Fred Dean, defensive end/linebacker, 1975-1985, San Diego and San Francisco. Considered the top pass rusher of his era, helped 49ers win two Super Bowls.
Darrell Green, cornerback, 1982-2002, Washington. Had an interception in an NFL-record 19 consecutive seasons, was one of the fastest players in league history.
Art Monk, receiver, 1980-95, Washington, N.Y. Jets, Philadelphia. Played 14 seasons for the Redskins, had NFL-record 940 catches when he retired.
Emmitt Thomas, cornerback, 1966-78, Kansas City. Had 58 career interceptions, has coached in the NFL since 1981, including stint with Vikings.
Andre Tippett, linebacker, 1982-93, New England. Had 100 career sacks for a Patriots team that struggled for much of his 12 seasons.
Gary Zimmerman, tackle, 1986-1997, Minnesota and Denver. Ironman lineman was on NFL's all-decade team in both the 1980s and 1990s.
NFL Hall of Fame class of 2008....
by FOXSports.com
If Brett Favre was in fact talking to the Minnesota Vikings, it wasn't on a phone belonging to the Green Bay Packers, according to a report Thursday.
A story in the Green Bay Press-Gazette refutes reports from earlier in the week related to allegations of tampering by the Vikings in pursuit of the disgruntled Packers quarterback.
Citing sources from the NFL and an unnamed person close to Favre, the paper reported the retired-for-now future Hall of Famer does not have a cell phone issued by the Packers. Such an arrangement could have had salary-cap implications that might have drawn league penalties against the club if the arrangement was not spelled out in his contract.
"One-hundred percent, without a doubt, no Packers-issued phone," the source close to Favre told the paper.
Report: Favre's phone didn't belong to team....
Terrell Owens, hero. Thanks to reader Craig Sullivan, here's a story of Owens' heroics after a car accident left ESPN's Sam Alipour injured following the ESPY's last week.
Here's an interesting quote:
"So, T.O. was nice, huh?" says the medic who took my blood pressure inside the ambulance. "Boy, you think you know somebody, but the media doesn't tell you the whole story. You never know how they really are."
Terrell Owens is a hero....
CBSSports.com wire reports
PHILADELPHIA -- A federal appeals court on Monday threw out a $550,000 indecency fine against CBS Corp. for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that ended with Janet Jackson's breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction."
The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Federal Communications Commission "acted arbitrarily and capriciously" in issuing the fine for the fleeting image of nudity.
The 90 million people watching the Super Bowl, many of them children, heard Justin Timberlake sing, "Gonna have you naked by the end of this song," as he reached for Jackson's bustier.
The court found that the FCC deviated from its nearly 30-year practice of fining indecent broadcast programming only when it was so "pervasive as to amount to 'shock treatment' for the audience."
"Like any agency, the FCC may change its policies without judicial second-guessing," the court said. "But it cannot change a well-established course of action without supplying notice of and a reasoned explanation for its policy departure."
The 3rd Circuit judges -- Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica, Judge Marjorie O. Rendell and Judge Julio M. Fuentes -- also ruled that the FCC deviated from its long-held approach of applying identical standards to words and images when reviewing complaints of indecency.
"The Commission's determination that CBS's broadcast of a nine-sixteenths of one second glimpse of a bare female breast was actionably indecent evidenced the agency's departure from its prior policy," the court found. "Its orders constituted the announcement of a policy change -- that fleeting images would no longer be excluded from the scope of actionable indecency."
Court overrules FCC, erases CBS fine for 'wardrobe malfunction'....
By HOWARD FENDRICH
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Jason Taylor is leaving the only NFL team he's known, going from the Miami Dolphins to the Washington Redskins in a trade Sunday.
The Redskins gave the Dolphins a second-round pick in 2009 and a sixth-round choice in 2010 for Taylor.
The six-time Pro Bowl defensive end — who was the 2006 NFL Defensive Player of the Year — fell out of favor in Miami after spending his offseason on the TV show "Dancing With the Stars" rather than working out with teammates.
The deal came about nine hours after starting defensive end Phillip Daniels was carted away from the practice field at Redskins Park with a season-ending left knee injury on Day 1 of training camp.
It also came only about 1 1/2 hours after Washington executive vice president Vinny Cerrato told reporters: "We haven't talked to anybody about anything."
Cerrato said Taylor is expected to report to training camp on Monday.
Redskins get Jason Taylor from Dolphins....
NFL going to step up its monitoring of players for gang signs
0 comments Posted by Dstall at 2:58 PM
NEW YORK — The NFL is stepping up its monitoring of on-field player activities to ensure that no one is flashing the hand signals of street gangs.
The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that the league had hired experts to look at game tapes and identify players or team officials who might be using suspected gang signals. Violators would be warned and disciplined if the episodes recurred. League officials said Tuesday that avoiding gang-related activities has long been stressed.
They said the scrutiny was intensified after the shooting death of Denver cornerback Darrent Williams in 2007 after Williams was involved in a dispute with known gang members. Anti-gang information is included in orientation literature and stressed in the annual mandatory league meeting for rookies.
NFL going to step up its monitoring of players for gang signs....
By Mike Chappell, The Indianapolis Star
Peyton Manning underwent surgery this afternoon to remove an infected bursa sac from his left knee, and rehabilitation for the Indianapolis Colts quarterback could last six weeks.
That leaves Manning's status for the team's Sept. 7 regular-season opener against the Chicago Bears uncertain.
The two-time NFL MVP has started 160 consecutive regular-season games. He has missed only one play because of injury during his 10-year career.
Peyton Manning has knee surgery, is out 6 weeks....
