GRAPEVINE, TEXAS—I’m not sure they ever crossed paths, really, but my old bossman, the one and only Howard Cosell, would have really clicked with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
As Cosell would put it, “Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.”
Not only is the billionaire who is hosting the Joshua Clottey-Manny Pacquiao welterweight title bout Saturday night at his sparkling, $1.2 billion football playpen, a smooth orator and adroit business mogul.
Jones also comes across as a folksy, down home sort who embraces people of all colors and it’s easy to see why he has such rapport with his football players. He seems to treat everyone from NFL legend Michael Irvin down to the nearest busboy as equals.
Jones has an on the surface sincerity and a feel for people which cannot possibly be faked.
To use a uniquely Danish word, you get a warm feeling, what the Danes call hygge, when Mister Jones is lighting up a room with his charisma and good sense of humor.
Ride ‘Em Cowboys: It might be Last Roundup for Joshua Clottey but for Jerry Jones, Michael Irvin and Manny Pacquiao, well…as the locals say, this ain’t their first rodeo (Top Rank/Chris Farina Photo)
“There ought to be a law against spending $1.2 billion on a stadium,” Jones said at Wednesday’s press conference. “But you know when you can get a lot of credit, you can go ahead and do that.”
Jones’ roots are in Arkansas and, I must say, had he chosen politics instead of becoming an oilman and then an NL and stadium owner, a Slick Willie from the same neck of the woods named William Jefferson Clinton might have been blocked.
Or as my Jewish brothers and sisters would put it, this man is a mensch. Not their first rodeo in Texas: Veteran boxing mavens Hermie Rivera, Ring Editor In Chief Nigel Collins (Michael Marley Photo, Wine Enhanced)
On the eve of the Pacman bout, which is going to have 45,000 witnesses in the spaceship looking stadium and a worldwide TV audience, Jones sat with boxing and political operative Hammering Hermie Rivera and graciously composed a warm embrazo (embrace) for the Pinoys in the Philippines and around the world who worship their Pacman.
Here’s what Jones said to former Malacanang Palace Marcos regime adviser Rivera:
FIRST OF ALL, I WANT THANK YOU THE FILIPINO PEOPLE FOR THE HONOR AND PRIVILEGE OF SHARING AND HAVING YOUR FAVORITE SON OPEN THE COWBOYS STADIUM.
THIS ARGUABLY IS ONE OF THE MOST VISIBLE VENUES THAT HAVE BEEN BUILT.
MORE PEOPLE PROBABLY ARE HAVING AWARENESS OF THE STADIUM THAT’LL BE ENHANCED BY MANNY PACQUIAO’S FIRST APPEARANCE—A GREAT FILIPINO WHO’S FIGHTING IN IT.
AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR SHARING HIM AND INITIATING THE HONOR OF BEING THE FIRST TO BE FIGHTING IN THIS STADIUM AND IN CLOSING: COME AND SEE US. LET’S HAVE YOU HERE AGAIN SOMETIME AND ALL OF YOU…
LET’S WATCH A GREAT FIGHT.
