Truth and Rumours NFL

With Philadelphia set to open training camp at the end of the month, the chances that Terrell Owens and Greg Lewis will remain teammates are unknown. Owens, who wants his contract restructured, skipped a mandatory minicamp and may skip training camp. The possibility exists that he will not play without a new contract. The Eagles seem unlikely to offer him one. As long as Owens remains AWOL, his replacement is likely to be the 25-year-old Lewis, who proved reliable in the playoffs last season but who is largely unknown and who has built a football career from repeated instances of being ignored and unappreciated. --New York Times
Paul Tagliabue is backed by many Packers who believe the NFL's problem with steroids is minimal. They feel they do not need outside regulations from the government. Though those random tests are a pain to Na'il Diggs, he and others think they work in deterring athletes from using steroids. "The major leagues can handle this on their own. There's no reason to bring paid politicians into this," Diggs said. "The economy, that's what (the politicians) need to be worried about. We have the strictest policy on steroids in the world, probably. The NFL penalizes the most, as far as steroids go. "I mean, you can go smoke coke, get caught with cocaine and still be able to play. But you get caught for steroids once? You're done for four games, unpaid. And it's been that way for years."-- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Hank Stram made it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach, but to many NFL fans he was equally well known for his work as the adroit analyst on "Monday Night Football" radio broadcasts. Stram worked for CBS alongside play-by-play announcer Jack Buck, for 16 seasons - from 1978 to 1995, minus two years NBC had the package in the mid-1980s. That gave them a longer run than any team ever to broadcast "MNF" on radio or TV. They mixed like apple pie and ice cream, with Stram having the uncanny ability to correctly predict the coming play, then Buck following through with his description of what was transpiring. Many people, especially those who didn't like Howard Cosell's presence on ABC's telecasts of the games, would turn off the volume on their television set and turn up the sound on the radio.-- St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Washington Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs recently decided against retaining Larry Hill, who was hired before last season as a full-time replay official, according to two sources with knowledge of the development. Hill's one-year contract expired last month. According to a league source, new Miami Dolphins coach Nick Saban intends to hire a replay official with similar duties to Hill's. But Saban -- who has contacted the NFL for a pool of retired officials -- is seeking someone to handle a bigger workload.--Washington Post
On May 6, 1993, owners and players of the National Football League entered into a new collective bargaining agreement. Labor peace has been a constant in the NFL since, making the NFL a model for other North American professional sports league either to be followed or envied. If the league and the NFL players association don't extend the CBA by February 2007, that model will begin to crack. The current agreement runs through the 2007 season, but if no extension is signed before that February the 2007 season becomes an uncapped year for salaries. The league hasn't operated without a salary cap since 1993 and has reaped the benefits of greater popularity and financial worth because of it. --Cinncinati Post
While San Antonio's NBA Spurs have captured the attention of much of South Texas -- if not a more global audience -- during their latest championship run, an effort to bring the NFL to Texas' border region has gone mostly unnoticed. But those pushing hardest for a plan that would have Texas and Mexico share an NFL franchise have quietly continued their march and may have picked up some important momentum. In November, the Business Journal first reported that McHenry T. Tichenor, former CEO of the Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. (which later merged with Univision), had teamed up with business leaders in the Rio Grande Valley region in an effort to attract an NFL team.

San Antonio Business Journal