THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509100177
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: JIM DUCIBELLA
LENGTH: Long : 145 lines
The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council is steamed at Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson. Boiling mad, you could say.
Last week, the Washington, D.C.-based council fired off an angry letter to the new Seattle coach, grilling him for fining quarterback Rick Mirer, defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy and safety Eugene Robinson $1,000 each for splitting a hot dog on the sidelines during their final exhibition game.
To beef up their point that downing hot dogs is ``as natural as breathing,'' they shipped Erickson six pounds of franks and dared him to resist the temptation to go dog wild.
``The three players were acting on an instinctive American impulse: the impulse to eat hot dogs,'' wrote Janet Riley, the council's director of public affairs. ``The smell of hot dogs wafting on the field must have been irresistible after a long, hard game.''
The three players also received six-pound packages of franks from Riley, who wrote: ``You should get more than one hot dog for $1,000.''
Finally, Riley advised Erickson that instead of having a beef with the next group of players he catches engaged in an early postgame snack, he should simply ``ask for a bite.''
BEHIND THE HEADLINE: ``Cowboys owner bucks NFL again.'' That's what Jerry Jones put at the top of the press release announcing his seven-year deal with Nike last week. Here's why he did it, and the ramifications:
The NFL always has split most of its revenues among every team. Paul Much, a financial-valuation expert in Chicago, estimates that the league shares more than 90 percent of its total football revenue, compared with about 30 percent in the NBA, 20 percent in baseball and 10 percent in the NHL.
The vast majority of NFL revenue comes from national television rights and gate receipts, which together total some $2 billion a year. Each team gets about $65 million.
A smaller portion of total revenue comes from licensing agreements managed by NFL Properties, a division of the NFL that centrally negotiates sponsorship contracts for everything from credit cards to footwear, allocating the revenue to every team. Each franchise currently gets between $3 million and $4 million from NFL Properties annually, Much said.
So overall, revenue from football operations has been about equal for each team. That means owners could outspend each other only by dipping into their own pockets.
But the new Pepsi and Nike revenues are exempt from those partnerships because technically they are in conjunction with Texas Stadium, which Jones also owns. Pepsi and Nike will not be official sponsors of the NFL or of the Cowboys, although money from both deals can flow to the team via Jones.
HUDDLING WITH . . . New England Patriots coach Bill Parcells:
Your team plays the Miami Dolphins today. You say the first time you met Don Shula you were in awe, but the last time you met him, after a 23-3 loss last season, you were embarrassed.
That wasn't a loss, it was a mercy killing.
You rave about Shula's record as a coach and a forefather of the NFL.
Coaches have role models. If you're a coach and you aspire to be something, there are guys you look at who have accomplished something. He did a lot before I ever got into pro football.
Rookie Curtis Martin ran for 102 yards last week against Cleveland. Is he a one-game wonder or the answer to your backfield problems?
He's done everything he's been asked to do without deviation. I think he is not only capable but mentally geared and wanting to play. But this isn't going to be the Carnival Line Cruise for this kid the rest of the season. There are going to be some times when things don't go well for him. I say it facetiously about the one-game wonder, but what separates these good running backs from the Timmy Smiths of the world . . . is that these guys have been doing it for a long time.
ONE MAN'S PAIN IS ANOTHER MAN'S PAYCHECK: Cincinnati Bengals kicker Doug Pelfrey booted five field goals last week against Indianapolis, including the game-winning 47-yarder in overtime. The next day, Cincinnati general manager Mike Brown was in touch with Pelfrey's agent to discuss a new, long-term contract. This was not what the Bengals originally had in mind.
The Bengals had not wanted to sign Pelfrey, a restricted free agent after this season, to a long-term contract. But because of the knee injury to Ki-Jana Carter, the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, the running back will not reach performance bonuses for which Brown had allotted $3 million. With that money, Brown is attempting to extend existing contracts, including Pelfrey's.
``He's probably won more games for us than anybody over the last few years,'' Brown conceded.
All three Bengals' victories last season were the result of Pelfrey's field goals. The winning kick at Indianapolis gave the Bengals their first September victory since 1992.
CAN'T STAND THE HEAT? STAY OUT OF THE STEAK JOINT: Trainer Otho Davis issued an unpopular prescription for his Eagles last week: Keep away from beer and steaks in Arizona, where Philly and the Cardinals play today. Davis was simply trying to ensure that coach Ray Rhodes had enough players remaining to finish a game conducted in the blast-furnace conditions of the desert. Players with alcohol in their systems, he told them, risk dehydration in excessive heat, and the protein in steaks can overload kidneys that already will be working overtime.
``As soon as they step off that plane in Phoenix,'' Davis said, ``they're going to be walking into a pizza oven. Boom! It will slap them in the face.''
The temperature today is expected to approach 105 degrees.
BLUE DARTS: The joke making the rounds in Buffalo this week as former Bills backup-turned-Carolina starting quarterback Frank Reich returns to his old haunt is that during the Bills' glory days, the difference between Reich and starter Jim Kelly was that Reich believed in God; Kelly thought he was God. . have come against the Bengals - 28 yards last season, 49 yards on 19 rushes last week. . . . Go figure II: Ex-NBAer Magic Johnson followed Al Davis to Oakland and was seen cheering for the Raiders there. What gives, asks Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times. One minute Johnson is bringing jobs to south-central L.A. neighborhoods. The next, he's cheering for a business that stole them away. . . . Broncos QB John Elway's 300-yard game last week against Buffalo was the 25th of his career. His next TD pass will be his career 200th. Nov. 5 game against Green Bay are sold out. About 2,500 tickets remain for the Oct. 30 Monday night rematch with Chicago. Nearly 50,000 tickets remain for the other four games, against Houston, New Orleans, Cleveland and Tampa Bay. A bank and the local Fox TV affiliate combined about two hours before Thursday's noon deadline to buy the remaining 7,000 tickets for today's home opener against the Lions.
LIKE A FINE WINE: Wayne Fontes and Barry Sanders were rookies together back in 1989, a head coach and his first draft choice trying to rebuild the Detroit Lions.
Since then, Sanders has become one of the greatest runners of all time, and Fontes has become one of the most maligned coaches of his time. His job security seems to be in question almost as regularly as Sanders plays in the Pro Bowl.
If it weren't for Sanders, Fontes might have been fired long ago instead of getting a two-year contract extension after last season. So when Fontes said Sanders ``is nowhere near'' his level of a year ago, when he was voted Offensive Player of the Year, it was no surprise to hear dejection in Fontes' voice.
``I just hate to say it,'' he moaned. ``Barry Sanders is nowhere near what he was.''
Fontes, of course, was kidding.
``I think he's a lot better. Barry gets better with age. He's like wine.
``You get that bottle and you're sitting home by the fire. You get one of those cold Minnesota evenings, and you get that wine glass and that chilled wine and you open it and out comes that aroma. That's Barry.''
And that's what the Minnesota Vikings are most worried about as they prepare to play host to the Lions today in an important early-season matchup of NFC Central rivals.
Minnesota has done well against Sanders in six seasons, holding him under 100 yards in eight of 11 games. But the Vikings are taking nothing for granted.
``Everybody knows about Barry, it's no secret,'' Vikings safety Harlon Barnett said. ``Everybody has to understand where they're supposed to be.'' MEMO: Virginian-Pilot wire services contributed to this report.
by CNB