Well, let's consider that last one first. I was a college sophomore when Sayers went in, so I don't know what went through the voters' minds. But I would have voted Sayers in, no questions asked. Some players you watch and you say: That's one of the best football players of all time. Sayers was. With the possible exception of Barry Sanders (and I emphasize possible), there has never been a more electrifying, breakaway back in NFL history. Sayers was the best return man of his day, too; eight touchdowns on returns doesn't tell the full story of how scary he was with the ball on special teams.

I have infinite respect for what Davis did. He was the missing link for a Denver team that always fell short with a great quarterback before he got there. He rushed for 2,000 yards in one season. He had a streak of seven straight 100-yard rushing games in the playoffs. But he wasn't the quickest, or the strongest, and he didn't have three or four signature runs we'll never forget. And, unfortunately, he just didn't last long enough. One good season, two great seasons and one fabulous one aren't enough.

Bottom line: If a guy's going to have four very good to great years, he'd better leave an indelible mark on this voter's psyche. Davis didn't. He'd better be one of the best five or six to play his position. Davis wasn't.

Terrell Davis belongs where Art Monk belongs -- in the Hall of Very Good.

New York Giants backup quarterback Jason Garrett wore a T-shirt at camp last week shilling for Thompson's Pasta Plus Dog Food, which the shirt informed readers was "the perfect food for finicky dogs." On one sleeve was a pop for the company's feature product: Woof-a-Roni Dog Treats.

1. I think either I'm naive or the baseball players are nuts. Maybe it's a little of both. But how can the union think it's a logical proposal to say that only teams that spend $130 million on players next year ($140 million in 2004, $150 million in 2005) will be luxury-taxed? And how does that help the $40-million payroll teams catch up? When is the union going to realize the only way to fix baseball is to have real revenue sharing? Without it, if this thing gets solved, no matter what compromise is reached, it will be a two- or three-year Band-Aid. The only way to fix this game is to share the big stuff. TV, baby. Teams already share national TV revenue, which is minimal. They need to share the local revenue that the big-market teams use to sign the big free agents. George has to share his TV money or it's all a facade. Sharing of all television revenue is what made the NFL it is today. The romance of Brett Favre and Reggie White leading the Packers back to prominence would never have happened without revenue sharing in television, because without revenue sharing in television, the Green Bay Packers would have been out of business a long time ago.

2. I think the world began to see Sunday night (actually the world will have to take the newspapers' word for it Monday morning, because the game wasn't on national TV) what I saw in Latrobe, Pa., last Thursday: The Steelers are determined to make Antwaan Randle El a serious offensive threat beginning opening day. Sunday night, in Washington, Randle El ran a reverse 32 yards for a touchdown, then caught a 17-yard for another. As he told me last week about his switch from Indiana quarterback to NFL slot receiver and option threat: "Once I made up in my heart I would play wide receiver in the NFL, it was easy. I knew I could do it. Last year, I played receiver in our first game of the year, against North Carolina State. I liked it, but they put me back at quarterback because that's where they needed me most. So it's not like receiver is a foreign position to me. I was blessed with the talent to make a switch like this without having a big adjustment period." Charming kid. The NFL's going to love him. What electricity he showed on that reverse. How smart are the Steelers? Kordell Stewart, Hines Ward, now this kid. In today's NFL, you don't have to play by the book to win. Sometimes it helps to tear up the darned book and do it your own way, the way Bill Cowher's doing it.

3. I think I continue to be fascinated by New York Giants rookie linebacker prospect Wesly Mallard, from Oregon. Mallard. A Duck. Get it? And so I've been asking people on my various camp trips if they thought it odd that there was someone named Mallard, and that he's former Duck. And this week, it turns out, I found one coach who was similarly bemused and amused. I will leave his name out of it. But when his team was reviewing linebackers in its scouting meetings last spring before the draft, this was the coach's reaction when a scout began his spiel on Mallard: "Wait a minute," the coach said. "Mallard. The Oregon Ducks? You gotta be sh-----' me! That's unbelievable. That's great!" And the whole room dissolved into laughter. How great is that?

4. I think, by the way, that the Giants had better be careful with Jeremy Shockey. So far in three weeks of camp he suffered a big toe sprain and a sprained ankle. This is the future, Giants. Maybe there ought to be a preseason kid glove or two laid on the man.

5. I think these are my personal thoughts of the week:

a. I have a new favorite TV show: Curb Your Enthusiasm, on HBO. Maybe a dumber premise than Seinfeld had at the beginning (a show about nothing, Jerry said), with the creator of Seinfeld in quasi-real life bumbling around Beverly Hills. But it works, and it is stupidly funny. Give it a try.

b. What a beautiful place PNC Park in Pittsburgh is. There's not a new stadium that combines the view (the best downtown panorama in a pro sports venue) with the comfort and amenities and sight lines. There are about nine places you can sit and have a totally different view of the park and the city. Too bad, as my nephew Luke said last Thursday night as we watched the Buccos drop the fourth of a four-game series to the Cards, that the team's not as good as the park. How frustrating it must be for Brian Giles these days. If opponents pitched to him instead of around him, he'd be leading the league in home runs. What a beautiful swing he has.

c. I probably like Giles because I just traded for him for my rotisserie playoff run. I finished last in the Suburban Sluggers League last year, but I'm pulling a Patriots this season. I'm in first by 11.5 games this morning. Maybe the key was taking Eric Gagne and Mark Prior in the last four rounds this past March. Whatever, my pitching -- starters: Prior, Wade Miller (a recent sub for the traded Tom Glavine), Derek Lowe, Barry Zito; relievers: Octavio Dotel, Gagne, Kaz Sasaki -- is what will win it for me if I do win.

d. Department of Redundancy Dept.: We have this fairly new ESPN Radio station in the New York area. For the most part it's really good and informative. Two gripes: Endless, shameless self-promotion. Sickeningly endless. The other is, like the Atlanta Falcons' front office, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. On Saturday, I turned on the radio to find out the baseball scores. The station told me three times within seven and a half minutes how the Yankees were doing at Seattle. The first update came with a New York baseball report at 5:55 pm. The next came with an ESPN Radio SportsCenter at 6 o'clock. The next came when the New York-area SportsCenter came on at 6:02. Three times in seven-plus minutes I was told Bernie Williams' streak of 11 consecutive hits was over, one just as breathlessly as the other. My question: Does anyone at ESPN Radio listen to ESPN Radio?

e. I don't mean to be an ESPN nitpicker, but I do believe last week that morning radio host Mike Greenberg actually credited the Yankees' braintrust -- Brian Cashman and Gene Michael and Joe Torre -- for "fine-tuning" the Yankees into dominance. "It's finely tuned so well that it's putting the rest of baseball out of business," said Greenberg. Wow. That could well be the silliest baseball comment of the year. Cashman, Michael and Torre are very, very good baseball men. But let's see them take jobs with the Devil Rays and "fine-tune" Tampa Bay into dominance. Mike, when they've got $110 million less to spend than the Yankees, a team in their own division, the money's the thing, not three men who don't play the game. The only way we'll ever be able to figure out if those guys are truly great at their jobs is when they compete on the same playing field as the rest of baseball. The Yankees certainly do not now.

f. Coffeenerdness: I have much sympathy for the downtown Pittsburgh Starbucks barista who last Thursday morning was asked, quickly, for "a venti half-decaf extra-whip breve white mocha. In porcelain." Translation: In an extra-large mug, three shots of espresso, five pumps of white mocha concentrate, steamed half-and-half with extra whipped cream on top. Can you imagine the calories in that thing?

g. C.C. Sabathia, Aaron Gibson. Who weighs more? Couldn't tell you.

h. The Minnesota Twins have a bunch of guys who play with the verve and style of Jason Kidd. What a shame if they get jobbed out of the postseason.

6. I think I saw Paul Tagliabue politicking for a northeast Super Bowl, an outdoor Super Bowl, over the weekend, and I will repeat my objection: Why rush into an outdoor Super Bowl for 2007 when the Jets are likely to have a domed or retractable-roof stadium two or three years later? Why risk having people pay $400 (or whatever outrageous sum tickets will cost in 2007) to sit in a sleet storm? And why risk the biggest game of the season being decided in a sleet storm? We tend to get those in New York and Washington the last week of January, you know. I hope the sanest voice in the NFL, Dan Rooney, will get on his high horse -- he opposes the dumb idea, on the basis of weather -- and block this thing.

7. I think the more I hear about how great DeShaun Foster looks in training camp, the more I think I'll have to eat my words about the kid. I thought it was a bad idea to stake a team's rushing future on a career fumbler. That still might be true. But in random muggings at training camp, Foster has done a good job holding onto the ball. If he keeps it up, he'll likely beat out Lamar Smith for the Panthers running back job and be a big stud early. John Fox would much rather have have his offense in a ground-chuck style of game (offensive coordinator Dan Henning concurs), with the emphasis on ball-control, that letting it fly with Chris Weinke 40 times a game. Foster and Shockey might have a nice little race to the offensive rookie of the year award. Nice pick, Marty Hurney, getting Foster with the 34th overall choice last April.

8. I think, if you're a Steelers fan, you have five days left to experience the best, real-football training camp in the NFL. Get to Latrobe. It's just an hour east of Pittsburgh. It closes Friday. Bring the kids, or the nieces and nephews. My nephews went with me last week and had so much fun they went back the next day for more autographs and the Steeler Experience. Talk about accommodating players -- the Steelers probably are the most fan-friendly in the league. They don't have to be forced to sign for the kids. They might not want to do it, but they do it with pleasure and the realization that it's part of their obligation as players and stewards of the game. Charlie Batch is a gem on the autograph line, by the way. DeShea Townsend and Ward, too. Good guys.

9. I think I'd like to know which AFC East team is going to fall out of the playoff race. They all look good to me, even New England, just rounding into preseason form. When first units are on the field, the Bills can hold their own with anyone. Vinny Testaverde looked 26 the other night. The Patriots will be better defensively than last year. The Dolphins had better figure out this Ricky Williams quandary -- he's gained about 19 inches each time he's run with the ball this summer -- if they're going to have their annual 11-win season.

10. I think the Browns made a smart deal with Kevin Johnson. For a durable borderline-first receiver (he's really a two, it's just that no one until Quincy Morgan this year has had a real chance to jump up to be a legit No. 1 wideout), Johnson's worth $3.3 million a year. But no more. The Browns held the line, and Johnson realized in this depressed market he's not going to be able to go out after the season and make $4-million-plus somewhere. Good deal for both sides. And let me tell you, Butch Davis was worried about this thing being the distraction of the year, because Johnson was going to be an angry young man if it didn't get done.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Monday Morning Quarterback appears in this space -- no kidding -- on Monday mornings.

 

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