Lamar Hunt will be missed

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 12/20/2006

I have made a career out of covering Super Bowls. The man who created the term Super Bowl, Lamar Hunt, died last week at age 74.

Larry Fitzgerald with Lamar Hunt

I had gotten to know him very well over the years — he was a great man. Hunt owned the Kansas City Chiefs and founded the American Football League. He was one of the driving forces behind the merger between the NFL and the AFL. Hunt was the first AFL owner inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

 

The NFL game today would not be on the plane it is now on as the number-one game had it not been for the contributions and visions of Lamar Hunt. Last year, Hunt posed for the photo below with me and Er

 

Destroy the myth

 

How many times have you heard athletes referred to as dumb jocks? According to figures released recently, 63 percent of Division I student-athletes who entered college in 1999 graduated within six years, compared with 61 percent of students who did not play sports.

 

The graduation rate for football is 55 percent, and men’s basketball at 46 percent was up from 43 but remained lower than the national average. Also, male athletes graduate at a lower rate, 56 percent, than female athletes at 71 percent.

 

Black athletes’ graduation rates increased from 38 percent to 42 percent, which is
significant. The graduation rate for Black male students in general is 37 percent.

 

 

 

Fitz Notes & Quotes

 

The (6-8) Vikings, after losing at home to the New York Jets Sunday, play at (6-8) Green Bay Thursday on NFL Network. So far the Vikings are 0-3 vs. Division rivals Chicago and Green Bay .

 

Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre this year surpassed 3,000 yards passing for the 15th straight year, extending his NFL record. Favre is 15-0 at Lambeau Field in his career against Detroit .

 

The Lions are 2-11 this season and so far the only team in the NFC North that the Vikings have beaten. Since Matt Millen was hired as the Lions’ team president, they are a league-worst 23-71 since 2001.

 

Vikings Pro Bowl center Matt Birk was named the Vikings Community Man of the Year for the fifth straight year. He has developed into the community service leader of the team.

 

Vikings Defensive Backs Coach Joe Woods was arrested last week and charged with drunken driving. One thing you can say about the Vikings — they are consistent. Both players and coaches get arrested for drunken driving. Remember, wide receiver Koren Robinson was arrested in August for driving drunk.

 

The Cincinnati Bengals have really embarrassed the NFL this season. Last year it was the Vikings and the famous love boat cruise on Lake Minnetonka when three players were convicted of lewd conduct. The Bengals have set a dubious league-record — eight players on their team have been arrested this year.

 

LaVar Arrington, linebacker of the New York Giants, compared the NFL’s Players Association to the mob.” If you are educated, and pay attention to what is going on around you, they do a lot of foul stuff. It’s like organized crime, to be honest with you. They are that bad,” Arrington said.

 

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is the only quarterback in NFL history to rush for over 900 yards twice. Vick has run 990 yards for the 7-7 Falcons this season, breaking the 1972 record set by Bobby Douglas of the Chicago Bears. With two games to go, he will become the first quarterback in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards or more. He has two games in order to get 10 yards.  

 

The NFL has informed its teams that the salary cap will increase to $116 million in 2008, up from the $109 million cap for next year. The salary cap for this year has been $102 million. That represents 57 percent of the league’s revenues. The players’ cap will jump to 57.5 percent in 2008.