DALLAS — The Jerry Jones era of the Dallas Cowboys started with a $300,000 coin flip. And Jones lost.
At least that's the story Jones has told over the years, and one he resurfaced Tuesday in a long-and-winding explanation for why he says what he says and does what he does.
"I don't know why I called heads rather than tails," Jones told the hosts of "Shan and RJ" on 105.3 The Fan. "But some of this stuff works out and some of this stuff doesn't."
Jones on Tuesday was making his return to his weekly radio interview with the station after he got into a fiery exchange with the hosts last week. The "Shan and RJ" crew had pressed him on the Cowboys' struggles this season, and Jones fired back, threatening that he'd "get somebody else to ask these questions."
Well, no one got fired and Jones cooled off. He didn't apologize Tuesday but he was more than happy to talk about the spat and his reasoning -- or perhaps, lack thereof -- behind it.
"I will tell you [it's] the same kind of question my wife might ask me, of 60-something years: Why did you do that?" Jones said. "I don't know. The devil made me do it."
Jones then circled this storyline back to 1989, when he purchased the Cowboys for around $150 million from Bum Bright.
At some point in the negotiations, Jones said, a matter of $300,000 came under dispute. The money involved an advance that Bright made a few weeks before the sale was finalized, as the Dallas Morning News wrote back in 2014.
Jones and Bright couldn't come to an agreement, so they decided to settle the money on a coin flip. And Jones lost.
"I really got screwed," Jones said slyly on Tuesday's interview. "I ended up with the Dallas Cowboys."
The team is now worth an estimated $10 billion -- and nice return on investment from that initial $150 million -- and $300,000 looks like something Jones might lose in his couch cushions.
