Opportunity for Tagliabue to Take Control

The issue of female sportswriters in the locker rooms of the National Football League was debated last week by everyone from Phil Donahue to Sam Donaldson.

Within the NFL, though, there is a much larger issue: Who’s going to run the league?

When Cincinnati Bengals Coach Sam Wyche barred Denise Tom of USA Today from his locker room Monday night and announced that he would close his locker room Sunday to all reporters after 20 minutes, he was blatantly defying league policy.

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who has had a reputation in his first year in office of not acting quickly or decisively, took a first step toward getting control of the league when he fined Wyche a game check -- a little less than $30,000 -- and informed him that he cannot close the locker room after 20 minutes Sunday.

That’s only a first step, though. Tagliabue has to make it clear to the players -- and some coaches -- the importance of media relations to the league.

Even the league admits that this has become a public relations nightmare.

“What has happened has given us a real bad black eye,” said Joe Browne, a league spokesman. “The good news is that anything that happens in the NFL is major news. But this is an embarrassment to this league and to the overwhelming majority of clubs.”

The league, though, has nobody to blame but itself for this problem. It has allowed its media relations to deterioriate in recent years.

When Jim McMahon blew his nose on a male reporter in San Diego last year, it was treated as a joke. In San Francisco, when the locker room is opened during the week, Joe Montana and several other high profile athletes are usually hiding and unavailable for interviews. Reporters finally asked if Montana could be made available one day during the week. Even that was denied. When reporters complained to the league, nothing was done about it.

The league created this atmosphere by letting the players think that they can do whatever they want. It was just a matter of time before things got out of control, and in New England, they finally went over the edge and sexually harassed Lisa Olson, a Boston Herald sportswriter.

As far as women in the locker room, that’s not an issue worth debating. Equal access is the law.

As far as banning both sexes from the locker room and having an interview room, it’s not feasible in many stadiums because they weren’t designed with interview rooms.

Even if they are available, the real story is in the locker room. Even some players and coaches understand that.

“It’s probably the best time to get the rush and feel the experience to help you guys write the story,” said Darryl Grant of the Washington Redskins. “After people have calmed down, the effect is not the same. I understand it from that standpoint.”

New York Jets Coach Bruce Coslet, who worked for Wyche in Cincinnati said, “The big point is you guys have to get your stories when emotions are hot, right after a game. That’s the best time to get the stories and I appreciate that.”

Ultimately, though, the league isn’t doing the reporters a favor by letting them into the locker room. It’s in the league’s best interests to have vivid stories about the games.

The real question now is whether the league can reverse the current trend and put more emphasis on media relations. It sends representatives to the clubs during training camp to talk about drugs and gambling. The league’s image is just as important but all it does is send the teams a 7 1/2-minute video on the subject.

One problem is that it is harder to get through to the players these days. In Pittsburgh, the team is having enough trouble getting the players to accept Joe Walton’s passing offense, much less be concerned about the media.

In taking action against Wyche Friday -- even though it should have been done three days earlier -- Tagliabue showed interest in correcting the problem.

It remains to be seen if the league is now going to start taking the problem seriously or just wait for the next disaster to happen.

Tagliabue has to show now if he plans to run the league or if he’s going to let the players and coaches be in charge.

It was overshadowed by Wyche’s banning of Tom, but one of the more heartwarming comeback stories of the year was played out in the Seattle Kingdome Monday night.

The Seattle Seahawks’ Derrick Fenner, the former North Carolina running back who spent 44 days in jail on murder charges in 1987 that were later dropped, but pleaded guilty to a drug charge and was put on probation, ran for 144 yards in 22 carries.

Fenner said that he considered suicide when he was in jail, but then he’d think about getting out and playing football again.

“I kept telling myself, ‘This is going to be a great story,”’ he said.

Yes, it was a great story. For about 24 hours.

The night after his big game in the Kingdome, he was in trouble again. Fenner, whose probation does not run expire until February, was accused of hitting and kicking a man in a restaurant parking lot.

No charges have been filed and the incident is still under police investigation, but it was another setback for Fenner. The Seahawks also had to pay between $1,300 and $1,400 to a rental car company last week that Fenner owed on two cars he leased last spring.

Fenner is back running well on the field, but he still has to work on his problems off the field.

When the Rams signed Marcus DuPree last week, that was the start of what could even be a better comeback than Fenner’s.

“It would be like ‘The Natural,’ wouldn’t it,” Coach John Robinson said.

DuPree is one of those mythical, what-might-have-been stories in pro football. He came out of high school in Philadelphia, Miss. -- yes the town of “Mississippi Burning” where the civil rights workers were killed -- touted as one of the sport’s greatest running backs. A book was written about the way he was recruited.

But his was the classic case of too much too soon. Even at Oklahoma, where Coach Barry Switzer wasn’t noted for enforcing any rules, he wasn’t happy. He left in his sophomore year, enrolled at Southern Missisippi and then jumped to the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League in 1984 and rushed for 681 yards on 145 carries.

Feb. 24, 1985, in the Breakers’ first game after they moved to Portland, Ore., he suffered what was thought to be a career-ending knee injury. Lloyd’s of London even paid out $4.3 million, its largest payout ever for an athlete. The club held the policy, and was bankrupt so DuPree wound up with only $450,000.

“When he was in college, he was O.J. Simpson, Bo Jackson, Eric Dickerson. That’s the caliber of kid he was,” said Dick Coury, who was the Breakers’ head coach and is now an assistant with the Rams.

Now he’s trying to make it back five years later.

“We were sitting down watching Super Bowls go by and I want to play in a Super Bowl,” DuPree said. “Plus, I have two little boys and they got excited when they watched Oklahoma videotapes. I want them to see their dad play.”

Of course, the Rams are taking a gamble and have no idea if he can still play. It’s hard enough to come back after a five-year layoff, much less after a serious knee injury five years ago.

“But you think ... what if?” Robinson said.

It’s an intriguing, ‘what if?’ ”

Ernie Accorsi, the executive vice president of the Cleveland Browns, and Stan White, the agent for Browns cornerback Frank Minnifield, have known each other for 18 years since White joined the Baltimore Colts as a linebacker in 1972 when Accorsi was in the team’s front office.

But Minnifield’s bitter holdout -- he signed last week but said he’s filing an antitrust suit against the league -- has strained their relationship.

White said that he hopes it improves “after the dust settles” and said that each man was just doing his job.

Accorsi declined to comment because White is threatening litigation, but said that he’d have a lot to say about White when the suit was over. From the tone of Accorsi’s voice, you get the idea what he’ll have to say about White won’t be too complimentary.

Minnifield lost almost $300,000 by turning down an offer from the Atlanta Falcons and signing after four games with the Browns. It remains to be seen if he makes it up in the lawsuit.

Stats to note: The unbeaten Raiders have tried only 70 passes, fewest in the league, but Jay Schroeder has thrown only one that was intercepted and has thrown 67 straight passes without an interception.

Randall Cunningham of the Philadelphia Eagles is already the third-leading rusher among quarterbacks with 2,662 yards. He trails only Fran Tarkenton (3,674) and Tobin Rote (3,128) on the all-time list. The main reason for the Eagles’ poor start is that they’re not coming up with turnoverrs. Last year, they led the league with plus-24 in that category. This year, they’re minus-four.

There’ll be a new statistic to watch this week: how teams coming off byes fare against teams that played last week. The Los Angeles Rams, who play the Bengals, and the San Francisco 49ers, who play the Houston Oilers, are in that category. The other two teams that had byes last week, Atlanta and New Orleans, play each other.

If the teams coming off a bye week start racking up a lot of wins, that could be a new handicapping factor.

Ron Meyer escaped the hot seat for a week when the Indianapolis Colts stunned the Eagles, but the man he beat, Buddy Ryan, and Bud Carson of the Browns replaced him as the two coaches who are in the most trouble. Jerry Burns of Minnesota is right behind. Ryan has a bye and Burns has a home game with Detroit, so they may get some breathing room, but Carson has a Monday night game in Denver. The Browns were busy denying reports last week that Carson could be on the way out, but if they get blown out in Denver, owner Art Modell could lose his patience.

When Modell hired Carson a year ago, he said it was his last coaching change. He may be having second thoughts.

There were four penalties called against offensive tackle Tony Mandarich of the Green Bay Packers, who was the second player taken in last year’s draft, last Sunday against the Detroit Lions.

Offensive line coach Charlie Davis said: “Is he a good pass blocker? No, he’s not. I’d be crazy to say that he was. Will he become a better pass blocker? Yes, I think he will.”

The Packers have to hope so.