FRISCO - There seem to be almost as many problems with the ESPN report that insists that the Dallas Cowboys are distracted to the point of frustration by the fan tours provided at team headquarters here at The Star as there might be with the tours themselves.
On Wednesday morning, ESPN published a lengthy article tearing the Cowboys to shreds for allowing tours of the facility. The piece included scathing reviews of the practice from a handful of former players.
Upon further review, we see five problems with the article. Let us count the ways.
1 - ESPN collected the on-the-record opinion of a handful of ex-Cowboys - Jayron Kearse, Dorance Armstrong, Tony Pollard, Dante Fowler and Kelvin Joseph - all of whom are quoted as essentially saying the tours are a "distraction.''
But ESPN somehow was unable to find one single player on the planet who disagrees with that take. There's not one Cowboys-tied player who thinks this is silly or overblown or maybe not even a story at all?
2 - To find such a player, all they had to do was to find Micah Parsons, who used Twitter to call the story "bull***.'' The All-Pro Parsons also called out his old teammates, noting, "Some people just ain't meant for the lights and that's okay.''
3 - Meanwhile, on Twitter, some of the players quoted in the story are now claiming they have been misquoted and misrepresented.
In the story, Fowler (now in Washington) is quoted as saying, "You got real facilities here. You might not see tourists coming around, but it keeps the main thing the main thing."
But quickly after the story was published, Fowler tweeted, "I didn't say that.''
Oops.
In the story, Joseph opined that the focus is on "other stuff" beyond winning championships in Dallas.
But quickly after the story was published, Joseph tweeted, "They (ESPN) tried set us up.''
Oops.
This all started when former Cowboys tight end Dalton Schultz, after making his 2023 free agency move to Houston, said that the tours made him feel like he was in a "zoo.'' Valid as those feelings might be, it's led to an avalanche of assumptions that fans intermingle with players here inside The Star as the players do their work.
And that is simply untrue. The singular issue specific to the tour groups is this: There is a tinted glass wall that looks into the weight room. People walking down a hallway can get a glimpse of what's going on inside. That's it.
To be clear: That doesn't take away from long-time Cowboys insider Mike Fisher's view that owner Jerry Jones' marketing-mindedness gets in the way of football. Fish coined the phrase "#53Brands'' to demonstrate how players in this organization naturally think about marketing themselves because they are awash in marketing.
"Sometimes,'' Fish writes and says often, "the Dallas Cowboys seem like a marketing company that plays football on the side.''
The fan tours are a product of that. But fans are not eating lunch with players, or pulling up a chair in the meeting rooms with the players, or hanging out in the shower with the players.
Specific to the suggestions in the ESPN story? It's one wall of tinted glass.
4 - While Jones' franchise deserve scrutiny regarding the true goals around here, in fairness the ESPN story should've addressed the flip side.
Said Kearse: "We get all the top-of-the-line things throughout the day, the hot tub and the training room. But it's just a whole bunch of other things that come along with it. It's all about the brand, that star, which I think supersedes trying to win at the highest level."
That's valid. But the attention given to everyone involved with "America's Team'' is a double-edged sword.
How does Kearse think the franchise pays for "all the top-of-the-line things''? The fans' interest in the Cowboys produces the revenue that does that.
We bristled recently at Dak Prescott's unhappiness with the attention given his demolition of his $3 million mansion in order to build a bigger, better one. But that very attention is the direct reason why Prescott is able to buy a $3 million mansion in the first place. (P.S.: Dak's high profile is also part of the power behind his foundation being able to donate $1.8 million in supplies to hurricane victims in Florida. See below.)
Related: Cowboys' Dak Prescott Foundation Donates $1.8 Million to Florida Hurricane Victims
We see Cowboys ex Ben DiNucci grouse on Twitter about "people tapping on the weight room glass like I was supposed to do something cool on command.'' Assuming this is true ... didn't DiNucci build an entire clothing line on the very thin foundation of having spent about a minute as Dallas' third-string quarterback? Who does he think is buying those upside-down DALLAS ball caps?
5 - What is the reason for any Cowboys player to bother with participating in this story? Why is it significant? It has to be because that Cowboys player felt like fan tours somehow got in the way of his success.
And that's where insider Fisher gets the final word ...
"I'm the harshest media critic there is regarding the 'marketing-first' mindset of Jerry Jones' Cowboys. Meanwhile, I have never in my life called an NFL player 'soft.' But if you're a player pretending that fans waving at you while you're in the weight room at The Star is a reason for your failure? If you're using the very support that pays you as a reason you aren't better at your job?
"You're soft.''