1. Does outgoing NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue really think he can bully Bryant Gumbel?

Here’s the scenario. Gumbel, one of the best sports TV journalists in the business, who does great work HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,” suggested on his latest show that Tagliabue show his successor “where he keeps Gene Upshaw’s leash.”

“Before he cleans out his office,” Gumbel said, “have Paul Tagliabue show you where he keeps Gene Upshaw’s leash. By making the docile head of the players union his personal pet, your predecessor has kept the peace without giving players the kind of guarantees other pros take for granted. Try to make sure no one competent ever replaces Upshaw on your watch.”

Gumbel was hired earlier this summer by the two-year-old NFL Network to do play-by-play on several late season games. But after Gumbel’s stinging remarks, Tagliabue isn’t so sure he wants Gumbel.
“Having looked at how other people have had buyer’s remorse when they took positions, I guess they suggest to me that maybe he’s having buyer’s remorse and they call into question his desire to do the job and to do it in a way that we in the NFL would expect it to be done,” the commissioner said.

Gumbel said when he took the NFL Network job as a side gig, it was with the understanding he wouldn’t be a mouthpiece for the network. Good for Gumbel. It’s nice to have so much money that you can throw a nice paying job opportunity away by standing up for your principles.

2. The Big Orange spin machine is in full rinse cycle.

When we last checked with the Vols, they self-reported a violation that said school trustee Karl Schledwitz originally said was about $2,000 to hear assistant coach Trooper Taylor speak to a private party at Schledwitz’s Memphis home. It’s taken a couple of weeks for everyone to get their story straight so UT could report it to the SEC, but the final report indicated that Schledwitz collected $3,000 cash from fans and some former athletes gathered at his house to give to Taylor for speaking at their barbecue dinner, according to documents released Monday.

That amount the university found to be too high and in violation of NCAA rules that do not permit outside sources from paying an athletic department staff member for an unspecified reason.

Schledwitz had mentioned the idea of inviting Taylor to his home to coach Phillip Fulmer in June, according to the documents. After Taylor spoke, Schledwitz announced he would be accepting donations for an honorarium for Taylor and said any donations would be completely voluntary, according to the self-report written by Brad Bertani, associate athletic director for compliance. Individuals interviewed for the report said there was no mention of any connection between the honorarium and recruiting.

What the report might have failed to mention, though, is that Taylor’s primary recruiting responsibility is the Memphis area. It looks suspicious when you throw a barbecue and ask for “donations” to give to the coach that recruits the very area in which he’s speaking.

3. Every sport needs to have a dynamic personality who wins over an extended period of time, and the NHRA is still lucky that after all these years that it has John Force, who won the O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals funny car title on Monday.

Force has always had a open-throttle personality, but he’s someone who acts like he never met a stranger. That’s why he’s always a fan favorite. It’s why he’s probably the most popular driver in NHRA today and will eventually leave a legacy as memorable as past greats “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, Snake Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein and Cha Cha Muldowney,