Jerry Jones’ glitz blitz hits Houstonians

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Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made a comment to me recently that’s caused a minor cross-state controversy. It came while he was touring me around the $1.2-billion stadium he’s constructing in Arlington, Texas, and it had to do with his team’s fan base, specifically the type of fans the Cowboys are targeting as potential personal-seat-license buyers.

‘The Cowboys have never been about checkered tablecloths and boots and hats,’ he said. ‘They’ve been about glitz and glitter. Leave that other stuff to the Houston Texans.’

That’s created a mini-dust-up in Houston, where some people misread it as an unnecessary slam on a city hit hard by Hurricane Ike.

Not even close. It was, at best, a little playful needling of the Texans. That’s the way he said it, at least. And, yes, I thought the ‘glitz and glitter’ part was kind of odd, but whatever.

(Just got off the phone with a friend in Houston, by the way, and I now understand why nerves are so frayed there. Huge problems with home damage, traffic, cellphone reception, electricity, garbage collection and the like.)

Anyway, as for Jones’ comment, it sounds like Texans owner Bob McNair got the joke.

‘I’m not offended by what Jerry said,” McNair told the Houston Chronicle’s John McClain with a laugh. “I’m glad he knows we’re the Texans. I’m proud to be a Texan and a Houstonian. It reminded me of Judge (Roy) Hofheinz when he was promoting the Astrodome in the ’60s. I don’t think it’s always about glitz and glitter. Houston’s a hardworking city, and the Texans are a hardworking team. I don’t see anything wrong with checkered tablecloths, hats and boots.”

-- Sam Farmer