Dallas Cowboys' Jerry Jones, Mavs' Mark Cuban Messing With Texas? You Bet!

WHITT'S END 12.1.23:

Whether you’re at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt’s End …

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*Tom Landry and Don Carter are rolling over in their graves. But, by embracing the burgeoning, inevitable industries of gambling and sports betting in Texas, Mark Cuban and Jerry Jones are about to be rolling in even more money.

Landry (iconic original coach of the Dallas Cowboys) and Carter (founding father of the Dallas Mavericks) were principled men with foundational beliefs in the Christian faith. Landry spent much of his offseasons volunteering for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Carter went to church twice on Sunday and always removed his trademark Stetson indoors “because Momma raised me right.”

Doubt if they ever made even a friendly “wager” in their lives.

But these days the custodians of the Mavs and Cowboys are Cuban and Jones, fun-lovin’ characters who know their way around a lively party. Wheeler-dealers who are adept at profiting off businesses that Landry and Carter wouldn’t have touched with thy 10-foot rod or thy comforting staff.

Venture outside Texas and you quickly realize casino gambling and sports betting have become commonplace. But here in the deep-red, Republican-controlled Bible Belt, putting money on “games of chance” is still the sinniest of sins.

As of this year, 37 states have legalized gambling. In 2022 New Jersey made a whopping $2.6 net profit from sports betting, and in its first 10 weeks after okaying online gambling New York raked in $4 billion in revenue. Even without legal avenues, estimates are that Texans bet $6 billion a year on sports.

Despite that potential windfall, ultra-conservative buzzkill Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced last May that online sports betting isn’t coming to Texas any time soon. Plano representative Jeff Leach authored a bill to legalize it, and along with that legislation the House considered “destination resort” casinos.

Both ideas were summarily quashed in the state’s Republican-strangled Senate.

“I’ve said repeatedly there is little to no support for expanding gaming,” Patrick said. “We don’t waste time on bills without overwhelming GOP support. Texas remains a red state.”

Against that seemingly daunting backdrop, visionaries Cuban and Jones are nonetheless boldly betting on Texas. They are, as it were, daring to "Mess With Texas."

Jones is fiscally red; Cuban socially blue. Above all, however, both covet green.

What they need is even more financial and political muscle to twist Republican arms in Austin. Enter new partner Miriam Adelson, who is worth $33 billion, or, twice as much as Jerry and five times more than Cuban. And guess whose campaign she donated $1 million to last year: Sure enough, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. In 2018, she also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from one Donald Trump.

As far away as gambling seems here, it’s also creeping tantalizingly close. That’s why Cuban is selling a majority chunk of the Mavs to the Adelson and Dumont families (who own the Las Vegas Sands Hotel and Casino). And why Jones, who was an early investor in DraftKings, has recently partnered with Oklahoma’s WinStar Casino and the Texas Lottery.

Said Jerry recently, “I do play the Lottery … I’m a big fan of what it brings in for our state’s education.” In a separate interview, he called WinStar “one of the best brands in the world.”

Each week thousands of Texans – guilty – take their money across state lines to gamble at casinos in Louisiana and Oklahoma. Turn on the TV and there’s Troy Aikman starring in commercials for Choctaw Casino. Coming soon to similar ads: Texas Rangers’ legend Pudge Rodriguez and Aikman’s old teammate and Hall-of-Fame nominee, Darren Woodson. Oh, and where are many Texas high school football playoff games being played? Choctaw Stadium in Arlington, just across the street from the home of the 2023 World Series champions.

By winning three Super Bowls in four years, Jones became a DFW hero despite firing Landry. Cuban surely made Carter cringe when he introduced scantily clad dancers and rap music to Mavs games, but he righted those “wrongs” by inviting the founder on the stage to celebrate the team’s first championship in Miami.

The Mavs’ contract to play in American Airlines Center runs through 2031. That means Jones and Cuban – and their new powerbroker partner – have seven years to bring gambling to Texas and a destination resort/casino/arena to Dallas ... maybe even upon the plot of vacant land once home to Reunion Arena.

Dare to bet against them?

*Cowboys 41, Seahawks 35: My Top 10 Whitty Observations.

*Let’s remind ourselves not to let Luka Doncic’s consistent greatness numb us to his, well, consistent greatness. With Dirk Nowitzki serving as Mavs’ guest TV analyst Tuesday night against the Rockets, Luka fittingly scored 41 points. He threw in an ad-libbed skyhook just for fun. And, lest we forget, he’s as big as an all-time great NFL offensive lineman.

*There exists a “Doomsday Clock.” Thanks to the Rangers, there no longer exists a DFW “Misery Meter.”

*In my three-year quest to get Big Brothers Big Sisters lil’ bro Ja to smile in a photo, I’m … making progress?

After graduating high school Ja is intrigued by being a realtor, firefighter or perhaps a barber. Told him if he’d learn to smile he might become President and … ⁦@BBBSGREATERDAL⁩ pic.twitter.com/cGr9KLyFs0
— Richie Whitt (@richiewhitt) November 25, 2023

*According to Forbes latest calculations, Jerry is worth 14.5 billion, Cuban 6.2, Dallas Stars owner Tom Gaglardi 3.7 and the Rangers’ Ray Davis 2.9. Combined, that’s 27.3 billion. Or, if you prefer, $6 billion less than Adelson’s unfathomable war chest.

*I grew up in Duncanville, well before it became an all-sports, high school championship factory. Also, thankfully, before it deteriorated into a place where masked gunman followed you home from cashing your paycheck, shot you and ran away with your money. Yikes.

*Football on Fox: Michigan-Ohio State was the most-watched regular season college football game on any network since 2011. A couple days earlier on Thanksgiving, Cowboys-Commanders was the third-highest rated NFL regular-season game ever. Final audience score: Cowboys-Commanders 44 million, Michigan-Ohio State 19 million. The power of the NFL is pulverizing.

Cowboys-Commanders Game Draws All-Time Massive Viewership

*If Sports Illustrated was simply trying to increase relevance via rage, it succeeded. But if SI is serious about naming Deion Sanders its coveted “Sportsperson of the Year,” it embarrassingly whiffed.

Maybe “Sportsperson of the Month” for September. But for all of 2023 … what the what?!

Deion – who I have breathlessly unmasked as one of the biggest frauds in DFW sports history – took over a losing team at Colorado and turned it into … another losing team. The Buffs in the Pac 12 last season without Deion: 1-8. The Buffs in the Pac 12 this season with Deion: 1-8. Colorado didn’t beat a team with a winning record and won’t play in a bowl game. Its signature, “Do you believe now?!” victory came over a TCU team that finished 5-7.

Not surprisingly, Deion is now preaching that the answer to his team getting better is "giving" and more "credit card swipes."

This is our world in microcosm. We get prematurely giddy over shiny objects, like Deion’s gaudy, gold-encrusted style over substance showing up at Thursday night's Cowboys game in Arlington. We’ve also grown pillowy soft, susceptible to recklessly leaning into warm-’n-fuzzy stories like Simone Biles summoning the “courage” to quit during The Olympics and Deion being “ordained” to lead a miraculous renaissance in Boulder, though neither fiction is supported by fact.

Who should grace SI’s treasured cover issue instead of Deion? Off the top of my head, Bruce Bochy led a bigger, better resurrection with the Rangers. Or, how about someone who this year had much more of a positive impact on sports than Sanders? Taylor Swift.

*My game-by-game Cowboys predictions - published in May, mind you - aren't perfect. But they're pretty dang close. I've picked 11 of 12 correctly, missing only when I saw a loss at the Chargers instead of a three-point win.

Otherwise, some of my projected point totals are pretty spiffy. ... 31 against the Jets (30). 47 against the Rams (43). And Thursday night I nailed Dallas' 41 scored on the Seahawks. At this point I had them 8-4 instead of their 9-3. Split the next four against playoff teams Philly, Buffalo, Miami and Detroit and ... oops. My 10-7 prediction relied on a regular-season finale loss to the Commanders, which seems laughable now.

Smells like another 12-5, yes?

*Coolest thing I saw all week: Who needs 12 reindeer when you have 500 drones?

*Hot.

*Not.

*Speaking of dazzling distractions: This week Cowboys fans are anxiously awaiting their latest savior, Shaq Leonard. Remember back in the preseason when the popular savior was going to be Deuce Vaughn?

The team sold him as a full-time weapon and “matchup nightmare,” and some of you bought it.

Through 12 games he has 27 touches for 68 yards and has yet to even flirt with a touchdown. That’s what we call a giant, 5-foot-6 fish tale.

*Gas prices in the U.S. have dropped for 63 consecutive days and on Cyber Monday shoppers spent $12 billion, up nine percent from a year ago. Damn you, Joe Biden?

*Fox Sports’ Craig Carton is under fire for responding to the announcement that Dak Prescott’s girlfriend is pregnant by saying it’s a “mistake” and a “distraction” and calling her out as a “gold-digger.”

That’s stupid, shallow and insensitive, offered only for shock value. And I say that as someone who stands by his controversial 2011 claim that a baseball pitcher should not miss a start to attend the birth of a child. Fire away.

*Cuban selling most of the Mavericks to Republican mega-donors – will they now be the Dallas MAGAricks? – yanked me back to yonderyear. In 1999 at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, I won a Katie Award for breaking the story of him buying the team. In early 2000 I went to his sprawling mansion for an interview and wound up playing wiffle ball indoors.

Scratch that … if you really want a fascinating yarn, read what happened to the Katie Awards and the once-prestigious Dallas Press Club. Was my award actually presented to me by George Santos?

*Rangers single-game tickets for the 2024 season went on sale this morning. Wonder if they’ll finally host a Pride Night? (Not holding my breath.)

*I hate litter bugs. That’s why I love my new hero, an 80-year-old man in Mesquite who has voluntarily picked up trash for 12 years.

*Probably got lost amongst your Thanksgiving leftovers, but SMU suffered a bad break last weekend. Literally. The 10-2 Mustangs qualified for Saturday’s American Athletic Conference Championship Game, but lost the services of starting quarterback Stone Phillips to a broken leg in the process. Without Phillips – who passed for 3,197 yards and 28 touchdowns – SMU doesn’t stand a chance against 11-1 Tulane. Shame, because the Ponies are seeking their first conference championship since 1984, better known as pre-Death Penalty.

*This one has always bugged me: A player doesn’t “break his arm” or “sprain her ankle” or “tear his Achilles.” Writing it with an action verb makes it sound like they purposefully enacted the injury rather than it being something that happened to them. “Stone Phillips broke his leg!” Yikes, why in the world would he do that to himself? “Stone Phillips suffered a broken leg.”

Ouch, my sympathies. Words, and context, matter.

*I’ve had my fill of week-old turkey and ham. Jerry’s favorite Thanksgiving leftovers: “Chicken gizzards, and turnip greens.” Swear.

*When I read that “jugging” is a new trend, I just had to investigate. Never mind. Cured by the most basic of common sense.

*NBA In-Season Tournament, we hardly knew ya. The Mavs were eliminated from the league’s experimental new tournament before we even understood it. Because of a defect, we didn’t even get to see their custom court.

The only thing I think I love about the event: The abolition of the two worst words in all of sports – “Garbage Time.” Nothing worse than having to watch an outfielder come in to pitch in a 16-1 baseball game, a quarterback repeatedly taking a knee at the end of a football game or basketball teams taking turns dribbling out the shot clock and voluntarily absorbing turnovers in the waning possessions of a blowout.

Make point/run differential a prominent playoff tiebreaker and suddenly fans get their money’s worth, until game’s very end. You’re welcome.

*Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were married for 77 years and are only “separated” now because “until death do us part” barged in. As a guy whose three holy(ish) matrimonies combined lasted less than 20, I stand dumbfounded.

*Luka can show up for practice in a comical outfit, but it doesn’t mitigate the truth: He is simultaneously an epic flopper, a habitual whiner and one of the best basketball players on the face of the Earth. I repeat, don’t take him for granted.

*Anyone ever clicked on a link and received a 403 or 405 error message? I shudder to think …

How Many 'Pro Bowl Locks' For Cowboys?

*It’s trendy among faux Texas alphas to yell “Don’t California My Texas!” Don’t let your macho pride blur the facts, but these days more people are leaving than arriving. Freedom. Liberty. All that jazz. A recent study says one million Texans up and moved to California in the last three years. Why? Because Texas ranks 50th – dead last – in a person’s right to exercise personal freedoms.

So, um, maybe California my Texas a little. Pretty please?

*Jerry recently blurting out “1923” (he meant 2023) and “Reba” (he meant Dolly) reminded me of Landry’s biggest blunder.

In August 1984 the Cowboys held a heated quarterback competition during training camp. At a highly anticipated press conference, Landry announced the starter for the season: Danny White or Gary Hogeboom.

“At quarterback, I’ve decided to go with … Pozderac.”

Phil Pozderac? The backup offensive lineman?!

As the media scrambled to put eyeballs back in sockets, the coach corrected himself. Sorta. “I mean, Hogenboom.” He meant, of course, Hogeboom.

Admitted an exasperated Landry, “I would just rather be with (former Minnesota Vikings coach) Bud Grant on a lake fishing than making decisions like this. It’s not pleasant.”

*Happy (yes, already) December. Feels like we’re much closer to the Super Bowl than we are to 100-degree days. But it was 100 on Sept. 24 and LVIII will be played on Feb. 11, both 68 days from today. Albeit in very different directions.

*This Weekend? Saturday let’s attend the first of what will be numerous holiday parties. Sunday let’s recover from what will be numerous holiday hangovers. As always, don’t be a stranger.