Title/Author:
“How ‘Bout Them Cowboys?
Inside the Stars and Legends of America’s Team” by Gary Myers
Tags:
Football (American),
Professional, Cowboys, history
Publish
date:
October 9,
2018
Length:
288 pages
Rating:
3 ½ of 5 stars (good)
Review:
Love them
or hate them, anyone who knows anything about professional football knows about
the Dallas Cowboys and their colorful, successful history. This is especially
true since Jerry Jones purchased the team in 1989 and immediately fired the
only coach the team had to that point, Tom Landry. This book by Gary Myers
takes the reader inside world of Jones at various times through his ownership
of the team.
The
reader will learn much about what makes the owner tick. There is an extensive
section about what really happened to the “friendship” between Jones and head
coach Jimmy Johnson. Myers explains why Jones fired Landry and yet made the
legendary coach one of the first inductees into the Cowboys’ Hall of Fame. The
extent of Jones’ reach into the football operations of the team after Johnson
left is illustrated in a section about what happened in the draft war room of
the team when Jones’ son Stephen and the rest of the Cowboys staff did NOT want
to draft quarterback Johnny Manziel when Jerry was absolutely certain that the
Cowboys would take the talented but troubled quarterback from Texas A&M.
This is
not to say that the book is only about Jerry Jones, although at times the book
does read like it should be a biography of the owner. There are some passages
that are about other times and people important to the history of the
franchise. There is a very touching chapter on life after football for five star
players for Dallas from the 1970’s and 1980’s – Tony Dorsett, Ron Springs,
Robert Newhouse, Dennis Thurman and Everson Walls. The story of their friendships and health
issues was powerful reading and it was my favorite section of the book.
However,
the placement of this chapter and other sections that didn’t center on Jerry Jones
seemed puzzling – it was like the book was supposed to be all about Jones, then
it was realized that there had to be material on other aspects of the history
of the franchise, so they were stuck in wherever they might fit. This gave the book a disjointed feel, which
was a shame because the material and stories, whether on Jones or others, was
excellent and informative. There was even some humor in the book. This line about how Bill Parcells became
interested in coaching the Cowboys was very funny – “Parcells and Jones have
different recollections of who played matchmaker, although they agree it was
not Yente from ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’ “
As a football
fan who falls into the “hate them” category mentioned at the beginning of this
review, I still found the information in the book excellent, but as a great
read, it fell a little short. While this book would certainly be of interest to
Cowboys fans, anyone who is interested in Jerry Jones of the history of the
Dallas Cowboys would also enjoy this.
I wish to
thank Grand Central Publishing for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley
in exchange for an honest review.
Book Format
Read:
E-book (Kindle)
Buying Links:
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