ITEM ONE:

PATRIOTS-RAIDERS REDUX (?)

Was it global warming or simply last season’s divisional playoff classic between the Patriots and Raiders in a Foxboro blizzard?  The 2002 NFL schedule is out, and it includes several late-season night games in “cold-weather” cities -- Minnesota at Green Bay on Sunday night, December 8; New York Jets at New England on Sunday night, December 22; and Tampa Bay at Chicago on Sunday night, December 29 in the Bears’ temporary home in Champaign, Illinois.  The NFL schedule-makers did not go out of their way to book these late-season night games, but the popularity of the Patriots-Raiders’ thriller made them less reluctant to put a game in one of these “cold-weather” cities.   

ITEM TWO:

OSCARS’ RACIAL HISTORY – DEATH OF BLACK NFL PIONEER

In the same week that HALLE BERRY became the first African-American to win the “Best Actress” award in the 74-year history of the Academy Awards, the sad news out of Ashtabula, Ohio was that RAY KEMP, one of the earliest African-American players in the NFL, died at the age of 94. Kemp was the last surviving member of the Pittsburgh Steelers (then “Pirates”) original team in 1933.  A graduate of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Kemp had played on several ART ROONEY-owned semi-pro teams prior to 1933.  “My father always said that Ray was a very tough player,” says Steelers owner DAN ROONEY.  “We were pleased to have him as part of our Steelers family, and I know that Ray was very proud to have been on that original team.” 

ITEM THREE:

FOR BOYS, NFL IS, LIKE, AWESOME!

Ask young boys, ages 7-11, which sport they like “a little or a lot,” as a recent ESPN Sports Poll did, and the answer will be – the NFL!  Eighty-three percent of those youngsters polled from January to December of last year chose the NFL as their favorite sport, over Major League Baseball (No. 2), the NBA (3), professional wrestling (4) and Major League Soccer (5).  And to show how NFL interest is growing among females (who comprise 43 percent of the league’s fan base), 55 percent of the girls 7-11 polled by ESPN said their favorite sport is the NFL.

ITEM FOUR:

NFL PLAYERS BUILDING FOUNDATIONS

A good part of their offseason is spent weightlifting…and uplifting.  Several NFL players recently joined colleagues around the league by starting foundations to serve their communities.  One is running back COREY DILLON of the Cincinnati Bengals, who seeded his new foundation with a $28,000 grant (he wears No. 28).  The organization will pinpoint children 12-18 in Cincinnati’s inner-city.  It will hold annual football camps, Halloween parties and “fun-runs.”  It will also sponsor mentoring, student-of-the-week programs, and donate 28 tickets for youngsters to each Bengals home game.  “When I was young,” says Dillon, “I wish I had been the recipient of the same resources I’m trying to provide these kids.”  Other NFL players who have recently started charitable foundations: Philadelphia’s DAVID AKERS and BRIAN MITCHELL, Seattle’s MATT HASSELBECK, New Orleans’ KEVIN HOUSER andSt. Louis’ ORLANDO PACE.