The Last Cowboy: A Life of Tom Landry Book excerpts...Landry died a Giants fan?

[bark]

I can't believe that I am doing this, but I am actually going to defend Jerry Jones here.

Yes, he completed handled Landry's firing in a ham-handed, amateurish manner.

However, he was led astray somewhat by both Bum Bright and Tex Schramm, who should have handled Landry's dismissal, but didn't. The press conference that night was also a train wreck, and Jones has never recovered from it.

As to the seat and luxury suite situation, Jones did the same thing with a number of former Cowboys, and they were not pleased either. He did this when he basically introduced the first PSL since Clint Murchison built Texas Stadium - his company called ProSeat. I think that it is bad form, but I doubt that he told Tom Jr. that he could never buy tickets again - what businessman would turn down money from someone who wants to buy tickets?

And, considering that Tom Jr. participated in the commissioning of the statue that was at Texas Stadium (and now at AT&T Stadium), and also participated in the ceremony for the closing of Texas Stadium, this all rings a little hollow.

For as Christian as Tom Landry and his family were and are, they have not necessarily been the most Christian like when it comes to forgiveness.

I can't believe that I am doing this, but I am actually going to defend Jerry Jones here.

Yes, he completed handled Landry's firing in a ham-handed, amateurish manner.

However, he was led astray somewhat by both Bum Bright and Tex Schramm, who should have handled Landry's dismissal, but didn't. The press conference that night was also a train wreck, and Jones has never recovered from it.

As to the seat and luxury suite situation, Jones did the same thing with a number of former Cowboys, and they were not pleased either. He did this when he basically introduced the first PSL since Clint Murchison built Texas Stadium - his company called ProSeat. I think that it is bad form, but I doubt that he told Tom Jr. that he could never buy tickets again - what businessman would turn down money from someone who wants to buy tickets?

And, considering that Tom Jr. participated in the commissioning of the statue that was at Texas Stadium (and now at AT&T Stadium), and also participated in the ceremony for the closing of Texas Stadium, this all rings a little hollow.

For as Christian as Tom Landry and his family were and are, they have not necessarily been the most Christian like when it comes to forgiveness.

I can't believe you did it either.
And partner you really should have left that last paragraph bouncing around in your brain.

 

[mrmojo]

I wonder if Dan Reeves and Mike Ditka are Cowboy fans?

 

[sideon]

Are people upset because Landry was fired or for the way it was handled? First he needed to go because he was starting to forget players names and you can't have that out of your coach, secondly maybe people felt like Jerry overstepped his bounds and left it to someone else. I for one have never had a problem with Jerry doing it since he didn't hide behind personnel and did it f2f like a man knowing the backlash that would come, i do get a kick however at the people who hate the Landry firing but celebrated the 3 SB wins.

 

[Red Dragon]

Several thoughts:

1. What was Jerry supposed to do, keep Landry as head coach indefinitely? The game had clearly passed him by.
2. The Cowboys clearly had the better of the Giants for much of the 1990s. So if anyone was rooting for the Giants, it wasn't much fun for them.
3. The Cowboys went 3-13 in Landry's final year. I'd bet that the vast majority of CowboysZone fans here would have wanted the Cowboys head coach fired under such circumstances .
4. If Landry had stayed as the head coach, the Cowboys almost certainly don't win those 3 Super Bowls in the 1990s.

 

[DallasCowboysRule!]

Are people upset because Landry was fired or for the way it was handled? First he needed to go because he was starting to forget players names and you can't have that out of your coach, secondly maybe people felt like Jerry overstepped his bounds and left it to someone else. I for one have never had a problem with Jerry doing it since he didn't hide behind personnel and did it f2f like a man knowing the backlash that would come, i do get a kick however at the people who hate the Landry firing but celebrated the 3 SB wins.

I think it was more about the way it was done. Theres a family story that makes the rounds that says my grandma was so disgusted with the way it happened that she went to training camp and waited for Jerry Jones in the parking lot. When he came out she cornered him and gave him an ear full.

All in all I'm glad we didn't name the stadium after him. No ill will for him rooting for New York. I just wouldn't have wanted to disrespect him by putting his name on something he hated. At least Jerry's ego managed to give Tom that little bit of peace.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

I can't really blame Coach Landry one bit. This organization doesn't resemble the organization that Tom and Tex built. Yes it was time for Landry to retire but the way it was handled was sick. I was angry about it at the time. The Super Bowls helped a lot. Unfortunately the team has been mediocre since then and I long for the old days when we had an owner who kept out of football, a GM who knew what he was doing and a Head coach who had respect all around the league.

 

[Zordon]

i wonder how many fans have never come back b/c of that landry/jerry fiasco? i hear it all the time...."i stopped being a fan the day jerry fired landry..."

 

[CowboyStar88]

How sad is that? Probably the most important person to this franchise and that's the way he went out? People here's the Karma everyone is looking for. With how he's treated Landry he's now paying the price.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

i wonder how many fans have never come back b/c of that landry/jerry fiasco? i hear it all the time...."i stopped being a fan the day jerry fired landry..."

I met an old Cowboy fan at the store a few years ago. She saw that I was wearing my Cowboy coat. She said that used to be a Cowboy fam but quit when Landry was fired. She said she was now a Commanders fan. I have to admit I thought about leaving the team at the time. It was the laughingstock of the league. I remember constantly being laughed at because I was a Cowboy fan. I stayed with them and had the last laugh when the Cowboys finally won the SB. I just couldn't leave them because I had so many great memories of watching them. And even if I would have left I would have never become a Commander fan. That boggles the mind.

 

[Red Dragon]

Is there anyone here who seriously thinks the Cowboys would have won 3 Super Bowls in the 1990s with Landry as head coach?

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Wow, I didn't realize that it was this bad, ... this kind of jolts me a little bit.

Tom Landry's widow saying he died a Giants fan because of Jerry Jones.

"The Last Cowboy: A Life of Tom Landry," also says Jones confiscated the Landry family box and barred his son from buying season tickets.

I'm serious, I've got some thinking to do.

about what?

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Is there anyone here who seriously thinks the Cowboys would have won 3 Super Bowls in the 1990s with Landry as head coach?

I don't. He was washed up, the team was in serious decline with him as coach.

 

[Ring Leader]

i wonder how many fans have never come back b/c of that landry/jerry fiasco? i hear it all the time...."i stopped being a fan the day jerry fired landry..."

Must have been absolutely brutal for these ex Cowboy fans to stomach the timing of their departure - having to watch their former favorite team dominate year, after year, after year.

 

[theebs]

Tom Landry was a smart man.

If only we had anything close to his level of excellence and intelligence involved at any level of this organization, we might be a good team.

 

[bark]

I met an old Cowboy fan at the store a few years ago. She saw that I was wearing my Cowboy coat. She said that used to be a Cowboy fam but quit when Landry was fired. She said she was now a Commanders fan. I have to admit I thought about leaving the team at the time. It was the laughingstock of the league. I remember constantly being laughed at because I was a Cowboy fan. I stayed with them and had the last laugh when the Cowboys finally won the SB. I just couldn't leave them because I had so many great memories of watching them. And even if I would have left I would have never become a Commander fan. That boggles the mind.

The young fans will never understand the emotions long time cowboys fans felt at that time.
I'm gonna bow out of this one as I can feel the hair on the back of my neck bristleing after reading some of these comments.

 

[JustAGuy]

Several thoughts:

1. What was Jerry supposed to do, keep Landry as head coach indefinitely? The game had clearly passed him by.
2. The Cowboys clearly had the better of the Giants for much of the 1990s. So if anyone was rooting for the Giants, it wasn't much fun for them.
3. The Cowboys went 3-13 in Landry's final year. I'd bet that the vast majority of CowboysZone fans here would have wanted the Cowboys head coach fired under such circumstances .
4. If Landry had stayed as the head coach, the Cowboys almost certainly don't win those 3 Super Bowls in the 1990s.

I just wish that Jerry would assess his GM status with the same criteria. Even if I play devil's advocate and assume that Jerry was 100% responsible for the 3 Super Bowls it has become obvious that the game has passed him by too. I'm in the camp that thinks that we will never even get back to a Super Bowl while he is GM. I hope I'm wrong on that, and would love to eat crow, but 17 years of mediocrity has dampened optimism.

 

[Deep_South]

I don't know what Jerry's official reason for firing Tom Landry was, but it looks to me like a simple business decision. Jerry was planning on being king of the Cowboys, and he knew you can't be the new king until you get rid of the old king.

 

[rags747]

It's all very simple, Jerry bought the team and wanted his guy to coach it...nothing more nothing less. I have 500k to invest, I think I would like to pick my own money manager thank you.

Jones went out to the golf course to notify Landry personally because he felt it was the right thing to do. He could have been a dirtbag ***** and had one of his minions do the dirty deed but he did not. It was way beyond time for a BIG change and boy did we get it. The Landry years were great but I was oh so ready for Jimmy Jump Up to take over the helm.

Between Jones and Jimmy they made our Cowboys the most dominant team of the decade and we could have and should have won at least 1 or 2 more SB's. Boy did we have major swagger going on or what. Stadium name was never going to be named after Landry, it would be Jones stadium if anything and even that is out in today's day and age of multi million $ naming rights.

 

[john van brocklin]

Well, I am just glad Coach Landry was put in the ring of honor before he passed, Tex too.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

A lot of people forget that Tex Schramm was supposed to break the news of the firing to Landry, but couldn't bring himself to do it. So Jerry told him himself.