Van Valkenburg: Tension between Jimmy Graham and the Saints, Drehs: Collision between Kershaw and Trout. Fans can recite Jones' personnel misses and flops: Passing on Randy Moss in the 1998 draft (Jones apologized for this a dozen years later); trading four draft picks for 28-year-old wide receiver Joey Galloway, who never caught a pass from Aikman, in 2000; drafting QB Quincy Carter in the second round despite coaches' and scouts' warnings about his problems; choosing RB Felix Jones over Chiefs star Jamaal Charles and Coach Phillips' choice, Titans star Chris Johnson. Jones brought those lessons with him to Fayetteville. Each of the past three seasons, Dallas has finished 8-8, missing the playoffs by losing its final game ignominiously to a different division rival. Then he asks whether I'd like to join him for a drink. Parcells was furious; Jones explained that Ford, the team's top training camp sponsor, was far bigger in Texas than California and that another sponsor, Dr Pepper, was more popular with San Antonio's Hispanic community. (Jones had lent his private jet to Phillips' wife to attend her father's funeral.) Wealth buys influence, and Jones flexed considerable muscle in Arkansas politics, although he did it quietly enough to remain largely invisible. In college, Jones continued to sell -- first shoes, from a catalog, then, life and educational insurance policies, on commission, for his father's newly founded insurance company in Missouri. That's why I wanted Manziel, but I was the only guy who wanted him. Jones insisted he do it himself because, he says, "I needed to man up. Pat Jones just said, "Come on, Jerry -- be a man, live with it." A fierce negotiator, Bright decided the final $300,000 separating him and Jones on a price would be decided by a coin flip. He takes a long pull on his Miller Lite bottle. Not much else in common, really, except a hard-headed nature and a love of the spotlight. Pure class.". Of this prospect, he sounds less certain. Both men share a sunny optimism in the face of subpar seasons. They married their sophomore year. He needed --- and eventually won -- approval from taxpayers to kick in $325 million. You should be bigger than that.' Jones' first two Super Bowl trophies were won by teams coached by Johnson. Jerry and Gene Jones have helped the Library of Congress replace the books lost in an 1851 fire that destroyed two-thirds of Jefferson's library. by Seth Wickersham, As Y.A. In the end, there just wasn't enough glory for the two men to share. "It's subtle. And what fun is that? Jerry and Bill: two Arkansas good ol' boys who've made good and know just how to work ya. "He's been good to me," Phillips says. Jones had achieved a lifelong dream, but he had never been more miserable (he infamously told reporters, "Any one of 500 coaches could have won those Super Bowls.") "You don't remember me," she tells Jones, mentioning a decade-ago meeting, but this doesn't jog Jones' memory. By Hour 3 of our Ritz-Carlton introduction -- deep into my second round and his third -- it is obvious that Jones is more irresistible than his fictionalized self. Wesley Hitt/Getty Images, I follow Jones downstairs to his pub room, with two taps (Miller Lite and Miller, the stadium's $15 million-a-year exclusive beer sponsor) and a gargantuan projection flat-screen. On the gleaming marble floor of his living room are covered works of art, new purchases waiting to be unwrapped. But the best person to get us out of the rut is me.". Jones and George Strait both scored big financially at Strait's final concert, which was held on June 7 at AT&T Stadium. Become an NFL owner? Still no Jerry Jones. ", IT HAS BECOME football lore that Jerry Jones was inspired to buy the Cowboys after waking up with a five-alarm hangover during a fishing vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. During his first full day on the University of Arkansas campus in August 1961, he met Eugenia "Gene" Chambers, a Miss Arkansas USA beauty queen from a wealthy northwest Arkansas family. And what a great way to spend your days, spend your life." On the clock in the Cowboys' draft room, Jones appeared anguished as he ground No. "We got along very well.". Jones' best shot to erase the Johnson stigma was lost. Next is the billiards room, fortified with painted footballs from the Cowboys' glory years and framed photos. During his first full day on the University of Arkansas campus in August 1961, Jones met Eugenia "Gene" Chambers, a Miss Arkansas USA beauty queen.