Lots of Tim Brown questions, Andrew informs me. Will of Carrboro, N.C., I'm appointing you their spokesman.

Q: Now that Tim Brown has retired, what are his chances of entering the Hall of Fame?

A: Good.

Q: Do you know how you will vote?

A: Yes.

Q: How does he compare to Art Monk?

A: Flashier but Monk had better hands.

And now we move on to ... OK, OK, the unstated question. How will I vote? Negative. He dropped too many balls. All rippers for the next mailbag column, kindly check in with Andrew, who will issue you your registration form.

Mark of San Diego wishes Don Coryell would follow Stram into the Hall of Fame. Me, too. I'll vote for him, but he's not the first of the great innovators I would propose, if I were still on the seniors committee. That honor would go to Clark Shaughnessy, one of the game's all time thinkers and diagnosticians. Greatest ever, according to Bill Walsh and Sid Gillman and many others.

Richard of Austin, Texas, can't understand why no one would give up a third round choice for Travis Henry. Me, too, but I think the price would be higher. Even so, I'd still get it up. The guy's only 26, he's a terrific runner and he's coming off a season in which he was very lightly used.

Thank you, Pat of Overland Park, Kansas, for calling me a "natural treasure" ("An unnatural treasure," the Redhead adds) ... wait a minute ... make that a national treasure. Even so, it's a pretty good compliment. The next e-mailer says ... ("You're overworking that gag," someone nearby reminds me).

OK, we'll get serious. Pat is buddies with Willie Lanier's son, and ... wait a minute ... a story. This is why the old Chiefs' MLB is one of my all time favorites:

I'm interviewing him before a playoff game in 1969. He said, "Well, we're gonna try to mix it up and keep 'em out of short yardage and .... " And then he stopped himself. "Why am I telling you this junk?" he said. And then he told me the real stuff, the things that made sense. I thought that was a nice compliment he paid me and I never forgot it.

Pat points out that Stram liked size on his old Chiefs, Otis Taylor, Jim Tyrer, etc. (You're forgetting Morris Stroud, the 6-foot-10 TE, second-tallest player in history) and he wants to know what it would take to get Tyrer and Taylor into the Hall of Fame. It would take a miracle. They're both seniors now. If I were still on the Seniors Committee I'd be working for both of them, because I'm an old AFL guy, but I quit the committee two years ago. As to your final question -- is there a limit on players from one team? Officially, no. Unofficially, yes.

From Steve of Rockford, Ill. -- "Why do so many punt returners put up the fair-catch sign when they have no intention of fielding the punt?" Usually they do it near their own goal line, in an attempt to slow down the cover guys and keep them from making the highlight-film save before the ball goes into the end zone.

Wow, some good rugger stuff from Andy of Dublin, Ireland. A satisfied reader, but he takes me to task for calling the Lions "the Lions of the U.K." They're really the British and Irish Lions. Lad, I apologize, and let me buy the first pint when we meet in Dublin, because now that I have your e-mail address and credit card information, I WILL get in touch. Which reminds me of a ....waddya say, Andrew? Enough room left for a wee tale? No? We're running too long? C'mon, brother, just one, OK? He says no, but screw it, I've got to tell you this.

Very happy memory of the first two matches on our 1966 rugby tour of Ireland, Wales and England. By "we" I mean the Old Blue RFC from New York, which is still going strong. Played back to back contests against Delvin and Skerries, up in Billy Butlin's, north of Dublin. Won 'em both. And what makes this memory so happy? We just couldn't get enough of it, so on Saturday, two days later, a few of us took our boots and shorts and hitched a ride into Dublin for the Black Rock Seven-a-Side tournament. The ultimate mercenaries. We played for any team short a man. With each other, against each other, didn't matter. Sometimes we'd play against the team we just played for. It was rugby, man. Played all day, drank all night. Sweet youth. Where the bloody hell has it gone?

From David of Scotch Plains, N.J.: If I could have drafted one player out of the last 10 years, who would it have been, not based on how he later performed but on how well I liked him at the time? This really puts me on the honor system, doesn't it? Well, I started going through all the draft picks since 1996 but I fell asleep. So I'll give you one off the top of my head, and it's gonna shock you. Eric Zeier, QB, Georgia. I thought the guy really had the look of a winner, you know, hungry. But at least you now know I'm telling the truth, right? I've already mentioned a thousand times who my favorite player is in this last draft. Lofa Tatupu, MLB, Southern Cal.