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-----NFL Players Association chief counsel Richard Berthelsen had an interesting way of describing the progress in negotiations with the NFL Management Council over an extension of the collective bargaining agreement.
''It's like a relationship between a man and a woman," Berthelsen said. ''It's always either heading toward marriage or heading away from marriage. Right now, I'd say we're heading toward marriage. Slowly."
League and team executives with knowledge of the situation believe commissioner Paul Tagliabue desperately hopes to have the framework of an extension in place by the annual owners meetings in March because at 65, he is seriously considering calling it a career but doesn't feel his legacy will be intact until he has ensured another stretch of labor peace.
To end his time as commissioner of the most successful professional sports organization in America with the spectre of 2007 being an uncapped, chaotic year is not to Tagliabue's liking.
In a sense, he made his valedictory speech this week in Sports Illustrated, which ran a lengthy article on his life and times. But until a new contract with the union can be hammered out, he isn't going anywhere, which may be why the union has begun to see things as a walk down the aisle rather than a walk on the wild side.------
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2006/01/22/old_pro_advises_young_coach/?page=3
''It's like a relationship between a man and a woman," Berthelsen said. ''It's always either heading toward marriage or heading away from marriage. Right now, I'd say we're heading toward marriage. Slowly."
League and team executives with knowledge of the situation believe commissioner Paul Tagliabue desperately hopes to have the framework of an extension in place by the annual owners meetings in March because at 65, he is seriously considering calling it a career but doesn't feel his legacy will be intact until he has ensured another stretch of labor peace.
To end his time as commissioner of the most successful professional sports organization in America with the spectre of 2007 being an uncapped, chaotic year is not to Tagliabue's liking.
In a sense, he made his valedictory speech this week in Sports Illustrated, which ran a lengthy article on his life and times. But until a new contract with the union can be hammered out, he isn't going anywhere, which may be why the union has begun to see things as a walk down the aisle rather than a walk on the wild side.------
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2006/01/22/old_pro_advises_young_coach/?page=3