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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

With The Cowboys, Image Outraces Fact

From Wire Reports

William Bennett, who wrote “The Book of Virtues,” lamented the Dallas Cowboys’ off-field problems in an interview with Sports Illustrated last week.

“In the old days, the Cowboys were great, and you looked up to them. Now it’s different. Now you look down on them. … I think the Cowboys are hurting the country’s morale. As one Texan said to me recently, ‘If this is America’s team, then woe is America.”’

Bennett’s comments are a tribute to the image machine run in the old days by Tex Schramm, who turned the Cowboys into America’s Team with the help of NFL Films.

The Cowboys of this era haven’t done anything the Cowboys of the past didn’t do, but in the past it didn’t ruin the team image that Schramm carefully cultivated.

If Bennett wants to find out what the Cowboys were like two decades ago, he might check his library to read Pete Gent’s “North Dallas Forty,” a thinly disguised fictional account of the dark side of the Cowboys in those days.

If Bennett likes non-fiction, he could try Lance Rentzel’s searing “When All the Laughter Died in Sorrow” or Hollywood Henderson’s “Out of Control” about his drug use and playing Super Bowl XIII while high on cocaine.

The difference in those days was that sports didn’t get the attention it does today. There was no cable TV, no ESPN, no sports talk radio. The league also didn’t test for drug use.

It also helped that Tom Landry was the coach and Roger Staubach the quarterback. They had such impeccable reputations that the organization was barely tarnished by those incidents.

By contrast, current owner Jerry Jones and coach Barry Switzer have given the team an image of being out of control, so when Clayton Holmes and Leon Lett are suspended for drug use, Erik Williams is charged with sexual assault and Michael Irvin is indicted on drug charges, it seems to reinforce the team’s bad image.

The irony is that the Cowboys probably don’t have a serious drug problem. A team filled with players strung out on drugs doesn’t win three Super Bowls in four years. What the Cowboys have is an arrogance problem. What Jones has to do is find ways to get his players to become more discreet.

Runner-up Rypien

In a phone-in poll, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch asked its readers to choose the Rams’ starting quarterback from among these candidates - Randall Cunningham, Mark Rypien, Steve Walsh, Craig Erickson (whom they would have to trade for) and Steve Beuerlein, who signed last week with Carolina.

Of 3,169 votes cast over 1-1/2 days, Cunningham received 1,731, or 54.6 percent, to easily beat Rypien (19 percent), Walsh (16 percent), Erickson (8 percent) and Beuerlein (2 percent).

Cunningham, the former Eagle, might have a tighter race with voters who count, however. The Rams’ brain trust reportedly is split between Cunningham, who has the arm and the mobility, and Walsh, who has the smarts and the intangibles.

Jets lean toward Johnson

It appears that USC wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, who just visited the New York Jets, will be the first draft pick.

The word is that Jets owner Leon Hess doesn’t want the team taking Nebraska running back Lawrence Phillips because of his off-field problems.

But the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were considered likely to take Illinois linebacker Kevin Hardy with the second pick, are now interested in trading down.

The St. Louis Rams, who are expected to announce they’ve obtained the sixth pick from the Washington Redskins for Sean Gilbert, are interested in trading with Arizona for the third choice and taking Phillips.