Opinion: Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has no time for the unvaccinated on his team and in society
Nancy Armour, USA TODAY
Tue, August 24, 2021, 6:16 PM·4 min read
Put this on T-shirts and bumper stickers. Make it a meme that goes viral. Turn it into a PSA and play it on every Jumbotron at every NFL stadium and during the broadcasts of every game.
Jerry Jones, of all people, just exposed the argument that getting a COVID-19 vaccine is a “personal choice” for the selfish nonsense that it is.
“Everyone has a right to make their own decisions regarding their health and their body. I believe in that completely – until your decision as to yourself impacts negatively many others. Then the common good takes over,” Jones said Tuesday
during an appearance on Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan.
“And I’m arm waving here, but that has everything to do with the way I look at our team, the Cowboys, or the way I look at our society,” Jones added. “We have got to check `I’ at the door and go forward with 'we.' Your Dallas Cowboys are doing that.”
For months now, science experts, health professionals and many government officials have touted the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines, saying they are the best means we have of returning to a semblance of normalcy. Family members and friends have begged, and sometimes argued with, the holdouts, trying to cut through the doubts, misinformation and lies.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones may surprise with his strong believe in everybody getting vaccinated. “We have got to check `I’ at the door and go forward with 'we.' Your Dallas Cowboys are doing that.”
And yet, here we are, in the grips of
yet another surge in cases with
just over 60 percent of the eligible U.S. population fully vaccinated. Hospitals in some parts of the country are out of room or close to it, and the death rate is on the rise again because of this latest wave, which is driven almost entirely by the unvaccinated.
If you’re surprised that Jones would be an ardent advocate of COVID vaccines, well, you’re not alone.
The Dallas Cowboys owner is a white, Republican man, which puts him in the least-vaccinated demographic, according to a
new NBC News poll. If you’ve ever seen photos of his yacht, you know that having less so others can have more isn’t really his thing. And no one will ever mistake Jones for being forward thinking on social issues.
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Yet Jones is, more than anything, a shrewd businessman, and he recognizes that COVID is a threat to his cash cow.
An outbreak that prevents key members of the Cowboys from playing, or even practicing, directly impacts the team’s chances to win and, thus, Jones’ bottom line. A return to capacity limits at stadiums would mean a whole lot less money in Jones’ pocket.
“What’s different this year is the vaccine,” Jones said Tuesday. “And the vaccine has removed any realistic concern about the teams competing or the teams competing before a full house of football fans.”
No other owner knows as much about what’s going on around the league than Jones, and you can be sure he has been watching – and nodding knowingly – at the latest developments in New England and Buffalo. Patriots quarterback
Cam Newton and Bills receiver
Cole Beasley, a former Cowboy, are both barred from their team facilities for five days because they are unvaccinated and were deemed close contacts of someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
Vaccinated players who are close contacts do not have to quarantine.
Asked if Newton’s absence is an opportunity for rookie Mac Jones, Bill Belichick spoke volumes with his short response.
“It is,” he said.
The Cowboys, meanwhile, currently have
four players on the COVID-19 reserve list, including receiver CeeDee Lamb. But because Lamb is fully vaccinated, he’ll be eligible to return as soon as he has consecutive negative PCR tests rather than doing the 10-day quarantine required for unvaccinated players.
So, yeah, if the vaccines ensure that the Cowboys can keep playing, and Jones can keep printing money, you better believe he’s going to be a proponent of them. As of Tuesday morning, Jones said there were "maybe four or five of our players" who are not fully vaccinated.
“This is a team game. We rely on each other to play, we rely on each other to win,” Jones said. “There’s 11 guys out there at any one time, to be trite about it, and you have to count on the other guy being available. And you certainly don’t want to be doing anything that causes your teammates to not be available.
“All of that comes to the same conclusion.”
Which is to get vaccinated.
When a vaccine can end a pandemic that has killed more than 600,000 Americans and stretched health care workers beyond exhaustion, not getting one is neither personal nor a choice. It's selfish, and good for Jones for calling it out, regardless of his reasons.
Jerry Jones, of all people, just exposed the argument that getting a COVID-19 vaccine is a “personal choice” for the selfish nonsense that it is.
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