Mike and Jean Strahan aren't kissing in the tree anymore

Most people don't know this, because they only see the "pro" in Pro Athlete. I have been a teacher for most of my adult life, But in the 1980's and 1990's I taught profoundly disabled young adults. I also volunteered my time as a coach for NY special olympics. The Director of the Bronx chapter at that time was a mentor of mine, and a former college football player. He asked me, i guess because i had some background in Media, to do back stage interviews of sports personalities at a charity event.

One of the players was a young second year defensive end from the Giants named Mike Strahan. The Mike Strahan i met that night was personable, warm, and talked about his Families' football legacy( his dad played millitary service football in Germany in the 60's, and his uncle played for the Giants in the 1950's). No one reading the NY post each day ever got to see the Strahan i met that night. The Strahan who chatted with the parents of disabled children and teens that night, or the Strahan who actually bid on several items in the auction. The Mike Strahan who shook my hand at the end of the interview.

I wonder if the NY post will spend time kissing up to Mike after the case is over.

MySpace Down - "AsylumBound27" Uses YouTube To Rant About it!

MySpace, now the world's most popular social network / web portal, was down for almost 12 hours due to some kind of power outage.

The event left its 50 milllion users without their habitual outlet for connecting, creating, and venting. One person, a teenager who calls herself "AsylumBound27" was really upset by the whole affair and used YouTube, another popular site used for Video distribution and social networking, to express her displeasure.

This is what she said:

Hummer Winblad Search Dabble Turns Up...Web Widget; What's Vister?

I'm still trying to get to the bottom of the interest in searching for Hummer Winblad on Technorati. In my search, I learned that Hummer Winblad gave money to "DabbleDB" of Canada -- like $2 million. I also discovered that Hummer Winblad sent $1.5 million to Startup PostApp for an "online widget."

Ok, gimme an f-ing break. An online widget. You know "widget" is an economics term for just some kind of device -- nothing specific -- that's used to show the sale of something as related to matters in microeconomics.

Next.

Well, next I learned that Hummer Winblad really did give money to Post App, and they've got an application I'm going to put to great use at SBS.

What's a Web Widget?

Well according to PostApp, it's "A web widget is a piece of web service-based interactive content that can be dynamically embedded into a web page. For example, a web widget can be a game, a score box displaying a set of statistics, a weather box, an advertising box or any other functionality to be embedded on a web page such as a blog, personal homepage, social networking profile, or auction page. Web widgets, sometimes called gadgets or modules, are increasingly used by web publishers to enhance their web pages, and web service developers are now frequently making their technologies available as web widgets. Many different technologies can be used to develop widgets: HTML, JavaScript, AJAX, Flash, Java Applets, and any web application platform: J2EE, LAMP, Perl, Ruby, etc.

PostApp is creating a marketplace that connects web widget developers with bloggers and other personal publishers. Widget developers include online services seeking widespread widget distribution such as Yahoo! and eBay, as well as small independent widget developers."

Nice.

It fits in with what we're doing with our main products here. Real cool.

Now about that Dabble thing.

It turns out there are two Dabbles -- the one in Canada, and this one.

I like Mary Hodder's better!



But regarding this whole social networking craze, you're probably wondering what's next on the horizon that Hummer Winblad should be investing in. Well, here's "Vister."

..and that's Danah Boyd who's 1/2 of the team who conceived Vister. She's an interesting speaker. How do I know? Because I happened to catch her talk about social networks one day at Cal a few years ago. Her talk was theoretical and a bit racy -- I think deliberately so -- but none the less informative.

I tried to contact her with the idea of exploring how what she was doing could fit with SBS, but she didn't see how and at the time I was dealing with too much with business and family battling cancer to try and take time to show her how. So I set the idea on the shelf.

Jeffrey Heer seems to have more of his teeth sunk into Vister's development. This is he:



And this is a video about Vister. Check it out!

More On Michael Strahan’s Divorce

Regardless of how this ugly matter turns out, I do hope Michael Strahan’s not one of those "Down Low" brothas. Yikees!

NEWARK NJ (UPI) — The nasty divorce between New York Giants Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Strahan and his soon-to-be ex-wife is stunning even seasoned divorce lawyers.

The case features sordid details like adultery, beatings and rampant overspending of money, the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger reported. The highly public case, taking place in Superior Court in Newark, is a culmination of 17 months of a very bitter battle between a couple, who once projected a clean, wholesome image.

Accusations include Michael Strahan’s alleged “alternative” affair with television doctor Ian Smith, an accusation that Michael Strahan secretly videotaped his sister-in-law getting undressed and Michael Strahan’s allegation that Jean Strahan cheated on him with other women, the newspaper said.

The case, far from settled, has turned into a spectacle that most celebrities try to avoid. Michael Strahan, who once appeared in television commercials for Campbell’s Chunky Soup, is trying to refurbish his image with the help of Sports Media Challenge, a firm that helps athletes deal with the press.

NY Giants Michael Strahan Explains His Side Of Sad Divorce

It reads like his wife's trying to dig up every bad black male stereotype she can think of. Well, something triggered the whole deal.


By MICHAEL O’KEEFFE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER


Giants football star Michael Strahan calmly tells Daily News he wants divorce to be dignified, especially for the sake of his 5-month-old twin girls.


Two years ago, Michael and Jean Strahan were lovingly restoring Montclair mansion




No, Michael Strahan says, there was no mistress in Toronto, no hanky-panky in Jacksonville. No road rage on the Garden State Parkway. No psych test mandated by the New York Giants.
He loves his twin baby girls and plays a big role in their lives.

He didn't dump his wife because she doesn't like rap.

And no, Michael Strahan, says, he is not interested in getting into a bloody public brawl with his estranged wife, Jean.

"Despite all this, I still like her," he says. "I still respect her. I love her."

In an exclusive interview with the Daily News, the football star says the marriage is over but he wants to end the relationship with dignity for the sake of his family - and especially for his 5-month-old daughters.

"You realize that everything really boils down to them," he says. "If I were a man without kids, without family, then this would be, 'Hey, you want to duke it out, let's duke it out.'

"But I got kids. I got nephews. I got nieces. I got a mother and father and brothers and sisters. And Jean has the same. And I think just for our families' sake, I don't want to slug it out.

"I'm not looking to fight, because I think our families are going to be the biggest losers in this. And to me, it's not worth it."

The 13-year National Football League veteran says he feels compelled to set the record straight because he feels his wife has taken some dishonest, painful shots since their marriage - which looked like a fairy-tale relationship to his friends and fans - collapsed in the 10 days since Jean Strahan called police to their Montclair, N.J., mansion.

She claimed he threatened to beat her.

Michael Strahan quickly filed for divorce, claiming his wife withdrew $3.3 million from their bank accounts. Jean Strahan slugged back, claiming in court documents that he had affairs with two women, rammed a slow-moving driver with his Cadillac Escalade on a Jersey highway, spends no time with his girls and was forced by the Giants to undergo psychological tests.

Last week an Essex County, N.J., judge dismissed Jean Strahan's abuse claims but admitted into evidence photos she says were taken after he abused her years ago.

Michael Strahan, dressed casually in a dark shirt and slacks as he sat in the Chelsea offices of a media consultant, calmly rejected her other claims during the interview with The News.

There wasn't a girlfriend in Toronto, as his estranged wife claims, and no affair in Florida during Super Bowl week, he says.

"I don't know why she would say that," Strahan says. "I never gave her any reason to say that.

"I don't have anybody in Florida. I don't have a girlfriend in Toronto."

Strahan says his wife's claim that he rammed another car with his sport-utility vehicle isn't true, either.

"We were on our way to dinner, and we got into a car accident," he says. "But it was just that - a car accident. I can't imagine being mad enough to wreck my own car. ...

"The police were called, a report was filed, officers came. My demeanor was calm, as it always is."

The Giants, he adds, didn't make him undergo psychological testing after the incident. "I've never had a psychological evaluation by anybody," he says.

Strahan also denies his wife's allegation that he spurned his family after she gave birth to their babies last fall. Jean Strahan says he ignores their kids and turns his back to her in bed.

In court papers, she claims he "looks for excuses to absent himself from our house, playing in every imaginable golf tournament, participating in every boondoggle to Las Vegas, shooting the pilot for a television show in Los Angeles."

But Strahan says he's been part of his girls' lives since the day they were conceived. He was injured in the middle of the last NFL season, which gave him a lot of time to spend with his daughters.

"I've been strapped with a Baby Bjorn for more hours than I can remember," the 275-pound football star says, referring to an infant carrier.

"It was a totally great experience," Strahan says of the birth of his girls. "They're fun. They're two totally different personalities. One sleeps quite a bit, and the other stays awake all the time.

"They like to hold hands. It's the most amazing thing to have twins."

Strahan laughs when asked about his wife's allegation that he left her because she didn't share his taste in hip hop.

"If you're in love with somebody, it doesn't matter what kind of music they listen to," he says. "Actually, I'm grateful for Jean teaching me to like Waylon Jennings, the Bellamy Brothers, James Taylor, all those good people I wouldn't have listened to without knowing her."

The grid star looks remarkably at peace for a man whose image was eviscerated for days last week.

He credits his cool to the support he's received from his teammates and other NFL pals, and from family and friends. Strahan says the rips he's gotten have been fortunate in one sense: He's heard kind words from friends he hasn't spoken to in years.

"I feel compelled to say something publicly because it involved my family in a very private matter that is now very public. Hopefully, this will end it, and everybody will respect that it is a private family matter," Strahan says.

Anger and frustration flare, however, when he talks about what he calls unfair treatment in the New York Post, which his camp says is serving as a mouthpiece for Jean Strahan and her attorney.

"If you're going to write a story, I'd prefer that it at least be true. If it's not true, you shouldn't write it," he says.

Strahan is a lock for Canton - the football hall of fame. The defensive end set a league record for sacks in a season in 2001. But like Joe Namath, Walt Frazier and Derek Jeter, he's more than an athlete - he's one of those rare New York stars who seems to transcend his sport.

He's a regular on the TV sports talk shows, a Chunky Soup pitchman and a tireless worker for good causes.

In an era when many people assume athletes are self-absorbed jerks, Strahan has always been known as one of the good guys. And he says nothing has changed.

"I think it's pretty hard to fool people for 12 or 13 years," Strahan says. "I'm the guy who everybody knows - the guy who's been in New York for 13 seasons."

The couple married in 1999 and became one of New York's hottest sports couples, a fixture at charity events and on the gossip pages. Michael called Jean his rock and admits he still has warm feelings for her.

But the marriage, he adds, is definitely over. It wasn't the pressures of an NFL career - the public spotlight. There isn't any one thing he can pinpoint as the fatal wound.

"I can't particularly look back at any event and say, 'Okay, this was the moment that things weren't working out.' I don't think it was like that," he says.

"It was just, over the course of time, things deteriorated.

"It's a marriage that in the long run didn't turn out with the fairy-tale ending."

Although the judge threw out a restraining order that barred him from his home, Strahan says he won't return because he doesn't want to disrupt his little girls' lives.

Strahan, on the advice of his lawyer, won't talk about what happened at his Montclair home on March 10. He won't talk about the $3.3 million he says in his divorce papers Jean Strahan swiped. He just hopes the split can be handled with maturity and grace.

"We owe it to each other to respect our kids and their future and their privacy - to end this in the right way," he says.

"If you end it the right way, it still allows you to both be a great influence in your kids' lives, and I think that is very important."

SF PD and FBI Pick On Josh Wolf For Video Of Cops

SF PD and FBI Pick On Josh Wolf For Video Of Cops

Click to Play

Josh Wolf is a vlogger who took a video of a demonstration where allegedly an SF PD offficer used his car to run over protestors and their materials. The FBI and the SF PD in the form of an agent and a cop tracked down and then visted Mr. Wolf at his home. For more information, see joshwolf.net . This SF Chronicle article explains the rest of the story:

SAN FRANCISCO
Judge gives protest videographer reprieve
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, July 21, 2006

Printable Version
Email This Article
A freelance journalist who has refused to hand over videos he shot at a San Francisco protest to a federal grand jury stayed out of jail Thursday, at least temporarily.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup asked a government lawyer whether prosecutors would consider granting immunity to the journalist as a way of inducing him to give the tapes to the grand jury, which is looking into whether demonstrators at the protest broke federal laws.

Alsup's decision to ask for further arguments and resume the hearing Aug. 1 gave a reprieve to Josh Wolf, who could be jailed until next July, when the grand jury's term expires, if he does not turn over the videos.

The grand jury is looking into a July 2005 demonstration in the Mission District organized by anarchists against the Group of Eight international economic conference in Scotland. A police car was set on fire during a clash between officers and demonstrators. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Finigan said the vandalism could be a federal crime because the Police Department receives federal funds.

Wolf, 24, a freelancer who focuses on political dissidents, shot videos of the demonstration. Portions were shown on television stations, including footage of the police car.

The grand jury has demanded the rest of the videos, and Wolf has refused, claiming a journalist's right to withhold unpublished material from the government. That right is recognized by California law but not by federal law, which prevails in federal court.

Alsup ordered Wolf last month to turn over the videos or face jail for contempt of court. Wolf was in the grand jury room later that day, insisting on his right to remain silent, when a prosecutor abruptly withdrew his subpoena.

Prosecutors renewed the request for the film last week, but Alsup was more receptive to defense arguments at Thursday's hearing in San Francisco.

The judge said he had tentatively concluded that Wolf had the right to remain silent and withhold evidence to avoid selfincrimination. Finigan said he saw no danger that Wolf could incriminate himself, but the judge said Wolf might fear that authorities would accuse him of aiding lawbreakers at the protest by encouraging them. "I don't think that's fanciful,'' Alsup told the prosecutor.

He suggested that Finigan ask his superiors to authorize an offer of immunity to Wolf, which would protect the journalist from being prosecuted for any information he provided to the grand jury but would eliminate one of his defenses to contempt of court. Wolf declined to say what he would do if granted immunity.

Alsup denied a request by Wolf's lawyer, Jose Luis Fuentes, to transfer the case to the judge who is considering the government's attempt to require two Chronicle reporters to identify their sources of closed-door grand jury testimony about steroids in sports.

The judge was also skeptical of Fuentes' argument that Wolf should be let off the hook because the government had failed to show compliance with Justice Department guidelines, which require prosecutors to pursue every alternative and secure authorization from the attorney general before obtaining a subpoena against a journalist.

Alsup said the guidelines were not legally binding and asked why they should be allowed to "interfere with the wheels of justice, the grand jury getting the information they need.'' But he asked Finigan to report back on whether the government had followed the guidelines in this case.

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This video was originally shared on blip.tv by jaydedman with a Public Domain license.

Lebanese Mood Turning Against The USA - CNN

This CNN report is chilling in that it shows a reporter explaining that he was in a village outside of Beirut, where there are about 50,000 people. His group of American journalist was confronted by an angry group. The reporter says "The mood is turning against the United States," because some Lebanese believe the USA gave the green light for Israel to attack them.

Here's the video:

Apple's Black MacBook - The Black MacBook Commercial You Didn't See

True Nuff TV made this totally funny take on the new Mac Commericials, this one featuring an African American man playing what else, a black MacBook. He stands next to the white MacBook and informs him that he's got several performance upgrades...

It's a commericial Apple should rush to cop because there's a kind of gay subtext in Apple's Mac commercial where the "Mac Guy" and the "PC Guy" are holding hands, but when a hottie Japanese woman comes in to show the digital photo she made with the Mac -- and starts holding hands with Mac Guy, PC Guy gets jealous.

Well, here's the Black MacBook Commercial:

Hummer Winblad Dumps Napster Emails, Proves Value Of Silicon Valley In The Process

(See the latest Hummer Winblad news here>)

If you're wondering why Hummer Winblad's the most search term on Technorati today, the whole matter seems to stem from this story that they've dumped emails related to the Napster case. For those of you who don't know this, Hummer Winblad is the VC firm (venture capital) that was started in part by Ann Winblad, the former girlfriend of Microsort founder Bill Gates.

In this act, and in the flood of searches on Technorati -- itself based in San Francisco and part of the Silicon Valley culture -- Hummer Winblad has demonstrated that Silicon Valley still has some impact on American Culture. I personally think it's Technorati CEO David Sifry's way of showing Ann that Technorati's got juice.

Here's a video about Silicon Valley culture..

Texans' Bob McNair A Genius - Bush Agent Threatens Holdout From Saints

When I talked with Texans owner Bob McNair at The NFL Draft he said he wanted to draft a player that was signable, ad certainly did that with Defensive End Mario Williams. Now, even as many questioned McNair's decision, it seems he was right after all. Reggie Bush's agent is threatening to not only hold him out of camp, but have him reenter the NFL Draft!.

If Reggie does this, it will be a slap in the face of New Orleans at a time when Bush can't afford it.


Will Reggie run a reverse?
By Jason Cole, Yahoo! Sports
July 21, 2006


No. 2 overall pick and Heisman Trophy-winning running back Reggie Bush not only appears headed for a holdout with the New Orleans Saints, a league source said Bush is toying with the idea of sitting out the entire season and going back in the draft in 2007 if he doesn't get his price.

"No player has ever had the kind of leverage that Reggie Bush has right now," the source said. "The Saints made it clear what they were willing to do before and now we'll see if they're going to get there."

It seems unlikely the Saints will do that in time for Bush to report to training camp with the team on Thursday in Jackson, Miss. Two sources said that talks between the Saints and agent Joel Segal have been nearly non-existent.

On Wednesday, Mike Ornstein, who is Bush's marketing agent, told the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss., that he didn't think Bush would be signed in time for camp. Ornstein is not allowed to negotiate contracts, but he is acutely aware of all of Bush's business matters.

One of the sources took that a step further, saying Segal was considering not having Bush sign at all. Segal declined to comment when contacted Friday and messages left with multiple members of the New Orleans organization weren't returned.

While it appears unlikely on face value that Bush would sit out, he appears well-positioned to do so if he really wants.

Bush supposedly has more than $5 million in the bank from multiple endorsement deals Ornstein has negotiated since Bush left the University of Southern California. That money is guaranteed regardless of whether Bush plays this season.

Next, Bush could probably sit out 2006 and still be a high pick next year.

Furthermore, Bush probably has the public sentiment running in his favor. Even though holdout players are generally unpopular, Bush has caused tremendous excitement in New Orleans.

In May, shortly after Bush was drafted, the Saints had already set a franchise record for season-ticket sales, having topped 55,000 at that time. That's extraordinary, especially considering the condition of the hurricane-ravaged city.

Moreover, team owner Tom Benson is immensely unpopular in New Orleans. Ranging from his hard-line negotiations with the city and state to constant threats that he will move the team, Benson is often treated with open scorn by Saints fans.

Bush has also worked hard to endear himself to fans in the city after it came out that he didn't want to play in New Orleans. Bush has made multiple donations to hurricane relief.

Jason Cole is an NFL writer for Yahoo! Sports.

Kirk Wright - NFL Hedge Fund Scandal Czar's Bond Revoked

According to the blog Letter of Apology, Kirk Wright, the focus of the NFL Hedge Fund Scandal, had his bond revolked by U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper. The AP Story is below

Judge revokes bond for hedge fund manager accused in fraud scheme
HARRY R. WEBER
Associated Press

ATLANTA - A federal judge revoked bond Thursday for a hedge fund manager accused of bilking investors ranging from NFL players to his own mother out of millions of dollars after a prosecutor disclosed the suspect kept a journal in which he mused about the best place to flee.

U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper said no amount of bail he could set would guarantee that Kirk Wright would appear in court to face fraud charges.

Cooper's decision to detain Wright pending trial reverses a magistrate judge's ruling in Florida to allow Wright to remain free if he posted $1 million bond.

A group of people who say they were victims of Wright's scheme clapped and cheered when Cooper announced his ruling in federal court in Atlanta. The group included former Denver Broncos safety Steve Atwater and former Philadelphia Eagles safety Blaine Bishop.

"That's why I came. I wanted to see him," Bishop said afterward. "He was a coward and wouldn't look at anyone, which is what he is."

Atwater said "most definitely" when asked if he was satisfied with the judge's ruling. The two are among a group of seven current and former NFL players who have sued the league and the players union seeking to recover the $20 million they lost in the scheme.

At the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Anand said that when Wright was captured in Miami Beach on May 17, three months after a warrant was first issued for his arrest, a journal was found in his possession in which Wright listed various U.S. cities and the "pros and cons" of hiding in each one.

The journal also included passport information and the phone numbers of embassies in Mexico and the Dominican Republican, which Anand asserted showed Wright was thinking about fleeing the country.

Nearly $30,000 in cash, several fake ID's and seven prepaid cell phones were also found in the luxury hotel room where Wright was staying when he was arrested, Anand said, adding that Wright withdrew $500,000 the month before the first warrant was issued by a Superior Court judge.

"This is a very obvious case of a risk of flight," the prosecutor said.

But defense lawyer Natasha Silas said Wright was in almost daily contact with his previous attorney for a month after the federal warrant was later issued and was trying to negotiate his surrender.

Silas said that if Wright was really intent on fleeing, he would have left the country, rather than staying in Florida, where his mother lives.

Silas also said that Wright and his wife had received death threats from some of his investors and he wanted to make sure his family was safe before turning himself in.

"I would concede that the actions of Mr. Wright when viewed at first blush do look like someone who is on the run," Silas told the judge.

But, she added, "It's a lot more complicated than that."

While the prosecutor described Wright's mother as one of his victims, the defense lawyer said his mother and other relatives wouldn't be willing to post bond for him if they were truly victims. She asked the judge to keep the $1 million bond set in Florida.

Cooper sided with the government, saying the "preponderance of the evidence" suggests Wright is a risk of flight.

According to authorities, Wright and his company collected as much as $185 million from at least 500 investors since 1997 and misled some of them to believe the value of those investments was increasing, using false statements and documents.

As recently as Jan. 25, the firm reported $166.6 million in assets spread across five hedge funds it manages and advises. That money is now missing, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The prosecutor said Wright used some of the money on personal items, including property, jewelry and to make child support payments to an ex-wife.

In the lawsuit filed June 23 by the football players, they claim the players union endorsed the services of the investment firm Wright headed even though Wright had liens against him. The NFL has said the suit does not have any merit, while the union has declined to comment.

Rayfield Wright - NFL Hall Of Fame Press Conference 2006

An interview with:
RAYFIELD WRIGHT by ASAP SPORTS

Q. What is your best memory of your
years with the Cowboys?

RAYFIELD WRIGHT: Oh, my goodness. I have a lot of memories with the Cowboys starting back in 1967 through 1980. To recapture all of that, I have to start with the Ice Bowl game in Green Bay back in 1967, my rookie year, being known as the team in the late '60s, as the team that couldn't win the big game, then getting to the Super Bowl in 1970 against the Baltimore Colts, even though we lost, having an opportunity to come back in 1971 and winning our first Super Bowl. That was really overwhelming.

Q. Can you share the story about moving positions in the first game against Deacon Jones?

RAYFIELD WRIGHT: Yes, I can. I remember after playing tight end for two years, my first two years, Coach Landry called me into his office, told me that, Rayfield, he said, I want to move you to offensive tackle. I looked at him with amazement because I never played tackle before in my life. I looked at him and I said, Coach, are you sure? He said, yeah, you'll make a good tackle. You learn fast. You block good at tight end. You just need to gain some weight. Coach, I said, you believe I can best help this football team by moving in this position that I never played before in my life, I give it everything I
have. The only thing we did after that, after he said, I believe you can do it, Rayfield, we just shook hands on the deal. I didn't have to call an agent, renegotiate a contract or nothing, you know. So I went into that position not knowing anything about it.

After practice one I was trying to figure out how to pass block because I never set up the pass block before, even though I was watching game films of all of the greatest tackles I thought that had played the game like Forrest Greg, Bob Brown, and St. Louis had two tackles, Ernie McMillan and Bob Reynolds.

I was studying these guys, trying to go out on the field the next day to try to imitate these guys, and I couldn't do it, you know, because each individual is a different person, their makeup is different, they have different abilities and things about them. It just came to me one day that what I really was trying to do was protect my quarterback, and in order to do so the similarities of playing basketball really hit my mind in saying, Okay, if I'm guarding a guy playing basketball, I'm going to stay between him and the basket. You do that by quickly shuffling your feet, whether you go to the right or left. If you cross your feet, you get beat. The guy will drive on you and get a layup or adunk. So what I did was I said, well, the quarterback is the basket, and the defensive end is the guy dribbling the ball. So I just got to stay between these two guys, I'll be okay. So I just hadto gain a little bit more strength.

After about halfway during the season, Ralph Neely, who I was backing up at right tackle, got hurt. Coach Landry called me in his office again and said, Rayfield, you’re going to start this week. I said, Okay. We playing the Rams, right? They had the Fearsome Foursome at that time. I said, Okay, I have to block Deacon Jones, who at that time was the most feared defensive end in all of football. I think even today he's probably the best defensive end I think I've ever seen play the game. So I got prepared to play the game and everything.

Offensive linemen are taught one thing, and that is to listen. You’re supposed to listen for one voice, and that's the quarterback's voice, because he can call a color or number, change the play at the line of scrimmage. We were out in Los Angeles at the Coliseum. There was 80,000 people, television, everybody screaming and yelling. You're supposed to listen and hear one voice. Roger Staubach called the play. We go up to the line of scrimmage. I'm looking at Deacon Jones square in his eyes, his eyes seem to be red as fire, he's kicking his back leg like a bull. I'm saying to myself, my God, what have I got myself into?

The thing is the ball is going to be snapped on two, and I knew exactly what my assignment was. The play was going to go to the left side, but I knew what my assignment was. Staubach said, hut, the ball for the first count, and then as this pause between the first and second hut. I hear a voice that came out to me. This voice came out at me in a real heavy, deep, meaningful kind of voice. He said, boy, does your mama know you out here? And I heard it.

When Staubach said the second hut, I never heard it. You can imagine what the “Secretary of Defense” did on that play? He came across the line of scrimmage, hit me, knocked me completely backwards. I rolled over, looked over at our sideline thinking that Coach Landry was going to take me out of the game since it was my first play and I screwed it up.

By that time, Deacon Jones reached his big arms down and said, Hey, rookie, he said, Welcome to the NFL. I said, Well, Mr. Jones, you don't know my mama, so don't talk about her. You want to play the game this way, we'll play it. I got the game ball for that game. I was the MVP of that ballgame. Deacon Jones certainly enlightened me to that position, no question about it.

Q. Can you explain a little bit about your coach at Fort Valley State, Coach Lomax, and why you chose him to be your presenter.

RAYFIELD WRIGHT: Yes, sir. Coach Lomax was a father figure to me and still is today. Coming out of high school not having the financial resources to go to college, I volunteered for the Air Force my senior year.

My cousin that was at Fort
Valley State College, John Willis, we called him Bubber, he was at Fort Valley. Coach Lomax was the new coach that came in out of Brunswick, Georgia. He was trying to build a football team. Coach Lomax, my cousin told Coach
Lomax about my athletic ability in basketball, football, that he should consider getting me to Fort Valley. So, Coach Lomax contacted me. I told him I have this situation. I'd love to come to school at Fort Valley but I've got this situation that I've
already committed to. He just simply would not leave me alone. He continued to contact me.

I said, well, coach, here is what you need to do. You need to come to Griffin, Georgia, which is my hometown, and you need to talk to my mother, my grandmother, my Boy Scout master, which I'm an Eagle scout, need to talk to my minister and the recruiting officer. He said he would. So I got all those people in our little house.

He came up. And back in those days, when elder people would get together, they always sent the kids outside. You never kind of hung around when the elders were talking. So I went outside and sat on the front porch. I sat out there for almost three hours, didn't know what was going on inside while they was talking about my life and my future. All of a sudden, the front door opened and my mother came out, she was crying.

Then my grandmother came out, and she was crying. And I didn't know whether to cry, get mad, because I didn't know what had happened. Then the recruiting officer came up to me and said, Larry, he said, you can go to college. He said, but if you drop out of school, flunk out of college, he said that you'll be drafted into the Army immediately.

So Coach Lomax is responsible for that, and when I went, September had already began, so I missed the first quarter at Fort Valley. I didn't start college until January in '64. Basketball season was halfway over at that point. In a couple of weeks, I made the first team in basketball at Fort Valley. That was my love for the game anyway. I thought that I had a basketball
scholarship. After the school year was over in June that year, I went back to Griffin. I was working at a mill. Coach Lomax called and he was very upset with me because I wasn't at spring football practice. I said, well, coach, I didn't know I
was supposed to play football. I thought I had a basketball scholarship. He said, No, you have an athletic scholarship, so getyour fanny back down here.

I had to quit my job, I went back to Fort Valley and I started playing football because I couldn't make the high school football team. That's when I really started playing football. My first position was free safety, I was a punter, I played
defensive end and I played tight end. The Cowboys drafted me as a tight end.

Q. You were talking about changing all these positions, changing sports, willingly doing so on the advice and trust of your
coaches. Do you think the game today has gotten so sophisticated and specific that it would be very difficult for a player to change sports or positions like you did, and the type of athlete today would be so willing to make some of the changes and adjustments you made?

RAYFIELD WRIGHT: Well, number one, you're looking at the game as it is today, everything pretty much is specialized. What's really, really interesting is that Coach Landry had a system back in those days. He knew his system would work if he could simply find the right athletes to place in that system. It wasn't necessarily by position that you played in college or high school, it was whether or not you were an athlete. He wasn't changing his system. He knew it would work if he could find the right player. Cornell Green was a basketball player, Bob Hayes was a track star. You just go right down the line of the athletes we had back there.

As of today, you know, I don't see that happening today because everything is so specialized. Even offensive linemen and defensive linemen today, if you don't weigh 300 pounds, you can't even go out and play football in college or some of these schools today, which is ridiculous to me. You don't need to weigh that much to play the game of football, especially on the offensive line. That situation is a pretty interesting situation because, you know, the players today are more specialized in a position than we were.

We were interested in just playing the game, so it didn't make any difference what position we played, you know, as long as we had the opportunity to play, we could play it. Because, you know, there's a lot of difference between, as I see it, from my standpoint, a good football player and a good athlete.

A football player specialized in that position, but an athlete is different because an athlete can play any position. It's like when I was growing up as a kid, when it was football season, we played football in the streets or in the park or
someplace. When basketball season, we played basketball, and track season we ran track, baseball season we played baseball.

We just didn't have golf in our community back in the '40s and '50s back in Georgia. But, you know, I would have
learned how to play that back then if we had had it. Then that particular person that can get involved in all these different sports he becomes a true athlete instead of just a good player in a game. And the players today, if you look at every
team, you have position coach. We didn't have that growing up. In high school, there was one coach, and that was it. He was the head coach. He coached football, basketball, baseball, the whole deal.

Today, everybody has a coach, specialties in every position.

Q. Have you been to Canton before? What do you anticipate that is going to be like in a couple of weeks?

RAYFIELD WRIGHT: Well, I tell you, you know, I have been to Canton. We played a pre-season game up there many years ago with the Cowboys. It's going to be an interesting, interesting week for me because I'm going there not to play a football game, I'm going there to be inducted into the highest honor a professional football player can receive, and that's being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I really don't know, I can't say right now my true feelings on that day of enshrinement. That day have to come.

But it is going to be a tremendous honor. It's not just going to be an honor for Rayfield Wright, it's going to be an honor for a lot of people, especially the offensive linemen that have played for the Dallas Cowboys over all the years because of one fact, and that is out of all the great teams that the Cowboys have had over the years, there has not been an offensive lineman placed in the Hall of Fame. I will be the first one.

You know, I will be carrying the weight on my shoulders from the offensive line, Coach Jim Myers, and all the offensive linemen that have played the game for the Dallas Cowboys especially during the era in which I played, because we had a lot of players on our line that was all pro and that played in the Pro Bowl game. Roger Staubach, really played behind an All-Pro offensive line. John Niland, Ralph Neely, Blaine Nye, myself, all these guys played in the Pro Bowl game.

I remember Coach Landry making a statement to me after I got into that position of offensive tackle. He said, no matter how many accolades you receive or how many awards you receive, he said, you will never be greater than the team. So the Cowboys were not operating as individual players; we were operating as a unit, as a team. That's what wins ballgames and also wins championships.

Q. Can you talk about your wait. You were on all the decades best lists. You had so many close calls. Talk about the wait to get into the Hall of Fame?

RAYFIELD WRIGHT: Well, my last season was '79. I retired in '80. Staubach and I both retired in 1980. I think my first year of
eligibility would have been '85, I believe. It's 2006 now. You know, I didn't really think about the Hall
of Fame based on my performance for the Cowboys. I joined the Cowboys to do one thing -- well, to do two things. One was to help the the club win football games, and secondly was to help my family, my mother and my grandmother, you
know, in Georgia. My performance on the football field was not thought about one day becoming a Hall of Famer.

Until after I had retired and a lot of the news media had started talking about it andlooking at the things that I had accomplished in the game and saying, Hey, this guy should be considered for the Hall of Fame. Once a player and once that information comes out to a player, then it gets in his heart and in his head. He's saying, Hey. He get to looking at the players that are in the Hall of Fame, and based on the position that he played, saying, Hey, maybe I should be there, you know. I did help our team go to five Super Bowls.

Maybe I should be there. I was one of the co-captains for seven, eight, nine years, something like that. You know, it's going to be an interesting week for me, like it will be for the others. It's going to be a great week for each of the teams that these players and Coach Madden was with. I'm just honored for this opportunity because I think it's going to be great, it will open the doors for a lot of -- hopefully will open the doors for a lot of other offensive linemen.

Q. Even though you didn't play with him, does it mean anything to be going in with Troy Aikman, another Cowboy?

RAYFIELD WRIGHT: I think the only two players from the same team that have gone in from the Cowboys was Randy White and Tony Dorsett, if I'm not mistaken. To go in with Troy Aikman, even though I didn't play with him, I certainly admired his ability to play the game and his leadership qualities that he possessed. It’s going to be an honor to go in with him. Troy is a
fine young man and I think that he certainly is deserving of the honor. It's just going to be an honor to go in with him, no question about it.

Q. Can you talk about the whole process of getting the bust made, what that was like for you.

RAYFIELD WRIGHT: It's really interesting because when I was over in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl game, they took all the measurements of everything, your head, your eyes, your nose, your mouth, the whole deal, your ears. You know, they took those measurements. What they did at the Hall was they have people, which I didn't know, wasn't aware of, around the country that make these different busts for different players, I guess. If you live in this part of the country, then they have
a guy that does that. You live in this part of the country.

Well, you know, down here in Texas, there's a guy here that did Elvin Bethea's bust. He's the one that made my bust. I'm going to tell you something, he called me. He took those measurements, that was done over at the Pro Bowl game, and he looked at all of the pictures that he had of me that had been passed on to him.

He took that and from that he began making this bust of me. I was shocked when I saw it the first time because he came over to my house, he and another gentleman, and he had something wrapped up in a bag. You couldn't see it. Openly, he had the bust of Elvin Bethea. I saw that. He showed me what he had done. I said to myself, I said, Well, that's really nice. Did you do that? He said, yes, he's the one that did that.

Then he unwrapped the one that was wrapped up. It was what he had done of me. I had never in my life ever seen myself that way, you know. I don't know about you, but it was so devastating to me, I almost ran out of my own house when I saw that. I said, Hey, guys, I'm still alive, you know.

It was totally -- it was awesome when I really saw that. It's hard to explain because I had to call my mom and tell her, you know, so she could settle me down a little bit. It was really interesting to see that.

Q. A good likeness of you?

RAYFIELD WRIGHT: Well, absolutely. No question about it. And once you see it, you going to see what I'm talking about because it's just like a split (sic) image of what I was back in the '70s, how I looked, played, everything else. The expression on my face, it's just an awesome, awesome bust, picture of me.

Q. Over the last six months or so, since the announcement, can you talk about whatthat has been like? More people shaking your hand, calling you, that sort of thing?

RAYFIELD WRIGHT: Well, no question about that. I just came out of Virginia for an autograph-signing session up there. I was there over the weekend. I cut my computer on this morning, even today, I had 261 emails on my computer today. It's kind of been that kind of a thing for me since that has happened, because all of the people I went to high school with, grew up in
Griffin, all my teammates and students I went to Fort Valley State with, my business associates all around the country that I have worked with for so many years, kids that I had spoken to for my speaking engagements that I do, it's just been
overwhelming to me.

You know, it's hard to say when you going to kind of slow down because this point is coming now where you got to really focus and settle in, you know, on the activities that's going to happen in a couple of weeks. But it's been overwhelming, no question about it.

Q. What has been the best part of that? Any one particular phone call or memory, somebody congratulating you that you didn't expect to hear from?

RAYFIELD WRIGHT: What's interesting is I heard from most of all the guys in the Hall of Fame already, you know, coaches that I played against around the league. It's just been so many people that I have heard from that have been a part of the National Football League, whether they was coaches or players, trainers, doctors, so forth. I can't really recall one in particular that
really stands out. It's just so many calls and letters that I have received.

I'm keeping all of those for future reference and so forth for my own personal use and memories because I think to hear from some of these guys really, really, really was a shock to me and also a sign of respect that they exemplified in their words to me, in their letters and so forth, emails.

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