First episode. There were some nice moments surrounding Irvin, Aikman and Smith, and the creation of America's team via Staubach etc. I liked the way they wove "Lust for Gold" from the GB&U into the opening, but there was way too much time spent listening to and watching the smarmy Jones pontificate about himself.
Calling Jones a "gambler" was probably a nice way of saying he got lucky. He got lucky hitting a gusher that made him a shitload of money. He got lucky that Bum Bright only saw dollar signs and didn't give a damn about the character of the people he was selling the Cowboys to. And finally, Jones got lucky when that number one pick (Aikman) fell into his lap. Lucky for us that picking Aikman was a no-brainer. Jones couldn't screw that up.
(I'd go so far as to say that Jones (and we) got lucky when Schramm had the foresight to draft Staubach when he was facing several years of military service. Without Roger, America's team might never have happened. (I know, there was Dandy Don)) Speaking of luck, didn't Schramm also engineer the Herschel Walker trade? Thanks, Tex.
Jones wisely hired Jimmy Johnson. That's about it. Everything else positive that happened for this franchise, maybe even the Jimmy Johnson hire, probably would have happened with a smarter, more professional, more likeable owner/management organization.
Jones made a mess of the way he fired Landry and Schramm. What a fucking embarrassment. He coulda learned a thing or two from Schramm. My guess is Jimmy told him to pound sand after Jones didn't follow thru with some promises. (Just my guess, no proof of that. Johnson hasn't said squat all these years, probably on the advice of a lawyer.) Switzer was. in effect, Jimmy's buttboy. Robby the Robot coulda coached this team to another Super Bowl Trophy. Just about everything Jones did since has led this franchise in the general direction of becoming a second-tier team if not the worst team in the NFL. A long string of shitty coach hires stands as a testament to this. How may went on to be successful head coaches elsewhere?
Even when Jimmy's teams were skyrocketing the Cowboys' reputation as America's team, Jones was a walking, talking, channel-changing embarrassment - and has been ever since those guys retired. Maybe they shoulda named this series "Man hires Jimmy Johnson."
Looking forward to Episode Two and the Aikman years.