When the Eagles open training camp next month they will
become the second NFL team to employ a new program called
Invest In Yourself (IIY) "to guide athletes through the
transition from player to private citizen," according to
Phil Sheridan of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. The team will
spend more than $500,000 to make IIY available to all their
players for one year (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 5/19).
IT'S A DAWG'S WORLD: The Browns are looking to create a
"gentler" "Dawg Pound" section this season. Browns
President Carmen Policy: "We don't want people showing up at
our games drunk. We want our Dawg Pound fans to dress like
a Dawg, bark like a Dawg -- just don't bite." The new Dawg
Pound will be a 10,000-seat endzone section where no PSLs
will be sold and all seats will cost $25 (AKRON BEACON
JOURNAL, 5/19). In Cleveland, Roger Brown notes the team's
effort to "change the rowdy image" of the Pound, but he adds
that "apparently the team isn't above making a killing off
that section's reputation," as the NFL has licensed an
official "Dawg Pound" logo, which could reap "millions."
Brown: "Carmen Policy says the team isn't sending a mixed
message by profiting off the Dawg Pound. I don't know about
that" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 5/19). Browns Owner Al
Lerner said he was "impressed" with the crowd at Monday's
Browns-Steelers Grudge Luncheon in Cleveland. But former
Browns OL Doug Dieken started up the rivalry by joking, "In
Cleveland, Lerner is the name of the owner. In Pittsburgh,
it's the answer to the question `Why did you send your
daughter to school'?" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 5/18).
IS RICKY'S CONTRACT FINE? In San Diego, Jerry Magee
examined Saints RB Ricky Williams' contract and wrote that
CA-based agent Jack Bechta "is not among those" who think
that the deal "will have a domino effect on the rewards for
other high draft selections." Bechta: "It's how all
contracts should be constructed. If you do well, you get
paid. And I give this guy [No Limit agent Leland Hardy]
credit for being one of the first to sign. It's easy to sit
back and get slotted." But Bechta said that Williams should
have received a bigger bonus, since he "is assuming most of
the risk" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 5/18). Hardy, on the
incentives in the contract: "They're what I call doing
nothing. Scoring 12 touchdowns, things like that. Those
are easy-money clauses" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 5/19).
