November 20, 2008
Agreement necessary, Mackey says
With NFL players and owners reaching an agreement in principle on a
collective bargaining agreement, Hall of Famer John Mackey wonders what took
them so long to realize that waging war is a losing proposition.
"They've got to find a way to live together in peace," said Mackey, who
played for the Baltimore Colts from 1963 to 1971 and finished his career in
1972 with the San Diego Chargers. "If they don't, football will disappear.
They've spent so much money to get to this point. They keep suing one another
and they settle nothing."
Mackey, in New York to accept the Ernie Davis Award honoring his old
Syracuse roommate, served as the first president of the NFL PlayersAssociation
and was the man who first brought free agency into the lexicon of
negotiations.
* PATRIOTS: The club placed quarterback Hugh Millen on injured reserve
after he aggravated a separated shoulder Sunday.
Maryland alum Scott Zolak is likely to start in his place.
* LIONS: Eric Andolsek's family has sued the trucker whose big rig ran
into the lineman's yard and killed him June 23.
Andolsek was working in his yard when the truck driven by James E. Bennett
went off Louisiana Highway 1 and hit him.
* 49ERS: Ralph Tamm, the deep snapper on special teams and a backup guard
and center, will start at right tackle Sunday.
Tamm, who last played tackle regularly in high school, replaces Harris
Barton, sidelined with a partially torn ligament in his left knee.
* OILERS: Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride underwent surgery in
Houston to remove a cancerous kidney.
Dr. Rick Goldfarb of Methodist Hospital's urology department said Gilbride
was in surgery about 2 1/2 hours and that the malignancy appeared to be
contained in the kidney.
Goldfarb told reporters Gilbride may be able to return to work in as soon
as three weeks.
* OBITUARY: Bill Shockley, 55, a place-kicker on the New York Titans in
1960, has died of cancer.
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Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun
