When it was first formed, the commissioner was Paul Tagliabue who was
pushing heavily for the development of the new European league. He had
convinced the NFL owners to fork over one million per team to support
this offshore league. When Roger Goodell took over as commissioner, he
wasn’t as keen on this idea, so the league folded. But, this weekend
we have a regular season game scheduled in London.

Okay, here’s my point. The retired players pension and disability
benefits. Can you imagine the new influx of revenue that will be
coming to the NFL from the international television rights? It’s going
to be staggering. Will the owners still balk at putting more money
into the retired players’ fund to help bring the NFL benefits up to par
with the other professional sports? That’s the question! As they get
richer, will they remember the players that helped build the NFL so
that it could grow into the international sport it has become? We
shall wait and see.

There will be more than 100 films, both U.S. and foreign.  I’ll keep
you informed of the difficult task I have before me while being wined
and dined in Spain.  Eat your hearts out!

The Giants have a franchise player, Plaxico Burress, who comes to
practice when he wants.

The Bills’ safety, Whitner, is pissed because the Raiders were
show-boating after they beat them.  Hell, he should be more pissed that
they lost to the lowly Raiders.

The Steelers QB, Big Ben, is spending more time on his butt than
standing up every time he goes back to pass.  The big bet seems to be
will he, or won’t he, finish the season?

The Pats are a deep threat with all pro receivers, but no once can
throw a pass past 20 yards.  Deep threat gone!

What is it with Tampa Bay?  They threw the ball 67 times in a game -
who do they think they are, the Colts?

I think the humidity in San Francisco has something to do with the
slippery ball - the 49ers have lost five fumbles so far.  How low can
you go?

The Bengals have tackled the opposing quarterback for a sack only once
so far this season.  Is that a sad sack, or what?

The Chiefs, man, you’ve got to be bad to let the Raiders beat you.  The
Chiefs have lost 12 regular season games consecutively.  Wonder what
the pep talk in the locker room is like.

What?  The Raiders lost to the Chargers.  Could it be?  The Chargers
are finally on the right track, the one they were predicted to be on.

What an unpredictable season this is turning out to be.

Okay, he won, but I’ve noticed a different Sugar in his last few
fights.  That killer instinct is missing.  He used to throw crushing
body blows to his opponent - I mean he used to swing with his whole
body - and if he missed the breeze would hurt.  Now, he’s content to
throw a punch and fall into the arms of his opponent.  Not the Sugar of
old, he would never clinch.  Now, clinching is part of his plan.  He is
slowly becoming a boring fighter.

You can hear is father giving him the advice of old..  “Throw body
punches, jab more…” all of which Sugar did very little of.

He won, I guess that’s the bottom line.  But I kept feeling he was
going to be knocked out in that fight.  Too many right hands were
finding their marks on Sugar’s face.  Something is missing in Sugar.
I’m a fan, so hope he finds whatever is missing before a championship
fight and then he can retire, no matter what the outcome.  Go Sugar.

What’s up with these rookie idiots for the NBA?  Miami Heat rookie,
Michael Beasley was fined $50 grand for breaking a rule.  And, that
rule is no women in your hotel room during the rookie symposium.  Also
fined $20 grand were rookies Mario Chalmers and Memphis’ Darrell
Arthur.  Oh yeah, they were doing the same thing.  Come on, guys,
what’s your problem?  Are your needs that bad?  Again, I think it’s too
much money too soon.  What’s a $20 grand fine to chumps making millions
right from the start.  They forget which head to think with.
Suspending them with no pay is what is needed to help other young
millionaire athletes have a chance to mature - let their brains catch
up with their bank accounts.

Great news that boxer Oscar Diaz has awakened from his coma.  He was
carried from the ring over two months ago after being knocked out by
Delvin Rodriguez.  Even better news is that the doctors are optimistic
there will be a full recovery.  Oscar may have been carried from the
ring, but after two months, he has apparently won his biggest battle.

Well, the Raiders finally found a team they can beat - the Chiefs.  I
don’t know which team to root for since I played several years for
both.  Okay, the Raiders suck, the Chiefs are just bad.  But think
about it - how can the Raider players play well when they know20there
could be a coaching change in the middle of the game.  Al Davis has the
potential to do things like that - and believe me, it’s only a matter
of time.  That young coach had better keep his bags packed.

Did you see that call the ref made in the Denver game?  Dude, that was
really bad.  Even your girlfriend who doesn’t understand football could
have made a better call.  It was a fumble.  Forget about it, no
discussion needed, it was a fumble.  The ref later apologized to the
Charger coach, saying he blew it.  Okay, kool, blow this you chump (and
I’m talking about Coach Norv Turner’s finger).  And with this gift of
new life, the Broncos went on to win the game by two points.

Now, I say if you have an injury that doesn’t allow you to function
properly, it’s okay to say you can’t play.  L.T., the prize halfback
for the Chargers, has a hurt big toe.  Big toe? What’s with that?  So
far he’s missed the exhibition season and two season games. Now he may
not play this Sunday against the Jets.  Wrap the dang thing up.  Stick
a needle in it full of no-hurt juice and get out there, the Chargers
need you, Dude.

And finally, what about O.J…. is he still part of the sports world?
Well, just in case he is, it’s time for O.J. news, once again.  As most
of you know, he’s back in court, in
Las Vegas, trying to stay out of
jail.  He has a slew of charges that could get him a lot of jail time
if convicted. My bet?  He will walk.  This time the witnesses against
him have even less smarts than him.  It’s happening as you read this,
so let’s see how it plays out.

Okay, I’ll stop here, but you can bet there’s more coming.

AP/David J. Phillip

I’m talking about the batons that were dropped by both the U.S. Men’s
and Women’s Relay Teams. What is wrong with these people??! This is
the history of U.S. relay teams in the Olympics - it’s been done before
and it surely will be done again.

Why? Attitude. Not just the ability to work together - they have the
ability. Hard work is a given. It’s the commitment to get the job
done as a team - this is what they lack. The rule is simple, don’t let
the baton go until it is taken from your hand. No matter what, no
matter how difficult, no matter what strange position the other hand is
in, no matter what - don’t let the baton go until it’s taken from you.

In the Men’s 4×100 meter relay, Tyson Gay dropped the baton which he
never had. Look, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that you
put the baton in your right hand to pass on the left side to an open
hand. Davis Patton came in fast on the wrong side and tried to reach
the baton to Tyson’s open hand. But Tyson’s hand was open and turned
away from Patton. Two mistakes and the baton is dropped.

The Women’s team in the same relay suffered the same fate. Incredible.
Lauryn Williams failed to get the baton, ran off and left it, then went back
and picked it up as she then ran to the finish line. She had
been involved in a baton drop in Athens and she said this time, no
matter what, she had to cross the line with the baton. My take, she
already had been badly burned by Jamaican Veronica Campbell and took
off a little early trying to get the edge. She ran away from the
exchange too soon, causing the baton to drop on the track.

The U.S. Women’s Team hadn’t failed to miss the finals since 1948 - and
the Men’s Team haven’t failed to miss the finals since 1988. Both
dropped batons happened on the third leg. What can you say? Nothing
except that for Olympic relay teams they both looked very sloppy.

A Good Friend of the NFL is Gone.

Gene Upshaw, the NFL Players Association union leader, passed away only
days after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Gene’s entire life was dedicated to the NFL. First, his entire 15-year
playing career was spent as an Oakland Raider, where he played in two
Super Bowls and seven Pro Bowls. He went on to spend more than 25 years
as head of the players union.

He tenure as union leader was not without criticism. He was once
quoted as saying, “Why should I help the retired players, they don’t
pay my salary, the active players do that.” And the salary he was
talking about was close to $3 mil per year.

Upshaw made great strides for the active players, getting them the free
agency deal and the salary cap. But what was always lagging behind was
improved benefits for the retired players, ie. pension benefits along
with benefits for the disabled. As an NFL retired player, I’m more
aware of the improvements needed to help a great number of retired and
disabled players. Until just this year, you had to be blind, crippled
and confined to a bed or wheelchair to get disability benefits from the
NFL. Players would plead their cases, stating that Social Security
recognized them as being disabled and so should the NFL. But the union
would not budge and went so far as to say that even if Social Security
accepted your disability claims, they would not.

Finally this year a “Plan B” was adopted which reversed those rulings.
If Social Security was paying you disability benefits, it then became
automatic for the NFL to do the same. To the many disabled former
players out there this was great, albeit late, news.

NFL players have a unique camaraderie and we are saddened and shocked
by the sudden death of one of our own. My sincere condolences go out
to his wife, Terri, and their three sons.

Hey, finally, football is in the air. Soon, the weather will change
too. Then we’ll be able to once again say “It’s football weather.”
Translated that usually means cool, crisp and sometimes damp.

I’m tired of baseball. The sports news on TV spends the whole newscast
trying to give an update on the 50 games played yesterday. Enough!
It’s overkill. That’s probably one reason I don’t like baseball - too
many games and too much information. Each baseball team plays over 100
games and then the newscasters try to give us an update on each team,
every day - wow - see what I mean.

The NFL teams combined barely play over 100 games in an entire
season. That gives us an opportunity to take it all in. We can spend
all week thinking about each game, talking the stats and absorbing all
the information about each team.

One thing I haven’t quite gotten used to is the Monday Night Football
change over. It’s different now, and I don’t mean that in a positive
way. ABC did a great job for over 25 years on Monday nights. It’s not
just the announcers, altho’ they’re tops. It was the way they shot the
games. The close-ups were excellent. They always seemed to be in the
right place at the right time.

In all areas they made better usage of the cameras than ESPN does now.
ESPN uses too many overhead wide shots. Very uncreative. The whole
atmosphere of Monday night has changed - but it’s better than Monday
thru Sunday baseball! Thursday night games — don’t like them either.
They’re midweek, not the same as Monday when you need that jump-start
for the week.

The sounds, the grunts, the thuds, the cheers are all almost back.
Can’t wait!

It’s Tiger talk again. We just learned the complete story about
Tiger’s knee, and it’s not pretty. No, it’s serious - no faking, no
rumors. He needs a complete overhaul on his knee. It’s strange to see
that a golfer needs knee surgery since it’s not a contact sport. But,
according to Tiger’s management company, that’s exactly the case. They
put out a release that said Tiger hurt his knee while jogging near his
Orlando home. Dude, that’s a trip, no pun intended. That just goes to
show that you can do something as simple as stepping off a curb the
wrong way and next thing you know it could possibly end your career.

I’m sure Tiger has the best doctors, but I think he should see the
orthopedic surgeons who specialize in football injuries. They’ve seen
more of these types of injuries and really know which surgery will give
him the best result. This is a football-type injury, not an injury you
see in golf.

All the sports writers are talking about how badly Tiger’s star quality
will be missed on the tour and how much money the networks will lose.
Trust me, this is not on Tiger’s mind. First at the top of his list -
stop the pain - that’s tops on Tiger’s list. Next he’s asking, “Do I
have to change my swing to accommodate an injured knee? And, “if I have
to, I will”, is his answer. Tiger’s thinking only allows him to do
whatever it takes to play and win.

I’m sure he made some swing changes along the way during the Open
against Rocco. The pain was causing him to slice his drives when he
really went after it. Eventually he worked something out to take that
18th hole drive 304 yards down the middle to birdie the hole and win the
tournament. Golf is a game of adjustments. All golfers know this,
that’s why they are constantly working on their swing - including
Tiger. He changed coaches, clubs, and balls to try to find a swing
that consistently works.

Now, once again, the changes begin again. The goal? Big swing, no
pain. That’s what he’ll be looking for. Knowing Tiger, I’m sure he’ll
find it when the time comes.

Yeah, I’m talking about Tiger Woods. What more can you say about the man, the athlete the warrior with the mind of a tiger. Always stalking and watching you. Make a mistake and you’re toast. Play your heart out, and you’re still toast.

If you weren’t watching the Open over the weekend, whether you’re a golfer or not, by Sunday night you were watching highlights on the news with the same intensity as a prime time cliffhanger. Tiger was battling himself first, Rocco Mediate second. Rocco wasn’t really a factor in Tiger’s game, more significant was the battle Tiger was
having playing thru the pain caused by his bad knee.

In the overall picture, it didn’t matter who Tiger was tied with - in this case it just happened to be Rocco - the story was that Tiger battled thru every hole, and came from behind to force an 18-hole playoff today. Rocco’s presence definitely made it a better competition for the television audience. Rocco also gave the bias TV commentators something to build their stupid comments on, such as Johnny Miller supposedly quoting Jack Nicklaus when he said he wondered why other golfers, when they play with Tiger, open the doors for him to win. Is he kidding? It’s like Tiger doesn’t have to hit the ball or make the putts. I’d like to see Jack, even at his prime, play these courses at 7,600 yards - and they legalized the length of these courses to cool down Tiger and his long drives. I think Jack would have retired sooner.

Rocco was good, but the long course was too much for him. Tiger’s bad left knee caused him to hit a lot of tee shots to the right. The left leg is the pivot leg on the downswing, which puts a lot of pressure and pain on that knee. The kind of pain he played through we will probably never know because he’ll never complain or tell you. After receiving the cup Bob Costas asked Tiger if the knee was a factor. Tiger simply said he was “glad that it’s over”. That’s the most he complained. He said he’s shutting down for a while.

This was a good, no make that great win for Tiger - his 14th major. And what we saw was vintage Tiger with eagles, birdies, 300+ yard drives, miracle shots out of traps, and some heart-stopping putts. Tiger was Tiger in spite of his bad knee, the commentators and the gallery - all of whom seemed to favor Rocco. Go Tiger! You are the man.