To all outside appearances, the Dallas Cowboys' rise to glory in Super Bowl XXVII was a seamless Cinderella story. The heroes were not so much the players as the two best friends from the University of Arkansas, owner Jerry Jones and coach Jimmy Johnson, who brought the team from a 1-15 disaster in 1989 to the NFL pinnacle in just three short years. They'd spent a lifetime planning this moment, the story went; the brash, impulsive owner and the always-in-control, not-a-hair-out-of-place coach worked together in beautiful harmony, fulfilling the dream they'd hatched as roommates in their football-playing youth.Such stories are usually too good to be true. So was this one.The Boys is the real story behind the easy-to-swallow fable. The main features of the relationship between Jones and Johnson are tension on the part of Johnson, whose occasional black moods and bursts of temper are often triggered by Jones's intrusions in football matters; and manipulation on the part of Jones, who sees "coaching the coach" as the key to success in the NFL. The JJs clashed over budget constraints, the size of the staff, the pace of player signings, key player acquisitions, and credit for successful deals. Their disagreements disturbed the team's equilibrium, as the assistant coaches and coordinators watched their head coach lose his focus and boil over about matters that had nothing to do with winning on the field. Johnson's anger could cast a dark cloud over the team, and did so just when they were playing their best football down the stretch and into the playoffs.The Boys is also the untold story of the men whose contributions often got lost in the public focus on the JJs: coordinators Dave Wannstedt and Norv Turner, whose game plans did a masterful job of exploiting the strengths and hiding the weaknesses of a still-developing team; guard Nate Newton, unofficial team spokesman and class clown, playing on a knee nearly ground to sawdust by his offseason bulk, inspiring his younger teammates with a Pro Bowl season; defensive end Charles Haley, a critical piece of the puzzle acquired in a late-summer trade, but a difficult and volatile presence in the locker room; and quarterback Troy Aikman, never able to get over the feeling that Johnson didn't trust him, but the key figure in the season as he took on a forceful leadership role after a Johnson explosion left the team shaken and unsure of itself.With piercing insight and eye-opening detail, Skip Bayless takes us behind the scenes and gives us the real lowdown on what went on in a season more turbulent than anyone could have guessed from the outside. The Boys is a penetrating, in-depth account of a season of triumph, as well as a myth-free, clear-eyed portrait of the men who made it happen. Read Less