Peter King: MMQB - 6/2/14

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Locker-Room Culture Change Starts Now
The NFL begins its three-week, 32-team journey to improve the workplace environment. Plus, celebrating 25 years at Sports Illustrated, an owner talks Los Angeles and London, commencement speeches and a travel note to beat 'em all
By Peter King

Read the entire article here.

Highlights:

The NFL starts its locker-room-culture initiative today in Atlanta—32 one-hour sessions in front of every NFL team by month’s end, continuing the league’s effort to Incognito-proof 32 locker rooms.
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Happy June, everyone. The first training-camp practices are seven weeks from this morning.
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Some memories of King's 25 years with SI.

One of the great things about the Sports Illustrated of a generation ago was access. A PR man in those days would actually value a writer for us more highly than an ESPN reporter or anchor. And so less than 48 hours after the biggest trade in NFL history—the 18-player/draft-pick Herschel Walker deal between Dallas and Minnesota—I’m in a car with Walker as he runs errands the day before his first game as a Vike. “I’m ashamed to be here, almost,” Walker said. “These other guys have earned their stripes and I’m almost sneaking in.” I was in the wrong place, even though Walker gained 148 yards the next day. I should have been in denuded Dallas. That trade gave Dallas pieces it needed to win three Super Bowls, even though it set them up for a 1-15 season.
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I loved the openness, the bawdiness, the intelligence of Jimmy Johnson. In training camp 1990, we dined one night and he told me what a living hell the 1-15 season was, and he detailed all the crap that went on all season. At one point Johnson realized how much he was saying and his glare bore a hole through me. “Peter,” he said. “If you f— me on this story, I will squash you like a squirrel in the road.” Another time, He opened a briefcase to get something out, and a canister of Paul Mitchell Freeze and Spray Shine hair spray fell onto the floor. “Oooops!” he said, laughing.
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In 1995, Mike Holmgren, the Green Bay head coach, let me spend a week inside the Packers. That was fun. Brett Favre farted in quarterback meetings a lot. What a memory he had. He’d be looking up at the ceiling, seemingly not paying attention, and QB coach Steve Mariucci would say, “Brett, what are you looking for with this protection?” Favre would just spit out, “Strongside ‘back. C’mon Mooch. Gimme something tough.” That’s the week Holmgren, playing a game against Minnesota for the division lead in three days, had to call two rookie running backs into his office and tell them they couldn’t have a pet lion. A couple hours later, one of them, Travis Jervey, told me if he couldn’t get a lion, well then, he’d like a tiger instead.
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Maddest a player ever got with me? Probably Kevin Gogan of the 49ers. I called him a journeyman in print in 1997, seeing as though he was on his third team in five years. When I showed up in their locker room a few weeks later, he confronted me and screamed, “JOURNEYMAN? JOURNEYMAN! JOURNEYMAN!!!!” At 6-7 and 320, I just stared at him as he towered over me and screamed. “Do you want to talk about it?’’ I said. He just kept screaming, “JOURNEYMAN!!!” Strange afternoon.
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Maddest a coach ever got? One time Bill Parcells told me we were through—he was coaching the Jets, and thought I told another writer something out of bounds—and that lasted about six or eight months. Now we talk a lot. I guess Bill Belichick got mad after some of my coverage of Spygate in 2007. I’m not sure, though. He hasn’t talked to me since.
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Best interview: Brett Favre edges Peyton Manning, Richard Sherman, John Randle and Jimmy Johnson. The memory of each man is startling, Favre and Manning especially. I’ll never forget what Favre told me about his post-football life. This was in 2000. I asked him where he’d be and what he’d do in retirement. “I’ll be down in Hattiesburg (Miss.). You’ll never find me. You know the ‘Where are they now?’ segments on ‘Inside the NFL?’ They’ll do one on me, but they’ll have to get Robert Stack, like on ‘Unsolved Mysteries.’ I’ll disappear.” Well, he’s in Hattiesburg. I can never get him on the phone anymore. He’s disappeared, except to coach the offense for the local high school football team.
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The graying of the league.

NFL ownership is aging. The transition in ownership on four teams have changed in the last eight months with the death of principal owners. And 13 other teams have principal owners over 70. The recent deaths:

Oct. 21: Tennessee owner Bud Adams, 90.
March 9: Detroit owner William Clay Ford, 88.
March 25: Buffalo owner Ralph Wilson, 95.
May 28: Tampa Bay owner Malcolm Glazer, 85.

And the aging: Virginia McCaskey (Chicago) 91, Alex Spanos (San Diego) 90, Tom Benson (New Orleans) 86, Dan Rooney (Pittsburgh) 81, Bill Bidwill (Arizona) 82, Mike Brown (Cincinnati) 78, Jerry Richardson (Carolina) 77, Bob McNair (Houston) 76, Stephen Ross (Miami) 74, Robert Kraft (New England) 73 on Thursday, Jerry Jones (Dallas) 71, Arthur Blank (Atlanta) 71 and Pat Bowlen (Denver) 70.

Of course, in many of the places where owners are aging, teams have strong family plans in place. Dean Spanos is a well-respected presence at league meetings for the Chargers, as is Art Rooney II for Pittsburgh, Katie Blackburn (Mike Brown’s daughter) for the Bengals, Michael Bidwill for the Cards, Jonathan Kraft for the Patriots and Stephen Jones for Dallas.

John Mara has emerged in a leadership position in the league now, and Clark Hunt too, after the deaths of their influential dads Wellington with the Giants and Lamar with the Chiefs. It’ll be interesting to see who’s next to take power in league circles as the graying of the league continues. I think Jonathan Kraft, Art Rooney II and Blackburn—all very smart, all well-respected in their ways—will be ones to watch over the next decade.
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“I call Twitter the microphone for morons.”

—Denver GM John Elway, at a NFL event, the career development symposium, Saturday at Penn’s Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia.
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“The NFL is a unique work place. There are no secrets anymore. Technology has taken over and secrets are exposed. People are going to know what you’re all about. You have to make sure you have real honesty in the work place or you’re going to be exposed.”

—Andy Reid, the Chiefs coach, at the symposium in Philadelphia.
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Every year, NFL officials are given points of emphasis for the new season. One of the big ones this year will be taunting. Not just the woofing or screaming in vanquished players’ faces; but excessive belittling language, and racially charged language too.

Amazing to me the numbers from last year on taunting. In 2012, officials threw nine penalty flags in 256 regular-season games for taunting. Last year, officials threw 34 flags for taunting, and there were another nine that the league officiating office would have deemed acceptable taunting calls.

So if there were nine taunting fouls in 2012, and if 43 such fouls could have been called in 2013, imagine what happens when officials are ultra-sensitive to make such calls in 2014. Either players will get see the quick trigger fingers the refs have and cut it out early this year, or there will be an epidemic of taunting calls this fall.
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I think there’s an incredible story out there, waiting to be written about Josh Freeman. It could be called: “How to ruin your football career in just 18 months.” In the span of the past year and a half, Freeman:

  • Threw for 4,065 yards at age 24 in 2012, appearing to be one of the best young quarterbacks in football for a young Tampa Bay team.
  • Had his work ethic questioned in Tampa, where he was mostly scarce on game-planning Tuesdays, a day very few if any starting NFL quarterbacks take off.
  • Was benched by coach Greg Schiano in Tampa.
  • Was cut by Tampa.
  • Was signed by Minnesota last October.
  • Completed 43 percent of his passes, a laughable figure, in seven games in 2013.
  • Lost his only start as a Viking, to the previously winless Giants.
  • Got cut loose by the Vikings after the season.
  • Got signed April 21 by the Giants, who planned to give him a chance to win the number two job behind Eli Manning.
  • Got cut by the Giants on Friday.
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  • I think Arizona GM Steve Keim (see Quotes of the Week) is justifiably fuming over the year-long suspension handed to Daryl Washington, the best player on his front seven. Look at the team with Washington and without him last year. With: 8-4. Without: 2-2. In his first game back after a four-game drug suspension to kick off the season, Washington sacked Cam Newton twice and intercepted him once, and the Cards blasted the Panthers. With both Washington and the departed Karlos Dansby (Cleveland, free-agency), the Cards have lost all their linebacker playmakers, and there’s no time or market to find spares.

  • In March, Keim essentially handed Washington a $10-million option bonus to trigger his contract for 2014. Now Keim has to feel altogether double-crossed, and it’s certain the team won’t allow Washington keep that money without a fight. Arizona also could move on from Washington, figuring a player the coaches cannot trust (suspended for 20 of 32 games over a two-year span) is worthless to them.
 

Stranger

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Perhaps the most significant and far reaching comment from MMQB....
“The NFL is a unique work place. There are no secrets anymore. Technology has taken over and secrets are exposed. People are going to know what you’re all about. You have to make sure you have real honesty in the work place or you’re going to be exposed.”

—Andy Reid, the Chiefs coach, at the symposium in Philadelphia.
The NFL is a microcosm for society as a whole.
 

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Perhaps the most significant and far reaching comment from MMQB....
The NFL is a microcosm for society as a whole.

It seems we're certainly heading in that direction. George Orwell's '1984' was off by 30 years.
 

Dodgersrf

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Great read.
I love the part where Bellicheat won't talk to King any longer after spygate.
 

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Great read.
I love the part where Bellicheat won't talk to King any longer after spygate.

I like Peter King, us Peters have to stick together, so the sulking by Belichick tends to work in his favor.
 

Thordaddy

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I like Peter King, us Peters have to stick together, so the sulking by Belichick tends to work in his favor.
I have a "peter" too and yes it gets sticky at times ,I like mine, and I like you ,and sometimes I like Peter King, but I don't care for some of his social commentary .
He's a good guy and his heart is in a pretty good place, but when his heart tries to tell me what I can and can't say,I'm OFFENDED,so FWIW I won't tell him he has to shut up or change what he's saying nor what words he uses if he will only render the same consideration.
One thing I think I think,it's time for a league that pumps athletes full of Toradol to give them the option of medical marijuana and quit suspending those who use it,they'll study the stuff for fifty more years before they come up with the number of side effects acne medication has and with much lower incidences.
 

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I like Peter King, but I don't care for some of his social commentary

King, and Mike Florio at PFT, at times use their massive sports platforms to spout about social issues. which is their prerogative, but ticks me off as well.
 

Thordaddy

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King, and Mike Florio at PFT, at times use their massive sports platforms to spout about social issues. which is their prerogative, but ticks me off as well.

Yup evabody thinks they have the answers but their answers usually involve further loss of personal freedom,as if it was something you didn't have to guard jealously..aw shit time for a Lorazepam.TD gettin' ready to climb all up ona soap box and pontificate
 

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Yup evabody thinks they have the answers but their answers usually involve further loss of personal freedom,as if it was something you didn't have to guard jealously..aw crap time for a Lorazepam.TD gettin' ready to climb all up ona soap box and pontificate

PM me and you can pontificate or rant and rave all you want. :)
 

Thordaddy

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PM me and you can pontificate or rant and rave all you want. :)
Yah but you won't argue with me ,and that's most of the fun,but it will save the $100/hr. therapist session this week:D
 

Boffo97

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I like Peter King, us Peters have to stick together, so the sulking by Belichick tends to work in his favor.
On a side note, if we get some Marys here, we can start putting the Peters, Pauls, and Marys together and get some music going.