Say What Now?
This NSFW Jerry Jones quote will put your brain in a freaking pretzel
Katelyn Mulcahy
As a diehard New York Giants fan, I've always said that I hope Jerry Jones lives forever, mainly because his over-involvement in football matters has yielded exactly zero Super Bowl wins or appearances in the last 25 years. But as the seasons go on, I'm starting to think I want him to live forever because the NFL simply would not be the same without his magnetic presence.
When Jones eventually goes (at 78, he's got plenty of years left), gone will be the days of the incredible shots of him losing his mind in the owner's box when Dallas blows a game late. Gone will be the days of Jones drafting super fast skill position players over a positions of need. And gone will be the days of some of Jones' incredible soundbytes and quotes, like the one making the rounds on social media on Tuesday.
The quote comes from the excellent longform ESPN piece by Seth Wickersham and Don Van Natta Jr. on DeMaurice Smith's complicated tenure as Executive Director of the NFLPA. One excerpt that Wickersham shared on Twitter featured a story from the 2011 CBA negotiations. After the players rejected a deal that would have actually been $1 billion better for them than a deal they would cut months later, the owners met with a group of team and league executives to discuss what had just happened. That's where Jerry comes in:
Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys took the floor: "Look, my daddy grew up on a farm in southwest Missouri. Every so often in the spring, the wind would come from a different part of the country, and the moon would set a different way, and the owls would start f---ing the chickens."
Nobody knew where he was going with this story.
"The owls are f---ing the chickens," Jones continued. "It makes no sense that they turned this down, but it's a great thing for us."
"Nobody knew where he was going with this story," could not sum it up better. I'd imagine the entire room was in dead silence, waiting for Jones to continue, and continue he did. The owls are f---ing the damn chickens. Our best translation? What's down was up and what was left was right at this particular juncture. But why trot out such a simple cliche when you can say that the owls are f---ing the chickens and really get everyone's attention. That's the Jerry Jones difference, folks. Jerry 4 Ever.