Football News Headlines

2006

NOTE: The intent of the News Section is not to dwell on negative stories that are more suited to be found in the Police and Crime Section of your local newspaper, but to report and document stories that cover the entire realm of The World of Football.

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January

January 1, 2006 - (NFL) Doug Flutie, backup quarterback of the New England Patriots, converted the first drop kick for an extra point in the modern era of the NFL. The kick came in a 28-24 loss to the Miami Dolphins. The last time a drop kick was recorded in the NFL was on December 21, 1941 by Ray "Scooter" McLean of the Chicago Bears in a 37-9 win over the New York Giants in the NFL Championship game.

January 4, 2006 – (Media) Former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Lynn Swann, 53, has declared himself a candidate for governor of Pennsylvania. He is entering a Republican primary to he held on May 16. If he gets the Republican nomination, the gubernatorial election would take place in the fall. Swann retired from football in 1983 and has been working for ABC Sports ever since. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001. (See related article on February 23, 2005)

January 4, 2006 – (NIFL) The National Indoor Football League announced that they have added an expansion team in South Dakota for the 2006 season. The team will be known as the Rapid City Flying Aces and will play in the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

January 5, 2006 – (Media) The Rose Bowl national championship game between # 1 USC and # 2 Texas drew the highest television ratings since 1987. The game has a 21.7 rating, up 59 percent over last year’s 13.7 rating.

January 5, 2006 – (NIFL) The National Indoor Football League announced that an expansion team has been awarded to Greensboro, North Carolina for the 2006 season. The team will be known as the Greensboro Revolution and will play in the Greensboro Coliseum. The last football team to play there was the af2 Greensboro Prowlers in 2003.

January 6, 2006 – (NIFL) The National Indoor Football League announced that they have added another expansion team. The Hammond Heroes will make their home in Hammond, Louisiana. The will play their home games at Cefalu Stadium on the campus of Southeastern Louisiana University.

January 9, 2006 – (Obituary) Jack Snow, who played wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams in the 1960’s and 70’s, dies form a staph infection at the age of 62. Snow played college football at Notre Dame and was drafted eighth overall in 1965 by the Minnesota Vikings, but was traded to the Rams shortly afterwards. He played 11 seasons with Los Angeles and then became a radio broadcaster for the team, moving with them to St. Louis in 1995.  Snow went to the Pro Bowl in 1967. His son, J. T. Snow, currently plays major league baseball for the San Francisco Giants.

January 9, 2006 – (NFL) The National Football League and the makers of Levitra are mutually ending their three-year sponsorship deal when it expires in March. The NFL said it would not seek another sponsor by an erectile dysfunction drug, but would allow them to advertise their products during games. (See related article on July 16, 2003) 

January 9, 2006 – (GLIFL) The first All-Star Game of the Great Lakes Indoor Football League will be played on August 5th at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, PA, the home arena of the Lehigh Valley Outlawz. League owners approved the location at an owners meeting last month.

January 10, 2006 – (Obituary) Dave Brown, a defensive back who played for three different NFL teams over a 16 year career, dies at the age of 52. Brown died of an apparent heart attack while playing basketball on the campus of Texas Tech. He had been the defensive secondary coach at the school since 2001. Brown played college football at Michigan and went on to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was on the Steelers team that won Super Bowl X in 1976 against the Dallas Cowboys. The next year he was selected by the expansion Seattle Seahawks in the expansion draft. He played for Seattle for 10 years and finished his NFL playing career with the Green Bay Packers in 1990. He is one of seven players honored on the Seahawk’s “Ring of Honor.” Brown also went to the Pro Bowl in 1984.

January 10, 2006 – (College) Billionaire Boone Pickens will donate $165 million to his alma mater, Oklahoma State. The money will be used to create an athletic village north of the football stadium as well as to complete upgrades to the stadium that bears his name.  The 77-year-old Texas oil tycoon graduated from the school in 1951. In 2003, Pickens donated $70 million to the school with $20 million going towards improvements to the football stadium, which is now known as Boone Pickens Stadium.

January 12, 2006 - (AIFL) The American Indoor Football League announced that its expansion team in Huntington, West Virginia will be known as the Huntington Heroes. The team will play its home games at Veterans Memorial Field House. (See related article on January 6, 2006)

January 13, 2006 – (Obituary) Ron Jesse, who played 11 seasons in the NFL, dies of a heart attack at the age of 57. Jesse played college football at the University of Kansas and was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the eighth round of the 1971 draft. However, he was traded to the Detroit Lions the summer after the draft and played in Detroit for four years. He was then traded by the Lions to the Los Angeles Rams in 1975 in exchange for a first round draft pick. Jesse finished his career with the Buffalo Bills and retired as a player after the 1981 season.

January 15, 2006 – (NFL) While watching an NFL playoff game in a Pittsburgh bar between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Indianapolis Colts, Steelers fan Terry O’Neill, 50, suffered a heart attack just seconds after Steelers running back Jerome Bettis fumbled the ball on the goal line late in the fourth quarter. O’Neill was taken to the hospital and is recovering. He will have a pacemaker installed in order to control an irregular heartbeat and has also been prescribed medication to deal with hypertension. In spite of the fumble, Pittsburgh hung on to win the game 21-18.

January 17, 2006 – (NFL) Nathan Mallet, 24, was sentenced by Municipal Court Judge Joan Synenberg to spend Super Bowl weekend in jail after being convicted of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct while intoxicated. Mallet ran onto the field during a Cleveland Browns game on December 24 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh won the game 41-0. He will not be allowed to watch the Super Bowl on February 5 or even listen to it on the radio. As part of his probation, Mallet will also not be able to attend Browns games in Cleveland, or any other city, for five years. He must also perform 150 hours of community service with Browns charities. Can you say, “She Hate Me?”

January 17, 2006 – (Arena) Thom D. Hopper, 57, from Flint, Michigan, was sentenced 33.5 months in a federal prison and must repay $1.8 million after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud last April. Hopper tried to purchase the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League in 2002 by using funds from his title insurance company to make a $1 million down payment on the team. He was never able to come up with the rest of the $12 million price tag on the team and the purchase eventually fell through.  Hooper is married to the ex-wife of Tim Marcum, the head coach and general manager of the Storm. 

January 18, 2006 – (CFL) After a league meeting held in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Canadian Football League announced that the salary cap next season will increase from $2.6 million to $3.8 million per team. The league also increased the active roster from 40 players to 46. They will also be able to dress 42 players for each game instead of 40 also. Practice rosters will also increase from six to seven players and will increase to 12 when NFL teams begin to reduce their rosters for the regular season.

January 19, 2006 – (Obituary) Tom Nugent, the creator of the "I" formation, dies of congestive heart failure at the age of 92. Nugent is also credited with creating the “typewriter” huddle, where players stand in two rows instead of in a circle.  He started out as a high school coach and then took the job as the head football coach at the Virginia Military Institute from 1949-1952. It was at VMI that he developed the I formation. From 1952-58, Nugent was the head coach and athletic director at Florida State, where he coached future actor Burt Reynolds and current ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso. He also was the head coach at Maryland from 1959-1965. His overall coaching record was 89-80-3. After 17 years of coaching, Nugent got into broadcasting for a few years and then went into public relations. He was a member of the College Football Hall of Fame as well as the halls of fame at Florida State and Ithaca College in New York. As a student at Ithaca College, Nugent lettered in football, baseball, basketball and track. 

January 19, 2006 – (NIFL) The Lubbock Gunslingers of the National Indoor Football League announced that they will not play during the upcoming 2006 season.  The team sited a lack of available regional opponents to play and scheduling problems. Two nearby Texas teams, the Odessa Roughnecks and the San Angelo Stampede Express, have left the NIFL to help reform the Intense Football League.  (See related article on September 21, 2005)

January 23, 2006 (AIFL) – The American Indoor Football League announced a new expansion team for the 2006 season in New York called the Syracuse Soldiers. The team will play its home games at the arena in the Oncenter.

January 26, 2006 – (CFL) For the second year in a row, a Touchdown Atlantic CFL preseason game will be played in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The game will be played on June 3 at St. Mary’s Huskies Stadium and feature the Montreal Alouettes and the Ottawa Renegades.

January 26, 2006 – (NFL) The Allegheny County coroner’s office in Pennsylvania filed a revised death certificate in the death of former Pittsburgh Steelers player Terry Long, who died on June 7, 2005. The revision was filed back on October 19, 2005, but it was not made public until now. The new death certificate states that Long committed suicide by drinking antifreeze and did not die of a result of football related injuries from his playing days, as was originally reported.  

January 29, 2006 – (Media) The NFL has awarded a late season, eight-game package of prime time NFL games to its own television network. The games will be shown on the NFL Network and will be played on Thursdays and Saturdays beginning next season The first game will take place on Thanksgiving night. The NFL Network will also make the games available to be shown on the two team’s home markets.

January 29, 2006 – (High School) Canada defeated the USA in the tenth annual NFL Global Junior Championship by the score of 10-0. Team USA was made up of high school all-stars from Ohio. This was the second straight championship for Team Canada, who now has won three championships in the 10-year history of the game. The game was played at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan.

January 30, 2006 – (Trademark) Texas A&M filed a restraining order against the Seattle Seahawks over the use of the phrase, The 12th Man. The Seahawks retired the number 12 back in 1984 in honor of their fans and have been using the phrase ever since. The school has been using it since 1922 and has two federal trademarks on the phrase that were registered in 1990 and 1996. The school sent letters to the Seahawks in 2003 and 2004 asking that they stop using the phrase, but the team never responded.   

January 31, 2006 – (College) The University of Louisiana-Monroe has decided to change its mascot in the wake of the NCAA decision last year to ban “hostile and abusive” nicknames. The school’s mascot was the Indians and it plans to have a new nickname chosen by June 1. Four other schools are currently appealing the NCAA’s ruling against their nicknames. They are Newberry (Indians), North Dakota (Fighting Sioux) and Indiana of Pennsylvania (Indians) from Division II as well as Bradley (Braves), a Division I non-football school. The University of Illinois, from Division I-A, has been allowed to keep their Fighting Illini nickname and logo by the NCAA because of support from local Indian tribes. Their appeal is an effort to keep their mascot, Chief Illiniwek. (See related article on September 2, 2005)  

February

February 1, 2006 – (Obituary) Dick “The Scooter” Bass, a running back with the Los Angeles Rams in the 1960’s, dies at the age of 68. In college, Bass led the nation in rushing as a senior at the College of the Pacific, which is known today as the University of the Pacific. He was the second overall selection in the 1959 NFL Draft by the Rams and played for LA from 1960-1969. After retiring as a player, be was a radio analyst for the team for 13 years.

February 2, 2006 – (College) Ticket prices at LSU will be going up next season thanks, in part, to Hurricane Katrina. The school’s Board of Supervisors has approved a plan that will increase the price of student tickets $5 - $7, season ticket prices from $20 - $100 and tickets to next season’s “premium” game against Alabama by $9. The school lost about $3.6 million when the Tigers home opener against Arizona was moved to Tempe after the hurricane. LSU hosted four New Orleans Saints NFL games and one New Orleans Hornets NBA game, but those events only brought in $1.2 million. The ticket price increase was not expected to be sought until 2007. (See related story on September 5, 2005)

February 2, 2006 – (Trademark) The Seattle Seahawks filed a Notice of Removal just hours before a scheduled hearing in a Texas county court. The move was in order to have their legal fight with Texas A&M, over use of the phrase “The 12th Man,” relocated to a federal court in Houston. A pretrial and scheduling conference has been set for June 16. (See related article on January 30, 2006)

February 3, 2006 – (Obituary) John Vaught, head coach at Mississippi for 25 seasons, dies at the age of 96. Vaught played guard at TCU from 1930-32 and was the school’s first All-American. He became head coach at Ole Miss in 1947 and was forced to retire due to heart problems in 1970. However, when the team struggled in the early part of the 1973 season, Vaught returned and coached the rest of the season. His coaching record was 190-61-12. He also served for four years as the school’s athletic director. He was a member of the Texas Hall of Fame, the Mississippi Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Football Hall of Fame.

February 4, 2006 – (NFL) Six new members are elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Class of 2006 includes QB Troy Aikman (Dallas Cowboys), QB Warren Moon (Houston Oilers, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs), Coach John Madden (Oakland Raiders), DE Reggie White (Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers), Linebacker Harry Carson (New York Giants) and Tackle Rayfield Wright (Dallas Cowboys). Moon is also a member of the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame.

February 5, 2006 – (College) The University of Kansas unveiled plans for a new $31 million football complex. The plan calls for new offices and academic areas, a weight room, meeting and locker rooms, hydrotherapy rooms and new practice fields. Funds for the project came entirely from private donations. A location for the complex has not been finalized yet, but it will likely be constructed south of the stadium.   

February 5, 2006 – (NFL) Super Bowl XL in Detroit. The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Seattle Seahawks 21-10 at Ford Field. Steelers WR Hines Ward was named the MVP of the game.

February 5, 2006 – (NFL) It was announced that the New Orleans Saints will play their first home game at the Louisiana Superdome next season on September 24 against the Atlanta Falcons. It will be the third game of the regular season. Two preseason games will be played at other Louisiana locations which have not yet been determined. The team was displaced last season because of damage to the Superdome caused by Hurricane Katrina.

February 6, 2006 – (Media) Super Bowl XL between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks had an estimated audience of 90.7 million viewers, a 5% increase over last year’s game. The Neilson ratings also showed that a total of 141.4 million people watched at least part of the game, which was broadcast on ABC. It was the highest rating since 1996 when the Steelers lost to the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX.

February 6, 2006 – (Media) James Brown, the host of Fox NFL Sunday for the past 12 years, is moving to CBS next season. He will replace Greg Gumbel as host of The NFL Today. Brown will also do college basketball play-by-play for CBS as well. Gumbel will return to doing play-by-play and will be teamed with Dan Dierdorf as the network’s number two NFL announcing team. 

February 8, 2006 – (AIFL) The Daytona Beach Thunder of the American Indoor Football League sign former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw to a standard player contract as a publicity stunt. Bradshaw, 57, will be listed fourth on the team’s quarterback depth chart. Thunder head coach and general manager Ervin Bryson is a diehard Steelers fan. 

February 8, 2006 – (Media) ESPN announced its broadcasting team for Monday Night Football which moves to the network from ABC next season. “SportsCenter” host Mike Tirico will handle the play-by-play and he will be joined in the booth by Joe Theismann and Tony Kornheiser, who hosts ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption.” Michele Tafoya and Suzy Kolber will be the sideline reporters. Theismann has been working ESPN’s Sunday Night NFL games since 2001 and Tafoya has been a sideline reporter on ABC’s Monday Night Football since 2004.

February 9, 2006 – (Media) NBC announced that Al Michaels will re-join John Madden in the broadcast booth this fall on NBC’s Sunday night NFL games. Madden signed with NBC last summer. As part of a deal allowing Michaels out of his contract with ABC, ESPN will receive increased coverage of the Ryder Cup and an increase in the amount of highlights from the Olympics from NBC. NBC also gave up the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a cartoon character created by Walt Disney in 1927, prior to his creation of Mickey Mouse. ABC and ESPN are both owned by the Walt Disney Company. (See related story on June 15, 2005)                     

February 9, 2006 – (Lawsuit/NFL) A district judge in Cincinnati has dismissed an antitrust lawsuit between Hamilton County and the Cincinnati Bengals. The judge said the lawsuit was not filed within the four-year statute of limitations. (See related article on February 10, 2004)

February 9, 2006 – (College) The NCAA approves a standardized replay system for all Division I-A conferences.  A video official will review all plays and coaches will be allowed to challenge a call once during the game by calling a time out. If the call is overturned, the team will have the right to challenge again during the game and they will not be charged for the time out. If the call is upheld, the team will lose the time out. The proposal must still be approved by the NCAA’s Playing Rules Oversight Panel to become official. The Big Ten conference began using a replay system in 2004 and several other conferences began using variations of it last season. In other changes, the NCAA shortened halftime from 20 to 15 minutes, except on special occasions and they shortened the kicking tee to one inch. In an effort to shorten the games, it was also decided that the clock will now start when the kicker kicks the ball and when the ball is ready for play following a change of possession.  

February 10, 2006 – (College) It was announced that Tulane would play its first home game of the 2006 season at the Superdome in New Orleans on September 30 against SMU. Tulane was forced to play “home” games in five different cities in Louisiana last season, as well as Mobile, Alabama, due to damage at the Superdome caused by Hurricane Katrina. 

February 11, 2006 – (Politics) Former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Lynn Swann received a unanimous voice vote endorsement from the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee to be the party’s candidate for governor. Swann still must win a primary election on May 16 before he can take on incumbent governor Ed Rendell in the election this fall. (See related article on January 4, 2006) 

February 13, 2006 – (Obituary) Bud McFadin, a lineman in the NFL for 11 years, dies at the age of 77. McFadin played college football at Texas and was selected in the first round of the 1951 NFL draft by the Los Angeles Rams. He played for the Rams for five years, then played six more years in the American Football League with the Denver Broncos and Houston Oilers. After his playing career was over, McFadin was the Oilers defensive line coach from 1966-70. After leaving football, he was a rancher in West Texas and also sold oil field equipment. He was elected to the Longhorn Hall of Honor in 1973.  

February 13, 2006 – (NAIA) Ted Karras, Jr. is named head football coach at Marian College. Karras is the nephew of former Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alex Karras. His father, Ted Karras, Sr., played offensive lineman and linebacker for the Chicago Bears. Ted Karras has been the coach at Division III Rose-Hulman in Terre Haute, Indiana for the past three years. Marian, a private school in Indianapolis, Indiana, makes its football debut in 2007. The Knights will play in the NAIA Mid-States Football Association. It will be the 21st college in the state of Indiana to have a football program.  

February 13, 2006 – (NFL) Joe Lombardi is hired as a defensive assistant coach by the Atlanta Falcons. Lombardi, a 1994 graduated of the Air Force Academy, was hired away from Division II Mercyhurst College. He is the grandson of the legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. In 1966, Falcons owner Rankin Smith wanted to hire Vince Lombardi to be the team’s first head coach, but instead hired Norb Hecker, one of Lombardi’s assistant coached with the Packers.

February 15, 2006 – (College) The Citadel plans to retire the number 59 sometime during the upcoming football season in honor of former linebacker Marc Bouniconti. Bouniconti was paralyzed during a game against East Tennessee State on October 26, 1985. After the injury, Bouniconti sued the school, the team doctor and the trainer for improperly treating him for a sprained neck that he suffered before the injury and received an $800,000 settlement. He is the son of Nick Bouniconti, who played for the Miami Dolphins.  

February 15, 2006 – (CFL) The Toronto Argonauts announce the signing of quarterback Eric Crouch, the 2001 Heisman Trophy winner from Nebraska. Crouch becomes the third Heisman winner to sign with the CFL team. The others are QB Doug Flutie (Boston College) and QB Andre Ware (Houston). Crouch played safety for the Hamburg Sea Devils of NFL Europe last year. (See related article on January 25, 2005)

February 16, 2006 – (Obituary) Ernie Stautner, a defensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 50’s and 60’s, dies in a Colorado nursing home at the age of 80. Stautner was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1998. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, Stautner played college football at Boston College and was selected by the Steelers in the third round of the 1950 NFL draft.  He played for the Steelers for 14 years, went to nine Pro Bowls and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969. After his playing career, he was a defensive coach and coordinator with the Dallas Cowboys from 1966-1988.

February 17, 2006 – (Nickname) The NCAA will allow Division III Mississippi College to continue using the Choctaws nickname. The school has received the support of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians to use the name, mascot and related images.

February 17, 2006 – (Lawsuit/NFL) A U.S. District judge in Manhattan has sided with the NFL over the use of the phrase “Dawg Pound.” The Cleveland Browns began using the phrase in 1984. In 1986, a California clothing company called Hawaii-Pacific Apparel Group Inc. was founded. They tried to trademark the phrase in 1994, but the NFL objected. In 1999, the NFL tried to register the trademark and was denied because it was too similar to the “Lil Dawg Pound” phrase that the clothing company had previously registered. The clothing company plans to appeal the judge’s ruling.

February 19, 2006 – (Media) Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis announced that he will join NBC next season as a studio analyst for the network’s Sunday night games. His first game will be on Thursday, September 7 at Pittsburgh when the Steelers, and Bettis, will receive their Super Bowl XL rings.  Bettis retired after winning the Super Bowl in Detroit on February 5.

February 20, 2006 – (Obituary) Bill Miller, who played, coached and was later the athletic director at Texas State, dies at the age of 74. Miller served in the Navy during the Korean War and then began his college career in 1954. At the time, the school was known as Southwest Texas State College. He was hired as an assistant coach in 1961 and was named head coach in 1964. Miller compiled a record of 94-53-3 in 15 seasons as the Bobcats head coach. During that time, the school grew from a small NAIA school to a Division I program. He won back-to-back Division I-AA championships and 31 conference titles. Miller also was the school’s athletic director from 1975-1992.

February 23, 2006 – (College) Stanford has moved its September 9 home opener against San Jose State to an away game in order to give construction crews more time to complete renovations at Stanford Stadium. The $90 million project began right after the 2005 season ended last November. The first home game for Stanford will now be on September 16 against Navy.

February 23, 2006 – (Media) Longtime ABC college football analyst Gary Danielson will become the lead analyst at CBS next season. Danielson played in the World Football League in the 1970’s as well as in the NFL during the 1980’s for the Detroit Lions.

February 28, 2006 – (Obituary) Travis Claridge, who played last season with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL, dies at the age of 27. Claridge was found unconscious at his home in Las Vegas and was taken to the hospital where he later died. The cause of death was not immediately known. Claridge played college football at USC and was named the PAC-10’s top offensive lineman in 1999. He was drafted in the second round of the 2000 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons and started 27 games for the team over the next two seasons. He also started six games in 2003 before suffering a knee injury. Claridge also spent time in the Carolina Panthers training camp in 2004, but was cut before the season started.

March

March 1, 2006 – (College) The NCAA levied sanctions on 99 teams at 65 schools for failing to meet new academic requirements for student athletes. Football programs were the hardest hit with 23 teams receiving sanctions, baseball was next with 20 teams and men’s basketball was third with 17 teams. Other teams that did not meet the requirements, but did not receive sanctions, could begin losing athletic scholarships next fall.  

March 1, 2006 – (NFL) A movie theater in Homestead, Pennsylvania that was hosting a private screening for a new DVD of highlights from last month’s Super Bowl XL, was evacuated following a bomb threat. Several current and former members of the Pittsburgh Steelers were in attendance for the screening. An estimated 1,000 people had to leave the movie complex. No bomb was found.  

March 5, 2006 – (Obituary) John Sandusky, who played and coached in the NFL, dies at the age of 80.  Sandusky was an offensive and defensive lineman with the Cleveland Brown from 1950-1955 and was also with the Green Bay Packers in 1956. After his playing career was over, he spent another 35 years as an offensive and defensive line coach with three different NFL teams. He was with the Baltimore Colts from 1959-1972, the Philadelphia Eagles from 1973-1975 and the Miami Dolphins from 1976-1994. He was also the Dolphins assistant head coach from 1989-1994. Sandusky’s son, Gerry, is a radio broadcaster for the Baltimore Ravens. 

March 5, 2006 – (NFL) The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, announced that the Army is launching a criminal investigation into the death of former Arizona Cardinals player Pat Tillman.  It will be the fifth formal investigation into Tillman’s death. (See related article on June 9, 2005)

March 5, 2006 – (NFL) The NFL announced that the 2015 Super Bowl will be awarded to Kansas City, but only if voters there approve a couple of tax proposals on April 4. One proposal would raise $500 million for stadium renovations at both Arrowhead Stadium, where the Kansas City Chiefs play, and Kauffman Stadium, where the MLB Kansas City Royals baseball team plays. The other would raise $200 million for the roof, which could be used on both stadiums. (See related article on November 16, 2005)

March 7, 2006 – (Obituary) Floyd Gass, who was a coach and athletic director at Oklahoma State, dies at the age of 79. Gass graduated from the school in 1951 when it was known as Oklahoma A&M. He returned to the school in 1969 and became the head football coach until 1971. In his three years as head coach he posted a record of 13-18-1. Gass then became the school’s athletic director from 1972-1978. He was named Big East Coach of the Year in 1969.

March 8, 2006 – (NFL) The league and the NFL player’s association came to an agreement and have extended the collective bargaining agreement until 2011. The owners voted 30-2 to approve the new agreement, with only the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals opposing it. The salary cap for each team will be $102 million in 2006, an increase of $7.5 million over last year.  Also approved was a new revenue sharing plan. Now, the top 15 revenue producing teams will contribute to a fund that will be dispersed among the other 17 teams. The bottom 17 teams will not have to make contributions to the fund.

March 9, 2006 – (NFL) Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis filed a police report from Pittsburgh claiming the loss of a $31,000 Rolex watch and a gold and diamond bracelet valued at $35,950 at the Pontiac Silverdome on February 4, the day before Super Bowl XL in Detroit.. Bettis claims that the last time he saw the items was when he took them off before practice that day in the locker room. At first, Bettis thought that Steelers personnel might have collected the items and packed them up for him after the team’s final practice. Until recently, Bettis says he had forgotten all about the jewelry after winning the Super Bowl on February 5.  

March 9, 2006 – (NIFL) In a rare occurrence for an indoor football game, the Osceola Football team posted a shutout over the visiting Greensboro Revolution, 43-0 in Florida. It was the first game played on the 2006 NIFL season schedule.

March 10, 2006 – (NFL/Arena) Former pro football player Jeremy Staat, 29, graduates from the San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot after three months of boot camp. Staat played defensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1998-2000 and also played a couple of games for the St. Louis Rams in 2003. He most recently was with the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League in 2004. Staat, who wanted to join the military after September 11, 2001, was a college roommate of Pat Tillman’s at Arizona State. Tillman, however, advised him not to join the military until he had played in the NFL long enough to qualify for a retirement.

March 11, 2006 – (NIFL) It happened again in the NIFL! This time, the Rapid City Flying Aces recorded a shutout over the visiting Big Sky Thunder. The final score was 60-0. It was the first game ever for the two expansion teams and took place during the opening weekend of the 2006 NIFL season. (See related article on March 9, 2006)

March 13, 2006 – (College) After spending the past six months in Atlanta, the staff of the Sugar Bowl has moved back in New Orleans. Since their old offices at the Superdome are still closed, the eight-member staff has moved into a suite on the top floor of a building in nearby Metairie. They will remain there until after next year’s game. (See related article on October 7, 2005)

March 15, 2006 – (Obituary) Roy Alvin “Red” Storey, who played in the CFL and was also an NHL official, dies in a Montreal nursing home at the age of 88. Storey became a professional football player when he signed with the CFL Toronto Argonauts at the age of 18. He won two Grey Cup championships in 1937 and 1938 with the team. He was scouted by the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants, but a knee injury ended his playing career in 1941. Storey then turned his attention to hockey and was hired by the NHL in 1950. He worked seven straight Stanley Cup finals from 1952-1958. Storey abruptly resigned from the NHL in 1959 after the league commissioner criticized his performance in a game in Chicago. After that, be became an NHL broadcaster in both radio and television. Storey was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1967, Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1986 and was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1991, Canada’s highest civilian honor.

March 16, 2006 – (NFL) A St. Louis research firm released a study indicating that Super Bowl XL in Detroit generated a $273.9 million economic boost to the local economy. The NFL had estimated that the game would generate somewhere between $262 million and $342 million. The report estimated that each out-of-town visitor spent around $363 a day, not including airfare, lodging and tickets to the game. By contrast, the 2004 Ryder Cup golf tournament, held near Detroit, brought in $114 million, the 2004 NCAA Final Four College Basketball Tournament brought in $71.4 million and the MLB All-Star Game last summer brought in $42 million. The city of Detroit spent $265,000 on its presentation to the NFL to host the Super Bowl a few years ago.

March 16, 2006 – (Obituary) William “Bill” Hartman, a former player and coach at the University of Georgia, dies at the age of 90. Hartman was an All-American fullback for the Bulldogs and was team captain in 1937. He went on to play briefly in the NFL for the Washington Redskins, but eventually returned to the school and was the team’s backfield coach from 1939-1956. Even after retiring, Hartman was a longtime volunteer coach at the school for punters and place kickers. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1984.

March 17, 2006 – (Obituary) Smokey VIII, the retired mascot of the University of Tennessee, dies at the age of 11. Smokey VIII was a bluetick coonhound and was with the team from 1995-2003. He was diagnosed with a nasal tumor in November 2003. His final game was the 2004 Peach Bowl in Atlanta. The team had a 91-22 record while Smokey VIII was the mascot and won a national championship in 1998. The Smokey mascot tradition began in 1953. The current mascot is Smokey IX.

March 19, 2006 – (NIFL) The Rapid City Flying Aces defeated the Lincoln Capitals by the score of 102-6. The NIFL record for points scored in a game is 120. (See related article on March 11, 2006)

March 20, 2006 – (NFL) Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, 65, announced that he will retire in July. He has been commissioner of the NFL since 1989 when he succeeded Pete Rozelle. Tagliabue will stay on as a senior consultant with the league though 2008, when his current contract expires. The search for a new commissioner will begin at the upcoming owners meeting later this month.

March 21, 2006 – (NFL) A judge in Florida increased the jail time for Tank Carter from six months to 5 years after he failed to report for prison on January 6. Carter, the brother of Pittsburgh Steelers safety Tyrone Carter, had been sentenced to jail for driving on a revoked license. Instead of reporting to serve his time, he attended the Super Bowl on February 5 and watched his brother play from a seat on the 50-yard line. Carter said he would do it all over again!

March 22, 2006 – (CFL) The Canadian Football League announced that the Ottawa Renegades are up for sale. The team lost close to $4 million last year. A committee has been formed to seek new ownership for the team in time to salvage the 2006 season.

March 22, 2006 – (NFL) This year’s NFL Draft will be held at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Last year, it was held at the Javits Convention Center for the first time after being at Madison Square Garden for many years.

March 22, 2006 – (College) The Sugar Bowl gets a new title sponsor. Allstate Insurance signs a deal to sponsor the game for at least the next four years. Nokia had been the game’s sponsor for the past 12 years. Financial terms were not disclosed.

March 28, 2006 – (AIFL) The Carolina Ghostriders have been declared inactive by the league due to financial problems and will be replace by a traveling team called the AIFL Ghostchasers. Last season, the Ghostriders were a traveling team that lost all of their games. This year, the team had found a home in Ashville, NC. They lost their first four games this season including two home games played at the Ashville Civic Center. The Ghostchasers will play five road games while teams that were scheduled to travel to Ashville to play the Ghostriders, will have their games rescheduled. (See related article on December 29, 2005)

March 29, 2006 – (CFL) The coaching staff of the Ottawa Renegades has been fired. (See related article on March 22, 2006)

March 29, 2006 – (NIFL) The Lincoln Capitals (in Lincoln, Nebraska) are moving to St Joseph, Missouri and will play there for the remainder of the season. The team will remain known as the Lincoln Capitals and will play their home game in the St. Joseph Civic Arena. The League plans to move the team back to Lincoln next season when St. Joseph is scheduled to get its own NIFL expansion team. The owners of next year's expansion team in  St. Joseph will take over operation of the Capital for the rest of this year. 

March 30, 2006 – (Obituary) Howard “Red” Hickey, a former NFL coach who invented the shotgun formation in 1960, dies at the age of 89. Hickey played on the 1945 Cleveland Rams championship team and was an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Rams in the 1950’s. He was a coach with the San Francisco 49ers from 1959-1963 when he came up with the formation. Hickey called it the shotgun formation because he said it sprayed receivers around the field. It was first used by the 49ers in a game against the Baltimore Colts in November 1960 and helped the team win several games late that season. It was dropped by the 49ers before the 1962 season, but was resurrected by the Dallas Cowboys in the late 60’s.

April

April 3, 2006 – (Obituary) Marshall Goldberg, an All-American running back at the University of Pittsburgh, dies in a Chicago nursing home at the age of 88. Goldberg was a member of Pitt’s “Dream Backfield” that led the team to a national championship in 1937.  He was the runner up for the Heisman Trophy in 1938 and went on to play in the NFL for the Chicago Cardinals, winning an NFL championship in 1947. His pro football career was interrupted by a three-year stint as a Navy officer during World War II. Goldberg was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1958.

April 3, 2006 – (Obituary) Peter Hadhazy, the NFL Director of Game Operations, dies after a short illness at the age of 62. Hadhazy was an assistant general manager of the New England Patriots from 1971-1975. In 1976 he became the general manager of the Cleveland Browns. He also worked in the United States Football League in the 1980’s and was a general manager in the World League of American Football in the early 1990’s.

April 7, 2006 – (Obituary) Jim Clack, a guard who won two Super Bowl in the 1970’s, dies of heart failure at the age of 58. Clack played college football at Wake Forest and was inducted into the school’s hall of fame in 1991. He played in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1971-1977 and won two Super Bowls as a member of the team. He also played for the New York Giants from 1978-1981. He was also inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.

April 8, 2006 – (AIFL) The ownership group that owns the Rome (Ga.) Renegades has purchased a second American Indoor Football League team, the Raleigh Rebels. The Renegades are losing money and the addition of the Rebels is expected to help the group offset some of their losses. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.   

April 8, 2006 - (NIFL) The Palm Beach Phantoms cancelled their home opener against the Osceola Football team because the field surface they ordered was not acceptable to play on. Team officials were concerned for the safety of the players. The game will be rescheduled. Even thought the Phantoms are an indoor football team, they are going to play their home games at the Delray Beach Tennis Center, an outdoor facility which seats 8,200 people.

April 8, 2006 – (NFL) The Miami Dolphins stadium gets another new name. Since it opened in 1987, it has been known as Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player Stadium and Dolphins Stadium. It will now be known as Dolphin Stadium. (They simply dropped the “s” in the name)

April 9, 2006 – (CFL) The Canadian Football League announced that they have suspended operations of the Ottawa Renegades for 2006 due to financial problems. The league plans to seek new ownership for the team and return them to the schedule in 2007. A new 72 game schedule was issued for the remaining eight teams and has the Winnipeg Blue Bomber moving to the league’s East Division. The league also cancelled the Touchdown Atlantic preseason game that was to be played on June 3 in Halifax, Nova Scotia between the Renegades and the Montreal Alouettes. A Dispersal Draft of Renegades players will be conducted on April 12 via teleconference. (See related articles on March 22, 29 and January 26, 2006)

April 10, 2006 – (Obituary) Joe Faragalli, who coached in the NFL and CFL, dies at his home in Rhode Island at the age of 76. Faragalli played college football at Villanova and then served four years in the U.S. Army before beginning his coaching career at a high school in Philadelphia.  He went on to coach college football at Brown, Marshall and Villanova. He began his pro career as an assistant coach with the CFL Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1967 and later was an assistant coach with the Edmonton Eskimos. Faragalli was also the head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders from 1981-1983 and was named CFL Coach of the year in 1981. He moved to the NFL was an assistant coach with the Cincinnati Bengals, Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills in the mid-eighties.  He returned to the CFL and finished his coaching career as head coach of the Montreal Alouettes from 1986-87 and the Edmonton Eskimos from 1987-1990. The Eskimos won the Grey Cup in 1987, beating the Toronto Argonauts, but lost in the 1990 Grey Cup game to Winnipeg.

April 10, 2006 – (NFL) Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw has donated his four Super Bowl rings to his college alma mater, Louisiana Tech. Bradshaw also gave the school his College Football Hall of Fame ring, Pro Football Hall of Fame ring, Hall of Fame bust, four miniature replica Super Bowl trophies and a helmet and jersey from one of his Super Bowl victories. All the items will be displayed at the Charles Wyly Athletic Center.

April 11, 2006 – (College) It was announced that the New Orleans Bowl will return to the Super Dome this year. The date of the game will be December 22. Last year, the game was moved to Cajun Field in Lafayette, Louisiana due to damage to the Super Dome caused by Hurricane Katrina. 

April 11, 2006 – (NFL) Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis has been selected as the first inductee into the Celebrities Bowling Hall of Fame. A ceremony will take place in Las Vegas on June 28 at the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame. Bettis wanted to become a professional bowler when he was growing up in Detroit and maintains a 200+ average. He once bowled a perfect 300 game in a competition.

April 12, 2006 – (CFL) The Canadian Football League conducted a Dispersal Draft of players from the Ottawa Renegades. A total of 51 players were selected during the nine-round draft conducted during a teleconference. The first player selected was quarterback Kerry Joseph, who went to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. (See related article on April 9, 2006)

April 14, 2006 – (NIFL) The Palm Beach Phantoms have cancelled a second straight home game at the Delray Beach Tennis Center, an outdoor tennis facility. It was reported that the lack of a playing field was the reason for the first game’s cancellation, but now it seems that money is the issue. The team was originally told that it would cost $11,000 per game to play at the tennis center, but it turns out that the amount is actually closer to $30,000 per game. If an agreement cannot be reached with the tennis center in the next week, the team will have to seek another venue to play their home games. Both cancelled games will be rescheduled later in the season. (See related article on April 8, 2006)

April 17, 2006 – (Obituary) Tom Mickle, the executive director of Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit organization that oversees the Capital One Bowl and the Champs Sports Bowl, dies at the age of 55. The official cause of death was not released. Mickle had been with Florida Citrus Sports since 2002. Prior to that, he was the associate commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference, where he managed the conference’s finances and public relations. In 1992, he was instrumental in creating the Bowl Coalition, which evolved into today’s Bowl Championship Series. Mickle graduated from Duke University in 1972 and also worked there for 17 years, handling media relations, fundraising and student services.

April 18, 2006 – (NFL) A judge in Alaska fined former Miami Dolphins fullback Larry Csonka $5,000 for conducting commercial work in a national forest without a permit. Csonka hosts a weekly hunting and fishing show called “North to Alaska” on the Outdoor Life Network. (See related article on September 8, 2005)

April 19, 2006 – (Obituary) Bob Dove, an end at Notre Dame in the 1940’s, dies at the age of 85. Dove was awarded the Rockne Trophy by the Washington Touchdown Club in 1942 as the nation’s best lineman. After college, Dove played in the NFL for the Chicago Cardinals (1948-1952) and the Detroit Lions (1953-1955) where he played on consecutive championship teams in 1953 and 1954. He went on to be an assistant coach at the University of Detroit (1955-1957) and then returned to the Lions as an assistant coach from 1958-1959. Dove was also an assistant coach with the Buffalo Bills from 1960-1961. He was the head coach at Division III Hiram College in Ohio for seven years before becoming an assistant coach at Division I-AA Youngstown State from 1969-1986. He was named coach emeritus at the school in 1987 and remained there through the school’s 1991 national championship season. Dove was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000. 

April 19, 2006 – (Media) College Sports Television (CSTV) and the Mountain West Conference have teamed up to form the first regional sports network devoted to a single conference. It will be called The mtn (MountainWest Sports Network). The network is set to debut on September 2 and plans to carry 36 football games, 150 basketball games and more than 200 other conference sports events. The governing board of the Mountain West Conference was reportedly not happy with the way that ESPN wants to change game days and times to accommodate its own prime time broadcasting schedule. 

April 19, 2006 – (NFL Europe) The league is moving its headquarters from London, England to Frankfurt, Germany. The league office has been in London since the World League of American Football was resurrected in 1995 with six teams, all in Europe. England has not had a team since the England Monarchs left in 1998 to become the Berlin Thunder in 1999.

April 20, 2006 – (AIFL) A game scheduled to be played in Steubenville, Ohio for April 22 between the Steubenville Stampede and the Huntington Heroes has been postponed. The postponement was due to the St. Johns Arena being double booked that day. A new date for the game was not announced.

April 21, 2006 – (College) Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan is changing the artificial playing surface at Waldo Stadium. The NeXturf surface, which has been in place since 2002, will be replaced with FieldTurf, the same surface used in Ford Field. It is estimated the project will cost $700,000. Replacement will begin in early May and be completed by mid-July.

April 24, 2006 – (Media) Andrea Kremer is leaving ESPN after 17 years and will be the sideline reporter for NBC’s Sunday night NFL games. Kremer has never been a sideline reporter before.

April 25, 2006 – (NFL) The city of Los Angeles will pitch a proposal to the league next week for an $80 million renovation project to the Los Angeles Coliseum in hopes of luring an NFL team back to the city.  The plan calls for 500 luxury boxes, 15,000 club seats and seating capacity for 67,000 fans.  The Coliseum is also home to the USC football team and was also the home of the Los Angeles Raiders as well until the team moved back to Oakland in 1995.

April 25, 2006 – (Media) The NFL Network has acquired the rights to broadcast the Senior Bowl. Practices held the week before the college all-star game will also be televised on the network.

April 26, 2006 - (CFL) Frank D'Angelo, the president of Steelback Brewery, wants to bring CFL football back to the city of Ottawa in 2007. He  already has uniforms designed, team colors and a logo for his proposed team, the Ottawa Steelback. D'Angelo has not even met with league officials, yet. The league will consider his offer next month along with other proposals. (See related article on April 12, 2006)

April 26, 2006 – (NIFL) The owner of the Montgomery Maulers, Jamie LaMunyon, fired all the players on the team and plans to hire new players to play in the team’s game against Osceola Football in Florida on April 28. Some Maulers players had complained that they have not been paid in four or five weeks and wanted to boycott the Osceola game. (See related story on May 3, 2006)

April 26, 2006 – (Media) The NFL Network has hired Bryant Gumbel, formerly of NBC’s “The Today Show,” as its play-by-play announcer and analyst Chris Collinsworth to broadcast the network’s late season NFL games. Gumbel last did play-by-play over 30 years ago at the high school level and is currently the host of HBO’s “Real Sports.” Collinsworth appears on HBO’s “Inside the NFL.”  (See related article on July 12, 2005)

April 26, 2006 – (College) The Bowl Championship Series has changed the criteria for at-large teams to qualify for a BCS bowl game. With the addition of the fifth BCS bowl game this year, (the national championship game) there will now be 10 BCS slots instead of eight. Therefore, any Division I-A team that finishes the season in the Top 14 in the final BCS standings will now be eligible. Previously, at-large teams had to finish in the Top 12.

April 26, 2006 – (Arena) Former NFL player Deion Sanders has purchased a share of the Austin Wranglers. He will be formally introduced as one of the owners during the pre-game of the Wranglers home game on April 29 against the Columbus Destroyers.

April 27, 2006 – (Obituary) Pat Marsden, known as the voice of the CFL, dies of lung cancer at the age of 69. Marsden grew up in Ottawa, Canada and at one time was the sports director at CKOY, an Ottawa radio station. He went on to become the play-by-play announcer for CFL games on CTV in the 1970’s and 80‘s. From 1996-2004, he was the co-host of a morning radio show on The Fan 590, a sports talk radio station in Toronto. Marsden was also a member of the Football Reporters of Canada Hall of Fame.

April 27, 2006 – (College) The NCAA has added four more bowl games for next season. The new games are the International Bowl, the Birmingham Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl and a fifth BCS game for the college national championship. That brings the current number of bowl games to 31, up from 28 last year. A decision on approving the Houston Bowl, which would be number 32, was delayed until sometime in June because it has not yet paid the conferences that had teams in last year’s bowl game. The International Bowl will be played in Toronto, Canada at the Rogers Center (formerly known as the Toronto SkyDome) which is where the CFL Toronto Argonauts play their home games. It will be the first college bowl game played on foreign soil since the 1937 Bacardi Bowl in Havana, Cuba. In that game, Auburn and Villanova played to a 7-7 tie.

April 27, 2006 – (College/Media) Keith Jackson, the voice of college football for nearly 40 years, announced that he is retiring from broadcasting. Jackson, 77, began doing college football play-by-play for ABC in 1966. He was also on Monday Night Football during its first season on ABC in 1970.  

April 29-30, 2006 - (NFL) The NFL College Draft takes place at Radio City Music Hall In New York. 

May

May 1, 2006 – (NFL) The day after the NFL Draft, the son of actor Denzel Washington was signed by the St. Louis Rams. John David Washington was a running back at Division II Morehouse College. He ended his college career as the school’s single game rushing leader (242 yards) and career rushing leader (3,699 yards). He also set a school record of 1,198 yards rushing last season led the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in rushing. Denzel Washington starred as a high school football coach in the movie, “Remember the Titans.”

May 1, 2006 – (NFL) The San Diego City Council has amended its lease with the San Diego Chargers and has agreed to let the team look for a different location to build a new stadium within the county.  If the team does not have a deal in place by January 1, they will be free to negotiate with any other city in the country. The Chargers could leave San Diego after the 2008 season, but would have to pay $60 million in bonds that the city issued in 1997 to expand Qualcomm Stadium. 

May 1, 2006 – (Media) ABC’s Monday Night Football received a Sports Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The award, for the show’s final season on ABC, was for Outstanding Live Sports Series. MNF moves to ESPN next season. 

May 2, 2006 - (Media) NBC announced that Sterling Sharpe has been added as a studio analyst on its Sunday night NFL broadcasts. The hiring actually took place last November, but NBC waited until now to make the announcement because they wanted to have some NFL news to report every month.

May 2, 2006 – (NIFL) The Dayton Bulldogs have been locked out of their home arena until further notice The team has been playing in the Ervin J. Nutter Center on the campus of Wayne State University.  The arena claims that the team has not made payments on their lease to play at the Nutter Center.  The Bulldogs have played three games at the facility so far this season. 

May 2, 2006 – (NFL) California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke to a committee of 11 NFL owners in Texas who are looking into the possibility of putting a team back in Los Angeles. Schwarzenegger said that he would like to see two new teams in L.A. to replace the two that left in 1994, the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Raiders. (See related article on April 25, 2006) 

May 2, 2006 – (College) A football player from Ohio University pleaded not guilty to charges of hitting a police horse during a brawl outside a bar in Athens, Ohio on April 29. Corey Logan, a junior tight end, says he accidentally struck the horse with his elbow after the horse bumped him with its head. The horse, named Chip, was not injured. 

May 3, 2006 – (NIFL) The Montgomery Maulers have new owners. The team was purchased by John Morris and Mike Mink. The previous owner, Jamie LaMunyon, had fired the entire team last week and used replacement players in a game against Osceola Football on April 28. LaMunyon also owns the NIFL Tennessee Riversharks. The new owners rehired the former Maulers players and Mink will also serve as the head coach the team. Ironically, it was Morris and Mink who provided the Maulers with the replacement players. They came from a semi-pro team they own in Tampa, Florida called the GulfCoast Raiders. The replacement players lost the game to Osceola by the score of 72-12. (See related article on April 26, 2006)

May 4, 2006 - (College) Texas and Oklahoma have agreed to keep their annual football game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas through 2010. The Red River Shootout has been played at a neutral site in Dallas every year since 1929. This year's game will be the played on October 7 and it will be the 101st game between the two schools. 

May 4, 2006 – (NFL) The Dallas Cowboys announced that they will conduct their annual training camp at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX beginning in 2007. The team had previously conducted its training camp there in 2002 and 2003, and has been in Oxnard, CA since 2004. The five-year deal runs through 2011.

May 4, 2006 – (GLIFL) The Great Lakes Indoor Football League announced its first ever expansion team. The Muskegon Thunder will be the seventh team in the league and will begin play during the 2007 season. They are the third team to be located in the state of Michigan. The others are the Battle Creek Crunch and the Port Huron Pirates. The Thunder will play their home games in the LC Walker Arena.

May 4, 2006 – (NIFL) The Dayton Bulldogs home game against Osceola Football on May 5 has been postponed. The team is currently without a home arena and is in negotiations with two other facilities to host its games. (See related article on May 2, 2006)

May 6, 2006 – (NIFL) The Tri-Cities Fever defeated the visiting Big Sky Thunder by the score of 102-20. The game was played in the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Washington.

May 7, 2006 – (Media) The NFL Network has added another college bowl game to its programming. Along with the Senior Bowl, a college all-star game, the Insight Bowl will be aired on the network this year as well. The network will also air college coach’s mid-week press conferences and produce its own Saturday college football highlight show this fall. (See related article on April 25, 2006)

May 8, 2006 – (Obituary) John Kimbrough, who played fullback at Texas A&M in the 1930s and 40s, dies after a brief bout with pneumonia at the age of 87. Kimbrough was known as the “Haskell Hurricane” because he was from Haskell, Texas.  He helped lead Texas A&M to a national championship in 1939 and finished second in the Heisman Trophy vote in 1941 to Tom Harmon of Michigan. In 1942, after graduating from college, Kimbrough starred in two Hollywood Westerns, “Sundown Jim” and “Lone Star Ranger.” He then joined the Army and became a pilot in the Pacific during World War II, achieving the rank of captain. Kimbrough played pro football for the Los Angeles Dons of the All-American Football League from 1946-1948. After that, he turned his attention to politics, serving in the Texas legislature from 1953-1955.  He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.

May 8, 2006 – (Lawsuit) The Seattle Seahawks and Texas A&M University have come to an agreement over the use of the phrase, “The 12th Man.” The Seahawks acknowledged the fact that Texas A&M owns a trademark on the phrase and Seattle will be allowed to use the phrase under a licensing agreement. (See related article on February 2, 2006)

May 8, 2006 – (NIFL) It looks as if the Rapid City Flying Aces will be able to finish the season after all. One of the team investors, Howard Neal, recently skipped town owing money to players, cheerleaders and various other bills. He is accused of using several aliases over the years and has apparently done this sort of thing before with other indoor football teams. However, several new investors come forward to help save the season. The Flying Aces are currently undefeated at 7-0 this season. (See related article on March 19, 2006)

May 8, 2006 – (AIFL) The American Indoor Football League has awarded the Huntington Heroes a forfeit win over the Canton Legends because the Legends used four ineligible players. On the field, Canton won the game 54-41 on Saturday, May 6 in Huntington. The ineligible Legends players were not on the team’s 23-man roster that was faxed to the Heroes and the league office 48 hours before the game. The Heroes record now stands at 7-2 and the Legends record is now 5-5. The league said that the stats of the eligible player on the roster will count.

May 9, 2006 – (Obituary) Harold Robinson, the first black scholarship athlete to play college football in what is today the Big 12 Conference, dies at his home in Wharton, NJ at the age of 76. Robinson joined the Kansas State football team in 1949. After he made the team, baseball star Jackie Robinson (no relation) wrote him a letter of congratulations. Jackie Robinson broke the racial barrier in baseball in 1947.  Harold Robinson was sometimes forced to stay in private homes during road games away from the rest of the team, but missed only one game in his college career. It was a game at Memphis State, which did not allow blacks in the stadium to even watch games at the time. Robinson was a first team All-Big Seven selection in 1950 and was inducted into the Kansas State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and received a Purple Heart.  

May 9, 2006 – (College) The College Football Hall of Fame has added seven more players and coaches to the Class of 2006. Enshrinement will take place on August 11-12 in South Bend, Indiana. The seven new members come from Division I-AA, II, III and the NAIA schools. They include players WR Jerry Rice from Mississippi Valley State, DB Kevin Dent from Jackson State, QB John Friesz from Idaho and WR Ronnie Mallet from Central Arkansas. Coached include John Gagliardi from Carroll College, Dick Farley from Williams and Vernon “Skip” McCain from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. 

May 9, 2006 – (NFL/CFL) The Clark County coroner’s office in Las Vegas announced that the official cause of death of former CFL and NFL player Travis Claridge was an accident. Claridge died of acute pneumonia. He also had a high level of the painkiller oxycodone in his system and an enlarged heart at the time of his death in February which were significant factors in the cause use of death. Oxycodone is an addictive painkiller that can depress the respiratory system while producing euphoria. (See obituary on February 28, 2006)

May 9, 2006 – (NIFL) Danny Massier of Saskatchewan, Canada was the high bidder in an eBay auction for a one-day player contract with the RiverCity Rage in St. Louis. His winning bid was $1,326 with just 17 seconds left in the auction. Proceeds will go to the United Way of Greater St. Louis. Massier will participate in the kickoff coverage team during the first quarter of the Rage home game on June 23 against the Tennessee Riversharks. He also will receive practice time with the team, a game jersey, 20 tickets to the game and honorary captain status.  Massier is a huge indoor football fan and even attended a Rage game last year.

May 9, 2006 – (Theft) Johnny Rodgers’ Heisman Trophy ring has been turned in to police in Omaha, Nebraska. Rodgers reported the ring missing back on November 15, 2005. He had taken it off to show it to a clerk at an Omaha supermarket and forgot about it while bagging his groceries. A woman found the ring in the store parking lot and kept it for six months, thinking it was a high school class ring.  She turned it in to the police about two weeks ago after her brother saw it and recognized what it was. The ring is missing its diamonds and a gold mini Heisman Trophy setting. The police are keeping the ring for now until they finish their investigation. Rodgers won the Heisman Trophy in 1972 while playing at Nebraska. He was a first round draft pick of the San Diego Chargers in 1973 but decided to play in the CFL for the Montreal Alouettes.

May 10, 2006 – (NIFL) The Dayton Bulldogs have found a new home for the rest of the season. They will play the remainder of their home games at Wall 2 Wall Soccer, an indoor soccer facility in Mason, OH which is located about 30 miles south of Dayton. The Bulldogs have three home games left on their schedule and another home game that still needs to be rescheduled after it was postponed. (See related article on May 4, 2006)

May 15, 2006 – (NFL) Former Green Bay Packers guard Jerry Kramer will be reunited with his championship ring from Super Bowl I that was lost 25 years ago. Kramer was on a flight from Chicago to New York when he took it off in the plane’s bathroom and forgot about it. When he went back to the bathroom to retrieve it later in the flight, it was gone. John Nitschke, the son of Kramer’s former Packers teammate Ray Nitschke, called Kramer last month to tell him that he saw the ring on an auction web site, Mastro Auctions. Kramer, who played for the Packers from 1958-1968, had a replica ring made after losing the original.   

May 15, 2006 – (Obituary) George Blackburn, a former college football coach and NFL scout, dies at a retirement center in Dublin, Ohio at the age of 93. Blackburn coached at Miami University in 1948 and Cincinnati from 1955-1960.  He was the head football coach at Virginia from 1965-1970 and was named Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year in 1968. After leaving Virginia, Blackburn was a player scout for the NFL New Orleans Saints, Houston Oilers and New England Patriots.

May 15, 2006 – (af2) An expansion team has been awarded to Youngstown, Ohio for the 2007 season. It will be called the Mahoning Valley Thunder and will play its home games at the Chevrolet Centre. The Thunder will be the 24th team in arenafootball2.

May 15, 2006 – (NFL) New England Patriots quarterback Doug Flutie, 43, announced his retirement from professional football after a career that spanned 21 years and three pro football leagues. After starring at Boston College and winning the Heisman Trophy in 1984, Flutie signed with the New Jersey Generals of the USFL in 1985. He went to the NFL in 1986 and played for the Chicago Bears and then the Patriots before going to the CFL in 1990. In Canada, Flutie played for the British Columbia Lions, Calgary Stampeders and Toronto Argonauts, winning three Grey Cup championships and was named the league MVP six straight years.  He returned to the NFL in 1998 with the Buffalo Bills and finished his career with the San Diego Chargers and just last season returned to the Patriots. (See related article on January 1, 2006)

May 16, 2006 – (College) The College Football Hall of Fame has selected two coaches and 13 players for next year’s Class of 2007.  The rules had to be changed in order for active coaches Bobby Bowden, 76, of Florida State and Joe Paterno, 79, of Penn State to be included. Until this year, a coach had to be retired before induction, but the National Football Foundation decided that active coaches over 75 years old can now be elected to the Hall of Fame. Paterno has been the head coach at Penn State since 1966 while Bowden has been at Florida State since 1976. Players include 1993 Heisman Trophy QB Charlie Ward from Florida State, 1983 Heisman Trophy RB Mike Rosier from Nebraska, DE Bruce Smith from Virginia Tech and RB Emmett Smith from Florida. Other player include RB Bobby Anderson from Colorado, S Bennie Blades from Miami, DT Carl Eller from Minnesota, DL Steve Emtman from Washington, S Thomas Everett from Baylor, DL Chad Hennings from Air Force, G Chip Kell from Tennessee, QB Mike Phipps from Purdue and LB Jeff Siemon from Stanford. (See related article on May 9, 2006)

May 16, 2006 – (College) The commissioner of the Southeastern Conference asked CBS Sports, ESPN and Lincoln Financial Media back in January to stop using the phrase “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” when referring to the annual football game between Georgia and Florida. The commissioner is concerned about two alcohol related student deaths in recent years following the game. The phrase goes back to the 1950’s when Florida Times-Union reporter Bill Kasteiz used it in a story. 

May 16, 2006 – (Obituary) Dan Ross, a tight end for the Cincinnati Bengals who played in Super Bowl XVI, dies at the age of 49. Ross collapsed at his home in Atkinson, NH after he returned from jogging. He played college football at Northwestern and was the 30th overall pick in the 1979 NFL Draft by Cincinnati and played for the Bengals for six years. Ross also played for the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers before retiring from football in 1986. He also played in the USFL for the New Orleans Breakers in 1984 and the Portland Breakers in 1985 after the team moved to Oregon.

May 16, 2006 – (College) Beginning in 2009, Notre Dame will schedule one game per season at a neutral site. The intent is to give Irish fans around the country a chance to see the team and to increase recruitment. The school is in talks with Orlando, Dallas, New Orleans and Jacksonville to host the games.

May 16, 2006 – (Nickname) The NCAA has told Division I-AA William & Mary that they can keep the Tribe nickname, but the school’s logo cannot be used for any NCAA championship competitions. The school says it will appeal the ruling. In related news, the U.S. House of Representatives is considering legislation that would limit the NCAA’a authority to sanction its member universities over the use of their nicknames and mascots. 

May 17, 2006 – (CFL) The Calgary Stampeders have completed installation of a new FieldTurf synthetic surface at their home stadium just in time for the start of training camp. McMahon Stadium, on the campus of the University of Calgary, has had an Astroturf surface since the late 1990’s. The new surface cost $1.3 million and was paid for through an improvement fee added to Stampeders tickets.

May 17, 2006 – (NFL) The Green Bay Packers have changed the time of their final home preseason game against the Tennessee Titans. The game will kickoff at 3 PM on Friday, September 1 so it will not conflict with local high school football games. The Packers had asked to move the game to Thursday, but the league has a rule against teams playing two games within four days. Green Bay plays the Cincinnati Bengals the previous Sunday. 

May 17, 2006 – (NFL) The New Orleans Saints have set a new record for season ticket sales. Due in part to the team drafting Heisman Trophy running back Reggie Bush from USC, the Saints have sold 54,969 season tickets. The previous record was 53,728 in 2003.

May 18, 2006 – (Obituary) Annis Stukus, who played in the CFL for 12 years and helped to build franchised in Vancouver and Edmonton, dies at the age of 91. Stukus played numerous positions for the Toronto Argonauts from 1935-1941, including quarterback, and helped the Argos win Grey Cup championships in 1937 and 1938. His brothers, Bill and Frank, were also on the team. He became the first head coach and general manager of the Edmonton Eskimos in 1949 and was also the team’s place kicker. He was also the first head coach of the British Columbia Lions from 1953-1956. Stukus, nicknamed Stuke, was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame as a builder in 1974 and is also a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. The annual CFL Coach of the Year award is named after him.

May 19, 2006 – (College) The Big House is going to get even bigger. Michigan Stadium, home of the Michigan Wolverines, is going to add 83 luxury suites and 3,200 club seats over the next few years at a cost of $226 million. The additions to the stadium are expected to be completed by 2010.

May 19, 2006 – (NFL) The Los Angeles City Council has voted to spend $25 million on improvements around the Los Angeles Coliseum such as street widening and site clearing. It is just the first step in hopes of getting an NFL team back in LA by 2009. (See related article on April 25, 2006)

May 20, 2006 – (AIFL) The Johnstown Riverhawks defeated a team that filled in at the last minute for the Syracuse Soldiers, which folded last week with a record of 1-9. The fill-in team was made up of semi-pro players from the Cumberland Valley Cardinals of the North American Football League and some players from the Soldiers. The Riverhawks won the game by the score of 68-0. (See related article on January 23, 2006)

May 21, 2006 – (AIFL) The Richmond Bandits set a new league record for points scored in a games by defeating the AIFL Ghostchasers traveling team by the score of 113-0. The win improves the Bandits’ record to 10-2 on the season and clinched a home playoff game for the team. (See related article on March 28, 2006)

May 22, 2006 – (AIFL) The American Indoor Football League has ruled that the Canton Legends win over the Huntington Heroes on May 6 will stand after all. The Legends protested the ruling, saying there was nothing in the rule book about forfeiting a game if ineligible players were used. A review committee agreed and reversed the decision. However, the Legends will be fined $800 for using four ineligible players. The rule book will be changed and any future similar player infractions will result in a forfeit. (See related article on May 8, 2006)

May 22, 2006 – (AIFL) Greens Worldwide Incorporated, a sports marketing and management company, has agreed in principle to buy the American Indoor Football League. The company also recently purchased the North American Football League, a semi-pro league. (See related article on May 20, 2006)

May 23, 2006 – (Obituary) Jim Trimble, who coached in college, the NFL and the CFL, dies at the age of 87. Trimble played tackle in college at Indiana, graduating in 1942. He then joined the U. S. Navy and spent three years as a Lieutenant in the South Pacific during World War II. After the war, he became the head coach and athletic director at Wichita State in 1948 and won the Camellia Bowl in 1949. In 1951, he joined the NFL Philadelphia Eagles as an assistant coach and was named head coach of the team in 1952. In 1955, Trimble became head coach of the CFL Hamilton Tiger-Cats, led the team to a Grey Cup victory in 1957 and was named CFL Coach of the Year. He also was the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes from 1963-1965. Trimble returned to the NFL in 1967 as an offensive line coach with the New York Giants. He became the team’s director of player personnel in 1969 and held that position for 12 years. He then served as a consultant with the team for more than 10 years before finally retiring.

May 23, 2006 – (NFL) The NFL is going to spend $10 million to help Los Angeles and Anaheim with design and engineering studies at two proposed stadium sites vying for an NFL expansion team. Each city will get $5 million. (See related article on May 19, 2006) 

May 24, 2006 – (Obituary) Cathy Mazurkiewicz, the mother of the dieing boy who was granted a wish and called the first play of the college football game between Notre Dame and Washington last fall, dies in California of melanoma at the age of 46. Cathy’s 10-year-old son, Montana, was granted the wish after meeting with Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis last fall. Montana died the day before the game was played in Seattle. (See related article on September 24, 2005)

May 24, 2006 – (CFL) The Montreal Alouettes have proposed a $27 million renovation project at their home stadium, Percival Molson Stadium. It would add a second tier of seats and increase seating by 5,000, bringing the total capacity of the stadium to 25,202. The added seating would bring in an extra $2.5 million a year. The stadium was built in 1919. Local environmental groups are not happy about the proposed project.

May 24, 2006 – (College) The Motor City Bowl in Detroit and the Big Ten Conference have come to an agreed on a four-year extension to keep the conference affiliated with the bowl game. The Motor City Bowl pits the seventh bowl eligible team from the Big Ten against a team from the Mid American Conference.

May 24, 2006 – (College) It has not even been six months since the Texas Longhorns won the national championship and now a Texas championship ring, that is supposedly owned by a former player, is up for sale on eBay. The ring, size 10½ - 11, is valued at about $350, but the bidding has already exceeded $10,000. NCAA rules prohibit current college players from selling their rings, but there is nothing they can do if former players want to sell their rings.

May 25, 2006 - (High School) The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, which oversees all high school sports in the state, has adopted a policy that will penalize high school football coaches for running up the score on an opponent. Beginning this fall, any coach who defeats another team by 50 points or more will face a one-game suspension.

May 26, 2006 - (GLIFL) The Great Lakes Indoor Football League announced a second expansion team for the 2007 season. The Chesapeake Tide will play it's home games in the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. The Tide  are now the eighth team in the league. (See related article on May 4, 2006)

May 26, 2006 - (NIFL) The Big Sky Thunder have cancelled the last five games of their season. The Valley Ice Gardens in Bozeman, Montana, where the team played its home games, has recently been sold and it is going to be turned into a cold storage facility. The team is looking to play its home games next year at Montana State University, but no formal agreement has yet been reached. 

May 27, 2006 – (NIFL) The Fayetteville Guard recorded its first shutout in team history with a 70-0 win over the visiting West Palm Beach Phantoms. Ironically, the owner of the Phantoms had folded the team earlier in the week on May 22. So the Guard and the league decided to pay the team’s expenses and salary so that the team could still make the trip and play the game anyway. Only nine players who were with the Phantoms the week before, made the trip. The rest of the team was made up of replacement players. The Phantoms were coached by the team’s general manager. The win improved the Guard’s record to 9-1 while the Phantoms drooped to 1-6. The Phantoms have played all their games on the road this season because they could not come to an agreement with a home venue. (See related story on April 14, 2006)

May 27, 2006 – (Obituary) Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, who played fullback in the NFL for 11 seasons, dies of a brain tumor at the age of 39. Heyward played college football at the University of Pittsburgh and was a first round selection of the New Orleans Saints in 1988. He also played for the Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons, St. Louis Rams and Indianapolis Colts.

May 27, 2006 – (NFL) The NFL is looking at playing two regular season games each year outside the U.S., beginning in 2008. Games would be played in Mexico, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. Further discussions will take place on October.

May 27, 2006 – (NFL Europe) The NFL announced that they plan to expand the six-team NFL Europe league to eight teams by 2010. The schedule would also expand from 10 games to 12 games. The current leading cities for expansion teams are Hanover and Leipzig, both in Germany. 

May 27, 2006 - (NFL Europe) The Frankfurt Galaxy defeated the Amsterdam Admirals by the score of 22-7 in World Bowl XIV. It was the fourth title for the Galaxy who have appeared in seven of the 14 league championship games.

May 28, 2006 – (Obituary) Tony Sardisco, who was a lineman in the AFL, NFL and the CFL, dies of a massive heart attack at the age of 73. Sardisco played college football at Tulane and went on to play for both the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins in 1956. He then spent two years in the U.S. Air Force before returning to play pro football for the CFL Calgary Stampeders in 1959. Sardisco also played in the American Football League from 1960-62 for the Boston Patriots. He was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.

May 28, 2006 – (CFL) Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams signs a one-year, $240,000 contract to play in Canada for the Toronto Argonauts. Williams has been suspended from the NFL for the 2006 season after he failed a drug test for the fourth time. The Dolphins expect Williams to return to the team for the 2007 season.

May 30, 2006 – (Nickname) Catawba College, a Division II school in North Carolina, has won its appeal with the NCAA over the use of the Indians nickname. The school has the support of the Catawba Indian Nation, but the NCAA said they can only use the name Catawba Indians and not just Indians. (See related article on May 16, 2006)

May 30, 2006 – (Obituary) Brad Martin, who was once captain of the BYU football team, dies at the age of 30. Martin’s body was found in his apartment by his landlord and it is believed that he had been dead for several days at the time his body was found. The immediate cause of death was not known, but Martin struggled with an addiction to pain killers ever since he was involved in an auto accident during his senior season at the school. Martin played at BYU from 1995-98.

May 30, 2006 – (College) Navy has reached an agreement that would send the team to the Meineke Car Care Bowl if the team is bowl eligible. The Midshipmen would take on a team from the ACC. The game is played at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

May 31, 2006 – (College) The Old Dominion Monarchs will return to the football field in 2009. The school, which was founded in 1930, had a football team for 11 years, but its last season was in 1940. The team will play in the Colonial Athletic Association of Division I-AA.

June

June 4, 2006 – (Obituary) Robert Taylor, who played in the 1963 NFL Championship game, dies in New York from complications following surgery for colon cancer. Taylor played defensive end for the New York Giants from 1963-64.

June 5, 2006 – (College) It was announced that Northern Illinois University will host Iowa at Soldier Field in Chicago during the 2007 season. It will be the first Division I-A college football game at the home of the NFL Chicago Bears since the stadium underwent renovations in 2003.

June 6, 2006 – (af2) An arenafootball2 expansion team has been awarded to Boise, Idaho. The team will play in the Qwest Arena. (See related article on May 15, 2006)

June 6, 2006 – (NFL) The Tennessee Titans stadium gets a new name. The team agreed to a 10-year, $30 million deal with the Louisiana-Pacific Corporation on a naming rights deal that will rename the stadium LP Field. The building company has committed to construct Habitat for Humanity homes in each of the 10 cities where the Titans will play road games this season. From 1999-2002, the stadium was known as Adelphia Coliseum until Adelphia Business Solutions filed for bankruptcy and stopped payments on its 15-year, $30 million naming rights deal.    

June 7, 2006 – (NIFL) The National Indoor Football League announced that this year’s playoff field will consist of 12 teams rather than 16 as it was last season. The NIFL playoffs will begin the weekend of July 8-9.

June 9, 2006 – (College) Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, is having a new giant video screen installed. The new Mitsubishi DiamondVision screen is 33 feet high, 117 feet wide and costs $4.5 million. It is reportedly the largest screen at any college football stadium in the country. Two additional 24-foot-wide screens will also be installed in the southeast and southwest corners of the stadium. They will replace the current ones that were installed in 1994. The new screens will be tested in July.

June 9, 2006 – (Media) Hank Williams, Jr. will continue to sing the theme song of Monday Night Football when the show switches from ABC to ESPN this fall. He will perform with an all-star band that will include Charlie Daniels, Clarence Clemons, Steven Van Zandt and Little Richard. Williams has been performing the “Are You Ready For Some Football” opening on MNF since 1989. 

June 11, 2006 – (Arena) The Chicago Rush win ArenaBowl XX 69-61 over the Orlando Predators. The Rush had a 7-9 record in the regular season and almost didn’t qualify for the playoffs. For the second year in a row, the game was played at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.

June 12, 2006 – (NFL) Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was involved in an accident while riding his motorcycle in Pittsburgh. Roethlisberger was not wearing a helmet at the time. Pennsylvania law does not require motorcyclists to wear a helmet.

June 15, 2006 – (College) War Memorial Stadium, home of the Arkansas Razorbacks, is getting a new artificial turf. The current AstroPlay turf was installed in 2002. Installation of the new FieldTurf playing surface will begin next week and is expected to be completed in early August. The cost to install the new surface is $400,000 and it is expected to last between 10 and 12 years.

June 16, 2006 – (NIFL) The National Indoor Football League has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Louisiana against four other indoor football leagues. The lawsuit claims that the American Professional Football League, Intense Football League, American Indoor Football League and United Indoor Football are all guilty of patent and copyright infringement, which includes rules, field configuration and the indoor football concept. The 44-page lawsuit was filed back on May 11 by NIFL commissioner Carolyn Shiver. The NIFL was established in October 2000.

June 19, 2006 – (AIFL) The American Indoor Football League has awarded a forfeit victory to the Raleigh Rebels in their playoff game with the Richmond Bandits. The Bandits had refused to pay a $3,000 fine levied against them by the league for intentionally not sending game tapes to two other teams, including the Rebels, in a timely manner prior to today’s game. The Bandits are the defending AIFL champions and were the number two seed in the Southern Conference with a 12-3 record. The Bandits claim that the Rebels did the same thing to them earlier this season and were not fined for their actions. The Bandits may seek a new league to play in next year.

June 19, 2006 – (College) Two players and one former coach have been inducted in the Independence Bowl Hall of Fame. They include Mississippi running back Deuce McAllister, former LSU coach Gerry DiNardo and LSU lineman Alan Faneca. The college bowl’s Hall of Fame is located in Shreveport, La.

June 20, 2006 – (AIFL) The American Indoor Football League announced that an expansion team will be added in Danville, Illinois for the 2007 season. The unnamed team will play in the 2,400 seat Davis S. Palmer Arena. 

June 20, 2006 – (af2) The arenafootball2 league announced that the ArenaCup VII championship game will be played on Saturday, August 26 in the 18,000 seat Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The league will hold the ArenaCup championship game there for the next two years and also hopes to place a team in Puerto Rico in either 2007 or 2008.

June 21, 2006 – (Obituary) Theo Bell, who played wide receiver for nine years in the NFL, dies of kidney disease at the age of 52. Bell was a fourth round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1976 and won two Super Bowls with the team in 1978 and 1979. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1980-1984.

June 21, 2006 – (College/Media) The Big Ten Conference announced that it has created its own television channel, the Big Ten Channel. The new network was created in partnership with Fox Cable Networks, who will be a minority owner, and will begin broadcasting in August 2007. The conference has also reached a 10-year agreement with ABC and ESPN to carry up to 42 Big Ten football games each season. 

June 21, 2006 – (AIFL) The American Indoor Football League announced that that will place an expansion team in Tupelo, Mississippi in time for the 2007 season. The city was previously the home of the Tupelo FireAnts of the National Indoor Football League from 2001-2004 and United Indoor Football in 2005. The team will play in the BancorpSouth Center.

June 22, 2006 - (NFL) The New Orleans Saints announced that they have signed a four-year agreement to hold their training camp at Division III Millsaps College in Jackson. Mississippi. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Saints will hold 35 practices there between July 28 and August 25.

June 23, 2003 – (NFL) A group of residents and preservationists in Pasadena, California is trying to keep the NFL from moving into the Rose Bowl. Pasadena First is an organization that is seeking a preliminary injunction in the courts and is trying to get an initiative off the November ballot. The ballot proposal, if passed, would give the NFL the rights to play in the Rose Bowl in exchange for stadium renovations and an annual rent. The group claims that it is illegal to negotiate a lease deal through an election because the California Constitution prohibits such an act. A hearing is tentatively set for July 28.

June 23, 2006 – (College) The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award ceremony is moving from Louisville, KY to Baltimore, MD this fall. The award, given annually to the nation’s top senior quarterback, has been handed out in Louisville since it’s inception in 1987. Unitas played college football at Louisville from 1951-1954, but was a star quarterback for the Baltimore Colts in the 60’s and 70’s, winning three NFL titles with the team. The award is handed out on the second Friday in December, the day before the Heisman Trophy.

June 23, 2006 – (af2) It was announced that a new arenafootball2 expansion team has been awarded to Anchorage, Alaska. The team will be known as the Alaska Wild. The Wild will play their home games in the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage. Alaska. It is the third af2 expansion team announced so far for the 2007 season. (See related article on June 6, 2006)  

June 23, 2006 - (CFL) The Saskatchewan Roughriders home stadium has been given a new, corporate name. It had been known as Taylor Field since 1947, when it was named after the team's former quarterback, coach and team executive, Neil "Piffles" Taylor. Taylor died suddenly the year before at the age of 48. After coming to a 10-year deal worth $4 million, the stadium will now be known as Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field. The Mosaic Company deals in potatoes and fertilizer. 

June 23, 2006 - (GLIFL) The Great Lakes Indoor Football League announced that a third expansion team has been added for the 2007 season. The Motor City Reapers will play their home games at Great Lakes Sports City in Fraser, Michigan, which is a suburb of Detroit. The Reapers become the fourth team in the GLIFL to be located in the state of Michigan. (See related article on May 26, 2006) 

June 26, 2006 – (NFL/Media) The NFL Network announced that they will produce a 90-minute highlight show this fall called NFL Gameday. The show, which will air Sunday nights at 11:30 and rebroadcast Monday mornings, will be in direct competition with ESPN’s 11 pm Sunday night edition of SportsCenter. The two networks have also gone head to head airing this year with concurrent Super Bowl pre-game shows and NFL Draft coverage.

June 28, 2006 - (College) The NCAA has approved a new bowl game to be played in Houston, TX next season. The bowl game will be run by Lone Star Sports and Entertainment, which is affiliated with the NFL Houston Texans. The name of the bowl game and other details will be released at a later date. The new bowl game will replace the former Houston Bowl. (See related article on April 27, 2006)

June 29, 2006 - (Obituary) Randy Walker, the head football coach at Northwestern University, dies of an apparent heart attack at the age of 52. Walker had been at Northwestern since 1999. Prior to that, he was at Miami of Ohio for nine years. Just two months ago, Walker was given a four-year contract extension that would have run through 2011. Walker led the Wildcats to three bowl games since 2000, the Alamo Bowl in 2000. the Motor City Bowl in 2003 and the 2005 Sun Bowl.

June 29, 2006 - (Media) CBS broadcaster Lesley Visser is the first woman to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame when she receives the Hall's Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. Visser has covered the NFL for 33 years on television and in print. She was the NFL's first female beat writer in 1976. Visser will receive her award at a dinner in Canton, OH on August 5.   

July

July 3, 2006 - (AIFL) The Canton Legends defeated the Rome Renegades in the American Bowl II AIFL Championship game by the score of 61-40. The game was played in Rome, Georgia.

July 5, 2006 – (NIFL) The National Indoor Football League has awarded a forfeit win to the Montgomery Maulers over the Charleston SandSharks in the regular season finale for both teams. The SandSharks defeated the Maulers 39-28 back on July 1, but the league has determined that Charleston had about six ineligible players on its roster. The forfeit gives both teams 7-7 records on the season. Montgomery now advances to the playoffs and will take on the Lakeland Thunderbolts in Florida on July 8. 

July 5, 2006 - (CFL) The Canadian Football League announced that commissioner Tom Wright will be stepping down at the end of the 2006 CFL season. Wright has been the commissioner of the CFL since November 2002. 

July 7, 2006 - (College) Pat Fitzgerald, 31, has been named head coach at Northwestern University. Fitzgerald takes over the team after the recent death of head coach Randy Walker. An assistant coach at Northwestern since 2001, Fitzgerald becomes the youngest head football coach in Division I-A history. He was a two-time All-American linebacker while playing for the Wildcats in the 1990's and was elected to the school's Athletic Hall of Fame on 2003. (See related article on June 29, 2006)

July 10, 2006 – (NIFL) The National Indoor Football League has awarded a forfeit win to Osceola Football and advanced them in the NIFL playoffs. Osceola was supposed to play the Cincinnati Marshals in the first round of the playoffs, but there were scheduling conflicts at both team's home arenas. The league then made arrangements for the game to be played today at the Lakeland Center in Lakeland, Florida, but due to the short notice, Cincinnati was not able to make the trip to Florida to play the game. Osceola will now travel to St. Louis to take on the RiverCity Rage on July 15 for an Atlantic Conference semi-final game. (See related article on July 5, 2006)

July 12, 2006 – (NIFL) The Cincinnati Marshals are still alive in the NIFL playoffs after all. After protesting the decision by the league to award a forfeit win to Osceola Football when neither team could secure their respective home venues for a playoff game, the league decided to have the two teams play in St. Louis this Friday. The winner would take on the RiverCity Rage the next day. However, Osceola did not submit some required paperwork to the league office on time, so Cincinnati has now been awarded a forfeit win. The Marshals will take on the Rage in St. Louis on Saturday night, July 15. (See related article on July 10, 2006)

July 13, 2006 – (GLIFL) The New York/New Jersey Revolution have signed an agreement with a home venue for the 2007 season. The Revolution was a traveling team this past season but will play in Mennen Arena in Morristown, New Jersey next year. In 2005, the arena was the home of the New Jersey Xtreme of the National Indoor Football League.

July 14, 2006 – (College) The GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Alabama is being moved from December 20 to January 7. It will now be played the night before the BCS championship game and will be broadcast on ESPN.

July 15, 2006 – (NFL) The Tennessee Titans have sold out all their home games for the 2006 season, extending their consecutive sellout streak to 83. Tickets went on sale at 10:00 am today and were sold out within just a few hours. Most of the tickets were sold over the Internet.

July 17, 2006 – (NFL/Lawsuit) A lawsuit has been file against the NFL by the son of John Facenda, the legendary voice of NFL Films. John Facenda, Jr. claims that his father’s voice was improperly used in a program on the NFL Network about a video game called “The Making of Madden 2006.” The show was airing back in August 2005 just before the video game was released. Facenda, Jr. says he has an agreement with the league that states his father’s voice can be used, but not for endorsing a product or service. The league claims the show was a documentary. John Facenda died in 1984 and was the voice of NFL films for some 20 years. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages. Facenda, Jr. recently settled another lawsuit against the Campbell Soup company for using an announcer that imitated his father’s voice in radio and TV commercials. 

July 17, 2006 – (Obituary) Galen Fiss, captain of the 1964 Cleveland Browns team that won the NFL championship, dies at the age of 75. Fiss played college football at Kansas and was selected by the Browns in the 13th round of the 1953 draft. He decided to join the U.S. Air Force instead and when he got out of the service, he decided to play baseball instead. He was drafted by the Cleveland Indians as a catcher and sent to a minor league team in Fargo, North Dakota where he was a teammate of future New York Yankees great, Roger Maris. In 1956, Browns coach Paul Brown offered Fiss more money to play football, so he joined the team as a linebacker and played for the Browns from 1956-1966. Fiss was captain of the team for six years and was selected to the Pro Bowl twice.

July 17, 2006 – (Arena) The Arena Football League will be the subject of a 13-episode reality TV show called the Arena Gridiron Challenge. Potential players will come from six open tryouts in Dallas (July 18), Houston (July 19), New Orleans (July 20), Atlanta (July 21), Miami (July 24) and Tampa (July 25). A total of 72 players chosen from the open tryouts will compete for spots on two teams of 20 players each. The series will culminate in an Arena football game between the two teams. The best players from the two teams will be offered contracts and will become the roster for an arenafootball2 expansion team. No word yet on which network will air the show or which expansion team will be stocked with the show’s players. Current expansion teams announced for the 2007 season are the Alaska Wild (in Anchorage), Mahoning Valley Thunder (in Youngstown, Ohio) and an unnamed team in Boise, Idaho.  

July 19, 2006 – (GLIFL) The Great Lakes Indoor Football League announced its fourth expansion team for the 2007 season. The Wayne County Rumble will play their home games in the Alice Noble Ice Arena in Wooster, Ohio. The league now has 10 teams in place for next year. (See related article on June 23, 2006)

July 19, 2006 – (UIF) United Indoor Football announced its first expansion team for the 2007 season. The Colorado Ice becomes the eleventh team in the league and will play their games at the Budweiser Events Center at the Ranch in Loveland, Colorado.  

July 22, 2006 – (GLIFL) The Port Huron Pirates defeated the Rochester Raiders 40-34 to win Great Lakes Bowl I at McMorran Place in Port Huron. The Pirates finished the season with a perfect 12-0 record.

July 25, 2006 – (NFL/Lawsuit) A Cleveland television station is suing the Cleveland Browns for $25,000 after the team said they were terminating their contract with the station over what the team considers “irresponsible journalism.” The station, WOIO-TV, aired a 911 call made by Nancy Fisher, the sister of team owner Randy Lerner, after she discovered the body of her 6-year-old daughter who had drowned in a creek on the family property on July 9. Recordings of 911 calls are considered public records. The station, which is a CBS affiliate, has a three-year contract with the team worth about $3.9 million to carry Browns preseason games and other programming. The lawsuit will not affect this year’s preseason schedule.

July 26, 2006 – (AAFL) A new spring professional football league is being formed. The All American Football League is expected to have 6-8 teams the first year and play in college stadiums from the Big Ten, SEC and ACC conferences beginning in the spring of 2007. Each team will have about 42 players on their roster. A proposed 10-game season is expected to begin in April and end in June. Teams will be announced at a later date.

July 27, 2006 – (GLIFL) Two Ohio teams from the American Indoor Football League have joined the Great Lakes Indoor Football League. The Miami Valley Silverbacks and the Steubenville Stampede have moved to the GLIFL after just one season in the AIFL. The GLIFL will double in size for 2007 from six to 12 teams including four in Michigan and four in Ohio. (See related WIFL story this day)

July 27, 2006 – (WIFL) A new indoor football league was announced. The World Indoor Football League will be made up of two teams from the National Indoor Football League and five teams from the American Indoor Football League. The former AIFL teams are the Augusta Spartans, Daytona Beach Thunder, Huntington Heroes, Raleigh Rebels and Rome Renegades. The teams leaving the NIFL are the Charleston Sandsharks and Osceola Football. Several expansion teams are expected to be announced in the near future.

July 27, 2006 – (NFL) The NFL and the NFL Players Association announced an increase in the league’s retiree benefit plan. Players who retired from the league prior to 1982 will receive a 25% increase in benefits and those who retired after 1982 will receive a 10% increase. The plan will also triple the benefits to widows and surviving children if the player dies before his retirement plan was to kick in. 

July 28, 2006 – (NFL) A U.S. District judge in Florida has upheld a state court injunction initiated last year by a season ticket holder. Gordon Johnston, 60, is hoping to ban the pat-down searches currently conducted when entering Tampa Bay Buccaneers games. Johnston claims the searches violate the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The NFL mandated the searches at all of its stadiums last year.

July 28, 2006 – (Obituary) Harold Enarson, former president of Ohio State University, dies at the age of 87. Enarson will be most remembered as the man who fired Buckeyes coach Woody Hayes after he struck a Clemson player during the final minutes of the 1978 Gator Bowl. Enarson presided over the school from 1972-1981.

July 28, 2006 – (NIFL) The Billings Outlaws hosted the Fayetteville Guard in the championship game of the National Indoor Football League. Billings won the game 59-44 to capture Indoor Bowl VI.

July 29, 2006 – (UIF) For the second year in a row, the Sioux Falls Storm are champions of United Indoor Football. The Storm defeated the Lexington Horsemen 72-64 in United Bowl II.

July 31, 2006 – (Obituary) Paul Eells, the radio voice of the Arkansas Razorbacks, dies in an auto accident at the age of 70. Eells was the sports director at television station KATV in Little Rock for almost 30 years. During his career, he was named Arkansas Sportscaster of the Year 11 times and was also honored several times by the Associated Press for his play-by-play work.

August

August 1, 2006 – (College) The NCAA’s Minority Opportunities and Interest Committee is considering expanding it’s current ban on collegiate championship events in the state of South Carolina at the request of the Black Coaches Association. The NCAA has had a boycott in place against the state on hosting championship events such as tournaments and regionals since 2000, but might expand that to include any postseason events in both football and baseball. The dispute is over the display of the Confederate flag at the state capital.

August 2, 2006 – (AIFL) The American Indoor Football League officially introduced an expansion team in Tallahassee, Florida. The team, which does not yet have a name, will play its home games in the Leon County Civic Center. A previous team, the Tallahassee Thunder of arenafootball2, also played there from 2000-2002.

August 3, 2006 – (NFL) NFL referees get a uniform overhaul for 2006. The new uniforms feature wider white stripes, thinner black stripes and numbers on the sleeves. The white, knickers style pants will remain the same for warm weather games but they will switch to black, full length pants during cold weather. The new uniforms were designed by Reebok.

August 3, 2006 – (College) The NCAA is changing the names of the current Division I-A and Division I-AA football divisions. Division I-A will now be known as the Football Bowl Subdivision since its member teams participate in bowl games. Division I-AA will be known as the Football Championship Subdivision because of the playoff format it uses to determine a champion. The Division I-AA championship game will now be known as the Division I Football Championship.

August 3, 2006 – (NFL/Lawsuit) An appeals court in New Jersey has overturned a verdict in a lawsuit involving a beer vendor at Giants Stadium and has ordered a new trial. The stadium beer vendor, Aramark Corp., was ordered to pay $105 million to the family of a girl who was paralyzed as the result of an auto accident involving a drunken fan on his way home from a New York Giants game back in 1999. The family plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court. The drunken fan is currently serving a five-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to vehicular assault. (See related article on January 21, 2005)

August 5, 2006 - (AIFL) The American Indoor Football League announced a second expansion team for the 2007 season. The Pittsburgh RiverRats will play their home games in the Ice Garden Arena. (See related article on August 2, 2006)

August 7, 2006 – (Obituary) Bob Miller, defensive tackle with the Detroit Lions in the 1950’s, dies of cancer at the age of 76. Miller played college football at Virginia and was a fifth round draft pick of the Lions in 1952. He won three NFL championships with Detroit in 1952, 1953 and 1957. He retired from playing football after the 1958 season.

August 7, 2006 – (Media) Dick Vermeil has been hired as an analyst by the NFL Network. He will substitute for Chris Collinsworth on two games that the network will air late in the season, the December 16 game between the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons and the December 23 game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders. Vermeil will also work the network’s two college games, the Insight Bowl on December 29 and the Senior Bowl on January 27.

August 8, 2006 – (AIFL) The Columbus, Georgia City Council has decided to exercise the cancellation clause in the lease agreement at the Columbus Civic Center with the Chattahoochee Valley Vipers. The city claims that the team owes $5,000 in back rent at the arena.

August 8, 2006 – (NFL) A U.S. District judge in Chicago has dismissed a lawsuit initiated by the Chicago Park District, which owns Soldier Field, in an attempt to stop performing pat-down searches of fans attending Chicago Bears games. The judge rejected the lawsuit because no fans had complained. (See related article on July 28, 2006)

August 8, 2006 – (NFL) Roger Goodell, 47, was elected as the league’s new commissioner in a 32-0 vote by NFL owners. There were five ballots during a three hour meeting that took place in Chicago. Goodell takes over for Paul Tagliabue, who has been the NFL commissioner since 1989. Goodell will begin his five-year term with the start of the NFL regular season on September 7. 

August 8, 2006 – (WIFL) Gary Tufford was selected as the commissioner and executive director of the new World Indoor Football League. Tufford had recently served as the executive director of the American Indoor Football League. He was a player in the CFL for four years with the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He was also the head coach of the Erie Invaders of the Indoor Football League in 2000 as well as head coach and executive vice president of the af2 Greensboro Prowlers. (See related article on July 27, 2006)

August 8, 2006 – (NFL) The Cincinnati Bengals are providing fans with a phone number to use to report trouble at home games. Fans in the stadium will now be able to call 381-JERK to report unruly fan behavior during games. In turn, stadium security personnel can point one of 38 stadium security cameras on any seating section to capture fan behavior for possible ejection or arrest. The Philadelphia Eagles instituted a similar system two years ago at their stadium. Caller ID should help keep the number of crank calls to a minimum.

August 10, 2006 – (AIFL) Two more teams are leaving the National Indoor Football League and joining the American Indoor Football League. The two teams are the Lakeland ThunderBolts and the Montgomery Maulers. The Montgomery team will also be changing its name to the Montgomery Bears. The Thunderbolts had a 13-3 record last season and won the NIFL Atlantic South Division. (See related article on July 27, 2006)

August 10, 2006 – (College) Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is donating $1 million dollars to his college alma mater, Tennessee, for renovations to the university’s football complex and stadium locker rooms. The donation will be made in payments that will run through 2014.

August 11, 2006 – (Lawsuit/NFL) A petition has been filed with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office by six Native Americans to cancel the trademark of the Washington Redskins. The six range in age from 18-24 and claim that the logo and name are racially offensive. In 1992, the Patent Office ruled in favor of a similar petition, but it was overturned on appeal.

August 12, 2006 – (NFL) During a preseason game in Nashville between the Tennessee Titans and the New Orleans Saints, backup quarterback Adrian McPherson of the Saints was injured when he was hit by a golf cart driven by the Tennessee mascot, T-Rac. The mascot was leaving the field after halftime when he hit McPherson, bruising his knee.

August 14, 2006 – (AIFL) The newest team in the American Indoor Football League will be known as the Tallahassee Titans. Team colors will be navy blue and gold. (See related article on August 2, 2006)

August 15, 2006 – (AIFL) The American Indoor Football League announced the addition of a new team in Illinois, the Springfield Stallions. The Stallions were members of the 8-Man Football League last season and will play their home games in the Prairie Capital Convention Center.

August 15, 2006 – (WIFL) The Columbus, Georgia City Council approves a proposal by the new World Indoor Football League to put a team in the Columbus Civic Center next season. The AIFL Chattahoochee Valley Vipers played there last season, but the Vipers ended the season owing the city $5,000 in back rent. (See related article on August 8, 2006)

August 15, 2006 – (AIFL) The Huntington Heroes are going to remain in the American Indoor Football League after all. They will be moving, however, from the Veteran’s Memorial Field House to the larger Big Sandy Superstore Arena for the 2007 season. (See related story on July 27, 2006)

August 16, 2006 – (College) Corey Logan, 22, a football player from Ohio University, pleaded no contest and was fined $100 for allegedly hitting a police horse back in April. He was also ordered to perform 20 hours of community service. (See related article on May 2, 2006)

August 16, 2006 – (AIFL) The American Indoor Football League announced the name of the expansion team in Danville, Illinois. The team will be known as the Danville Demolition. The team colors will be black and gold. (See related article on June 20, 2006)

August 16, 2006 – (CFL) David Braley, the owner of the British Columbia Lions, has donated $5 million to his college alma mater in Hamilton, Ontario. The money will go towards a new athletic center that is being built at McMaster University. The new sports complex will be called the Davis Braley Athletics Centre and it is set to open next month. Braley played football and basketball at the school.

August 16, 2006 – (College) Twelve schools are in jeopardy of losing their Division I-A status if they don’t increase attendance this year. NCAA attendance requirements state that schools must average 15,000 fans at all home football games during a two-year period. The schools include Louisiana-Monroe from the Sun Belt Conference, Rice from Conference USA, New Mexico State from the Mountain West Conference and two teams from the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), San Jose State and Utah State. The remaining seven schools are all in the Mid-America Conference (MAC). They are Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Kent State and Temple.

August 17, 2006 – (AIFL) Three team owners have purchased a share of the American Indoor Football League. John Morris and Michael Mink, owners of the Montgomery Bears and Todd Ellis, owner of the new team in Tupelo, Miss., will new help run the league. AIFL founder, Anthony Hines, will now assume the role of league commissioner. 

August 19, 2006 - (CFL) Quarterback Damon Allen of the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts becomes the second man in pro football history to go over 70,000 career passing yards in a 31-6 home win over the Montreal Alouettes. He now has 70,111 passing yards and trails only Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon, who has 70,553 total passing yards between the CFL and the NFL. Dan Marino of the NFL Miami Dolphins is third on the list with 61,361 yards. Allen is 43 years old and currently is in his 22nd season in the CFL.

August 21, 2006 – (Obituary) Majure Blanks “Bill” Stribling, Sr., a wide receiver who caught the only NFL touchdown pass ever thrown by Tom Landry, dies at the age of 78. Stribling played college football at the University of Mississippi. He went on to play six seasons in the NFL, first for the New York Giants (1951-53) and then for the Philadelphia Eagles (1954-57). The lone touchdown pass in Landry’s playing career, a 70-yarder, occurred on November 30, 1952 when both men were members of the Giants. It was the only touchdown for the Giants that day in a 63-7 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh. Stribling also played one season in the CFL, playing for the Toronto Argonauts in 1960. Stribling is also a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

August 23, 2006 – (College) The Fort Worth Bowl will now be known as the Armed Forces Bowl. The game will include a flyover and induction ceremonies on the field as well as a military band and honor guard. Military veterans will get a discount when purchasing tickets to the game and active duty personnel will receive complimentary tickets. Bell Helicopter will be the title sponsor of the game, which has been around since 2003. This year’s game will be played on December 23. 

August 24, 2006 – (College) The Bowl Championship Series has agreed on a four-year contract extension with Harris Interactive, a company that produces a poll used to determine college football rankings. The deal runs through the 2010 bowl games. (See related article on June 14, 2005) 

August 24, 2006 – (College) There will be a new college all-star game at the end of the season in either January of February. The game will be called Texas vs. The Nation and it will be played in El Paso, Texas. The game will feature players who played at Texas colleges or Texas high schools taking on players from the rest of the country. The actual date of the game will be announced at a later date.

August 24, 2006 - (WIFL) The World Indoor Football League announced the addition of the Carolina Bombers to the fledgling league. The Bombers will play their home games in the Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. The arena was previously home to the Raleigh Rebels of the American Indoor Football League.

August 26, 2006 - (af2) The Spokane Shock defeated the Green Bay Blizzard 57-34 to win ArenaCup VII. The game was played in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is the first time that an American football championship game was played outside of the United States.

August 28, 2006 – (NFL/Lawsuit) Almost one year to the day after Hurricane Katrina, a lawsuit has been filed by the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District seeking unspecified damages against the companies that installed the roof on the Louisiana Superdome. The roof, which was installed in 2002, was supposed to be able to withstand winds of 200 mph. Damages to the stadium could exceed $100 million after 70 percent of the roof failed last year during the storm.

August 29, 2006 – (af2) After six seasons plagued by low attendance, the Macon Knights have ceased operation in arenafootball2. The team averaged just 2,661 fans per game this past season and posted a record of 8-8. The team has been around since 2001, the year after the af2 was founded.

August 29, 2006 – (College) They have not even played a game yet this season, but Army has already been invited to play in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego on December 19. However, the Black Knights will have to win six games this year in order to qualify for the bowl game. The service academy would take on a team from the Mountain West Conference. The last time that Army was in a bowl game was the 1996 Liberty Bowl, where they lost to Auburn 32-29.

August 29, 2006 – (College) The Big East Conference has agreed to a pair of six-year contract extensions with ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC to broadcast football as well as men’s and women’s basketball games through 2013. The networks will broadcast 17 Big East football games each season.

August 30, 2006 – (Media) The NFL Network announced that it will produce a college football highlight and scoreboard show on Saturday afternoons this upcoming season called Point After. (See related articles on May 7 and June 26, 2006)

August 30, 2006 – (CFL) Radio broadcaster John Salavantis is leaving the booth to become the offensive line coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for the remainder of the season. Salavantis was asked to return to the sidelines by interim head coach Ron Lancaster, who took over the team after head coach Joe Paopao and offensive coordinator Kani Kauahi were fired on August 28. Salavantis previously was an assistant coach the Tiger-Cats in the 80’s and 90’s, helping the team win the 1986 Grey Cup. He has been broadcasting Hamilton games on the radio for the past 5 years. Salavantis also spent time coaching with the CFL Ottawa Rough Riders and the Montreal Machine of the World League of American Football.

September

September 1, 2006 – (College) In hopes of discouraging underage drinking and to promote a safer post game environment, Penn State has banned alcohol from the Beaver Stadium parking lot while games are being played. However, it is still OK to drink in the parking lot before and after the game. The university said that many people simply use the parking lot for group parties during home games and have no intention of attending the game or supporting the team. 

September 3, 2006 – (GLIFL) The Great Lakes Indoor Football League announced a new expansion team for the 2007 season. The New England Surge will be officially introduced on September 14. The Surge becomes the seventh team added to the league since the end of the 2006 season and the 13th GLIFL team set to play in 2007. (See related article on July 27, 2006)

September 4, 2006 – (CFL) Toronto Argonauts quarterback Damon Allen surpasses Warren Moon as the all-time leader in pro football career passing yardage. Allen passed for 207 yards and two touchdowns in the 40-6 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a Labour Day Classic game in Hamilton. Allen, who is in his 22nd CFL season, now has 70,596 career passing yards. Moon played for 23 seasons, 17 in the NFL and six with the CFL Edmonton Eskimos, and amasses 70,553 career passing yards. (See related article on August 19, 2006)

September 5, 2006 – (College) The forward pass is 100 years old today! It was on this date in 1906 that the first official forward pass was recorded in college football. It took place in a game in Waukesha, Wisconsin between St. Louis University and Carroll College. St. Louis quarterback Bradbury Robinson threw the pass, which was incomplete. At the time, an incomplete pass resulted in a turnover and Carroll took over possession of the ball. On the next possession for St. Louis, Robinson connected with Jack Schneider for a 20-yard completion that also resulted in a touchdown. St Louis won the game 22-0 and went on to have an undefeated season. The forward pass was a new addition to the college football rule book in 1906.

September 7, 2006 – (NFL Europe) German businessman Uwe Bergheim is hired by the NFL as the new Managing Director of NFL Europe. Bergheim recently served as the CEO of E-Plus, a German mobile phone company. He will work out of the league’s new headquarters in Frankfurt. (See related article on April 19, 2006)

September 8, 2006 – (Obituary) Erk Russell, a defensive coordinator at Georgia for 17 years, dies in a single car accident at the age of 80. It is believed that Russell may have had a stroke while driving. He left Georgia after they won the national championship in 1980 and became a coach at Division I-AA Georgia Southern. Russell helped lead the team to three Division I-AA championships in 1985, 1986 and 1989. He retired from coaching after the 1989 season.

September 9, 2006 – (College) Since the University of Michigan began playing at Michigan Stadium in 1927, there has never been a rain delay during a game, until today. With the Wolverines leading Central Michigan 7-0 in the first quarter, lightning caused a one-hour delay of the game. After play resumed, Michigan went on to win the game, 41-17.

September 10, 2006 – (NFL) For the first time in NFL history, two quarterback brothers faced each other on the field. In what was dubbed by the media as “The Manning Bowl,” Peyton Manning, quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts traveled to New York to take on his younger brother, Eli Manning, who is the quarterback of the New York Giants. The Colts won the game 26-21.

September 11, 2006 – (WIFL) The World Indoor Football League introduced the Columbus Lions at a press conference in Columbus, Georgia. The team will play in the Columbus Civic Center, the same arena where the AIFL Chattahoochee Valley Vipers played last season. The Lions have also hired the Vipers former coach as the team’s head coach and Director of Football Operations, Jason Gibson. The Lions are owned by the same group that owns another WIFL team, the Daytona Beach Thunder. The arena was also home to the af2 Columbus Wardogs from 2001-2004. (See related article on August 15, 2006)

September 12, 2006 – (College) Ray Ray McElrathbey, a 19-year-old freshman football player at Clemson, has been granted a waiver by the NCAA and will be allowed to receive financial aid towards the care of his younger brother. McElrathbey sought custody of his 11-year-old brother, Fahmarr, so that the boy would not have to return to foster care due to their mother’s continuing drug problems and their father’s gambling addiction. The brothers currently live in an apartment on campus and have been living solely on McElrathbey’s scholarship money. The university plans to set up a trust fund to help with normal living expenses.

September 13, 2006 – (Arena) The Arena Football League Board of Directors approves several rule changes for the upcoming 2007 season. Coaches will no longer be allowed on the field during the game, field markings will be used to help officials determine when the “Jack” linebacker is “out of the box” and teams will now be able to substitute players at will, rather than just once per quarter.

September 13, 2006 – (Obituary) Collie Nicholson, who was the first Sports Information Director at Division I-AA Grambling State University, dies at the age of 85. Nicholson is credited with coming up with the concept of the “Classic” game in which the football team and the marching band traveled around the country, gaining national exposure for the team and the school. He also helped establish the Bayou Classic game with Southern University, which is still an annual tradition today. Nicholson even arranged for the team to play a couple of games in Japan in the late 1970’s. He attended Grambling for a short time before joining the Marine Corps and serving in World War II. Upon his return he was offered the newly created SID job at the school and remained in the job for over 30 years until he retired. The press box at Robinson Stadium was renamed after Nicholson this year. He is also a member of the Grambling State University Hall of Fame.

September 13, 2006 – (Media) The debut of Monday Night Football on ESPN drew a 9.9 rating for the first game of the double-header between the Washington Redskins and the Minnesota Vikings. The second game of the night between the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders drew an 8.5 rating. Last year on ABC, Monday Night Football had an average rating of 10.8. 

September 14, 2006 – (NFL) The Atlanta Falcons announced that they are investing $30 million in renovations to the Georgia Dome which will begin after this season. Improvements include expanding the club lounge areas, restoring 1,500 club seats that were removed a few years ago, a new video scoreboard that will be twice the size of the current one and eight “super suites” that will seat 94 people and have their own private concessions. Some renovation will be completed before the 2007 season and the rest should be done by 2008. The Georgia Dome opened in 1992. Even with the impending renovations, team owner Arthur Blank also says that he wants a new stadium, possibly in downtown Atlanta, and would like to have it built in time for the 2015 season.

September 15, 2006 – (af2) The city of Youngstown, Ohio has purchased the playing field, nets and dasher boards formerly owned by the Macon Knights for use in the city-owned Chevrolet Centre by the expansion Mahoning Valley Thunder. The Knights officially folded last month. The city paid $83,000 for the five year old field. A new one would have cost $175,000. The field has certainly seen its share of travel lately. After the Knights season was over, it was shipped to Puerto Rico and used during the ArenaCup championship game on August 26. (See related article on August 29, 2006)

September 15, 2006 – (UIF) After going 0-15 last season, the Peoria Rough Rides have folded. The team has been around since 2000 when they were known as the Peoria Pirates and won the championship of the Indoor Football league. The league was purchased by arenafootball2 the next year and the team continued to play, winning the af2 championship in 2002. The team moved to United Indoor Football in 2004 and changed its name to the Rough Riders. The af2 is looking to return a team to Peoria, possibly in 2008.

September 18, 2006 – (College) The Pac-10 Conference has issued a one-game suspension to the on-field officiating crew, as well as the replay official, for mistakes made in a game two days ago between Big 12 Oklahoma and Pac-10 Oregon. In the final minutes of the game, Oregon recovered an onside kick which led to the winning touchdown in a 34-33 come from behind win by the Ducks. However, the play was reviewed and the replay showed that the ball did not go the required 10 yards before it was recovered. However, the replay official did not overturn the call on the field and Oregon retained possession of the ball. The college president at Oklahoma has sent a letter to the Big 12 commissioner asking that the game be stricken from the records and also wants the Pac-10 officiating crew suspended for the rest of the season. The Pac-10 admits that an error was made and has issued an official apology to the Sooners.

September 19, 2006 – (NFL) For the first time since the team was founded in 1967, the New Orleans Saints have sold out every home game for the upcoming season. Every available seat now belongs to a season ticket holder. Last season, the Louisiana Superdome was damaged by Hurricane Katrina and the Saints were forced to play their home games at LSU. The Saints will play their first home game of the 2006 season on Monday night, September 25, against the Atlanta Falcons.

September 20, 2006 – (College) Gordon Reise, the instant replay official who worked the Oklahoma – Oregon game on September 16 has asked for, and been granted, a leave of absence for the remainder of the season. Reise has been a Pac-10 official for 28 years. (See related article on September 18, 2006)

September 20, 2006 – (Obituary) Frank “Muddy” Waters, who coached three different college football teams in Michigan from the 1950’s through the 1980’s, dies at the age of 83. Waters was the head coach at Hillsdale College from 1954-1973. He went on to coach at Saginaw Valley State from 1974-1978 and then at Michigan State from 1980-1982. The first seven years he was at Hillsdale, his team won the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship. In 1955, Hillsdale was 9-0 and was invited to play in the Tangerine Bowl, but Waters refused to let his team play after bowl officials said the team’s black players could not dress for the game. The football stadium at Hillsdale College is named after him. His overall coaching record at the three schools was 172-96-7. Waters is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame and was named NAIA Coach of the Year in 1957. He was also inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000.

September 22, 2006 – (AAFL) The All American Football League has reached an agreement with the University of Florida to host three home games that will all be played during the month of May 2007. The university did not want to commit to a full six-game home schedule because of spring practices and recruitment during that time. The league hopes to have eight teams with home venues in place by December 1. Other schools that are in talks with the new league are North Carolina State, Purdue, Tennessee and Florida State. The league also is talking to the cities of Orlando, FL, Birmingham, AL, and San Antonio, TX. (See related article on July 26, 2006)

September 24, 2006 – (NFL) Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Chris Simms was taken to the hospital after a game against the Carolina Panthers and had to have his spleen removed. Simms endured several hard hits during the game and sat out briefly in the second half, but returned to finish the game.

September 24, 2006 – (WIFL) The owners of the six current World Indoor Football League teams have instituted a one-point option for the 2007 season. It is called the UNO, or unique one-point kick. The kicking team will be awarded one-point if the ball goes through the uprights on a kickoff. The receiving team will then get the ball on the 10-yard line. If the ball does not go through the uprights, and the receiving team does not get a chance to return the kickoff, then the receiving team will get the ball at the 25-yard line.

September 24, 2006 – (NFL) The National Football League announced that it will play a preseason football game in Beijing, China next year. The China Bowl, as it is being called, will be played on August 8, 2007 at Beijing’s Worker’s Stadium. It is the same stadium where the soccer games will take place during the 2008 Olympics in China. The game will feature the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks.

September 25, 2006 – (High School) The school board at Oscoda High School in Michigan has upheld the cancellation of the remainder of the varsity football season that was originally approved on September 19. The team was 0-4 and had not scored a single point so far this season. The school of 530 students barely had enough players to field a team and the head coach felt that they could not physically compete with some of the larger schools on their schedule. The junior varsity team will continue to play out the season.

September 25, 2006 – (College) Conference USA has suspended a replay official for a mistake during a game between Houston and Oklahoma State. The replay official, who was not identified, reviewed a play in the second quarter of the game on September 23 that, by rule, was not reviewable. The official overturned a fumble that was recovered by Oklahoma State saying that the runner’s forward progress had been stopped before the fumble occurred. The conference determined that the original ruling on the field was correct. Houston went on to win the game, 34-25. (See related article on September 20, 2006)

September 25, 2006 – (UIF) Two teams from the National Indoor Football League announced that they are moving to United Indoor Football next season. The teams are the Billings Outlaws, who won the NIFL championship this past season, and the RiverCity Rage. (See related article on September 15, 2006)

September 26, 2006 – (College) Following the sudden death of freshman defensive back Dale Lloyd on September 25, the Rice Owls plan to honor him by wearing his number 39 on their helmets for the remainder of the season. Lloyd, 19, collapsed during a light workout on Sunday, September 24 and was taken to the hospital where he died the next day. The cause of death has yet to be determined. The team also plans to take Lloyd’s jersey with them to each game this season and present it to his parents at the end of the season.

September 26, 2006 – (NFL) The University of Phoenix has purchased the naming rights to the new stadium of the Arizona Cardinals. The stadium will now be known as University of Phoenix Stadium. The university’s parent company, Apollo Group Inc., will pay $154.5 million over the next 20 years. The stadium is also the new home of the BCS Fiesta Bowl as well as the 2008 Super Bowl.

September 26, 2006 – (Media) Last night’s Monday Night Football game between the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons at the Superdome drew an 11.8 rating. The rating translates into 10,850,000 homes that were watching the game. It was the highest rated show ever on ESPN and was also the highest rated show on any network for the night. It was the reopening of the Superdome, which has not hosted a game since 2004. The stadium was damaged last year by Hurricane Katrina. (See related article on September 19, 2006) 

September 26, 2006 – (College) After just three home games this season, the stadium at Ohio State University has received a new grass field. The current field had been in place for three years and was getting in bad shape. The cost to replace the field with the new bluegrass sod is between $75,000 and $100,000.

September 27, 2006 – (UIF) The RiverCity Rage announced that they are moving to the Family Arena in Saint Charles, Missouri for the 2007 season. The team will also be moving their front office staff to the Family Arena as well.

September 27, 2006 – (College) The NCAA released the results of their annual study that shows that 77% of all Division I athletes receive their degrees within six years of entering college. That’s up 1% from last year. However, the percentage of Division I-A football players is only 66%, also up 1% from last year. The highest football graduation rates are at Navy (98%), Boston College (96%) and Notre Dame (95%). Schools with the lowest football graduation rates are Arizona (39%), Florida Atlantic (33%) and San Jose State (32%).

September 28, 2006 – (College) For the first time in more than 30 years, Notre Dame is making 5,000 football season tickets available for next season. They will be offered to alumni, donors and others affiliated with the university first before being offered to the general public. The cost of a season ticket this year is $413. However, there will be an additional annual fee of $1,250, $1,500 and $2,000 per ticket, depending on where the seats are located in the stadium. The additional fee is intended to help raise the $40 million needed for maintenance and repairs to the 76-year-old stadium. 

September 29, 2006 – (AIFL) The American Indoor Football League has changed its name. The AIFL will now be known as the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA). This is the third name change for the league in the last two years. (See related article on August 25, 2005)

September 29, 2006 – (WIFL) The football team in Osceola, Florida has changed its name, again. It will now be known as the Osceola Ghostriders. Originally, the team was called the Osceola Outlaws when it began as a member of the National Indoor Football League last year. However, it later became known simply as Osceola Football when another NIFL team, the Billings Outlaws, claimed they owned the rights to the name. (See related article on November 17, 2005)

September 29, 2006 - (Arena) The Arena Football League announced that the New Orleans Voodoo will return to the league for the 2007 season as an expansion team. The Voodoo suspended operations last year in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. (See related article on October 3, 2005)

September 30, 2006 – (Obituary) Alfred Cary Cox, Sr., who was the captain of two different college football teams in the 1940’s, dies at the age of 83. Cox was the team captain at South Carolina in 1943, but he left school to serve in the Pacific in World War II and rose to the rank of lieutenant. When he returned from the war he enrolled at Clemson and served as team captain on the football team there as well, graduating in 1948. He also spent time as an assistant coach at Clemson under legendary head coach Frank Howard. Cox was also a businessman for most of his life and retired three years ago as the president of Starvin’ Marvin Food Stores.

September 30, 2006 – (NFL) Six days after having his ruptured spleen removed, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Chris Simms is released from the hospital. Simms, 26, was injured in a game last weekend against the Carolina Panthers. He is expected to make a full recovery. (See related story on September 24, 2006)

September 30, 2006 – (College) Three former players and a coach were honored at Florida by being the first class to be inducted into the Ring of Honor at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Former Gators head coach Steve Spurrier, who is now the head coach at South Carolina, and players Emmett Smith, Danny Wuerffel and Jack Youngblood were honored as part of the school’s 100 Years of Football celebration. Spurrier and quarterback Wuerffel led the Gators to the national championship in 1996. Youngblood is also a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

October

October 2, 2006 – (College) A trust fund that has been set up to help Clemson freshman player Ray Ray McElrathbey and his younger brother, Fahmarr, reportedly has surpassed a balance of $48,000. Donations to the fund have come in form all over the country and even from a solider overseas. (See related article on September 12, 2006)

October 2, 2006 – (College) Three out-of-state men have been arrested in Iowa for selling counterfeit tickets to last weekend’s game between Ohio State and Iowa. The fake tickets were valued at around $100,000. Many people who bought them did not find out that they were counterfeit until the ticket’s bar code was scanned at the stadium gate the day of the game. 

October 4, 2006 – (College) The Eddie Robinson Foundation will sponsor a college all-star game to be played in Abuja, Nigeria. It will be called The Eddie Robinson Motherland Classic and will be played on December 17 in Abuja Stadium, which seats 60,000 fans. Players will come from four historically black conferences, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the Southwestern Athletic Conference in Division I-AA as well as the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in Division II. The Nigerian government will help pay the cost of putting on the game, estimated at $5 million. (See Collie Nicholson obituary on September 13, 2006)

October 4, 2006 – (af2) Plans to launch an arenafootball2 team in Anchorage, Alaska next spring have been pushed back a year to 2008. The Alaska Wild failed to raise the $500,000 league entry fee by the mandated deadline of September 30. The league had cut the normal $1 million entry fee in half for the team. The team owner said he may also look into taking his team to another indoor football league. (See related article on June 23, 2006)

October 4, 2006 – (CFL) Don Matthews, head coach of the Montreal Alouettes, resigns due to undisclosed health reasons. Team general Manager Jim Popp will take over as head coach for the remainder of the season. The Alouettes are currently 8-6 and are tied with the Toronto Argonauts for first place in the East Division. Matthews, 67, amassed 231 wins, 13 post season appearances and won five Grey Cups in his CFL coaching career that began as an assistant coach with the Edmonton Eskimos in 1977. He has been with the Alouettes since 2002.

October 5, 2006 – (Intense) The Corpus Christi Hammerheads of the Intense Football League announce that they are moving from the 8,000 seat American Bank Center to the 2,500 seat Central Pavilion Center. The Hammerheads had been averaging about 6,000 fans per game while playing at the American Bank Center, but their lease was not renewed. The pavilion, which is located at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown, is set to open in late December. The Hammerheads will kickoff their fourth season in 2007 and third in the IFL. The team played in the National Indoor Football League in 2005.

October 5, 2006 – (College) The Chairman on the House Ways and Means Committee has sent a letter to the NCAA asking the association to justify its tax-exempt status. It is questioning college athletics’ connection to higher education in the wake of million dollar television contracts, state-of-the-art facilities and growing coach’s salaries. A response has been requested by October 30.

October 6, 2006 – (College/Lawsuit) Division II North Dakota has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in an effort to retain its Fighting Sioux nickname. The university claims it will cost over $2.6 million to replace the 2,400 Fighting Sioux logos in the school’s hockey arena alone. The lawsuit also claims that the NCAA is in beach of contract and illegally restricting trade by not allowing the school to host post season championships because of its nickname. (See related article on January 31, 2006)

October 6, 2006 – (CFL) Wally Buono, head coach of the British Columbia Lions, gets his 200^th Canadian Football League victory in a 39-13 win over the Calgary Stampeders. Buono’s overall record is now 200-102. He is second in all-time CFL coaching wins, trailing only Don Matthews, who has 231 wins. Buono has been a head coach in the CFL since 1990 and has been with the Lions since 2003. (See related article on October 4, 2006)

October 9, 2006 – (Obituary) Bevo XIII, a former mascot of the Texas Longhorns, dies at the age of 22. Bevo XIII, a longhorn steer whose real name was Sunrise Express, patrolled the sidelines for 16 seasons from 1988-2003 before being retired. He was a world champion steer at the age of three. In 2001, Bevo XIII traveled to Washington, D.C. and took part in the inauguration ceremony of President Bush, who had also been the governor of Texas.

October 10, 2006 – (af2) The arenafootball2 expansion team in Idaho finally has a name. It will be known as the Boise Burn and will begin play in 2007. The team colors and logo will be unveiled in the coming weeks. (See related article on June 6, 2006)

October 11, 2006 – (af2) The Memphis Xplorers announced that they will not field a team in 2007. The Xplorers won the ArenaCup championship just last year. 

October 13, 2006 – (High School) Kendric Smith, a running back at Hughes High School in Hughes, Arkansas, sets a new state record, scoring nine touchdowns in a 73-72 overtime loss to East Poinsett County. His touchdown runs ranged from one to 54 yards. Both teams were winless going into the game.

October 16, 2006 – (CIFL) The Springfield Stallions have been sold and are leaving the American Indoor Football Association to join the Continental Indoor Football League. (See related article on August 15, 2006)

October 16, 2006 – (Obituary) Ernie Steele, who played for the NFL Philadelphia Eagles from 1942-1948, dies at the age of 88. Steele played college football at the University of Washington from 1939-1941. He was then selected in the 10th round of the 1942 NFL draft by the Eagles. In 1943, during a player shortage brought on by World War II, he played on the combined Pittsburgh-Philadelphia team known as the Phil-Pitt Steagles. His Eagles team won back-to-back NFL championships in 1947 and 1948. After retiring as a player, Steele opened one of the first sports bars in Seattle, Washington and then operated it for the next 50 years.

October 16, 2006 – (WIFL) The Rome Renegades have ceased operations. Team owners decided that their home arena, The Forum in Rome, Georgia, was not financially viable as a venue due to limited seating capacity and parking. Team owners also announced that another WIFL team that they owned, the Carolina Bombers (which was formerly known as the Raleigh Rebels) will also cease operations, leaving the fledgling World Indoor Football League currently with just four teams. (See related article on April 8 and August 24, 2006)

October 16, 2006 – (CIFL) The Great Lakes Indoor Football League has changed its name to the Continental Indoor Football League. League owners also voted to change the size of the active roster for each team from 18 players to 20 players for the 2007 season.

October 16, 2006 – (CIFL) The Continental Indoor Football League announced a new expansion team for the 2007 season. The Kalamazoo Xplosion will play its home games in Wings Stadium. At the same time, the Battle Creek Crunch, a playoff team from last season, and another previously announced expansion team, the Motor City Reapers, will not field teams next season. (See related article on June 23, 2006)

October 17, 2006 - (af2) After just one season in the National Indoor Football League, the Katy Copperheads are moving to arenafootball2. The team is also moving from Katy to Cypress, Texas and will now be known as the Texas Copperheads. They will play their home games in the Richard E. Berry Education Support Center in Cypress due to its larger size and seating capacity. 

October 17, 2006 - (NIFL) The Fayetteville Guard announced that they are staying in the National Indoor Football League for the 2007 season. It will be the team's third year in the league. 

October 18, 2006 – (AAFL) The All American Football League has reached a five-year agreement to use Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. The stadium will host five to seven games, depending on the schedule. The AAFL hopes to launch in the spring of 2007. (See related article on September 22, 2006)

October 18, 2006 – (af2) arenafootball2 officially announces the addition of five new teams for the 2007 season, four in Texas and one in Ohio. The teams include the Texas Copperheads, Laredo Lobos and Lubbock Gunslingers as well as two currently unnamed teams in Corpus Christi and Cincinnati. The Lobos played last season in the Intense Football League while the Copperheads, formerly known as the Katy Copperheads, played in the National Indoor Football League. Lubbock began as the Lubbock LoneStars in the Intense Football League in 2004 and then changed its name to the Gunslingers and played the 2005 season in the NIFL. The Gunslingers sat out the 2006 season. (See related articles on January 19, October 8 and October 17, 2006)

October 19, 2006 – (AIFA) The American Indoor Football Association announced that it will hold its 2007 league championship game at a neutral site. The game will be played at the Florence Civic Center in Florence, South Carolina on June 23, 2007. The league also announced that an All-Star game will also be played there the night before the championship game. All-Star players will come from the teams that are not participating in the championship game the following night. The arena is home to the AIFA Florence Phantoms.

October 20, 2006 – (NFL) Jake Brahm, a 20-year-old grocery store clerk from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, surrenders to U.S. Marshals after admitting that he is the one who posted fake threats on the Internet against seven NFL stadiums. The stadiums identified were in New York, Miami, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Cleveland and Oakland. The postings, which appeared on several different web sites, said the stadiums would be the targets of “dirty bombs” this coming Sunday, October 22. He could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, if convicted.

October 21, 2006 – (Obituary) Bob Mann, who was one of the first black players to play for the Detroit Lions in the NFL, dies at the age of 82. Mann played college football at Michigan and was signed by the Lions in 1948. As a wide receiver, Mann set a team record with 66 receptions in 1949 and also became the Lions’ first 1,000 yard receiver. He also led the NFL that year with 1,014 receiving yards. In 1950, Detroit traded Mann to the New York Yanks in exchange for quarterback Bobby Lane. After he retired from football, Mann worked as a lawyer in Detroit.

October 21, 2006 – (CIFL) The Continental Indoor Football League announced that it has added an expansion team in Chicago for the 2007 season. The currently unnamed team will play in the new Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates. Originally, the team was mentioned as a possible expansion team in United Indoor Football.

October 22, 2006 – (NFL) Kicker Matt Bryant of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicks a 62-yard field goal to beat the Philadelphia Eagle 23-21 as time expired. It is the second longest field goal in NFL history. The NFL record is 63 yards and is shared by Tom Dempsey of the New Orleans Saints (1970) and Jason Elam of the Denver Broncos (1998).

October 23, 2006 – (Media) The Monday Night Football game on ESPN between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys set a record for the largest audience in cable television history. The game, which was won by New York 36-22, received a 12.8 rating or about 11,807,000 homes. (See related article on September 26, 2006)

October 24, 2006 – (Media) For the first time since it was implemented this season, the NFL has taken advantage of its new flexible scheduling format. The league has moved a game from its scheduled Sunday afternoon time slot to the prime time Sunday night game on another network. The Chicago Bears are one of only two undefeated teams at 6-0 this season, so the league has decided to move their game on November 12 at the New York Giants to the national spotlight. The move also means that the game will now be broadcast on NBC instead of on FOX.

October 24, 2006 – (NFL) At the NFL owners meeting in New Orleans, owners approved a plan to play up to two regular season games per season outside the United States, beginning next year. Each team will play outside of the U.S. twice over a 16-year period, once as a home team and once as an away team. Teams will have to give up just one home game over the 16-year period. The league is currently looking at locations in Canada, Mexico, England and Germany. Only one overseas game is expected to be played during the 2007 season. (See related article on September 24, 2006)

October 25, 2006 – (College) The NCAA is considering expanding into Canada. A committee of university presidents is expected to make a recommendation in January 2007 but final approval may not occur until April 2008. Two Canadian schools have expressed an interest in joining the NCAA, the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario. In 1998, another Canadian school, Simon Fraser, which is also located in British Columbia, attempted to join the NCAA, but was unsuccessful.   

October 25, 2006 – (College) The mascot of the University of Tennessee has been accused of biting an Alabama player prior to a game on October 21. Alabama freshman receiver Mike McCoy was chasing down a pass during pre-game warm-ups when he accidentally fell on Smokey IX, a three-year-old bluetick coonhound, who was standing on the sidelines along with the cheerleaders. The dog’s owner denies that Smokey bit the opposing player. Smokey was not injured in the incident and remains on the team’s travel roster. (See related story on March 17, 2006)

October 25, 2006 – (NFL) A lawsuit was filed today by Todd Haley, the passing game coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys, against a local McDonald’s restaurant. Haley claims that his wife found a dead six-inch rat in a salad that was purchased back on June 5.Haley decided to file the lawsuit after the restaurant failed to “make things right” as they had promised to do after the incident. Haley is seeking $1.7 million in damages.

October 25, 2006 – (Intense) The Intense Football League announced the addition of two new teams in Katy and Frisco, Texas for the 2007 season. Neither team has a nickname yet. The Katy team will conduct a name the team contest and plans to unveil it name on November 15. The league is also looking at several other cities for expansion team for both the upcoming season as well as the 2008 season. The Katy team will play its home games in the new Leonard E. Merrell Center while the Frisco team will play in the Stars Dr. Pepper Center. (See related af2 article on October 18, 2006)

October 26, 2006 – (Obituary) Charlie Leigh, a member of the 1972 undefeated Miami Dolphins team, dies of lung cancer at the age of 60. Leigh did not play football in college and began his NFL career with the Cleveland Browns in 1968. He was mainly a return man on punts and kickoffs when he played for the Dolphins from 1971-74, but he was also a running back. He finished his career with the Green Bay Packers in the latter part of the 1974 season.

October 26, 2006 – (Intense) The Intense Football League has added a franchise in El Paso, TX, but it will not take the field until the 2008 season. There was a team in El Paso during the league’s inaugural season in 2004 called the El Paso Rumble, but it folded after one season. (See related article on October 25, 2006)

October 27, 2006 – (Obituary) Marlin McKeever, who was a punter, fullback and defensive end in the NFL for 13 years, dies at the age of 66. McKeever fell at his Los Angeles home on October 24 and was taken to the hospital the next day. He had a blood clot on his brain and fell into a coma. McKeever played college football at USC from 1958-1960. He was selected in the first round of the 1961 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams and played for the team until 1966. He then went on to play for the Minnesota Vikings in 1967 and the Washington Redskins from 1968-1970. He returned to the Rams in 1971 and 1972 and finished his playing career with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1973.

October 27, 2006 – (NIFL) The Cincinnati Marshals of the National Indoor Football League announced that they are moving from the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati to Wall2Wall Soccer in Mason, Ohio. The facility will undergo a three-phase renovation project that will add 850 seats in phase 1 and between 5,000-6,000 seats by the end of phase 3. A new arenafootball2 expansion team is moving into the U.S. Bank Arena next season. In 2003, the af2 had a team there called the Cincinnati Swarm. (See related articles on October 18 and May 10, 2006)

October 28, 2006 – (Obituary) Jack McGinley, a part owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, dies of cancer at the age of 85. McGinley was the brother-in-law of Steelers founder Art Rooney, Sr., but was not involved in the team’s operation. McGinley’s father, who was also named Jack, bought a share of the team from Rooney in 1946.

October 30, 2006 – (NFL) Drew Brees, quarterback of the New Orleans Saints, has asked his mother to stop using his picture in her television campaign ads for the Texas appeals court. Mina Brees, who is an attorney in Austin, TX, is running for a seat on the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals. New commercials have already been taped and sent out to Austin television stations. The pictures showed Brees in the uniform of his former NFL team, the San Diego Chargers.

November

November 1, 2006 – (College) The Southeastern Conference has curtailed the use of the rooster crow by the South Carolina Gamecocks. Conference officials informed the school that they were breaking SEC conference regulations in regards to when artificial noise can be played during a game. The conference says the rooster crow can only be played during time-outs, after a score, before and after the game and during halftime. The school was also playing the sound effect during critical third down plays and at various times throughout the game in order to pump up the crowd.

November 3, 3006 - (Intense) The Intense Football League announced the addition of the Alaska Wild as an expansion team for the 2007 season. The league now has eight teams going into next season. (See related articles on October 4, 25 and 26, 2006)

November 4, 2006 – (College) Seventy-nine year old Penn State football coach Joe Paterno is injured during a game against Wisconsin. Paterno was standing on the sideline when he was knocked down by one of his own players in the third quarter. Freshman tight end Andrew Quarless caught a pass and was shoved out of bounds, knocking Paterno to the ground. Paterno got up and stood on the sideline for a while, but was eventually helped to the bench where he sat for most of the rest of the quarter. Near the end of the third quarter, he was taken to the locker room on a cart. Paterno broke his left leg and tore some ligaments in his knee. He had surgery on his leg the next day and is expected to make a full recovery.

November 5, 2006 – (Obituary) Chuck DeShane, who played for the Detroit Lions in the 1940’s, dies at the age of 87. DeShane played college football at Alabama and was the starting quarterback there in 1939 and 1940. After college, he was a football coach at his high school alma mater, Creston High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan from 1942-1944. He also played for the Detroit Lions from 1945-1949 where he played QB, linebacker and even guard over the course of his five-year NFL career. In the off-season, DeShane was a railroad conductor.

November 5, 2006 – (Media) The Sunday night NFL game on NBC between the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots drew the third highest television rating in the last five years. The game had a 14.0 rating, meaning it was seen in about 1.1 million homes. The Colts won the game 27-20 and improved to 8-0 on the season. The Patriots record fell to 6-2.

November 7, 2006 – (Politics) Two former NFL players, both of whom are new to the world of politics, had different outcomes in today’s national elections. Former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Lynn Swann failed in his bid to become governor of Pennsylvania. Incumbent Democratic governor Ed Rendell was re-election. Former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler was elected to a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from the state of North Carolina by defeating eight-term incumbent Republican Charles Taylor. Shuler played for the Washington Redskins and the New Orleans Saints.

November 7, 2006 – (Obituary) Jackie Parker, a legendary player and coach in the Canadian Football League, dies at the age of 74. Parker played quarterback and halfback in college at Mississippi State. He signed with the Edmonton Eskimos in 1954 and played for the team until 1962, winning three straight Grey Cup championships in 1954, 1955 and 1956. He also played for the Toronto Argonauts from 1963-1965 and the British Columbia Lions from 1966-1968. He became an assistant coach with the Lions in 1968 and was named head coach of the team in 1969. He became the team’s general manager in 1971 and held that position until 1975. Parker then retuned to Edmonton and became a color commentator on Eskimos broadcasts. He became the Eskimos head coach in 1983 and remained the head coach until 1987. Parker is a member of the CFL Hall of Fame, the Edmonton Eskimos Wall of Honour, Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, the Mississippi State University Hall of Fame, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. In the CFL, Parker played quarterback, halfback, defensive back and was also kicked field goals and extra points. He was known as “The Fast Freight from Mississippi State” and “Ole Spaghetti Legs.”     

November 8, 2006 – (College) The Southeastern Conference has fined the University of Kentucky $5,000 because fans stormed the field and tore down the goal posts following the school’s 24-10 win over the Georgia Bulldogs on November 4. The SEC has a policy of not allowing spectators on the “competition area” before, during or after games.

November 8, 2006 – (Media) The Monday Night Football game on November 6 featuring the Oakland Raiders at the Seattle Seahawks was the lowest rated game in MNF history. Neilson Media Research said the game was seen in 7,587,000 homes. However, ESPN said it was the 10th most watched program on a cable network this year.

November 8, 2006 – (NFL) The San Francisco 49ers have ended talks with the city of San Francisco in regards to building a new stadium and have informed the mayor that they plan to move to Santa Clara or some other city in California. The team’s current lease at Candlestick Park runs through 2008, but the team has three five-year options that could extend the lease through 2023. The team’s headquarters are located in Santa Clara, which is about 30 miles south of San Francisco.

November 10, 2006 – (NFL Europe) In preparation for its 15th season, NFL Europe has unveiled a new logo and name. The league will now be known as NFL Europa.

November 12, 2006 – (Obituary) Tom Slade, who played quarterback at the University of Michigan and was a member of the team that went undefeated during the 1971 regular season, dies at the age of 54. Slade was diagnosed with leukemia in 2005. After his college career was over, Slade spent time as a color analyst on U of M radio broadcasts. He opened a dental practice in 1981 in the Ann Arbor area.

November 12, 2006 – (College/Lawsuit) A district judge in North Dakota has granted a preliminary injunction against the NCAA which will allow the University of North Dakota to host a football playoff game this season. The Division II university is suing the NCAA in order to keep its Fighting Sioux nickname. A tentative trial date has been set for April 24, 2007. (See related article on October 6, 2006)

November 12, 2006 – (College/Nickname) The NCAA announced that Division II Newberry College plans to drop its Indians nickname in order to avoid NCAA sanctions.

November 12, 2006 – (NFL) The Arizona Cardinals inducted former player Pat Tillman into the Ring of Honor at University of Phoenix Stadium in a ceremony during halftime of their game against the Dallas Cowboys. The team also unveiled a bronze statue of Tillman and dedicated a pedestrian walkway outside the stadium as Pat Tillman Freedom Plaza. Tillman died on April 22, 2004 in Afghanistan while serving in the U.S. Army. The Cardinals have already retired his number 40.

November 13, 2006 – (af2) The Mahoning Valley Thunder announced that their playing field at the Chevrolet Center will have a corporate sponsor beginning next season. The team will be playing on Cortland Banks Field at the Chevrolet Centre. 

November 13, 2006 – (College/Lawsuit) The University of California Board of Regents has postponed a vote on an expansion project at Memorial Stadium because the city council of Berkley, California is planning a lawsuit against it. The school had planned to renovate the 83-year-old stadium and also build a parking structure and an athletic training facility. The city is receptive to the stadium renovations, but does not want the adjacent parking structure built and also wants the practice facility project moved to the downtown area. The city’s main concern is due to the fact that the stadium sits on the Hayward Fault, which experts say is due for a large earthquake. The project was set to begin on December 1.

November 13, 2006 – (College) The National Football Foundation is moving its corporate headquarters from Morristown, NJ to Irving, TX. The foundation runs the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, IN. It also presents the McArthur Trophy, to the college football national champion, hands out the Draddy Trophy, to the nation’s top college scholar-athlete, and releases the weekly Bowl Championship Series standings. The move will take place in January 2007. 

November 14, 2006 – (Media) The Monday Night Football game on ESPN last night between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Carolina Panthers was the lowest rated game in MNF history. It was viewed in 7,315,000 homes. The previous lowest rated MNF game was just last week. On the other hand, it was the 11th highest rated show on cable television this year. The top 10 other shows were also Monday Night Football games. (See related article on November 8, 2006)

November 14, 2006 – (NFL Europe) The league announced that World Bowl XV would be played in Frankfurt, Germany on June 23, 2007. The city is home to the Frankfurt Galaxy and has hosted the championship game previously in 1998 and 2000.

November 14, 2006 – (NFL) After complaints from players on the condition of the playing field, the New England Patriots are installing a FieldTurf artificial surface at Gillette Stadium halfway through the season. The new playing surface is expected to be installed in time for the Patriots next home game on November 26 against the Chicago Bears. Gillette Stadium has had a natural grass surface since it opened in 2002.

November 14, 2006 – (af2) The new arenafootball2 expansion team in Cincinnati was officially unveiled as the Cincinnati Jungle Kats. It is the third Arena football team to be located in Cincinnati. From 1992-1993 the city had the AFL Cincinnati Rockers and in 2003 there was an af2 team, the Cincinnati Swarm. (See related articles on October 18 and 27, 2006)

November 15, 2006 – (NFL) A trading card of NFL rookie running back Leon Washington of the New York Jets is causing a lot of buzz on eBay. The Bowman “Signs of the Future” autographed card by Topps shows Washington posing with his arms folded and what appear to be obscene gestures with both hands. Washington says he was making the letter “E” with his fingers to honor the area where he grew up, the East side of Jacksonville. The card is going for around $100 on the auction site. Topps is offering replacement cards to anyone who is offended by the card, saying that the release of the card was due to an oversight by the editors.  

November 15, 2006 – (Media) Former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmett Smith is the winner of the reality show, “Dancing with the Stars.” Smith and his dance partner beat out actor Mario Lopez and his dance partner.

November 15, 2006 – (Media) Jim Kleinpeter, who works for The Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans, has been removed as a voter from the Associated Press college football poll. Kleinpeter mistakenly thought that unranked Texas Tech had beaten #17 Oklahoma last weekend and therefore dropped OU in his rankings. The Sooners actually won the game 34-24. A spokesman for the Associated Press said Kleinpeter was removed in order to maintain the credibility of the poll.

November 16, 2006 – (AIFA) The American Indoor Football Association announced that it has signed Pepsi as a title sponsor for the league’s 2007 championship game and All-Star game. The All-Star game will be played on Friday, June 22 and the championship game will be played on Saturday, June 23, 2007. Both games will be played in the Florence Civic Center in Florence, South Carolina. (See related article on October 19, 2006)

November 16, 2006 – (af2) Two more teams have been added to the arenafootball2 schedule for the 2007 season. The Tri-Cities Fever has been sold and is joining the af2 after spending the last two years playing in the National Indoor Football League and an expansion team, the Fort Wayne Fusion, has also been added to the league. The Fever will play their home games in the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Washington while the Fusion will play in the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This brings the total number of af2 teams to 30 for the 2007 season.

November 17, 2006 – (Obituary) Glenn E. “Bo” Schembechler, the legendary coach at the University of Michigan for 21 years, dies at the age of 77. Schembechler played college football at Miami (Ohio) University for then coach Woody Hayes, graduating from the school in 1951. He went on to earn a Masters Degree at Ohio State in 1952 while working as a graduate assistant under Woody Hayes. After serving in the Army, Schembechler was an assistant football coach at Division II Presbyterian College in 1954, Bowling Green in 1955 and Northwestern in 1958. From 1959-1962, he was an assistant coach for Hayes at Ohio State. Schembechler became the head coach at Miami (Ohio) in 1963 and was there until 1968, compiling a record of 40-17-3 in six seasons. He was the head coach at Michigan from 1969-1989. His record with the Wolverines was 194-48-5 and he led Michigan to 13 Big Ten titles, 10 Rose Bowls and 17 total bowl appearances. His overall coaching record was 234-65-8. He was the Athletic Director at the school from 1988-1990 and from 1990-1992 was the president of the Detroit Tigers baseball team. Schembechler’s death came on the eve of the annual Ohio State-Michigan game. The teams were ranked #1 and #2 respectively at the time. (Ohio State won the game 42-39) Schembechler was inducted into the Miami (Ohio) University Hall of Fame in 1972, the State of Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 1992, the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1993 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1993.

November 17, 2006 - (Intense) The new team in Katy, Texas will be known as the Katy Ruff Riders. Anthony Borjas, a 16-year-old 10th grader in Katy was named the winner of a "Name the Team" contest and will receive two season tickets. He will also participate in the coin toss of the team's first home game. The team received over 400 name entries during the contest. (See related article on October 25, 2006)

November 18, 2006 - (Lottery) About 30 minutes after the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the #2 Michigan Wolverines 42-39 in Columbus, Ohio, the Ohio Lottery Pick 4 numbers were drawn. The numbers came up 4-2-3-9. A total of 401 $1.00 tickets matched the Pick 4 numbers in order and won $5,000 each.  

November 18, 2006 – (College) William C. Powers, a California investor and a 1979 graduate at Princeton, has donated $10 million to the school’s football program. Part of his donation has already been used to replace the grass field at Princeton Stadium with artificial turf. The remainder of his donation will go towards renovating two practice fields and to support the football program. The school plans to name the field at the stadium Powers Field in a ceremony on November 10 next year during a game against Yale. Powers was a defensive back and an All-Ivy League punter at the school.

November 19, 2006 – (CFL) The British Columbia Lions defeated the Montreal Alouettes 25-15 in the 94th Grey Cup. The game was played in Winnipeg. 

November 19, 2006 - (Media) Yesterday's game on ABC between #1 Ohio State and #2 Michigan drew the highest TV ratings for a regular season college football game in 13 years. The game had a 13.4 rating, which means it was viewed in 14.96 million households. 

November 20, 2006 – (Obituary) Andre Waters, who played defensive back in the NFL for 12 years, dies at the age of 44. Waters died of an apparent self inflicted gunshot to the head. He played college football at Division II Cheyney State and then played for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1984-1993. He was also with the Arizona Cardinals from 1994-1995. He was an assistant football coach at Division II Fort Valley State in Georgia at the time of his death.

November 23, 2006 – (Obituary) Jack “Blackjack” Ferrante, an NFL wide receiver in the 1940’s, dies on Thanksgiving Day at the age of 90. Ferrante did not play college football but played for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1941 and again from 1944-1950. He played on two Eagles championship teams in 1948 and 1949.

November 27, 2006 – (Obituary) Casey Coleman, who did radio play-by-play for the Cleveland Browns and other Cleveland sports teams for nearly 30 years, dies of pancreatic cancer at the age of 55. Coleman also worked at television station WJW-TV where he won four Emmy Awards as the stations sports director as well as several Associated Press awards for broadcasting excellence. Just last month, the Browns renamed their indoor practice facility in Berea “The Casey Coleman Field House.” In recent years, Coleman was the network radio sideline reporter for the team.

November 28, 2006 – (Obituary) Ralph Borgess, who played guard at Columbia University in the 1940’s, dies at the age of 85. Borgess was on the Columbia team that ended Army’s 32-game winning streak in 1947. He went on to coach high school football at three different New Jersey high schools, winning 177 games. Borgess led teams to two state championships in 1969 and 1986.

December

December 4, 2006 – (AIFA) The American Indoor Football Association announced that they have formed the AIFA Television Network. The network will offer webcasting of all games, including the championship and all-star games, through a company called SportsCast Network. It will also make league games available on a pay-per-view and on-demand basis. The network is also planning to have contracts in the near future with national cable television and satellite providers to carry some of its games.

December 4, 2006 – (Arena) The Arena Football League announced that ArenaBowl XXI will be played in New Orleans on July 29, 2007 at 2 PM CST.

December 6, 2006 – (College) The Division III Brockport State Golden Eagles in New York State have forfeited three of its four wins from the 2006 season after it was learned that one of their players was not enrolled at the school. Receiver Shannon Brinson, who played for the team the previous two seasons, dropped out of school before the fall semester started this year but never told his coaches. The team’s record drops from 4-6 to 1-9. Brinson did not play in the school’s win over the Buffalo State Bengals in the season finale.

December 6, 2006 - (Obituary) Andra Franklin, who was a fullback in the 1980s for the Miami Dolphins, dies of natural causes at the age of 47. Franklin played college football at Nebraska from 1977-1980. He was a second round draft pick by Miami and played for the Dolphins for four years before a knee injury ended his career. He started for the Dolphins in Super Bowl XVII, a loss to the Washington Redskins, and he was even featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Franklin had a history of heat problems.

December 6, 2006 – (NIFL) The San Diego Shockwave, a new expansion team in the National Indoor Football League, was officially introduced to the public for the first time. The team will play its home games in Cox Arena on the campus of San Diego State University.

December 7, 2006 – (NFL) At an owners meeting in Frisco, Texas, NFL owners approved a $300 million loan to help finance the new joint stadium in the meadowlands for the New York Jets and the New York Giants. Construction is set to begin next spring and it is expected be completed by 2010. The final design for the stadium will be completed in January and it is expected to seat between 82,500 and 84,000. The cost of the stadium is projected to be between $1.1 billion and $1.2 billion. League owners also approved a $42.5 million loan for renovation to Arrowhead stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs.  

December 10, 2006 – (Obituary) Bob Bronzan, who was a player, coach and athletic director at San Jose State, dies at the age of 87. Bronzan was a tackle for the Spartans from 1937-1939. He then went on to serve in the Army Air Corps during World War II and returned to the school as an assistant coach from 1947-1950. He was the head coach from 1951-1957. During his time as head coach he had a couple of players who went on to have a fair amount of success coaching in the NFL. Bill Walsh (San Francisco 49ers) played end at the school in 1952-1953 and Dick Vermeil (Philadelphia Eagles, St. Louis Rams, Kansas City Chiefs) played quarterback in 1956-1957. Bronzan later hired Walsh as a part-time assistant coach. Bronzan was also the school’s athletic director from 1960-1971.  

December 11, 2006 – (af2) The Birmingham Steeldogs announced that they are changing their name to the Alabama Steeldogs. The team is one of the original af2 teams from the inaugural 2000 season.

December 11, 2006 – (af2) The expansion team in Corpus Christi, Texas finally has a name. The team will be known as the Corpus Christi Sharks. The team will play its home games in the American Bank Center. Last season, the Corpus Christi Hammerheads of the Intense Football League, played there. (See related articles on October 5 and 18, 2006)

December 12, 2006 – (WIFL) The World Indoor Football League announced that it has come up with a way to grade teams with “Style Points” this upcoming season. A six-person panel made up of fans and members of the media will grade both teams in each game throughout the season in five categories. The categories are Execution, Big Plays, Coaching, Athletic Ability and Game Watchability. At the end of the season, a trophy will be presented to the team with the most style point accumulated during the season. The rating might also come in to play as a tie-breaker in determining which teams will advance to the championship game.

December 12, 2006 – (Media) The NFL Network will offer a free week of its programming to cable television providers Cablevision and Time Warner Cable from December 24-30. The NFL Network is not carried on those cable systems because the cable providers feel that the network charges too much for the rights to air its channel. Cable viewers in markets that have a college football team playing in the Texas Bowl and the Insight Bowl are complaining that they will not be able to see their team play, since both bowl games are being broadcast by the NFL Network. Cablevision says it will pick up the NFL Network only on December 28, the day of the Texas Bowl. The Insight Bowl will be played on December 29. The free week, however, will not include the December 30 broadcast of the NFL game between the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins.

December 13, 2006 – (Obituary) Lamar Hunt, the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs and founder of the American Football League in 1960, dies of complications from prostate cancer at the age of 74. Hunt played college football at SMU but was always a third string player. In 1960, Hunt tried to buy an NFL franchise and put it in Dallas but was unsuccessful. So he decided to form his own league, the AFL, and became the owner of one of the eight original teams, the Dallas Texans. In 1962, the Texans won the AFL championship. He moved the team to Kansas City in 1963 and renamed them the Chiefs, losing the first NFL-AFL Championship game in 1967 to the Green Bay Packers. But in 1970, the Chiefs beat the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. Hunt was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972. Today, the AFC Championship Trophy is known as the Lamar Hunt Trophy. Hunt was the son of Texas oilman H.L. Hunt, who was often referred to as the richest man in the world.

December 14, 2006 – (Intense) The new Frisco, Texas franchise in the Intense Football League finally has a name. The team will be known as the Frisco Thunder. The team colors will be forest green and Vegas gold. (See related article on October 25, 2006)

December 14, 2006 – (Arena/High School) The Austin Wranglers announced that they will be hosting the first annual Lone Star Arena Football Classic, an Arena football style All-Star game consisting of high school seniors in the Austin, TX area. The game will take place at the Frank Erwin Jr. Special Events Center on Friday, February 23 at 7 PM. Area high school bands, cheerleaders and mascots will also participate in the charity event that will raise money to buy Automatic External Defibrillators for area schools.

December 19, 2006 – (Arena) ESPN has purchased a minority interest in the Arena Football League and will begin broadcasting AFL games on its family of networks in 2007. The five-year deal will feature regular Monday Night games on ESPN2 and the ArenaBowl will be shown on ABC.

December 20, 2006 – (CFL) The Canadian Football League has signed a five-year deal with cable sports network TSN/RDS to be the exclusive television broadcaster of the league beginning in 2008. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. TSN has been broadcasting CFL games since 1986 along with Canadian broadcast network CBC. It is the first time that CBC will not be carrying CFL games in more than 50 years. TSN broadcasts in English and RDS is its French language affiliate. RDS has been broadcasting Montreal Alouettes games as well as the playoffs and the Grey Cup for the past 11 years.

December 20, 2006 – (NIFL) The Rapid City Flying Aces have suspended operations for the 2007 season. The Flying Aces were a playoff team last season in the National Indoor Football League and had an 11-3 regular season record. The team had hoped to switch leagues and join United Indoor Football, but was not able to accomplish the move in time for the 2007 season. The team hopes to return to the field in 2008.

December 21, 2006 - (Obituary) Charles "Mad Dog" Thornhill, who played linebacker at Michigan State in the 1960's, dies of heat failure at the age of 62. Thornhill was one of a number of black players who, at that time, came to Michigan State in order to escape segregation at many southern universities. He played on the 1965 and 1966 MSU teams that had a combines 19-1-1 record. He was most recently a Sergeant-at-Arms in the Michigan Senate. 

December 24, 2006 - (College) University of Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan, a junior, sets a new NCAA record for passing touchdowns in a single-season. Brennan threw five touchdown passes in the second half of the Hawaii Bowl against Arizona State to end the season with 58 passing touchdowns. The previous record was 54 set be Houston quarterback Davis Klingler in 1990. Hawaii defeated Arizona State 41-24. 

December 26, 2006 - (Obituary) Gerald R. Ford, the 38th President of the United States, dies at the age of 93. Ford was an All-Star center at Michigan from 1932-1934. The Wolverines were undefeated in '32 and '33 and he was voted the Most Valuable player of the 1934 team. After graduation, Ford turned down offers from the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers to play professional football. Instead, he went to Yale and was an assistant football coach there while going to the law school. The University of Michigan retired Ford's number 48 in 1994. Ford went on to serve in congress beginning in 1949 and was sworn in as President of the United States after the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974.