PALM DESERT, Calif. – Football's elders will speak
symbolically this week to every kid playing football –
professional, college and high school.
Taunt no more, they will say. Don't wag your finger in an
opponent's face, don't stomp on him or spike a ball near him.
That's 15 yards and, probably, a fine.
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Mon, March 26
Approximately 14 owners didn't show up at the owners meeting. Part
of the reason was the revamped schedule that didn't have owners' committee
votes on business items. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said that there already
had been five owners meetings in the past five months so there wasn't a lot
to do. Some owners may have feared being served a subpoena for the league's
lawsuit with Raiders owner Al Davis. Tagliabue called the Davis lawsuit "a
sham" and said that some owners believe it is a "shakedown." Davis is
contending that the league interfered with his deal to put the Raiders in
Hollywood Park.
One of the ideas under consideration by the competition committee is
to adjust the tie-breaking rules for playoffs once the league expands to 32
teams in 2002. The suggestion is to make common opponents more important and
strength of schedule and strength of victory being an enhanced criteria.
Future schedules will have 14 common opponents compared to 10. Being
downgraded, if the proposals gain support, would be net points within
conference and net points within division categories. Head to head will
remain the main tie-breaker.
There are some people in the NFL who would like to increase the
number of playoff teams beyond 12, but the league has convinced those that
it would be better to wait through the 2002 and 2003 seasons to see how the
new schedule works before making changes.
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"High school coaches are saying, 'You represent the highest
level of the game and whatever you let take place on Sunday, our
guys are doing it on Monday,' " Minnesota coach Dennis Green said
Monday as the league's rules-making committee officially
announced it will crack down on the taunting that's become
prevalent in NFL games.
That and a rule banning the wearing of bandanas under helmets
were among the items approved by the committee and to be voted on
later this week at the annual spring owners' meeting, which this
year is more like the meeting of coaches, general managers and
other team officials.
That's because 14 of the 31 owners aren't present.
One theory is they stayed away for fear of being subpoenaed to
testify at the $1 billion suit filed by the Oakland Raiders against
the NFL, which is currently taking place in Los Angeles. Many of
those missing – Wellington Mara of the New York Giants, Robert
Kraft of New England and Tom Benson of New Orleans, to name three –
are normally heavily involved in committee matters.
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue flatly said the trial had nothing to
do with the absences. "This is the fifth meeting in five months,"
he said. "We've gotten a lot of our business done."
But Robert Tisch, co-owner of the Giants, said the trial was one
of the factors that kept Mara home. "He didn't want to spend his
time worrying about someone serving him," Tisch said of his
partner, whose son John, the team's vice president, is representing
him.
That makes the competition committee the focus of the activity.
It has been discussing realignment, which won't be decided on
until late May – just before the June 1 deadline for reshaping the
league for the 2002 season, when Houston will rejoin as the 32nd
team.
It also hopes to extend instant replay, which has always been
voted in (or out) on a one-year basis, for three more years. "That
will be very close," said Tampa Bay general manager Rich McKay,
co-chairman with Green of the committee, which voted 7-0 with one
abstention (Indianapolis president Bill Polian) to extend replay
three years.
Both said that if the three-year extension fails to get the 24
votes needed, they will revert to one year.
Then there is the taunting and scuffling issue.
Tagliabue said it most often happens early in the game, most
often on the kickoff or one of the early plays.
"The teams are fired up and when they hit there's a lot of
emotion that can lead to scuffling," he said. "This year, the
officials will throw flags early in the first preseason game, throw
them in the regular season and throw them until it stops."
The players guilty of unsportsmanlike conduct are also subject
to fines, although the fines won't be substantially increased from
previous years. "One fine is all it takes," McKay said. "They
normally don't do it again,"
The ban on bandanas could be more sensitive because a large
majority of the players who wear them are black. A few years ago,
according to league sources, banning them was brought up by Gene
Washington, the league disciplinarian, but was shot down by
Tagliabue.
But Green, who like Washington is black, said he had banned
bandanas on his team with little protest. "We have a uniform code
and the uniforms are supposed to be the same," he said. "That
includes what you wear on your head."
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