Buddy, Can You Spare $350 Million?

In a major 'Oops!' moment this week, it's been revealed that beloved Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has come up a wee bit short of funds to complete the franchise's new mega-stadium in Arlington, Texas. The 'wee' shortage is said to be about $350 million. The original plan was to refinance about $126 million, as well as to borrow additional funds to complete the project, but the credit crunch has supposedly thrown a wrench in the works.

While we understand that the credit crunch is real, and have no reason to disbelieve Mr. Jones' difficulty in finding willing lenders to supply additional capital to America's Team's project, we can't quite shake the little voice that wonders if this shrewd businessman is simply becoming, in the words of fellow blogger Don D., the latest 'Bail Me Out Elmo'. After all, Mr. Jones has had the 'chutzpah' to be a pioneer in extracting public money to hedge his business ventures even in good economic times, so it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to imagine that he might ask taxpayers, whether local, state or national, to ease his financial pain in lean times.

Stay tuned to see how this one turns out...

Update: We were, nonetheless, very pleased with America's Team's performance at Texas Stadium yesterday (Thanksgiving).