayers’ TV ads may be too close for radical investors. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, fell another eight percent this week to $20,289, its lowest since December 2020. It has lost about 28 percent since June 10 and more than half its value this year. Since its all-time high of $69,000 in November 2021, it has fallen by about 70 percent.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban even says Crypto – at least the aspect that is too good to be true – maybe really dead.
*Tell me again how The Dallas Cowboys cheerleading squad is about sports and teamwork, not sex. If so, why release a bikini calendar complete with a hot video?
*If you’re lucky you still have a dad to hug, squeeze it really hard this Father’s Day. “Because you never know when it will be the last. In March 2020, my dad was admitted to the hospital diagnosed with leukemia and dodged COVID. Many times I went to his bed, thinking that he would never get out of there. But he did. And boy how. He is now 82 years old and perfectly healthy, plays golf at least three times a week, marks his age regularly, and recently walked the colonies like a man who has never had cancer. Happy Father’s Day indeed.
*This weekend? On Friday, let’s watch some US Open and College World Series. On Saturday we will try to survive in a Spartan way. Let’s visit dear old dad on Sunday. As always, don’t be a stranger.
