Woodson, Smith Make Hall of Fame

A legendary night in Canton

(AP) - Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith can stop the chase now. Linked as the NFL's leading receiver and rusher, two of the greatest players football has seen entered the Hall of Fame last night. Both admitted their destinies are fulfilled. "This is finally it," Rice said. "There are no more routes to run, no more touchdowns to score, no more records to set. That young boy from Mississippi has finally stopped running." Canton's Class of 2010: More»

(NEWSER) - John Madden’s outsize presence in the world of football will be hard to fill, Alex Marvez writes for Fox Sports. Personality aside, the Hall of Fame coach—who announced his retirement today—was meticulous about preparing for his TV commentary. “Madden made football fun for the casual fan with every-guy humor,” Marvez writes, but he also “appeased the hardcore football junkie by delving into Xs and Os like no one ever had.” More»

'Retired' QB will report to Green Bay tomorrow

(NEWSER) - On-again-off-again NFL retiree Brett Favre will report to Packers camp tomorrow, when the team is expected to decide whether to welcome him back, trade him, or pay him to go away, ESPN reports. The NFL will reinstate the indecisive QB, who will go on Green Bay's active roster, but commissioner Roger Goodell has washed his hands of the situation: "I'm not interjecting myself into it," he said. More»

Super Bowl chief and quarterback kingmaker was Frisco's coach of the 80s'

(NEWSER) - Bill Walsh, the coach who led the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl championships in the 1980s, died of leukemia yesterday at the age of 75. During his decade-long tenure, Walsh won six National Football Conference division titles, transforming a club that had won only 10 games in 1987 into a football dynasty within three years. More»

Pacman, Henry draw suspensions from no-nonsense Goodell

(NEWSER) - Fresh NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has meted out a season-long suspension to Titans cornerback and police-blotter regular Adam "Pacman" Jones, plus an eight-game layoff for similarly intractable Bengals wideout Chris Henry. Goodell, argues Len Pasquarelli, has thus broken with his more timid predecessor Paul Tagliabue and set the tone for a tougher administration. More»