Bengals Struggle To Sign Top Pick; Giants Owners Profiled

Pollack Latest Bengals First-Rounder To Holdout

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, on the contract negotiations between the Bengals and first-round pick David Pollack: “Other than (QB) Carson Palmer, the Bengals have had a history of not getting their number one pick signed on time, and this is no different. Even though the money is really close, there’s just some provisions in the contract that the Bengals demand. There’s some things that would take away guaranteed money. ... Silly stuff. ... Everything’s at the Bengals’ discretion. (Pollack’s agent) Tom Condon is not going to buy something like that” (ESPN, 8/15). But Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said of the team’s first-round holdouts, “I don’t think you can say it’s a reputation. Reputation goes both ways. There’s a reputation on both sides. Fair is fair. We’re going to continue to learn. We have to turn whatever is perceived negative as a positive and we will” (BENGALS.com, 8/15).

SONS’ RISE: The AP’s David Porter writes that since NFL Giants co-Owner Robert Tisch was diagnosed with a brain tumor last summer, his son, Giants Exec VP Steve Tisch, and Giants Exec VP & COO John Mara, the son of co-Owner Wellington Mara, “have developed a working relationship, with the younger Tisch taking part in negotiations to build a stadium at the Meadowlands.” John Mara said that Steve Tisch has “brought a fresh approach to a team whose image is somewhere between conservative and stodgy.” Mara: “He’s been involved in a lot of negotiations in the movie business, so he knows how to deal with people. He has an easy manner, he’s likable. It helps when he’s in the room. People come away liking him and respecting him” (AP, 8/16).