Win-At-Any-Cost Philosophy Is Legacy Of Jones

It’s a festive time of year at Valley Ranch. Credibility roasting on an open fire. The stench of slime nipping at your nose. Jerry Jones and his merry band of elves making a list of lies, and retelling them twice. Telling them, actually, for as long as anyone will listen.

Then again, this is not exactly a case of the Cowboys, as an organization, being swept up in the holiday spirit. Deceit, built upon a win-at-any-cost philosophy, has become a 365-days-a-year process.

And so there is nothing new to report out of the latest Leon Lett adventure. We’ve seen it all before.

The Big Cat is not housebroken when it comes to giving drug samples. He failed one. He has failed one before.

Jones is again branded as a liar for his denials leading up to Lett’s one-year suspension this week. Jones himself was quoted repeatedly that he would know if there had been a failed drug test, and if any appeals of that test were ongoing; Jones said Lett was clear on both counts. Lett did fail, of course; appeals were ongoing, and Jerry DID know, but now lies about that, too.

Under the league drug policy, and this was confirmed Wednesday by executives from two other teams, a positive test is followed by immediate letters to the player and to the “designated” person with the team. In Dallas, that person is Jones.

But there’s also more with Jerry. Don’t the decent people at Valley Ranch - and there are still some - have to be embarrassed over Jones’ desperate and failed attempt to keep Lett on the field by using a “technicality” to beat his positive test?

Lett didn’t need loopholes, he needs help. And please don’t mistake that as a sympathetic plea. Lett deserves no sympathy. He’s an overgrown fool. But if Jones personally cared for Lett as much as he says he does, he’d already have him locked away in the Betty Ford clinic.

Jerry’s main concern, however, was keeping his best defensive player on the field, no matter what. But for anyone who thinks this is anything new, check Michael Irvin’s behavior leading up to his ordeal last spring.

And then there’s Barry Switzer. Poor Barry, he’s right back to national bozo status after his quote last week on the Lett situation. Allow “I don’t wanna know. I never wanna know” to stand as an epitaph to Switzer’s entire coaching career. It’s Norman all over again. So what’s new here?

To paraphrase San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, the Cowboys, as an organization, have become an embarrassment to humankind. Once a civic treasure in this town, they are now a civic disgrace. When the winning stops, and that day is drawing near, all that will remain are Jerry Jones and his image, and his team’s image. It’s the same kind of stuff you scrape off the bottom of your shoe. The biggest fall from grace in sports history is a year, maybe two, away. And we will all witness it first-hand.

I was one of those careful not to blame Jones and Switzer for the Irvin episode. And it still says here an Irvin, an Erik Williams, a Lett, etc., has to be held accountable for their actions.

But in the past 13 months, the NFL has issued 13 suspensions for drug use. Six of those come from six different teams. Seven are from one. I don’t have to tell you the one.

The pattern of behavior under Switzer speaks for itself. “I don’t wanna know. I never wanna know” has become a way of life at Valley Ranch.

OK, all of the above is my opinion and I’m sticking with it. But Jerry Jones also has his opinion, particularly on the subject of his truthfulness. Suddenly, he’s worried.

Jones on Wednesday: “Until notification was received (Tuesday) from the NFL, I had no knowledge of Leon Lett with a positive drug test, or that an appeal process was under way.

“What I have said, very consistently and very firmly over the last two weeks, is that if there was a suspension, I would be the first to know, because that’s the way I have it set up with the league. But me knowing cannot and did not go beyond notification of suspension. Outside of what I read in the papers, I knew nothing about this until late Tuesday afternoon.”

Jones denied the Cowboys being involved in any way in the appeal process, including looking for a loophole. And he said his Washington-based lawyer representing Lett in the appeal was simply coincidence.

But as the “designated” person at Valley Ranch, Jones had to know. For another version to surface now, after the fact, is Jones trying to save his credibility. Apparently, he thought he still had some to save.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Randy Galloway Dallas Morning News