Stan Kroenke is St. 亚洲无码鈥 most despised team owner in professional sports for the sneaky, deceitful and backroom-deal manner in which he maneuvered to whisk the Rams out of St. 亚洲无码, then further infuriating his former customers by disparaging the market on his way out of town.
Also on the list of Gateway City villains is Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who was instrumental in brokering the deal with the NFL in January 2016 that allowed the Rams to move to Los Angeles after a proposal that the Chargers and Raiders, not Rams, would relocate there was shot down as Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt cast the lone dissenting vote among the six submitted by the NFL鈥檚 stadium committee.
Love him or loathe him, Jones is a colorful firebrand who speaks his mind as North America鈥檚 most hands-on owner in professional sports 鈥 he is the Cowboys鈥 general manager, calling the personnel shots, and loves the limelight. After all, how many other owners are available to the media soon after games and also have two regularly scheduled weekly radio appearances?
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Jones certainly has found that spotlight in recent days not only for the putrid performance of his club last Sunday in its 47-9 shellacking by the Detroit Lions 鈥 at home on his 82nd birthday, no less 鈥 but for his bristling response Tuesday to questions on one of his regular appearances on Dallas sports station KRLD FM, which airs the team鈥檚 games.
Jobs on the line?
After early pleasantries, about 13 minutes into a 20-minute-plus conversation, he , which largely directed the budget to re-signing quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver Cee Dee Lamb to huge contracts. Those deals were not finalized until shortly before the regular season opened and did not significantly address some of the team鈥檚 other needs, some of which now are glaring.
He became so upset that he insinuated that he would have the hosts (Shan Shariff, R.J. Choppy and contributor Bobby Belt) fired for having the audacity to do their jobs 鈥 asking questions about a team that had just suffered its worst home loss in Jones鈥 3陆 decades of owning the club.
鈥淟isten, let me tell you what I鈥檒l do about it: I will let us sit down and look at the decisions we鈥檝e made over the last several years. OK? I鈥檒l look at it,鈥 Jones said. 鈥淣ow if you think I鈥檓 interested on a damn phone call with you over the radio and sitting here and throwing all the good out with the dishwater, you鈥檇 have got to be smoking something over there this morning. I鈥檓 not. ... And I don鈥檛 even want our listeners listening to me talk about.
鈥淭his is not your job. Your job isn鈥檛 to let me go over all the reasons that I did something and I鈥檓 sorry that I did it,鈥 Jones added. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not your job. I鈥檒l get somebody else to ask these questions. I鈥檓 not kidding. You鈥檙e not going to figure out what the team is doing right or wrong. If you are, or any five or 10 like you, you need to come to this (NFL) meeting I鈥檓 going to today with 32 teams here, you鈥檙e geniuses.
鈥淵ou really think you鈥檙e going to sit here with a microphone and tell me all of the things that I鈥檝e done wrong and without going over the 鈥榬ights鈥? Listen, we both know we鈥檙e talking to a lot of great fans and a lot of great listeners. And I am very sorry for what happened out there Sunday. I鈥檓 sick about what happened Sunday.
鈥淚鈥檓 not talking to these yahoos on the other end of this phone. I鈥檓 talking to you the fans that are listening this morning.鈥
Jones later was asked by about the exchange, saying 鈥渢he wrong ones were doing the questioning,鈥 hinting that he would either try to have them fired or stop going on their program that airs on a station on which he has made frequent appearances for more than a decade.
鈥(The) facts are that if I鈥檓 going to be grilled by the tribunal, I don鈥檛 need it to be by the guys I鈥檓 paying,鈥 Jones said. 鈥淚 can take it from fans and take it from other people. I take a lot of pride in how fair and how much I try to work with the media. We鈥檙e brothers and sisters. ... Now, if those had been real fans sitting there, or if there had been people that knew what they were talking about 鈥 football people 鈥 I might have had a different answer.鈥
Firing back
Shariff and Choppy have had widespread support from the national media and returned fire on their show the day after Jones鈥 outburst.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 get upset with it, but it was like, 鈥榊ou know what? (The hell with you), man,鈥欌 Choppy said.
Added Shariff: 鈥淚t鈥檚 really insulting, really demeaning, really insulting and again, out of nowhere. We have done 14 years of interviews with this man.鈥
鈥淣ever had fights like this,鈥 Choppy added.
In the interview in which he became upset, Jones said: 鈥淵ou want some conversation this morning? You鈥檙e getting it.鈥
He calmed down for the rest of the interview and seemed engaging, signing off with 鈥測ou all have a good day. Bye bye,鈥 in a friendly tone of voice.
Nonetheless, Shariff took issue with Jones鈥 contention that the question he didn鈥檛 like came from someone on his payroll, pointing out that the station is owned by Audacy 鈥 not Jones.
鈥淔or damn sure it鈥檚 a fact that I don鈥檛 get paid or compensated by Jerry Jones, which I would love to be,鈥 Shariff said. 鈥淎udacy signs my checks. ... I don鈥檛 want to get too much into station business and affairs. A lot of times though with teams, the financial arrangement is we get Jerry and (coach Mike) McCarthy and a player show and all that; the team gets the commercial inventory when the games are aired. So there鈥檚 no exchange of monies.鈥
Jones later touched on the matter with USA Today.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to demean or undermine their credibility, but we were kind of set up for taking me to the woodshed,鈥 he said. 鈥淎nd I wasn鈥檛 ready for that. I was going to talk about the very things they wanted to talk about, but I didn鈥檛 want it before a tribunal.鈥
Jones reiterated the fact he didn鈥檛 like the questioning coming from the radio hosts but would have been fine if that had been from a fan.
鈥淭hey set the tone,鈥 he told . 鈥淚 have fans all the time that I communicate with. They have more of a right, really, than guys that, frankly, I鈥檓 paying to put a show on.鈥
But paid or not by Jones, the line of questioning was reasonable given the team鈥檚 performance 鈥 it鈥檚 3-3, with all the losses coming at home, where it is allowing an average of 39.7 points a game.
Choppy was on the national 鈥溾 on Wednesday, saying Jones has made almost 300 appearances on the station over the years.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 get personal with him,鈥 Choppy said. 鈥... He鈥檚 never had a problem with answering tough questions. When you鈥檙e the owner and the GM and you put yourself out on radio twice a week, every week, it鈥檚 hard to avoid those questions. To his credit, he鈥檚 never had a problem with them, and that鈥檚 what made this so surprising and disappointing, to be frank.
鈥... Our company, our bosses have been behind us. They鈥檝e not said a word about that.鈥
Jones鈥 next scheduled appearance on the show, at least at last report, is set for Friday.