By Mac Engel
tengel@star-telegram.com
The reason Jerry Jones will never cease running the Dallas Cowboys the way he does is simple: There is zero incentive to do otherwise.
Here we are on Jan. 25, nearly a full month since the Cowboys played their last game, and their non-activity activity still moves the needle more in this town than the two professional teams that are playing actual games.
The Cowboys can do nothing, which the hiring and firing of some assistant coaches amounts to, and they are still more important than the Mavericks or Stars.
The Rangers? That's different. Going on three seasons of World Series talk has changed the way we view that baseball team, and for the first time since they moved from Washington, D.C., there are some indications they are in a position to run with the Cowboys.
The Rangers aren't the Cardinals, and FW/d is not a baseball town yet.
The Mavs need to seriously contend for a title for you to notice, which, unless Dwight Howard lands in their lap today, does not appear on the immediate horizon.
The Stars need to win a title, then a few more in a row, for you to care.
Until this balance of power and interest shifts, dramatically, there is no reason for Jerry to change how he does his business. We only have ourselves to blame.
All of us are Cowboy junkies, and he is Jerry Escobar dealing hope in the form of Monte Kiffin, or next year when he hires Jon Gruden to replace Jason Garrett as the head muppet calling plays, or overseeing the play calling.
The players in this town are completely resigned to it.
"I guess I conceded to the Cowboys. I conceded their place. I'm accustomed to it," veteran Stars forward Brenden Morrow said. "I don't even look at it like we are competing with the Cowboys. I look at it like we are trying to compete more with the Mavericks."
From a player in the NHL, who has been with this team since 2000, this sounds appropriate.
For an NBA player, who has been with the Mavericks for a second season, this reality can be a bit deflating when a franchise so average commands so much of our attention.
"My dad is a die-hard Cowboys fan and my cousin is a die-hard fan, and I always heard them talk about them," Mavericks forward Vince Carter said. "I always understand it, but it wasn't until I got here did I get it. It's like going to Toronto -- I don't care how good the Raptors are, the Maple Leafs are it. That's the same thing here.
"It's the way it is. Guys understand when you come to Dallas and play for the Mavericks, you are second fiddle."
This is a football town in a football state that has never shown the ability to be other than that. Unless that somehow changes, Jerry can run this thing into the ground and it won't matter.
The Rangers will privately complain that the fans that come out to the games are not passionate. Interest and the care level about baseball in this market is higher than any time previously, but too often a Rangers home game feels more like a glorified picnic.
Watching the Rangers lose Game 6 of the 2011 World Series may have ruined your week, or month, but the Cowboys have the ability to ruin each and every Sunday for you in the fall.
My email inbox features a handful of letters from hacked-off fans that insist that these most recent moves are just more of the same from Jerry, and that they are "done" with the Cowboys. That they gave up on this team years ago, and won't rejoin the fan base until he removes himself from power.
Suuure.
Why is Cowboys Stadium full every Sunday?
Why are TV ratings for this mediocre team so high?
Why do Fox, CBS, ESPN, Animal Planet, the Food Network and every other channel other than Al Jazeera try to continually schedule the Cowboys for the prime-time slots?
No matter how many games this team loses the results say you watch, and have demonstrated you will never turn their games off, no matter how disgusted you are.
So Jerry sells that somehow hiring Monte Kiffin over Rob Ryan is reason for hope.
We're going to hear how Rod Marinelli is going to somehow create sacks out of a defensive line that has more DWIs than big plays.
Offensive line coach Bill Callahan calling plays is what is missing from the team scoring the decisive points.
Meanwhile, every other franchise in town motors along and, while you watch, you will never care the way you do about Jerry's boys.
He knows it, and there is no reason to change.
(BTW: The NFL Draft is April 25, and the Cowboys have the 18th overall pick.)
Mac Engel817-390-7697Twitter: @MacEngelProf
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