Nfl To Jones: Just Undo It
NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue’s voice rose in anger as he tried to explain the league’s $300 million suit against Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
“I’m not angry, I’m just a little bit frustrated when people don’t seem to understand the big picture,” Tagliabue said following a four-hour meeting of NFL owners Tuesday in Atlanta. At the meeting, Jones was allowed to present his case for the agreements he signed with non-league sponsors Nike and Pepsi.
Tagliabue angrily suggested that the contracts negotiated by Jones outside the purview of NFL Properties, Inc., threatened the future stability of the game and the rich heritage of the league.
Jones wants the league to change its revenue-sharing system under which all 30 teams divide licensing royalties evenly. It amounts to about 3.5 million per team each year. The Cowboys accounted for about one-fourth of the revenue last year and Jones believes his team deserves more than a 1-30th share.
Lloyd avoids hard knocks
As promised, Greg Lloyd knocked Dan Marino out of Monday night’s game. But what Marino did to Lloyd was just as definitive, if less dramatic.
He shut him up.
Lloyd, quoted that he wanted to knock the Dolphins quarterback “into next week,” did exactly that with a straight-on hit that sidelined Marino with a bruised sternum. Yet Marino’s absence was hardly noticed in the final quarter of Miami’s 23-10 victory over Pittsburgh.
Only a week after spending 20 postgame minutes ripping the NFL’s newly toughened restrictions protecting the quarterback, Lloyd shooed reporters away with a wave of his hand and a shout.
Still, plenty of other players, including Dolphins linebacker Bryan Cox, spoke up for Lloyd, even if he wasn’t speaking himself.
“It was as clean a hit as I’ve seen in the league,” Cox said. “I felt bad because I had been teasing Dan all week about Lloyd. I don’t think he knocked him into next week, but probably at least until Saturday night. Every defensive player hopes for a hit like that on the quarterback.”
Marino and Miami have a bye week.
Surgery for Deion
Deion Sanders confirmed he will undergo ankle surgery as soon as the San Francisco Giants are eliminated from the National League West division race.
The arthroscopic surgery, which may be only a few days away, will enable the two-sport athlete to join the Cowboys sooner than expected. Sanders scoffed at speculation he would sit out the 1996 baseball season, expressed a desire to rejoin the Giants and said he was upset by remarks of some 49ers after he signed with the Cowboys.
“I don’t understand that (negative) reaction,” Sanders said before the Giants’ game at Dodger Stadium. “It’s a business world and the guys (49ers) know what I sacrificed last year. To say I got too much credit for the Super Bowl is grossly unfair. I just wish happiness for the 49ers and for those guys to go on with their lives and not mention me.”
Lewis promoted
Ron Lewis, a starting guard on Washington State’s 1994 Alamo Bowl team, was promoted from the practice squad to the active roster by the Washington Redskins on Tuesday.
The 6-foot-3, 300-pound Lewis signed with the Redskins as a free agent on June 9, and was released by the team on Aug. 27 when Washington reduced the roster to the mandatory 53-player limit. He was assigned to the practice squad on Aug. 28.
End zone
Miami coach Don Shula, bothered recently by a sore right knee, underwent successful arthroscopic surgery Tuesday to repair torn cartilage and is expected back at practice today… . Chargers coach Bobby Ross switched from IVs to milkshakes as he continued to recover from a bout with dehydration that put him in the hospital for one night Tom Rathman, the veteran fullback, who was an outstanding blocker for Ricky Watters at San Francisco 49ers, has turned down an offer to play for the Eagles. …. Pittsburgh has reached a contract agreement with free safety Darren Perry reportedly worth slightly more than $5.6 million.