FOOTBALL

TY STEWART, Vice President of Marketing, National Football League, September 3,2003
CZIKOWSKY: Please forgive me if this sounds critical, but it reminds me of when football was introduced into Europe. The fans reportedly told how much they loved the entertainment and the side shows connected to the game, yet they found the actual game dragged down the evening. Are people going to see football with entertainment as an extra, or entertainment with a football game thrown in?
STEWART: Everything that the NFL does is grounded in the game of football. However, today football is entertainment and we want to give fans a total experience as has been a longstanding tradition with the Super Bowl. Music is one avenue that can help enhance the game presentation.

JOE JACOBY, former Washington Redskins offensive lineman, January 8, 2004
CZIKOWSKY: In your assessment, where did Coach Spurrier go wrong, and wrong correct moves did he make even if the season did not go well?
JACOBY: Where did Spurrier do wrong? I think coming in assuming that professional athletes will be professional in the every day world coming in to practice. The team needs guidance, structure, and discipline. It doesn’t matter if you’re 12 or 32, there needs to be someone in charge. Now that’s been taken care of and hopefully these guys will understand that.

GENE WANG, Washington Post Staff Reporter, January 29, 2004
CZIKOWSKY: Football lasts four quarters (something Pennsylvania teams sometimes seem to forget). Which (Super Bowl) team do you believe is less likely to choke in the fourth quarter, and which team do you believe is more capable of organizing a come from behind rally in the fourth quarter?
WANG: Still a little bitter about your Eagles, are we? I don’t blame you. I was at the NFC title game, and boy were the Eagles fans bumming. As for Sunday, the Patriots are near impossible to beat once they get a lead because of their defense. The Panthers, however, have proven this season they know how to win close ones. Plus, they have the wide receivers, specifically Steve Smith, who are more capable of making the big play and getting points in a hurry.

MARK SCHOABACH, Washington Post Staff Writer, August 9, 2004
CZIKOWSKY: Who are some of the (Redskins) rookies who have impressed you?
SCHOBACH: Gari Scott at receiver has looked good. The two tackles—Mark Wilson from Cal and Jim Molinaro from Notre Dame—have looked pretty good on that No. 2 line. And they’ve gotten a lot of snaps because of injuries to Winey and Jones. Cooley looks like he’ll be pretty good. Good speed. Decent hands.

GENE WEINGARTEN, Washington Post Staff Writer, August 24, 2004
CZIKOWSKY: The University of Pennsylvania Quaker mascot could smash any other mascot. Honest. That pacifist has powers no one has even heard about.
WEINGARTEN: The whole notion of The Fightin’ Quakers really appeals to me.

MARK MASKE, Washington Post Staff Columnist, August 28, 2007
CZIKOWSKY: Hypothetical: Michael Vick wins work release and the indefinite suspension is over. Would any team dare hire him?
MASKE: That’s the big question. I don’t think we know the answer yet. To me, it all depends on how he acts and what he says once his every move and every word are no longer being scripted by his legal team. If he wins some measure of public forgiveness, then it’s entirely possibly that some team will feel two or three or four years from now that it can justify to its fans the signing of Vick.

JASON LA CANFORA, Washington Post Staff Writer, September 7, 2007
CZIKOWSKY: There is much debate over how much “spirit” or “team cohesiveness” or whatever one wishes to label it as, but: do the Redskins seem like a team that can excel as a team, or are they more apt (as we see with some teams) to be a collection of talented individuals, who seem to play more to make themselves look good rather than concentrating on the good of the team?
LA CANFORA: Chemistry develops over time and winning early has a whole lot to do with it, I can tell you that. I think the new guys generally will fit in pretty well, but certainly that was not the case last year and it had a lot to do with that lost season.
Wish I had the answers myself, but I’m not nearly smart enough to have it figured out.

CINDY BOREN , Washington Post NFL Editor, January 24, 2008
CZIKOWSKY: The psychological pressure is all on the Patriots not to blow their undefeated season. The Giants, who showed they are capable of challenging the Patriots, have little to lose. Is this grounds for a Giants upset?
BOREN: I have decided to pick the Giants, because no one else is. Yes, it is a pity pick. Your analysis has a great deal of validity; my intellectual argument is you cannot pick against Brady/Belichink in a battle of wits and with two weeks to prepared. Still, I am. Pity pick.

KEVIN MOHS, Animal Planet Production Vice President, February 1, 2008
CZIKOWSKY: Are there any surprises about this year’s Puppy Bowl that you are allowed to leak to us?
MOHS: Well, a touchdown is scored pretty early in the game, but I can’t revel much more than that. You’ll have to tune in to find out who scored and who will selected as the Most Valuable Pup.

MARK BOWDEN, author, June 10, 2008
CZIKOWSKY: Did you start writing this book (“The Best Game Ever”) before the most recent Super Bowl? I know people tend to think more recent events are of greater importance because they relate more to them, but where would you place the Giants beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl among the list of great games?
BOWDEN: I think it was the best Super Bowl ever. The 1958 NFL Championship game remains, however, the ONLY championship (or Super Bowl) to go into overtime, and is without a doubt a far more significant game in the history of football. I started writing the book in 2006.

STEPHEN FATSIS, author, July 10, 2008
CZIKOWSKY: Have you read “Paper Lion” by George Plimpton and, if so, what are your thoughts of Plimpton’s observations on attempting to make the NFL and NFL culture back then?
FATSIS: “Paper Lion” was an absolute influence on me—as it is on many writers of a certain age. Plimpton wasn’t the first to do participatory sports journalism—a reporter named Paul Gallico did in the 1920s—but he is certainly the most responsible for turning into a widely regarded genre.
When I had the idea to try to join a team, the impetus was, absolutely, “it’s time to do a modern “Paper Lion””. I don’t shy away from that fact at all in the book (“A Few Seconds of Fame”). I think every writer who has ever joined a sport or a subculture owes a debt to Plimpton. But my intent wasn’t to do a mere copycat book. The business of the NFL has changed so much since 1963, when Plimpton went to Detroit Lions camp as a quarterback, and the job of the athlete had changed so much, too, that I knew my story would be remarkably different.
The cultures are in a lot of ways unrecognizable. Plimpton really focused on the then-mysterious locker room hijinks and the myths and legends of the sport—he’s a great storyteller. And the X’s and O’s of the game were revealing at the time. Today, the 24/7 media has revealed a lot of that. What I wanted to do was get to the core of what it means to be an NFL player—what did the players love about the game and the business, what did they hate about that. The members of the 2006 Denver Broncos really opened up to me in ways we don’t read in the mainstream media, in ways I think that will be revealing to readers.
CZIKOWSKY: Do you think the second most populous city in the country, indeed the most populated county in this country, will get an NFL team?
FATSIS: I think L.A. will get a team when the league decides that the economics imperatives dictate placing a team there. Not being in L.A. hasn’t hurt the NFL’s television deals, and money talks. The league can hold L.A. in its back pocket for when it needs L.A.—either because another franchise is in serious financial trouble or when expansion becomes desirable. But it’s a complicated issue—greater L.A. hasn’t found the winning answer on getting a new stadium built, which is the prerequisite, of course, in today’s pro sports world.
CZIKOWSKY: What was your kicking experience before you tried getting an NFL team to look at year? Did you play soccer or kick football in high school of college, if not a team than on amateur playing fields? How long did it take to practice with a coach until you were ready to try to make a team? In short, if Joe Sixpack stopped watching TV and practiced and trained really hard, could some non-players transpose themselves into professional athletes?
FATSIS: I had not football experience beyond messing around with friends as a kid. The only organized football I played was the touch football team in elementary school. I did, however, play soccer in high school, though not in college. I wasn’t good enough to play at my Division I school. And I played indoor soccer in NYC in my 30’s—until my second torn ACL.
Yes, I decided to try to become an NFL placekicker after two ACL surgeries. I write in the book about visiting my orthopedic surgeon before heading to Denver. He told me that my left ACL was shot—frayed—but that I’d probably make it through camp because kicking a football is a unidirectional movement—no cutting.
I worked with a professional trained here in DC for a year—a guy named Steve Kostorowski, who’s worked with Wizards, Capitals, and other athletes. I gained a dozen pounds of muscle. And I spent about four sold months working with a kicking coach, the great Paul Woodside of Alexandria, Va., a great college kicker at West Virginia in the 80s who tried and failed to make it in the NFL.
CZIKOWSKY: OK, so maybe kicking isn’t your destiny. How is your pitching?
FATSIS: Maybe in my next book.
Nah, Plimpton already did it.

GEORGE SOLOMON, Washington Post columnist, August 1, 2008
CZIKOWSKY: Do you remember when you first met Darrell Green and when you first met Art Monk, and what your first impressions of them were?
SOLOMON: I met Darreell Green at a boxing match; he moved around a lot in the community. Did not hide, as some athletes do.
I met Monk after one of his earlier Redskins’ home games; and at a charity event the same season.
Both are classy, first-rate individuals.

CINDY BOREN, Washington Post NFL Editor, September 8, 2008
CZIKOWSKY: What can you tell us about the Patriots backup quarterbacks?
BOREN: That they do a damn fine job of holding a clipboard—they are all-Pro. If you’re really smart, that’s what you do. You can make a boatload of money doing it and keep your health. Matt Cassel said he hasn’t started a game since high school. He’s so smart, he watched Carson Palmer and Matt Leinert take all the lumps while he enjoyed himself amid the palm trees at USC. He threw something like 33 passes ad I believe he may have had a poster of Todd Collisno n the wall of his dorm room.

JAMES BROWN, CBS football shows host, October 9, 2008
CZIKOWSKY: How did you make the leap from the business world to broadcasting basketball and then football? How did you get hired for your initial broadcasting jobs? I am glad they found you and all the best on your future work.
BROWN: Wow! How thankful I am. You can’t see me, but I’m blushing. Believe it or not there’s a lot of similarities between the business world and sports broadcasting---especially as related to interviewing. On sales calls, in essence I was “interviewing” a potential customer to get to know more about the, and their needs, clearly it’s the same process for interviewing athlete and coaches.
My first broadcasting efforts were as a freelancer for the Washington Bullets. Then I did Black college sports for BET, local television, and then ultimately came to the attention of CBS while doing some syndicated college basketball games. I was asked to be football play-by-play for them, and survived my first broadcast and major fumble when I said a player was tackled at the 60 yard line and looked at the (incorrect) stadium clock and said “we’ll be right back after this commercial break with 8 minutes and 99 seconds to play.” I’m very glad not to have been fired then.
CZIKOWSKY: Is there, or should there be, anything the NFL can do to better prepare NFL athletes for life outside of pro football, such as money management, behavioral difficulties, and counseling on coping with life after one’s playing days are over?
BROWN: An excellent question. Both the NFO and the NFL Players Association, for at least the past several years, have been doing just that. For instance, the league sponsors a boot0camp that I have been blessed to host for the past two years at NFL Films Studios in Mount Laurel, N.J. where select players are exposed to the full range of career opportunities in the media---television, radio, Internet, and print. It also sponsors an entrepreneur’s program where select players go through intensive entrepreneurial training at prestigious business school like Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, University of Chicago, etc. I’m happy to say that a number of players are taking advantage of that program, and I’m very impressed with how forward-thinking and diligent these players are.