NFL: In L.A., T.J. Simers reviewed the '98 NFL season,
calling the league's play "wretched." Simers: "TV ratings
have fallen, and in some places there's no sign of life. ...
So why does this season feel flatter than any other? ... The
game is dreadful, of course, because there are so many
dreadful quarterbacks." Simers also wrote of oversaturation
on TV, calling the NFL TV blitz "numbing. ... As a result,
TV has made the game stale" (L.A. TIMES, 10/24)....Visa's
season-long campaign to try to find the "ultimate fan" for
each NFL team, with winners receiving a two-day trip to the
Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH, has yet to receive
an entry from a Cardinals or Eagles fan heading into the
final week of the contest (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 10/25).
NOTE: Sunday's N.Y. TIMES MAGAZINE profiled the Nike
Tour and followed 10-year Nike Tour vet Steve Haskins and
eight-year vet Jerry Foltz. The TIMES' David Noonan: "The
absence of big money on the Nike Tour has a definite appeal
to the weary sports fan. The tournaments have a relaxed,
low-key atmosphere that is in many ways more fun than the
high-powered PGA Tour" (N.Y. TIMES MAGAZINE, 10/25).
