October 10, 2003
No. 374

NFL & PLAYERS CONTRIBUTE $5.5 MILLION TO NYC 9/11 RELIEF
New York City Mayor MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG and NFL Commissioner PAUL TAGLIABUE announced this week that nine lower Manhattan projects would benefit from $5.5 million in grants from the NFL Disaster Relief Fund.  Created in 2001, the fund is a collaborative endeavor of the NFL and the NFL Players Association to assist organizations affected by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.  "Commissioner Tagliabue and the NFL have repeatedly demonstrated their ongoing commitment to New York City and its recovery, and they are delivering on a $5 million commitment to fund organizations in need in the wake of the terrible events of September 11," said Mayor Bloomberg.  "The nine projects cover a wide array of lower Manhattan organizations and needs, including small business assistance, healthcare, education, parks, and youth services.  Collectively, these funds will play a critical role in the continuing and successful recovery of lower Manhattan."

GIANTS' TISCH WINS LIBERTY MEDAL AWARD
Native New Yorker and New York Giants Chairman/Co-CEO ROBERT TISCH was a recipient last week of the annual Liberty Medal from the New York Post.  Inspired by the heroism shown by many during and after the 9/11 attacks, the Liberty Medal acknowledges "exemplary contributions, great and small, made to the public good by ordinary New Yorkers."  Tisch was cited for his contributions to many NYC charities.  He also is one of the founders of Citymeals-on-Wheels, which provides meals to the city's homebound elderly, and is co-founder of "Take The Field," a non-profit group that refurbishes public school athletic fields in New York.      

NY TIMES: SOLDIER FIELD MATCHES WORLD'S ADVANCED DESIGNS
It was built in 1924, re-designed for 2003, opened on Monday Night Football, and praised by the New York Times the next day.  Renovated SOLDIER FIELD, home of the Chicago Bears, re-opened on Monday night, September 29 in front of 61,500 excited fans and one impressed architectural writer for the Times, HERBERT MUSCHAMP.  "Soldier Field should be a model for cities that are looking toward architecture to strengthen their identities as contemporary cultural centers," wrote Muschamp.  "Preserving the perimeter colonnades from the old stadium was a sound decision, and one of impeccable classical pedigree.  Soldier Field is easily a match for the most advanced stadium design anywhere in the world today."  Two other NFL stadiums have opened this season to rave reviews.  New LINCOLN FINANCIAL FIELD, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, is a "gleaming new state-of-the-art stadium," said the Philadelphia Daily News.  And although, like Soldier Field, it is not new, Green Bay's LAMBEAU FIELD, home of the Packers, was redeveloped for this year, and received accolades.  "It's a keeper," heralded the Green Bay Press-Gazette.  "To Packers fans, it was like visiting an old friend who's had a big makeover -- a new look, but with the memories still intact."      

TRADING DEADLINE APPROACHES; SHULA TRADED 50 YEARS AGO
The NFL trading deadline is 4:00 PM ET next Tuesday.  And although many  believe that trading in the NFL is not commonplace, some of the biggest present-day names have been acquired in trades -- BRETT FAVRE, DREW BLEDSOE, RICKY WILLIAMS and MARSHALL FAULK, to name but a few.  In fact, one of the greatest names in NFL history was traded -- DON SHULA, Pro Football Hall of Famer and winningest NFL coach.  Fifty years ago this year (on March 26, 1953), Cleveland Browns defensive back Shula and nine of his teammates were traded to the Baltimore Colts for five of their players, one of which was another Hall of Famer-to-be, tackle MIKE MC CORMACK.  The 15-player trade was the biggest in NFL history at the time, and now ties for the second-largest behind the 18-player "HERSCHEL WALKER" trade of 1989.