And You Thought YOUR Owner Was Bad!: The Definition of Insanity... is Jerry Jones

Today's Vocal sports story is brought to you by the letters L, M, A, and O, and by the number 11. You'll see as I continue.

A couple of years after I wrote about Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard, who owned and ran the Leafs from 1972 until his death in 1990, I had been considering writing about other bad owners. This was going to be another one of my usual series of stories. Thing is, I haven't had time, but the ideas were there. Here's the thing: Jerry Jones was not going to be the next story in my series. Yes, he's controversial, yes, he's bombastic, but he paled in comparison to Ballard and other owners I planned on writing about. In the words of "Ol Blue Eyes," "Mistakes? He's made a few." But Jerry never really did anything that would be considered crippling.

And then, on August 28, 2025, it happened. It actually happened:

He did it, folks. He did it. Micah Parsons, the clear NFC equivalent of TJ Watt in Pittsburgh, was traded. Traded to the Green Bay Packers. The Green Bay Packers. As every fiber of my Green and Gold being has jumped up and down at this in the 24 hours that passed since then, the overall NFL fan in me just can't believe this happened. But hey, they lost their greatest defensive player, but a player like Parsons has to be worth quite a bit, right?

Yeah, here's what Parsons was worth:

Two firsts and Kenny Clark. Yeah. Dallas received a 2026 first-round pick, a 2027 first-round pick, and Kenny Clark, who is three years older than Parsons and is coming off his worst season. Oh, and Clark never met a penalty he didn't like committing. You know, getting first round picks in a deal is good... if they belong to a team who sucks. Here's how the draft order goes in the NFL. The worse you play, the better the pick. The draft order is ranked in reverse standings order. The worst team gets the #1 pick, then the second worst gets #2, and so on. The 18 teams who miss the playofs get the first 18 picks of the draft in reverse standings order (barring trades). The remaining 14 picks go to the playoff teams. Picks 19-24 go to the teams who lose in Wild Card Weekend, picks 25-28 go to the teams who lose in the Divisional Playoff, picks 29 and 30 go to the conference runners' up, pick #31 goes to the team who lost the Super Bowl, and pick #32 goes to the Super Bowl Champions.

The Packers are a perennial playoff team, so chances are, Dallas will spend the next two years drafting in the late 20s, or even in the 30s in Round 1 with their additional picks. And they get a penalty prone defender who is on a decline. But Jerry's happy. Said that they needed to be good against the run, but dealt away Parsons for peanuts. Said those draft picks could become Pro Bowlers. Yeah, Pro Bowlers are usually drafted within the top 10, so unless you stumble into an Aaron Rodgers-type situation, you can forget it.

Jerry Jones did it, folks. He killed the Cowboys. He made Nico Harrison look like Pierre LaCroix. He waited too late to pay Dak Prescott, and it ended up being an 11th hour deal that cost way too much. That extra money could have went to getting Derrick Henry, who is now in Baltimore. Even worse, he traded Parsons in conference. It's not just the Eagles, Commanders, and Giants that they have to deal with. The NFC still has some lethal predators, and the Packers are one of them.

Speaking of, let's talk about my Packers, shall we?

We got Parsons!!! WE GOT PARSONS!!!! WE GOT PARSONS!!!! Do you have any idea what a huge deal this is?! The last time we got a huge defensive name... it was the Minister himself, Reggie White. We all know the result. A lot of people are making the comparisons. The numbers are pretty close. I ask, with happiness, who is this team, and what have they done with the Packers? Drafting high level wide receivers in the first round?! Trading for high level defensive players?! And PAYING them handsomely?! For years, we've been the only team who doesn't do these things! I've watched so many teams get these big names that I hoped would be Packers, and now, we're doing it. Everything I've begged the Packers to do when we had prime Aaron Rodgers, we are doing now. And that doesn't shock me, because I predicted two years ago that we would spoil Jordan Love. We will get Love every shiny new toy that he wants.

And just when this deal can't get any crazier, circle this date on your calendars: September 28. Why, you ask? The Cowboys host the Packers on that day... on Sunday Night Football. Oh boy. Remember when the Cowboys had the Packers' number? Remember when Dallas was alwas a dead end for us? Pepperidge Farm remembers. My childhood as a Packers fan definitely remembers. Brett Favre couldn't buy a win in the old Texas Stadium. Aaron Rodgers owned Jerry World (AT&T Stadium), and he passed the keys to the place to Jordan Love, and Love burned it down in his first ever playoff appearance... as a #7 seed.

As I said, Jerry Jones doesn't care. At the end of the day, people are talking about the Cowboys. That's all that matters to him. Not that it's been 30 years since the team even reached the NFC Championship; let alone won that and a Super Bowl. But in Jerry's mind, all publicity is good publicity. To borrow from Sinatra again, Jerry Jones is doing it his way. And his way is definitely ensuring a future where the Cowboys will be the sideshow of the NFC East for many, many, many, many seasons to come.