Tagliabue memoir a strong look into the NFL’s inner workings
By BARRY WILNER AP Pro Football Writer
Paul Tagliabue left his job as commissioner of the NFL in 2006 and didn’t get selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame until last year.
If that seems odd for a man who guided the NFL for 17 years and oversaw labor peace, expansion, new stadiums, huge increases in broadcast rights fees, a significantly enhanced international presence — and maneuvered the league through such crises and events as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans — well, Tagliabue doesn’t seem bitter about the delay.
In his memoir “Jersey City to America’s Game,” Tagliabue sticks to his journey and lets the facts speak for him. It’s a terrific ride, a look into the inner workings of the nation’s most popular sport.
While Tagliabue details his young life, including starring in basketball at Georgetown, the best material focuses on his years atop the NFL. In particular, his descriptions of the heart-wrenching scenes in New York after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and how he dealt with Saints owner Tom Benson’s desire to abandon New Orleans after Katrina are engrossing.
“As I reflected back on the attacks of Tuesday morning,” Tagliabue wrote of 9/11, “I concluded they were beyond ‘the unthinkable;’ an enemy, not clearly identified in the early moments, had seized private, commercial airplanes, carrying hundreds of civilians to domestic U.S. destinations, and converted the planes into the equivalent of intercontinental ballistic missiles to kill many thousands of civilians while destroying a huge section of our nation’s iconic city, and directly striking the military command center of the world’s leading super power.
“I was convinced that there was no real historical analogue for the attacks. … On a conference call Wednesday with our working group of owners, I told them that `This is not the Kennedy assassination. This is not Pearl Harbor. It’s worse.’ I knew that I could not support playing any games on that weekend.”
Every major sport in America followed the NFL’s lead, too.
When Katrina struck in 2005, Benson — a long-time supporter of Tagliabue — saw an opportunity to relocate the Saints permanently to San Antonio, the base for his non-football business. Benson’s attorney even threatened to sue the league if it prevented the move.
Tagliabue stood firm in one of his finest moments, saying there was not “a chance in hell you’ll prevail” to the attorney, adding it would be “destroying (Benson’s) remaining credibility” within the NFL and a Big Easy that was going through the toughest of times.
Keeping the Saints in New Orleans did, as Tagliabue predicted, aid immeasurably in the recovery of the city and region. But rather than take a large amount of credit — something many other team owners readily have sent his way — Tagliabue praised Roger Goodell, his eventual successor; Superdome executive Doug Thornton, then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana; NFL Players Association chief Gene Upshaw; NFL counsel Jeff Pash; and communications director Joe Browne for their work.
Tagliabue vowed that the Saints would play a home game in September 2006 even as the team juggled its 2005 schedule to stage home games in San Antonio and Baton Rouge. He delivered.
Other fascinating topics Tagliabue deals with in his book are the development of the Rooney Rule — he is a powerful advocate for equality and diversity throughout the memoir; the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa during the Gulf War; his productive relationship with Upshaw and the union; and how the league’s television deals were struck with a variety of partners.
Not quite as revealing is Tagliabue’s discussion of the concussion issue that has plagued pro and college football for decades. Indeed, his handling of that subject is considered a major reason the Hall of Fame didn’t come calling for so long.
Overall, though, Tagliabue’s memories and reflections, provided with help from author Michael MacCambridge, are revealing, provocative and entertaining.
“Reading back over this now,” he writes in concluding the 137-page memoir that he primarily published for family and friends. “I’m struck by the dedication of so many people in the world of the NFL. It remains the greatest game of all not simply because of the players who play it, but also because of the many people in and around it.”
Tagliabue memoir a strong look into the NFL’s inner workings
Mike McCarn
Did Kaep change the vote? Did Kaepernick's protest, and the movement his protests birthed, convince otherwise uninterested citizens to vote for upset winner Donald Trump in 2016 ... or, at least, to vote against Kaepernick supporter Hillary Clinton?
No, Kaepernick probably didn't move the needle that much.
"If anything, I think it's the opposite," said Lonna Rae Atkeson, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico and an expert on voting who contributes to the MIT Election Data Science Lab. "It might have impacted how people felt about football more than how they felt about voting."
No doubt, politicizing the playing field annoyed millions, and the causes seemed tangential compared with more tangible problems.
"This was such a small issue compared with policy that affects people directly," Atkeson explained. "'If they raise taxes, that affects me directly. If they give me $300 a month because I have kids, that affects me directly. Football players kneel at a football game — that has no effect on me.' It's symbolic. That symbolism, per se, would not have any causal impact on voter decision-making."
That might be true, but it sure felt like Kaepernick's shadow colored everything last year. In the wake of more deaths of Black people at the hands of police, culminating with the videotaped murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the echo of Kaepernick's concerns resonated through the streets of U.S. cities from Philadelphia to Portland, Ore.
Mike McCarn
Did Kaep change the vote? Did Kaepernick's protest, and the movement his protests birthed, convince otherwise uninterested citizens to vote for upset winner Donald Trump in 2016 ... or, at least, to vote against Kaepernick supporter Hillary Clinton?
No, Kaepernick probably didn't move the needle that much.
"If anything, I think it's the opposite," said Lonna Rae Atkeson, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico and an expert on voting who contributes to the MIT Election Data Science Lab. "It might have impacted how people felt about football more than how they felt about voting."
No doubt, politicizing the playing field annoyed millions, and the causes seemed tangential compared with more tangible problems.
"This was such a small issue compared with policy that affects people directly," Atkeson explained. "'If they raise taxes, that affects me directly. If they give me $300 a month because I have kids, that affects me directly. Football players kneel at a football game — that has no effect on me.' It's symbolic. That symbolism, per se, would not have any causal impact on voter decision-making."
That might be true, but it sure felt like Kaepernick's shadow colored everything last year. In the wake of more deaths of Black people at the hands of police, culminating with the videotaped murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the echo of Kaepernick's concerns resonated through the streets of U.S. cities from Philadelphia to Portland, Ore.
Tagliabue memoir a strong look into the NFL’s inner workings
David Zalubowski
On May 26, 2020, Floyd, a Black man arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill, was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds. Floyd lay in the street, handcuffed and helpless, while three other officers prevented passersby from intervening. The horror was videotaped by a 17-year-old girl. The killing sparked the largest protests in U.S. history; as many as 26 million people spent the summer voicing their exhaustion with the epidemic of racist violence in America and the impunity with which police can operate.
From the NBA and WNBA, from soccer to softball, from youth sports through high schools through college, some emboldened by Kaepernick's sacrifice, athletes took the lead.
Zirin began researching his book in early 2020, examining how Kaepernick's stance influenced their own decisions to protest, often in small towns, where community sports rule all, and where anonymity is impossible. After Floyd's murder, Zirin re-interviewed several of the subjects in his book.
"They were all in the streets," he said. "For these people — especially the high-school level people — taking a knee while they were playing football, soccer, volleyball, cheerleader, whatever, that was the first political act they'd ever taken in their lives. And now, here they are, leading serious street demonstrations."
From the little guy to superstars, everyone got in on the act — even cowards from yesteryear.
In the 1990s, Michael Jordan refused to engage politically so he could sell more shoes. Charles Barkley was a Republican. Jordan has since called his pro-commerce stance "selfish," and he issued a rare statement after Floyd's murder. Barkley, no longer a member of the GOP, last year campaigned for Doug Jones, who upset Roy Moore in a Senate race in Barkley's deep-red home state of Alabama. Barkley has been all over the map regarding protests during the anthem, but in June 2020 he finally called Kaepernick "courageous" and "honorable."
If you can get Sir Charles to change his mind, you've done something. Kaepernick has changed millions of minds, and he has enlightened millions more.
"He created a bridge from what was happening on the athletic field to real antipathy for racism and police violence," Zirin said. "Of the many bridges that led us to the summer of 2020, one significant one was paved by athletes, and, most centrally, by Colin Kaepernick."
David Zalubowski
On May 26, 2020, Floyd, a Black man arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill, was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds. Floyd lay in the street, handcuffed and helpless, while three other officers prevented passersby from intervening. The horror was videotaped by a 17-year-old girl. The killing sparked the largest protests in U.S. history; as many as 26 million people spent the summer voicing their exhaustion with the epidemic of racist violence in America and the impunity with which police can operate.
From the NBA and WNBA, from soccer to softball, from youth sports through high schools through college, some emboldened by Kaepernick's sacrifice, athletes took the lead.
Zirin began researching his book in early 2020, examining how Kaepernick's stance influenced their own decisions to protest, often in small towns, where community sports rule all, and where anonymity is impossible. After Floyd's murder, Zirin re-interviewed several of the subjects in his book.
"They were all in the streets," he said. "For these people — especially the high-school level people — taking a knee while they were playing football, soccer, volleyball, cheerleader, whatever, that was the first political act they'd ever taken in their lives. And now, here they are, leading serious street demonstrations."
From the little guy to superstars, everyone got in on the act — even cowards from yesteryear.
In the 1990s, Michael Jordan refused to engage politically so he could sell more shoes. Charles Barkley was a Republican. Jordan has since called his pro-commerce stance "selfish," and he issued a rare statement after Floyd's murder. Barkley, no longer a member of the GOP, last year campaigned for Doug Jones, who upset Roy Moore in a Senate race in Barkley's deep-red home state of Alabama. Barkley has been all over the map regarding protests during the anthem, but in June 2020 he finally called Kaepernick "courageous" and "honorable."
If you can get Sir Charles to change his mind, you've done something. Kaepernick has changed millions of minds, and he has enlightened millions more.
"He created a bridge from what was happening on the athletic field to real antipathy for racism and police violence," Zirin said. "Of the many bridges that led us to the summer of 2020, one significant one was paved by athletes, and, most centrally, by Colin Kaepernick."
Tagliabue memoir a strong look into the NFL’s inner workings
David Richard
FILE - In this Aug. 7, 2021, file photo, Paul Tagliabue, a former NFL commissioner and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Centennial Class, speaks during the induction ceremony at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Tagliabue's new memoir “Jersey City to America's Game,” sticks to his journey and lets the facts speak for him. It's a terrific ride, a look into the inner workings of the nation's most popular sport. (AP Photo/David Richard, File)
David Richard
FILE - In this Aug. 7, 2021, file photo, Paul Tagliabue, a former NFL commissioner and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Centennial Class, speaks during the induction ceremony at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Tagliabue's new memoir “Jersey City to America's Game,” sticks to his journey and lets the facts speak for him. It's a terrific ride, a look into the inner workings of the nation's most popular sport. (AP Photo/David Richard, File)
