Bad sports, good sports: Super Bowl week not so super for Jerry Jones

Posted on February 7th, 2011 by Alan Spoll

As I write this week’s installment of BSGS, I am watching yet another Eagles-free Super Bowl, this one being held in Dallas, the home of the Eagles’ biggest rival. Despite my favorite team’s continued non-presence, I have been able to enjoy a bit of schadenfreude this week, as I can’t imagine this was what Cowboys owner Jerry Jones envisioned when he won the right to hold the big game at his new pleasure palace.

The first piece of bad news for Jones was that his precious Cowboys not only didn’t make it to the Super Bowl, but they had a terrible season during which they were 1-7 at one point. Jones had hoped to have his team be the first to play for a Super Bowl title in its own stadium. Second, I have to imagine that ol’ Jerry expected a week of beautiful Texas weather leading up to the game. Instead, Dallas experienced sub-freezing temperatures, an ice storm on Tuesday, and eight inches of snow Thursday night. Event planners did their best to keep the festivities moving, but the local businesses can’t have been happy with what Mother Nature was throwing their way. It only got worse. On Friday, a number of workers that were hired to prep the stadium for the game were injured when they were hit by large chunks of ice falling from the stadium’s roof. No one was killed, but one man’s shoulder was badly broken.

Finally, 1250 temporary seats that had been sold for $900 a piece were determined to be unsafe on Sunday. 850 of the ticketholders were able to be moved to other seats in an auxiliary press box, but the other 400 were out of luck. They were allowed to remain in the building, but could only watch on screens in the concourses. The NFL said it would refund their money at three times the face value of the tickets, but I have to imagine that won’t quite make it up to the affected people.

What a lot of fun! I did not take pleasure in the injuries, of course. I am not that bad of a guy. I will freely admit, though, that I loved the big mess that was dropped on Jerry’s party. From his bizarre, plastic-surgery distorted face, to his massive ego, Jones is easy to dislike. As an Eagles fan, of course, I would dislike him even if he weren’t such a cartoon. I guess the football gods must be Eagles fans too. No, I guess that doesn’t really add up, does it? Well, even if they aren’t, they clearly have their dislikes in the right place.

Bad sports, continued:

2) Have you seen those Visa commercials where a handful of old guys brag about how they have been to every Super Bowl ever? I admire the dedication those guys have shown, although I have to say that the guy who details how he has missed the birth of children to attend the games is an irresponsible jerk for doing so. Unless it was either his team in the Super Bowl or they weren’t his children, that is. Anyway, one of these men must have jinxed himself by appearing in the commercial, because he found himself in the hospital on Sunday rather than at the game. Robert Cook, who is a Packers fan and lives in Wisconsin, gave the tickets to his kids once he realized he would be unable to go.

3) Greene County, a Pittsburgh-area county in Pennsylvania, changed its name to Black and Gold County for last week only. Maybe I would feel differently if I were a Steelers fan, but this seems kind of dopey to me.

4) The police blotter was full this week. Everson Griffen of the Minnesota Vikings was arrested twice within three days, getting tased once in the process. Mitch Mustain, a former USC Trojan like Griffen, was arrested for selling prescription drugs to an undercover officer. Albert Haynesworth, technically still a Washington Redskin, was arrested and charged with assault for an altercation he got into with someone while driving in suburban D.C.

5) The Cleveland Cavaliers lost their 24th straight game on Friday night. That’s the longest losing streak in NBA history.

6) This is a bizarre one. Floyd Raven, a highly sought-after high school football player, committed to Ole Miss on Wednesday morning, which was National Signing Day for college football teams. Except he didn’t. The signed letter-of-intent that was received at the school was actually forged by Raven’s mother. He intended to commit to Texas A&M, which he did later in the day.

Bonus – Phil Simms, former NFL quarterback and current football analyst for CBS, apparently threatened to punch Desmond Howard, former NFL cornerback and current football analyst for ESPN, after Howard said some negative things about Simms’ son Matt, a quarterback at Tennessee. Awesome.

Good sports:

1) To honor Joe Paterno’s 400th victory as head coach of Penn State’s football team, which happened during this past season, Nike donated $400,000 to the school’s libraries, one of which is named after Paterno.

2) A Belgian man set a world record this week by running a marathon for the 365th consecutive day. That’s such a ridiculous accomplishment that I don’t know what else to say about it. Astonishing.

3) A Philadelphia boy named Nadin Khoury, who had been attacked and beaten by neighborhood bullies, was surprised by the appearance of DeSean Jackson and two other members of the Philadelphia Eagles while Nadin was being interviewed on The View. Jackson, Khoury’s favorite player, told Khoury that he and the others would have his back if he ever needed them. Good stuff.

4) Check out this game winning pass and shot from a high school basketball game in Washington last week. The shot put Orting High School into the playoffs.

Bad Sports, Good Sports appears every Monday.

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Alan Spoll

Alan Spoll is a software quality assurance director from the suburbs of Philadelphia where he lives with his wonderful wife and children. He has spent his entire life as a passionate fan of the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Penn State. Recent Phillies success aside, you will understand his natural negativity. Follow me on Twitter - @DocAlan02