Dallas, TX
What we learned from Dallas Cowboys’ training camp opening presser and first practice
Day 1 of Dallas Cowboys training camp is in the books, meaning we have a lot to revisit.
To start things off, Jerry Jones dominated much of the team’s camp-opening news conference by answering questions about contract extensions, fan frustration and expectations. Stephen Jones and Mike McCarthy were also in attendance but didn’t generate as much buzz as the Cowboys owner and general manager.
Before the team’s first practice started, Jerry Jones had already coined a word of the day and pointed out the positive trajectory of the team’s season ticket sales. Here’s a look at what we learned from Day 1 of Cowboys training camp:
Jerry Jones and ambiguity
Much of Jerry Jones’ Thursday monologue included the phrase “ambiguity.” The word was mainly used while discussing frustration from the fan base after a slow summer that was marked by minimal moves on the free-agency market, a holdout from CeeDee Lamb and the lack of an extension for Dak Prescott.
“After 35 years, the one thing that is for sure is ambiguity,’’ Jerry Jones said. “Just the nature of what being a part of sports, a part of football is, is very ambiguous.
“There is always going to be many dangling participles out here of unfinished business. That’s the reality of it.
“That’s what frustrates you [media],’’ Jones continued. “And if it frustrates you it frustrates fans, obviously, to not have closure or to not have bright lines.
“That’s not in my mind. That’s not in my life. I don’t ever anticipate it getting any better with the NFL and the Cowboys.’’
Read more here from The Dallas Morning News’ David Moore.
A lame-duck year for Mike McCarthy?
Following the team’s news conference, Jerry Jones told a small group of reporters that McCarthy has the ability to become Dallas’ coach for years to come. McCarthy is in the final year of a five-year contract.
“I don’t agree with you,” Jones said. “I understand the term and I understand how it fits. I don’t look at it that way. There’s a point in there, I know our fans would like it if everybody were on a low contract, but if they won a Super Bowl, they’d get rid of [everybody]. I’m talking about every coach, every player, I’m talking about everybody. I know that’s the fans’ sentiment. I know that for a fact that you don’t domino if you don’t [win a Super Bowl]. But if you get it, it’s glory hole. Oil and gas term of hitting the big well.”
When asked why McCarthy didn’t receive an extension after the 2023 season, Jerry Jones pointed toward Dallas’ latest wild-card playoff loss to the Packers.
“Green Bay,” Jones said. “Mike has shown me that I want to have him and he’s qualified and he’s excellent and the players are excellent and he’s shown me that he could be our coach for years to come. He sits next to me in the draft. I really call on him a lot. If you can’t get along with Mike McCarthy, you can’t get along.”
Read more from The News’ Calvin Watkins here.
Where do extension talks stand for the Cowboys’ three big stars?
A majority of Dallas fans most likely already know CeeDee Lamb is in the early stages of a camp holdout. The Cowboys receiver is seeking the largest contract for a non-quarterback in league history.
He isn’t the only one seeking a big payday, as Micah Parsons and Dak Prescott are also in line for extensions. Parsons, who said he’ll wait until next year to get a new contract, also wants one of the largest contracts for a non-quarterback in league history.
That leaves us with Prescott.
The Cowboys quarterback desires to retire with the franchise that drafted him but is comfortable knowing it might not end that way. Prescott, entering the final year of his deal, expects to get a fair market value contract if he doesn’t get an extension this year.
“I want to be here but when you look up all the great quarterbacks that I watched, played for other teams,” Prescott said. “So my point in saying that it’s not something to fear. It may be a reality for me one day. It may not be my decision. The freedom that I have is be where your feet are, make the most of it, be confident in yourself, make your team better. I love my teammates I love that locker room.”
Read more here.
What Jerry said about his trial
Before the Cowboys owner joined his team in Southern California, he spent part of the week preoccupied with a trial in Texarkana. Jones brought a countersuit against a woman alleging she was his biological daughter, accusing the woman and her mother of breaching a settlement agreement reached in 1998. The trial came to a sudden resolution Tuesday as the parties settled, signaling the end of multiple lawsuits Jones has faced since 2022.
“Well, we got it resolved like I wanted. And so it was unfortunate but it is resolved,” Jones said Thursday. “And it was, of course, very sensitive with my family and it was very sensitive with the unique publicity that’s involved with the Cowboys, but it was [resolved] satisfactory for all concerned. I won’t be commenting any more about it, but I certainly are where I want to be.”
Read more here.
More coverage of Cowboys camp Day 1
— Jerry Jones remains comfortable selling the past, even in Cowboys’ most puzzling offseason
— While Cowboys navigate contract storm, Dak Prescott reveals honest outlook on future
— Was Jerry Jones sending a message to frustrated Cowboys fans with reference to ambiguity?
— Takeaways from Cowboys’ camp-opening address: Jerry Jones focuses on elephant in the room
— Cowboys owner Jerry Jones comments on dismissed paternity dispute in training camp address
— Why hasn’t Mike McCarthy gotten a contract extension yet? ‘Green Bay,’ Jerry Jones says
— Highlights from Jerry Jones, Mike McCarthy at ‘State of the Cowboys’ address in Oxnard
— Back in the saddle: See photos from Dallas Cowboys’ first training camp practice and opening news conference
Reporting from staff writers Calvin Watkins and David Moore was used in this post.
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Dallas, TX
Suspect dead after officer involved shooting in Mesquite
A woman and the person suspected of killing her are dead after an incident led to an officer-involved shooting near Town East Mall in Mesquite on Saturday.
The Dallas Police Department (DPD) responded to a shooting call in the 9000 block of Markville Drive at about 10:15 a.m. A woman was found shot and taken to a local hospital where she died from her injuries.
DPD determined that the suspect fled the scene.
Around 11:45 a.m., Dallas Police said Northeast Division officers were conducting surveillance and located the suspect in a vehicle near the 18500 block of LBJ Freeway in Mesquite, which is right outside Town East Mall.
Police said when they attempted a traffic stop, the suspect got out of the car armed and shots were fired.
They said no officers were hurt, and the suspect died on scene.
The shooting gave many busy mall shoppers some pause.
“I was just afraid about everybody else here, you know, like, there’s a whole bunch of families out here Christmas shopping, something else could have happened, you know,” said Alexander Evans.
“My friend and her kids are supposed to be meeting me here, so I kind of told her, I was like, ‘It might be best if you don’t.’ Just to be safe,” said Abby Rather.
Mesquite Police are now investigating the officer-involved shooting, since it happened within their city.
Dallas Police said they are still investigating the homicide case.
They also said the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office responded to the OIS scene and will conduct their own investigation.
Dallas Police said The Office of Community Police Oversight also responded.
Dallas, TX
Dallas Stars blow out Anaheim Ducks as offense explodes for third straight win
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Jason Robertson had two goals and an assist, and the Dallas Stars beat the Anaheim Ducks 8-3 on Friday night for their third straight win.
Roope Hintz and Thomas Harley each had a goal and an assist, and Oskar Bäck, Sam Steel, Ilya Lybushkin and Adam Erne also scored for the Stars. who are an NHL-best 13-2-4 on the road. Mikko Rantanen and Miro Heiskanen each had two assists, and Casey DeSmith had 23 saves.
Ryan Poehling, Beckett Sennecke and Mikael Granlund scored for the Ducks, who have lost four of five. Lukas Dostal gave up four goals on seven shots before he was pulled with 5:41 left in the first period. Petr Mrazek came on and stopped 14 of the 18 shots he faced the rest of the way.
The Stars’ eight-goal output tied a season high, matching their 8-3 win at Edmonton on Nov. 25, and was the most the Ducks have given up.
Bäck gave the Stars a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal 2:37 into the game after the Ducks turned the puck over behind their net.
Poehling tied it 55 seconds later, scoring in close on the rebound of a point shot by Radko Gudas.
Hintz put Dallas back ahead at 4:42, getting a pass from Robertson in the slot, sliding backwards and firing a shot past Dostal for his 11th.
Steel pushed the Stars’ lead to 3-1 with 7:19 left in the first, scoring past Dostal while crashing into the net and dislodging it. The goal was confirmed after a review.
Harley made it a three-goal lead 1:38 later as he got a pass from Rantanen and scored from the right circle.
Robertson scored in front on a power play with 8:50 remaining in the second, and then put a backhander past Mrazek from the right circle 4 minutes later to make it 6-1. It gave Robertson a team-leading 22 goals.
Erne made it a six-goal lead with 1:30 left in the middle period.
After Sennecke pulled the Ducks back within five 1:01 into the third, Lybushkin got his first of the season 41 seconds later to extend the Stars’ lead to 8-2. Granlund capped the scoring with 5:38 remaining.
Up next
Stars: Host Toronto on Sunday.
Ducks: Host Columbus on Saturday.
Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Dallas, TX
Don Stone, Dallas philanthropist and arts advocate, dies
Don Stone, a Dallas civic leader and strong supporter of the arts, died on Sunday. He was 96.
Angela Stone, Don’s youngest child, said her father was one of a kind, a rare mix of sweet and tough.
“He was just the most wonderful man I ever knew, just generous to a fault, smart, charming. He influenced so many people,” she said.
Stone gave widely across North Texas, including $500,000 to endow college scholarships for musically gifted Dallas ISD students. Stone also held leadership positions at several North Texas arts organizations, including the Dallas Public Library, Voices of Change, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Fine Arts Chamber Players, Orchestra of New Spain, the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, Shakespeare Dallas and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
“He just believed that all of our lives would be so much poorer without music, art and theater. He said in our country we have the freedom to support whatever we want and that we needed to support the arts so that they would continue to exist,” Stone said.
Stone, a businessman who lived in Turtle Creek, worked for Sanger Harris, which later became Macy’s. He was a 2018 TACA Silver Cup Award honoree for his arts and culture advocacy in North Texas.
Maura Sheffler, president and executive director of The Arts Community Alliance (TACA), said in a statement that Stone’s legacy will continue to inspire the local arts community.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Don Stone, a devoted champion of the arts whose leadership and generosity,” she wrote.
Stone’s wife of over 72 years, Norma, died in June. She was the one who first got her husband involved in the arts, according to their daughter Angela.
Michelle Miller Burns, the DSO’s president and CEO, said the Stones had a profound impact on the DSO.
“It is with such a heavy heart that I received news of Don Stone’s passing earlier this week. Don was a devoted patron, a donor and a board member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and his leadership and generosity really have helped shape the Dallas symphony across five decades,” she said.
In 1980, Stone served as DSO’s chairman of the Board of Governors and helped launch efforts to raise $80 million for Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center and secure architect I.M. Pei.
In 1997, the Stones launched the Norma and Don Stone New Music Fund and committed $1 million to continuously support new works. Some of the works supported through the fund include this year’s world premiere of Angélica Negrón’s requiem For Everything You Keep Losing. The fund also supported a Grammy award-winning violin concerto by Aaron Jay Kernis co-commissioned with the Seattle Symphony, Toronto Symphony and Melbourne Symphony.
“I think it is rare for a couple who so firmly believes in the future of classical music and creating opportunities for new musical voices to be heard to really put support behind that in a meaningful way to fuel that process, to ensure that it can come to fruition,” Burns said.
She said the DSO will continue the Stones’ legacy by commissioning new works through the Norma and Don Stone New Music Fund.
Stone is survived by his children Michael, Lisa and Angela, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. The family will have a private funeral.
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The University of Texas at Dallas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.
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