TAGLIABUE & RAMS COMBO RANKED HIGH BY SPORTING NEWS

The Commissioner follows only TIGER WOODS. The quarterback and running back follow no one. That’s a quick summary of a national ranking and award announced this week and last by The Sporting News. And is the NFL highly-placed! Only Woods, the one-man cottage industry, is ranked higher than NFL Commissioner PAUL TAGLIABUE in the weekly’s annual list of the "100 Most Powerful Persons In Sports." In tabbing Tagliabue as sports’ second most powerful individual, The Sporting News hails the NFL’s "competitive balance as the paragon for every pro league. Bottom line: The NFL is the most reliable investment in sports"……And, for only the third time in the 33 years the award has been given, The Sporting News has named co-Sportsmen of the Year for 2000 – St. Louis Rams quarterback KURT WARNER and running back MARSHALL FAULK, two of the main cogs in the team’s Super Bowl XXXIV-championship season. The periodical writes that the twosome are "presented as winners not only for their on-field success, but also for the improbability of it all, and for the sterling off-field lives they lead in an age when so many in sports seem to find that portion in disarray."

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL RATINGS WINNER

USA Today says it is "destined to rank among NFL classics for the ages." It is discussing this past Monday night’s St. Louis-Tampa Bay thriller won by the Bucs 38-35. It featured an improbable double-lateral/run play between SHAUN KING and WARRICK DUNN that sparked the Bucs to the win. And the fans tuned in to the playoff-implication matchup, making it the second highest-rated (15.2) Monday night game of the season after the Labor Day Denver-St. Louis kickoff (15.3). Monday Night Football again ranks in the Top 10 among all primetime programs for the 2000-01 TV season through December 17……And locally, the NFL continued to dominate in most of its markets. NFL games were the top-rated programs in 16 NFL cities for the 12/11-17 week.

BIG SIGNING? COWBOYS BIGGER

How do you measure the popularity of the NFL? For a totally unscientific method, look at the website of the Dallas Morning News on Tuesday, December 12. The Texas Rangers baseball club had just signed shortstop ALEX RODRIGUEZ to a multi, multi-million dollar contract, an agreement that produced national headlines. But, wrote the Morning News on December 15, "of the stories that the News placed on its website for Tuesday, four of the top five stories that received the most page views or requests for information were about the Dallas Cowboys. The other top-five story was about the weather. The Rangers stories regarding Rodriguez finished eighth, ninth and tenth."

BUSH’S FIRST 100 DAYS? BE SURE TO INCLUDE SUPER BOWL

Soon-to-be-inaugurated President-elect GEORGE W. BUSH is sure to be taking a lot of advice on how to make that initial measuring stick of a Presidency – the "First 100 Days" -- a success. But he might be wise to read Newsweek (12/25 issue). Included in the suggestions the magazine offers for Bush’s first 100 days on topics ranging from his inauguration speech to his first cabinet meeting is the hosting of a Super Bowl XXXV party on January 28 by the Republican President. "Invite leading Democrats to salsa-and-chips Super Bowl watching party," says Newsweek. "Not just JOHN BREAUX and CHARLES STENHOLM, but also THOMAS DASCHLE and RICHARD GEPHARDT."