Friday, August 28, 1998

Cowboys on the air: CBS or Court TV?

By JIM LITKE AP Sports Writer

The Dallas Cowboys are on the air. This always presents a dilemma for whoever controls the remote.

Do you catch them on CBS?

Or Court TV?

Do you tune in to the final exhibition game against Jacksonville to find out if new coach Chan Gailey has put the Humpty-Dumpty offense back together again?

Or do you watch the legal-affairs channel to find out if Gailey will have enough players not under indictment, investigation, suspension or a doctor's care to field a team when the season begins in earnest?

Whichever it was Thursday night, say this about the Boyz: Because of them, life in Dallas is never dull.

The latest commotion came with a report Thursday from Dallas police that a topless dancer had accused offensive lineman Larry Allen of forcing her to have sex at knifepoint. Sad to say, such reports involving Cowboys have become all too familiar; especially since all too often, they turn out to be dishonest.

Owner Jerry Jones, who has to be tired of walking around with his fingers crossed all the time, said a few hours before the Jaguars game that he wouldn't have a comment until "all the facts have been examined."

"Until that time," Jones added, "I don't think it's fair for anyone to jump to any conclusions."

On the one hand, Allen, an offensive lineman generally regarded as one of the good guys, is the fourth member of the team accused by a woman of being involved in a sexual attack in less than two years. On the other hand, no charges were ever filed against the other players. Unfortunately, when Cowboys are involved, even that rarely means the end of the matter.

Two Dallas players, Michael Irvin and Erik Williams, were supposed to appear as witnesses at a deportation hearing Wednesday for a woman who pleaded guilty to perjury after recanting allegations against them in a sexual assault case. The judge in charge of the immigration proceeding was angry enough to say he will ask a federal magistrate to subpoena the two. That, in turn, would make them subject to criminal contempt charges - something which Irvin cannot afford, since he is still on probation after pleading no contest to felony charges of possessing cocaine in 1996.

"Being a good wide receiver carries only so much weight," Judge D. Anthony Rogers said during Wednesday's hearing.

If only the good judge knew.

After going 6-10 last season, Jones promised things would be different on the field and off. He fired coach Barry Switzer, who won a Super Bowl but got caught with a handgun going through an airport, and replaced him with Gailey, a career NFL assistant whose idea of personal safety involves nothing more dangerous than packing a Bible.

Then Jones banned alcohol from team flights, brought in former Cowboys great Calvin Hill and installed him at the head of what can only be called the Department of Good Intentions. No sooner did Hill open the door to his office than a few current Cowboys spread Krazy Glue up and down the jamb.

In the closing days of training camp - on what, ironically, was supposed to be family night - Irvin got into a scrape with new teammate Everett McIver. According to reports, the dispute started with Irvin wanting a haircut and ended with McIver getting a shave. Apparently, it was just another of those accidental groomist stories, since both local authorities and the NFL closed up their investigations without taking further action.

Meanwhile, no matter how the accusation against Allen turns out, it's clear that for all of Jones' bluster and all the testimonials about Gailey and his character galvanizing this team, the new coach has no firmer grip on the Cowboys off-the-field antics than the old coach did.

Gailey may be the offensive genius Switzer was not. He won a small college NCAA championship at Troy State running the wishbone, without benefit of a regular huddle, no less. Most recently, as an assistant with the Steelers, Gailey is credited with schooling the receiving corps and rounding out Kordell Stewart's education as a quarterback. No doubt, he is counting on injecting some of that hocus-pocus back into an offensive unit whose failure to score only was the most noticeable failure in a slide that saw the Cowboys lose the last five games of the last regular season.

The problem is that Gailey needs enough eligible players - and the right ones - to make his attack work. At the rate things are going, the real season opener can't come soon enough.