Quote of the Week I

	NFL commissioner Roger Goodell made a strong statement by suspending Pacman Jones for an entire season and Chris Henry for eight games. AP
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"I must emphasize to you that this is your last opportunity to salvage your NFL career. I urge you to take full advantage of the resources available to support you in that effort.''
-- Commissioner Roger Goodell, in a letter to suspended players Pacman Jones and Chris Henry, informing them they were being banned for 16 and eight games, respectively, for violating the league's player-conduct policy.

Quote of the Week II

"I think sometimes the media accentuates the negative things, as evidenced by things like Anna Nicole Smith's passing and the all attention it got. We've got people running for president who are making history and it doesn't get as much attention as the negative things. It's the same thing in our situation now. The guys who are getting into trouble are getting so much attention, but the guys who are doing things right don't get a whole lot. There are a ton of guys around this league doing things the correct way, and trying to represent themselves and their organizations and improve the communities. Unfortunately they don't get the same coverage. Perception becomes reality."
-- Miami defensive end Jason Taylor, on the spate of trouble NFL players have encountered in the last year.

Quote of the Week III

"I don't dislike the Raiders. It's just that ... how can I put this? It's like having a son you were once very proud of. A little rough at times, but he struggled and achieved and overcame a lot. Many people were against him. And then he just gave up. You look at him and you see a slouching person, nearing middle age, hair thinning, cigarette smoke staining his fingers, talking out of the side of his mouth, continually lying. Is this really your son? Well, yeah, and you still love him underneath it all. You just don't enjoy being around him.''
-- Paul Zimmerman in his SI.com column last week, responding to a reader who accused him of not liking the Oakland Raiders.

Brilliant, Zim. Just brilliant. When I grow up, I want to write like that.

Quote of the Week IV

"I am not interested in defining what my style is. I learned something from Tony Dungy. He said, 'As a head coach, don't worry about your style. You already have a style.' He said, 'If you win, it's going to be because of your style, and if you lose, it's going to be because of your style.' He's right."
-- Rookie Dolphins coach Cam Cameron.

Quote of the Week V

"Today, I am letting everyone know that I am putting away my pads."
-- Kansas City guard Will Shields, who, after a 14-year career, announced his retirement on his Web site Sunday. Big, big loss for the Chiefs. Coupled with the loss of William Roaf last year, Kansas City has now lost two consistent Pro Bowlers from a position group that was once the strongest on the team. No more.

Factoid of the Week That May Interest Only Me

On the street just outside Fenway Park on Opening Day last week, there were T-shirts for sale disparaging the biggest villains in Boston: Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Peyton Manning. The Manning one -- we won't use the taunt here -- even used the back to disparage brother Eli.

What would the T-shirt vendors, and the buyers of the shirts, have thought if they'd known Peyton Manning was sitting a couple of tight spirals away, in Reebok's third-base upper-deck suite at Fenway?

"I loved Fenway,'' Manning told me. "It was my first time. Going to Fenway for a Sox game has been on my checklist of things I want to do in life. I love the old stadiums. I went to Wrigley for the first time a few years ago. It happened to be the Steve Bartman foul-ball game. I enjoy hearing my dad tell stories about the old stadiums he played in -- Yankee, Memorial, Tulane -- so I enjoyed the day and didn't catch too much flack from Patriots fans.''

Manning was in town for Reebok's global marketing meetings.

Stat of the Week

Ten weeks. Did you know it's mathematically and ethically possible for Pacman Jones' suspension to be 10 weeks instead of a full season?

Goodell has the option to reinstate Jones in November, if he has a squeaky clean professional rehabilitation, follows his penalty to the letter and is found guilty of absolutely nothing between now and then. That includes escaping being charged in the depraved Las Vegas strip club incident, in which Jones has been accused by a club employee of striking a stripper and members of his party are under investigating for a shooting incident that left a club bouncer paralyzed. I'd say the odds are 500-to-1 the penalty gets reduced.

Aggravating/Enjoyable Travel Note of the Week

Nothing very adventurous this week on the travel front, so I'll comment on something that really chapped me the other day.

I'm a Jersey guy. Not born and bred, but I consider living here 22 years long enough to understand what they're saying on The Sopranos. (By the way, the greatest, truest Irish bar in America, Tierney, is in Montclair, N.J., and I say that because they pour Guinness the right way there. They were the site in the first episode of this last Sopranos season of Tony's and Bobby's offer to a couple of men to whack a Canadian.)

You may have seen the other day that the governor of New Jersey, Jon Corzine, was critically injured in a hit-and-run crash on the Garden State Parkway, breaking a leg, a collarbone, his sternum, some vertebrae and 12 ribs while riding in the passenger seat of an SUV.

Corzine was not wearing a seat belt. He was being driven by a state trooper.

The governor is the leading politician in the state, the man setting the example for everyone in the state to follow. State troopers are paid to enforce the laws of the state. It is a law in New Jersey that drivers and passengers in motor vehicles must wear seat belts. So here we have two violations of the law: The governor is ignoring one of the basic laws of travel safety by not wearing a seat belt. And the state trooper is ignoring the governor breaking the law.

Corzine was nearly killed in the accident, reportedly being thrown from the front seat all the way to the back. The trooper and an aide to the governor, both of whom were wearing belts, suffered only minor injuries. I may be taking a leap here, but I doubt it. The governor of New Jersey nearly died because he ignored the law. What possible defense will Corzine have when he recovers and addresses the issue?

We're all pleased Corzine apparently will survive and resume a normal life, obviously. And I don't mean to jump on the guy when he's laying in a hospital bed. But this story cannot go away. The governor and the trooper owe the public an explanation.