Stephen A. Smith Claims 'Black Folks' Angered By Jerry Jones' George Pickens Comments

FRISCO - Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has a well-documented history of speaking colloquially. ... and after all of these years, most listeners have come to understand his unique lingo.

Is ESPN lead personality Stephen A. Smith - in accusing Jones of racially-insensitive comments - not among the listeners able to translate "Jerry-Speak''?

Or is hot-take-hungry Smith fully aware that his reaction reeks of race-baiting?

This week, the Cowboys owner was asked by the media about contract negotiations regarding standout receiver George Pickens, who was given the $27.3 million franchise tag and has yet to sign that tag, let alone sign a new long-term contract.

As it happens, Pickens is represented by David Mulugheta, who was also the agent for Micah Parsons last season when his relationship with Jones went so sour that Dallas traded him to Green Bay.

Jones swears that he has no personal issues with Mulugheta, even though the Cowboys remain bothered by how things broke down ... because Jones believes he had a new contract agreement with Parsons before the player took the offer to the agent, who negated the alleged agreement.

"There's no issue with me with talking to agents,'' said Jones, who actually took some blame for not better managing the back-and-forth between himself, Parsons and Mulugheta.

And then Jones used one of his time-worn analogies to describe that back-and-forth - and one that Smith claims "black folks'' will find bothersome.

Said Jones: "I need to do a better job of not getting (involved in), 'Well, Daddy said I could have it,' and him going to Mama, and saying, 'Daddy said l could have it.''

I have for years poked fun at Jones for what I've called his "Country-Fried, Corn-Pone, Little Rock Door-to-Door Salesman Jibber-Jabber.''

But at the same time, I know exactly what his "Daddy/Mama'' analogy means. He's simply talking about how a kid can go to one parent to get an answer that leverages the other parent into getting what the kid wants.

Simple. But not to Stephen A.

Said Smith: “Just because you're the billionaire owner of the Dallas Cowboys don't mean that you can't receive some heat for the stuff that comes out of your mouth. You can't talk like that. You cannot do that. ...

"I don't like the way he didn't have to do that. He could have came up with a thousand different ways to make his point rather than doing it the way that he did it. It's very, very condescending, very insulting.

"And I'm telling you right now, black folks listening to that ain't going to take kindly to verbiage that Jerry Jones used."

OK. But ... why? 

In his analogy, Parsons was the "kid'' going back and forth between the two "parents'' (Mulugheta and Jones).

And I've heard Jones use this same line when it comes to his own upbringing with his own real-life Mama and Daddy.

There is nothing "racist'' about the phrases "Mama'' and "Daddy''; that's what Jerry called his parents and it may be how you refer to yours.

There is nothing "racist'' about the "permission'' game that kids play with their parents; it's part of learning to "negotiate'' from a young age, and it likely happened in your house, as it did in mine.

And while I would not be presumptuous enough to tell "black folks'' (or any other "folks'') what you have permission to be "insulted'' by ... I am in a position to say this seems to have far less to do with with Jones, Parsons, Pickens and Mulugheta than it does about Stephen A. Smith falling into his own race-baiting trap.