If you watched The Open from Turnberry this past weekend there were two surprises: Tiger Woods didn’t make the cut, and Tom Watson nearly won the tournament. It became obvious that Tiger wasn’t playing his A-game when, in the middle of his second round, he played himself out the tournament.

Woods was one under par after seven holes and then went bogey, bogey, double bogey, par, bogey, double bogey. He was hitting shots that any weekend duffer could relate to as he topped the ball, mishit the ball several times, and explored all of the varieties of the rough. It was quite amazing.

It was not nearly half as amazing as what Tom Watson was doing. But before we get to that, we turn to the less edifying side of sport, where we are about to be treated to the opening of yet another architectural obscenity in the form of an overpriced overdone monument to misplaced societal priorities, avarice and decadence.

How appropriate is it that this latest entry in the decadence sweepstakes is to be found in Texas, and better still, in Dallas, the home of J. R. Ewing? You may recall J.R. as the leading practitioner of Texas overspending and overconsumption who taught us how the life of Texas cowboys had changed since oil money became a reality.

In the late 20th century, J.R. came to life in the form of one Jerry Jones, a bona fide oil and gas man, who purchased the Dallas Cowboys so that he could exercise his ego on national television. In recent years he has been doing his best to subvert the revenue sharing policies of the NFL and to undo the football success of the Dallas Cowboys. He has succeeded on both fronts.

Now Jerry is writing a new chapter in the history of the NFL, the history of Texas, and indeed  the history of Jerry Jones. Come September, the Dallas Cowboys will have another new home not in Dallas. Cowboys Stadium is the new billion dollar bauble ($1.15 billion) of Mr. Jones’ possessions.

Jerry says he could have built it for less, but at $850 million the stadium would lack the “wow factor” — and what’s a few hundred million dollars when the “wow factor” is out there for the getting?

No doubt Jerry was referring to the Italian marble floors, the pricey art collection, the dual gigantic video screens (72′ x 160′) that will carry the internal telecast, or the retractable glass end zone doors that will slide gently away.

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