Gil LeBreton 
Tired of Dallas Cowboys losing, Jones' gamble makes sense
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
In a perfect world -- like, say, back when his team had won three Super Bowls in four seasons -- owner Jerry Jones could have turned up his nose at a troublemaker like Adam "Pacman" Jones, and Planet Cowboy rightly would have applauded.
Sure, you would have. But that was then, and this is now, and the Cowboys haven't won an NFL playoff game in 11 seasons.
Maybe Pacman Jones really was telling the truth this week when he said the $15,000 that he paid to an alleged Renton, Wash., gunman was "extortion" money, because he feared the man would come after Pacman and his family.
Or maybe the joke is on Jerry Jones, who appears ready to conclude a trade for the suspended cornerback.
The judge and jury in this ongoing case, as far as Pacman Jones' football career is concerned, is NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. If Goodell is willing to move ahead and reinstate Pacman Jones, the Cowboys -- fans and locker room -- should be, too.
It's a safe bet that no one in the NFL likely will be scrutinized more closely this coming season than Pacman Jones. This really is his last chance.
Stupidity isn't always contagious, even in an NFL locker room, so what exactly would be the Cowboys' risk?
The Cowboys of the 1990s were buttressed by solid characters -- Troy Aikman, Darren Woodson, Daryl Johnston, among them.
The current team's locker room is anchored by, among others, Jason Witten, Bradie James, Greg Ellis, Terence Newman and DeMarcus Ware. Not even chronically self-serving Terrell Owens has been a disruption.
Owner Jones is justified, therefore, in at least hoping that peer pressure will serve to corral, if not tame, the team's newest Jones.
The episode that led to his current suspension was an outlandish case of poor judgment.
Pacman Jones probably will be reinstated by Goodell and receive another chance. But what about Tommy Urbanski, the club bouncer who was shot during the Las Vegas incident and paralyzed from the waist down?
And what about Arvin Kenti Edwards, the alleged man with a gun who has been charged with three counts of attempted murder and three felony counts of battery with substantial bodily harm?
Three people wounded. One paralyzed. Another facing a possible life prison sentence.
All because of a strip club incident that Pacman Jones alone appears to have precipitated.
Yes, people change. Sinners repent. But a skunk never really sheds his stripe.
Let's not automatically assume, therefore, that Pacman Jones will blend seamlessly into the Valley Ranch woodwork.
In a perfect Cowboys world, why would they bother trading for Pacman Jones?
But those were the old days. Eleven years after the franchise's last postseason victory, the question now is, why not trade for him?
In Nashville, home of the NFL Titans, they were laughing at Owner Jones on Thursday morning.
Columnist Joe Biddle, writing in the Nashville Tennessean, invoked the ghost of P.T. Barnum and summed up the trade with, "There's a sucker born every minute."
Owner Jones has been called worse.
On the football field, Pacman Jones could make an immediate impact on the Cowboys' secondary and special teams. But that, again, is going to be up to Goodell.
A hasty reinstatement, and Pacman Jones probably will have the benefit of an entire training camp, which means that he could oust cornerback Anthony Henry from the defensive starting lineup. But if Goodell takes his time and delays lifting the suspension until late summer, Jones' long layoff may well affect his play.
Cornerback is one of the draft areas that Owner Jones probably was talking about this week when he said the team expected an immediate contribution. To hedge his bet, the owner would be smart to still select a cornerback early in Saturday's draft.
Jerry Jones may not remember this, but it is possible to assemble too many rogues in one Valley Ranch room. The Derek Ross, Antonio Bryant, Quincy Carter and Dwayne Goodrich experiments didn't all work out.
But that's what desperate teams do. They take risks because they're hungry for the rewards.
And no one in the NFL, let me suggest, is hungrier than Jerry Jones.
If you smell a skunk this week, therefore, don't tell Jerry.
He smells only the playoffs.
Gil LeBreton, 817-390-7760
