Brett Favre has earned the right to write his own ending

Brett Favre has earned the right to write his own ending
He's getting a lot of advice after less-than-stellar finish to his season with the Jets, but the gritty, grim quarterback deserves NFL's respect and admiration.

The multi-award winning "All Pro Sports Football Series" ... featuring Brett Favre, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Reggie White and seven other outstanding NFL players and Coach Don Shula ... is available at http://www.allprosportsfootball.com and 1 888 79 FOOTBALL ...

the most innovative football ... see http://www.allprosportsfootball.com ... , basketball and automobile racing series ever produced for home entertainment featuring: eleven of the greatest NFL football players and the most successful coach in NFL history; five of the greatest NBA basketball players and one of the most successful coaches in NBA history; and six internationally recognized automobile racing champions ... . sharing their life stories and demonstrating their skills in a very entertaining setting of upbeat music, three dimensional digital graphics and NFL Films action footage

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-erskine15-2009jan15,0,2017690.column
From the Los Angeles Times
CHRIS ERSKINE / FAN OF THE HOUSE
Brett Favre has earned the right to write his own ending
He's getting a lot of advice after less-than-stellar finish to his season with the Jets, but the gritty, grim quarterback deserves NFL's respect and admiration.
Chris Erskine

January 15, 2009

I have been, for many years now, a connoisseur of great endings. Ice Bowls, Kirk Gibson home runs, and Dorothy discovering it was all only a dream. I'm a sucker for such stuff. But what are the alternatives? Cynicism, then death? I've been in California too long for that to happen. I prefer unbridled optimism and the sunshine with which to find it.

Which brings us to the happy-or-sad saga of Brett Lorenzo Favre, a quarterback of some distinction who last year left the Great White North for the friendly confines of New York City, where the munchkins are now hovering all around him, offering their sage, munchkinly advice. Just insane, isn't it?

You've got that snot-bubble Thomas Jones calling him out after the Jets' collapse down the stretch. Apparently Jones, a middling running back who had his first Pro Bowl year with Favre at the helm, is too stoned on his own wonderfulness to remember the Jets' going 4-12 last season.

Before Favre arrived, the Jets were the French Foreign Legion of football, an outpost, a place of misfits and crushed souls. Under Favre, they started out an amazing 8-3, till someone banged up his right wing, after which Favre couldn't throw a gum wrapper out a car window without Brandon Flowers picking it off.

Admittedly, it was a not-so-great ending to what looked like a fairy-tale year. But I guess that's New York for you. Only Amy Adams and Meg Ryan find happy endings in the concrete apple. For the rest of us, there is only disappointment and midwinter slush.

Thing is, Brett Favre is a national treasure, ask almost anybody. Forget the recent interceptions for a moment and think about whom you'd rather watch. Brett Favre or Jake Delhomme? Brett Favre or Joe Flacco? Kyle Orton? The estimable Kellen Clemens (Favre's backup)?

No, I'm guessing most fans would prefer to turn on the tube to find No. 4 performing on a wintry day, when the dark sky makes it look as if the world is about to collapse -- conditions are muddy, war-like, and there is the very real possibility that you might witness the greatest ending ever. For all his wear and tear, you still get that feeling with Favre, that you might see something just extraordinary.

Because the NFL, at its very best, isn't computer graphics and referees studying replays, in those weird hooded cubicles (like priests). The real NFL is the gritty, grim and whiskered visage of Favre squinting at the strong safety, playing poker in the snow. That's magic. That's football. That's the kind of moment that has made No. 4 the most popular player of the modern era.

With all its technology, the NFL should be trying to figure out how to copy and paste Favre across the league, not ways to drive him out.

As I often do to get through a day, I have been making lists -- shave, get dressed, breathe deep, that sort of thing. In this case, I'm making lists for Favre. Does he stay or go? Pro and cons. Pluses and minuses. It's almost impossible not to have a little fun.

Reasons for Favre to retire

* Keeps falling asleep in huddles.

* During coin flip, refs offer him an AARP discount.

* CBS planning new show: "CSI: Brett Favre."

Reasons for Favre not to retire

* A little gut looks good on a quarterback.

* There are still 29 teams he hasn't played for.

* Even in wheelchair, can always beat Chicago.

Meanwhile, down deep in the swamps, where the best quarterbacks seem to emerge from the ooze, they're getting ready to appoint Favre's air apparent. Tim Tebow -- rhymes with TiVo -- is Florida's rhapsody in blue and orange. By the time he's done next season, Tebow may be the first collegiate player to win both the Heisman and the Nobel Prize. A little too good to be true, Tebow is, but if I have to choose between him and Pacman . . . well, you know.

Yet, for all his considerable gifts, I get the nagging feeling that the young Gator might be the next Bobby Douglass, a big southpaw who's neither a true thrower nor runner, the kind of hybrid who always puzzles the pro game's offensive geniuses. Hope I'm wrong, which has happened (check preceding paragraph). Honestly, I hope Tebow reinvents the game.

Till that happens, I'm praying to get another 100,000 miles out of Favre, a quarterback with more arm and a herculean heart. (Talk about dream matchups, how about Favre against Tebow? In the snow, of course.)

See, Favre loves football the way I love raindrops on roses and meatballs on toothpicks. This retirement of his is a complicated saga, deeply personal and compounded by the fact that even when he goes, he sometimes ends up staying. There is something marvelous and vaguely Shakespearean in his grinding passions for our national game.

Hamlet in chin-strap . . . refusing to ever take a knee.

chris.erskine@latimes.com

Erskine's Fan of the House column will appear Thursdays in Sports. His Man of the House column appears Saturdays in the Home section.

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Chuck Daly dies at 78; basketball coach led Pistons, Olympic team

Chuck Daly dies at 78; basketball coach led Pistons, Olympic team
The Hall of Fame coach whipped Detroit's Bad Boys into shape to win back-to-back NBA titles. In 1992, he led the Dream Team to Olympic gold.

the most innovative football ... see http://www.allprosportsfootball.com ... , basketball and automobile racing series ever produced for home entertainment featuring: eleven of the greatest NFL football players and the most successful coach in NFL history; five of the greatest NBA basketball players and one of the most successful coaches in NBA history; and six internationally recognized automobile racing champions ... . sharing their life stories and demonstrating their skills in a very entertaining setting of upbeat music, three dimensional digital graphics and NFL Films action footage

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-chuck-daly10-2009may10,0,3911604.story
From the Los Angeles Times

Chuck Daly dies at 78; basketball coach led Pistons, Olympic team
The Hall of Fame coach whipped Detroit's Bad Boys into shape to win back-to-back NBA titles. In 1992, he led the Dream Team to Olympic gold.

By Mark Heisler

May 10, 2009

Chuck Daly, the Hall of Fame basketball coach who led the Detroit Pistons to back-to-back NBA titles and the U.S. Dream Team to an Olympic gold medal, died Saturday in Jupiter, Fla. He was 78.

Retired since 1999, Daly was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two months ago. In his honor, NBA coaches have worn "CD" pins during the postseason.

"Chuck did much more than coach basketball games," NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement. "He positively impacted everyone he met, both personally and professionally, and his love of people and the game of basketball helped develop the next generation of coaches."

Born in 1930 in St. Marys, Pa., Daly was a Depression baby, literally and figuratively, who used to tell a young Doug Collins, "I don't trust happiness."

Collins, who would consider Daly a mentor throughout his career as an NBA player and coach, jokingly called him "the prince of pessimism."

Daly's rise was as improbable as that of his Pistons, a widely hated team that reveled in its nickname, the Bad Boys, as it unseated Larry Bird's Celtics and Magic Johnson's Lakers.

Daly attended Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and served two years in the Army, then joined Jack Ramsay as the only two coaches to win an NBA title after starting at the high school level. He began humbly, if colorfully, at Punxsutawney High School, in a town best known for its groundhog, where he spent eight years teaching English and speech as well as coaching the golf and basketball teams.

In 1963, dazzled by his first trip to an NCAA Final Four game, where he bought a ticket from a scalper and sat in the last row, Daly wrote a blind letter to Duke University Coach Vic Bubas, whose Blue Devils had lost in the semifinals, applying for an assistant's job.

Hitting the lottery, Daly got the job, joining a three-man staff with Hubie Brown, who would also go on to become a Hall of Fame coach in the pros, winning an American Basketball Assn. title with the Kentucky Colonels.

Daly spent two years as head coach at Boston College and six at the University of Pennsylvania before coming to the NBA as a 48-year-old assistant under Billy Cunningham, who had just been hired as coach of the Philadelphia 76ers.

In 1981, Daly took the head coaching job in Cleveland under madcap owner Ted Stepien, who fired him after 41 games.

In 1983, Daly went to the Pistons, who had been through five coaches in six seasons with a high-scoring circus led by Isiah Thomas, Kelly Tripucka and Vinnie Johnson.

Introducing a new notion -- defense -- Daly turned them around, although it wasn't always smooth. It took an intervention by Thomas, the owner's favorite, to keep Daly from being fired in his fourth season.

Making up in competitiveness what they lacked in athleticism, the Pistons played defense by whatever means necessary.

Today's NBA controversy about flagrant fouls and suspensions stems from moves by Stern that began in the early '90s to protect stars, particularly Chicago's Michael Jordan, from being physically assaulted by the Bad Boys, who targeted him in a scheme Daly called the Jordan Rules.

Aside from Daly's toughness, perseverance and charm -- he had big hair, a big personality and favored expensive three-piece suits -- he was a shrewd realist.

Brendan Suhr, who arrived in Detroit as a young assistant from college where coaches rule, recalled seeing Thomas mess up over and over and asking Daly why he didn't take him out.

"He's our guy," Suhr says Daly told him, "and tomorrow, he'll still be our guy."

The Pistons, who had never won a title, broke through in 1989, sweeping the Lakers. A year later, Detroit beat the Portland Trail Blazers to become only the third team to repeat since the Bill Russell Celtics of the 1960s.

With the Bad Boys aging or gone, Daly left Detroit in 1992, subsequently coaching two-year stints with the New Jersey Nets and Orlando Magic.

His greatest honor, however, may have come with the U.S. Olympic team in 1992, the first one made up of NBA players.

The process was thorny, with Jordan reportedly dead-set against inviting Thomas, Daly's star, who was left off the team. Confident that Daly could soothe any personality conflicts that might arise, U.S. Olympic officials named him coach.

Retired since 1999, Daly lived with his wife, Terry, in Jupiter, Fla., golfing daily. The Pistons in 1997 retired a No. 2 jersey in honor of Daly's two titles.

Rick Mahorn, one of the baddest of the Bad Boys, said of Daly: "Without you, there wouldn't be us."

In addition to his wife, Daly is survived by a daughter, Cydney, and two grandchildren.

mark.heisler@latimes.com


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Brett Favre could be considering another comeback

Brett Favre could be considering another comeback
The multi-award winning "All Pro Sports Football Series" ... featuring Brett Favre, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Reggie White and seven other outstanding NFL players and Coach Don Shula ... is available at http://www.allprosportsfootball.com and 1 888 79 FOOTBALL ...

the most innovative football ... see http://www.allprosportsfootball.com ... , basketball and automobile racing series ever produced for home entertainment featuring: eleven of the greatest NFL football players and the most successful coach in NFL history; five of the greatest NBA basketball players and one of the most successful coaches in NBA history; and six internationally recognized automobile racing champions ... . sharing their life stories and demonstrating their skills in a very entertaining setting of upbeat music, three dimensional digital graphics and NFL Films action footage


http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-newswire6-2009may06,0,3680314.story
From the Los Angeles Times
NEWSWIRE
Brett Favre could be considering another comeback
ESPN reports the quarterback will meet with Minnesota Vikings Coach Brad Childress later this week.
Staff And Wire Reports

May 6, 2009

Could Brett Favre wind up in purple after all? The quarterback could be mulling another unretirement, this time with the Minnesota Vikings, a nightmare scenario for fans of the Green Bay Packers.

ESPN, citing an unnamed source familiar with the situation, reported Tuesday that Favre and Vikings Coach Brad Childress are planning to meet later this week at an undisclosed location to discuss another comeback. The New York Jets cleared the way for that by granting Favre his release after drafting USC's Mark Sanchez.

Minnesota offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell is Green Bay's former quarterbacks coach, and the Vikings' playbook is very similar to that of the Packers.

Minnesota's quarterbacks are Sage Rosenfels, Tarvaris Jackson and former USC starter John David Booty.










 

Brett Favres retires -- again

Brett Favres retires -- again
The record-setting quarterback informs the Jets that he is done after playing one season in New York.

The multi-award winning "All Pro Sports Football Series" ... featuring Brett Favre, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Reggie White and seven other outstanding NFL players and Coach Don Shula ... is available at http://www.allprosportsfootball.com and 1 888 79 FOOTBALL ...

the most innovative football ... see http://www.allprosportsfootball.com ... , basketball and automobile racing series ever produced for home entertainment featuring: eleven of the greatest NFL football players and the most successful coach in NFL history; five of the greatest NBA basketball players and one of the most successful coaches in NBA history; and six internationally recognized automobile racing champions ... . sharing their life stories and demonstrating their skills in a very entertaining setting of upbeat music, three dimensional digital graphics and NFL Films action footage

http://www.latimes.com/sports/football/nfl/la-sp-favre12-2009feb12,0,6361705.story
From the Los Angeles Times
Brett Favres retires -- again
The record-setting quarterback informs the Jets that he is done after playing one season in New York.
From the Associated Press

February 12, 2009

NEW YORK -- Brett Favre is done slinging passes with his rocket right arm -- maybe for good.

The 39-year-old quarterback told the New York Jets today that he was retiring after 18 seasons, ending a record-setting career in which he became one of the NFL's all-time greats.

"We had an all-encompassing conversation," owner Woody Johnson said of his discussion with Favre. "He told me at that point that he had made his decision to retire and thanked everybody and talked about what a great experience he had with the New York Jets."

Favre's decision came six weeks after his only season with the Jets ended in disappointment as New York failed to make the playoffs. In an e-mail to ESPN, Favre said he has no regrets about finishing his career in New York and praised Johnson, general manager Mike Tannenbaum and fired coach Eric Mangini.

"My time with the Jets was short, but I'm honored to be given that chance," Favre wrote in the e-mail.

If this is indeed it for Favre, he leaves the game with a slew of records, including career touchdown passes (464), completions (5,720), yards passing (65,127), regular-season victories (169) and interceptions (310).

Favre tearfully retired last March then changed his mind, prompting a bitter divorce with Green Bay. He was traded to the Jets in August and was a Pro Bowl selection despite an overwhelmingly disappointing season that cost Mangini his job.

"With Brett, there was always the possibility that he wouldn't play the second year," Johnson said. "We were hoping to get one good year out of Brett Favre. We picked him based on, in our opinion, his giving us the best chance to win last season. We were disappointed not to have made the Super Bowl, but we did some very good things with Brett."

And the team doesn't expect Favre to change his mind.

"He did not ask to be released," Tannenbaum said. "Everything he said was, he is done playing football. We have our plan according to that, and we're going to move forward."

When asked if the door might be open to Favre if he again decides to come back, Tannenbaum said he wanted to stay away from hypotheticals.

"He felt he had given us everything he had, and it was time for him to move on," Tannenbaum said Favre told him.

Running back Thomas Jones and safety Kerry Rhodes were critical after the season of Favre and his performance. The Jets went from 8-3 to missing the playoffs. Favre threw nine interceptions as the Jets went 1-4 down the stretch, and a torn right biceps might have contributed.

Still, Favre had nothing but positive things to say about his Jets experience.

"Mike and Woody, as well as the entire organization, have been nothing short of outstanding," Favre said in the e-mail. "My teammates -- Thomas (Jones) and Kerry (Rhodes) included -- were a pleasure to play with. Eric could not have been any better. I enjoyed playing for him."

As did All-Pro kick returner-running back Leon Washington.

"The longevity of his career and his love for the game is truly inspiring," Washington said. "I'm privileged to have played with not only a Hall of Fame QB, but also a great role model."

New York hired former Baltimore defensive coordinator Rex Ryan to replace Mangini, and he, along with Johnson and Tannenbaum, repeatedly said they wanted Favre to return. Instead, Favre spent several weeks after the season at his home in Kiln, Miss., away from football before deciding to retire -- again.

New York now will move forward with a new quarterback, whether that will be Kellen Clemens, Brett Ratliff, Erik Ainge or perhaps a veteran free agent such as Jeff Garcia, Kerry Collins, Byron Leftwich or Rex Grossman.

"We've got three quarterbacks on the roster, and I think we feel pretty good that in a competition among those guys, we'll end up with a pretty good quarterback," Johnson said.

Favre had two years left on his contract and was due $13 million for next season, clearing a chunk of salary cap space for the Jets.

"It was an honor to coach against Brett over the years," Ryan said in a statement. "If he's not the best quarterback ever, then he's certainly in the conversation. I have great admiration for him as a player and a person. I wish him only the best in his life after football."

The three-time NFL MVP holds the mark among quarterbacks with 291 consecutive starts, including the playoffs, despite playing through several injuries throughout his career.

"It was a great honor to play with Brett," wide receiver Chansi Stuckey told The Associated Press. "He had an illustrious career, and I want to thank him for giving the Jets the opportunity to play with him."

After the Jets' season-ending 24-17 loss to Miami, Favre said he felt discomfort in his arm "for quite a while." It turned out to be a torn biceps tendon that didn't require surgery.

It wasn't all bad with the Jets for Favre, who showed a few glimpses of greatness -- as well as great zip on his passes -- early on. He threw a career-high six touchdown passes, tying Joe Namath's team record, in a 56-35 victory over Arizona in Week 4. Favre also helped rejuvenate the franchise, drawing thousands of fans to training camp practices.

He finished with 3,472 yards passing and 22 touchdowns, but the 22 interceptions were his most in three seasons.

Favre was drafted by Atlanta in the second round of the 1991 draft but was traded after the season to Green Bay for a first-round pick. In the third game of the 1992 season, Favre stepped in for an injured Don Majkowski. He started the following week against Pittsburgh, beginning a streak that was still intact when he first retired.

During his 16 seasons with Green Bay, he helped lead the Packers to consecutive Super Bowls, including a victory over New England in 1997.

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Tennessee gets first loss; Jets' Brett Favre shines

Tennessee gets first loss; Jets' Brett Favre shines
The New York Jets quarterback throws two touchdown passes as the Titans' regular-season winning streak ends at 13 games.

The multi-award winning "All Pro Sports Football Series" ... featuring Brett Favre, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Reggie White and seven other outstanding NFL players and Coach Don Shula ... is available at http://www.allprosportsfootball.com and 1 888 79 FOOTBALL ...

the most innovative football ... see http://www.allprosportsfootball.com ... , basketball and automobile racing series ever produced for home entertainment featuring: eleven of the greatest NFL football players and the most successful coach in NFL history; five of the greatest NBA basketball players and one of the most successful coaches in NBA history; and six internationally recognized automobile racing champions ... . sharing their life stories and demonstrating their skills in a very entertaining setting of upbeat music, three dimensional digital graphics and action foot

http://www.latimes.com/sports/football/nfl/la-sp-titans24-2008nov24,0,116316.story
From the Los Angeles Times
JETS 34, TITANS 13

Tennessee gets first loss; Jets' Brett Favre shines
The New York Jets quarterback throws two touchdown passes as the Titans' regular-season winning streak ends at 13 games.

November 24, 2008

Reporting from Nashville — The Tennessee Titans are unbeaten no more.

Brett Favre and the New York Jets served notice they will be a factor in the AFC this season.

Favre threw two touchdown passes, Leon Washington ran for two scores and the Jets routed the Titans, 34-13, ending the regular-season winning streak by the NFL's last undefeated team at 13 games.

The NFL's stingiest scoring defense that had been allowing 13.1 points per game had no answer for Favre and the Jets (8-3), even with the return of defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch.

New York overcame two turnovers and two sacks in the first half by outgaining Tennessee on offense, 409-281.

Quoteworthy: "I'm not going to sit here and say we've established ourselves as the best team in football." -- Brett Favre, Jets quarterback

-- associated press












 

Football's popularity soars in Mexico

Football's popularity soars in Mexico
The sport is no longer foreign to Mexico, where the NFL says it has 20 million fans, which is more fans than any country other than the U.S.

The multi-award winning "All Pro Sports Football Series" ... featuring Brett Favre, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Reggie White and seven other outstanding NFL players and Coach Don Shula ... is available at http://www.allprosportsfootball.com and 1 888 79 FOOTBALL ...

the most innovative football ... see http://www.allprosportsfootball.com ... , basketball and automobile racing series ever produced for home entertainment featuring: eleven of the greatest NFL football players and the most successful coach in NFL history; five of the greatest NBA basketball players and one of the most successful coaches in NBA history; and six internationally recognized automobile racing champions ... . sharing their life stories and demonstrating their skills in a very entertaining setting of upbeat music, three dimensional digital graphics and action footage

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-mexfootball7-2008nov07,0,2888243.story
From the Los Angeles Times
FOOTBALL

Football's popularity soars in Mexico
The sport is no longer foreign to Mexico, where the NFL says it has 20 million fans, which is more fans than any country other than the U.S.

By Kevin Baxter

November 7, 2008

Reporting from Monterrey, Mexico — Frank Gonzalez's small, cluttered office is on the second floor of an abandoned concrete warehouse known simply, according to the sign out front, as "the cave."

It's an environment unbefitting the winner of 13 national college football championships. Stranger still is the building's location: on a street corner across from a park in Monterrey, Mexico, a place where football is spelled futbol and is played primarily with a round ball and a rectangular goal.

But futbol americano, despite its name, is no longer foreign to Mexico, where the NFL says it has 20 million fans -- more than anywhere else outside the U.S.

"We have a great fan base down there," says Mark Waller, the NFL's chief for international marketing. "There's just an increasing interest in things American."

Which may be why Mexicans are now angling for more than just a seat in front of the television set each Sunday. They want a place on the field too.

And that's where Gonzalez comes in.

With a 210-34 record in 22 seasons at Monterrey Tech, Gonzalez has turned a school that was already the country's most prestigious academic institution into Latin America's top football school as well. Three of his former players are among the five Mexicans on NFL practice squads this season. Another, Rolando Cantu, became the first Mexican citizen to appear in an NFL game at a position other than kicker when he played guard on an extra-point attempt for the Arizona Cardinals in 2005.

OK, so it's a humble start -- the University of Miami sent that many players to the NFL in just the first round of the draft one year. But for Mexicans it marks a major breakthrough, one that has them dreaming of bigger things ahead.

"I still think that there's a mark on the players, 'Oh yeah, he's from Mexico,' " Gonzalez says. "Until we end up with somebody really giving a kid a chance . . . it's going to take time. But we're getting closer."

There are 18 players of Latino heritage on active NFL rosters this season and nine have Mexican roots, including offensive lineman Roberto Garza of the Chicago Bears and quarterback Antonio Ramiro -- better known as Tony -- Romo of the Dallas Cowboys.

But those players grew up playing high school and college football in the U.S. And that, Gonzalez says, gave them a huge advantage.

"When you graduate junior high and you go into a football program in the United States, you're going into some of the best gyms or some of the best weight-training facilities that the city has," Gonzalez says. "You have full-time coaching staffs that are teaching these kids. And we didn't have that."

When Gonzalez first came to Tech as an assistant coach in the early 1980s, the program didn't even have weights. Players trained by lifting paint cans filled with cement.

On the field, the gap between Mexico and the U.S. was even wider, with the college team scheduling games across the border with junior varsity squads from Texas high schools.

"And we couldn't beat them," Gonzalez says. "We would beat three, four teams in Mexico, but we would lose against JV high school [teams] in the United States."

They couldn't beat them, but they learned from them. When a 29-year-old Gonzalez was hired as head coach at Tech before the 1986 season, he began copying what he'd been taught as a high school player and coach in Laredo, Texas.

He commandeered a squat building that used to house the school's printing office and turned it into a weight room. He began recruiting along the border for Mexican-born players and coaches, and sent his staff on fact-finding trips to major U.S. colleges or on summer internships to work with the likes of the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings.

He handed out inspirational slogans and thick playbooks, both written in English, and established a scholarship program -- at the time, a unique concept in Mexico -- that has become so ingrained that each player on Gonzalez's 65-man roster is getting up to 90% of Tech's $12,000 annual tuition.

There are also innovations outside the school. Tech coaches work with youth teams in the Monterrey area, helping that program grow to 32 clubs and more than 8,000 players. And a dozen years ago Gonzalez helped persuade Prepa Tech -- the blue-blood private high school affiliated with Monterrey Tech -- to field a football team as well.

A football team, the school's administrators are quick to make clear. Not a football factory.

"Academics should be the priority. Academics is the priority," says Prep principal Rafael Abrego from the sideline of the school's football field, which sits in the shadow of the Cerro de la Silla, the 6,000-foot saddle-shaped peak that has helped define Monterrey as "the City of Mountains."

But Abrego adds with a wink, "We're delighted to have the people in the States peek over south of the border and say, 'OK, there's some kids there playing good football.' "

They may be better than good. That first year, Prepa Tech was pounded, 42-7, by Del Rio High, a school two hours west of San Antonio. But by 2005, with Roberto Rodriguez, a Gonzalez assistant, running the program, Prepa was winning all three of its games in Texas by a combined score of 126-26.

Many of the players from that team are now playing for Rodriguez and Gonzalez at Monterrey Tech, which heads into Saturday's regular-season finale in Mexico City with a record of 9-0 and having won 26 consecutive games dating to 2006.

If Tech follows Saturday's game with two wins in the playoffs, Gonzalez will have his 14th national title and seventh in eight seasons.

Championships, though, aren't the big prize for Tech any more. They've become so common that the team lists the national title game on its schedule each season. So with most of Mexico no longer providing much competition, the coaches and their players now must validate themselves on a bigger stage: the NFL.

It won't happen overnight.

"They've improved a lot over the last 10 years," says John Beake, a former NFL general manager who is a consultant to the league in international player development. "The players are eager. They're getting better.

"[But] a player from Monterrey Tech going right to the NFL, that would be difficult."

In 20 years, Tech has gone from losing to high school JV teams to a level of play Gonzalez compares with that of top-level NCAA Division III teams in the U.S.

But the obstacles remain numerous. Mexicans aren't included in the NFL draft, for example. And even if they were, it's unlikely any would be taken since no teams scout in Mexico.

The demise of NFL Europe has cut off another proving ground, one that paved the way to the NFL for Cantu and fellow Tech alums Ramiro Pruneda and Salomon Solano.

"Is the NFL just kidding us?" says Ricardo Garcia, the Panamanian-born English-speaking, play-by-play man for Tech's football broadcasts, which can be seen nationwide as well as in parts of the U.S. "We don't see [Mexican players] on Sunday. And the kids need to see that.

"We have to break down that barrier. Or jump over it.

"We have to find a way to get the NFL to pay attention to Mexican college football and stop thinking that the only source of talent is the U.S. colleges."

The NFL's Waller said that has already happened, citing the league's five-year-old international practice squad program, which this year auditioned more than 100 players from Europe, Asia and the Americas for 16 spots in NFL camps.

But, he conceded, more can be done.

"We have a framework there. [But] I don't think it's robust enough," he said. "I'm not sure that you have to be two or three times as good [to get noticed]. I do think you have to be two or three times as passionate, committed and dedicated to finding a route forward.

"There's a system in the U.S. There's a clear progression for you through high school, college and into the NFL. That's a much harder route if you're a foreign player."

But it's one Cantu and others have successfully navigated over the last three years. And that's inspired others to follow.

"They're opening big doors for us," says Armando Villarreal, a 6-foot-5, 253-pound offensive lineman who played at Tech with the three players currently on NFL practice squads. "Obviously, that motivates us more. If our teammates can go, we have an opportunity to go too. We just have to prepare ourselves."

Baxter is a Times staff writer

kevin.baxter@latimes.com

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NBA to design, operate multipurpose arenas in Chinese cities

NBA to design, operate multipurpose arenas in Chinese cities
The league, in a joint venture with AEG, says the 17,000-seat facilities will showcase basketball, other sports events, concerts and trade shows.

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NBA to design, operate multipurpose arenas in Chinese cities
The league, in a joint venture with AEG, says the 17,000-seat facilities will showcase basketball, other sports events, concerts and trade shows.

By Broderick Turner

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/la-sp-nba12-2008oct12,0,1010734.story
From the Los Angeles Times
PRO BASKETBALL
NBA to design, operate multipurpose arenas in Chinese cities
The league, in a joint venture with AEG, says the 17,000-seat facilities will showcase basketball, other sports events, concerts and trade shows.
By Broderick Turner
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 12, 2008

The NBA will announce today plans for a multibillion-dollar real estate venture to design and operate a dozen multipurpose arenas in major Chinese cities for a future affiliated basketball league.

The NBA is teaming with AEG, owned by billionaire Philip Anschutz, to operate arenas that will hold 17,000 spectators, with the primary funding coming from the Chinese government and Chinese banks.

"We think that it's a terrific partnership," NBA Commissioner David Stern told The Times. "And we think that not only will it be good for basketball that will be played in those places, but it will be very good for general entertainment in China."

Tim Leiweke, president and chief executive of AEG, said one of the new arenas might be in Shanghai. "The decision that we're going to have to make is which of the 12 do we chose, because there are so many cities that want to do this," he said.

The arenas will showcase basketball, other sporting events, concerts, cultural events and trade shows.

However, Leiweke downplayed the idea that the arenas are being built based on a guarantee of having an NBA-style league in China.

But eventually -- and Stern didn't offer a timetable -- the arenas will house some type of affiliated basketball league, he said. "The start of a league is not essential to the success of these buildings," Stern said.

The NBA and AEG see vast potential in China, and that's why they formed the partnership. "We think we've gotten ourselves the best and most knowledgeable partner available," Stern said.

AEG, a sports and entertainment conglomerate, owns the Kings, the Galaxy, the Staples Center and the Home Depot Center in Carson. It also operates arenas across the country and in London and Germany.

David Carter, executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute, said it's natural for the NBA and AEG to form a partnership to pursue the growing China market.

"I think for all of them, China represents the new frontier. . . . If you look at where AEG has gone the last several years, they've really begun to focus on facility ownership and operation and they've continued to focus on building their international presence," Carter said.

"And the NBA, looking to make sure they further penetrate China, certainly wants a partner like AEG to help them navigate new markets."

Basketball has become popular in much of Asia, including China.

During the Beijing Olympic Games, Kobe Bryant was mobbed and drew chants of "MVP" when the U.S. men's basketball team played. More than 1 billion people watched the U.S. play China, the biggest TV audience for a basketball game.

The NBA is so popular in China that American players have nine of the top 10 best-selling basketball jerseys, led by Bryant, LeBron James and Allen Iverson. Yao Ming's jersey is 10th.

The league also played a major role in helping China build the Beijing Olympic Basketball Arena, which housed the Olympic basketball tournament. In a separate deal, AEG now operates the Beijing facility.

There already is a pro league called Chinese Basketball Assn., and current NBA players Yao and Yi Jianlian established themselves as young stars there before coming to play in the U.S.

With the prospect of arenas being built, Stern said, "of course the promise that each building sponsor wants is that if there is a league, the potential building will have the team in the NBA [or] CBA partnership league that may be starting."

Overseas expansion for American sports leagues is nothing new.

The NFL, with great fanfare, opened a development league in Europe in 1991. It folded in 2007. NFL Europe was reportedly losing $30 million per season.

But for years Stern has talked of NBA expansion overseas, possibly adding franchises in Mexico or Europe, or sponsoring leagues in Asia, Latin America or Europe. His teams already play exhibitions in Europe and Asia.

During the Beijing Olympics, Stern said the NBA has plans to be involved with a pro league in China.

"That would be a separate league that would be NBA-affiliated or NBA-sponsored, but it would be independent," Stern said in August. "For a very long time to come it would be at a lower scale than the NBA. But as the sport develops in China, and as more players around the world recognize the opportunities of playing in China, we see that league growing and strengthening."

Stern plans to travel to China this week to watch the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors play two exhibition games, including the first-ever game played in Guangzhou on Wednesday and in Beijing on Saturday.

Neither Leiweke nor Stern would give a timetable when construction on the arenas would start or when they would open.

Both have been encouraged by the Chinese government, sports ministry and CBA in the new venture. "They've been very supportive of these efforts," Stern said.

broderick.turner

@latimes.com

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