Michael Ventre

When you really stop to examine it, there are some world-class kooks among NFL owners. Granted, Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys has seized the lead in that category away from the Raiders’ Al Davis by overpaying for the talented tumor that is Terrell Owens. But those two are hardly alone.

There’s Dan Snyder of the Redskins, Tom Benson of the Saints, Georgia Frontiere of the Rams, Bill Bidwill of the Cardinals, John York of the 49ers and Ralph Wilson of the Bills, just to name a few. It’s a veritable rogues gallery. Can you imagine all of them and the rest of their brethren in one room arguing over money? It’s hard to believe anything could ever get sorted out without the lobbing of tear gas canisters.

Yet somehow, during his long tenure as NFL commissioner, Paul Tagliabue managed to keep the peace while increasing the cash flow. His role was a lot like Glenn Ford’s in “Blackboard Jungle” or Michelle Pfeiffer’s in “Dangerous Minds,” a teacher who has to preside over a roomful of misfits and miscreants. It’s a nearly impossible task that only really works in Hollywood, yet Tagliabue somehow kept the kids from burning down the building.

No better example of that can be found than the recent labor agreement that was reached between the league and the players’ association after months of posturing, wrangling and shots across the bow. The owners agreed to a revenue-sharing component in the deal that will cost them close to a billion dollars over the next six years. And Tags – who will retire in July -- was able to remind both the new breed and the old guard that their interests were equally important.

A billion dollars? Can anyone fathom how 30 of the 32 owners could possibly be persuaded to acquiesce on a hotly disputed negotiating point in order to maintain a system that is the most successful of its kind in the world? How did they not become so consumed with greed that they held back from “Sopranos” style rub-outs of each other in order to feather their individual nests?

The commissioner had something to do with that. No wait, he had a lot to do with that.

No wait, he had everything to do with that.

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During the course of negotiations, Tagliabue gave an impassioned speech that turned the tide and got the owners to accept the players’ proposal. I have been to Super Bowls and have heard Tagliabue deliver his annual Friday afternoon “state of the league” speech and I can tell you that passion is not a word I would have used to describe his oratory skills. He is more Steven Wright than William Jennings Bryan. The typical Tagliabue talk is the spoken-word equivalent of spackling a wall.

But obviously the private Tagliabue has a lot more going for him than the public version. He managed to convince 30 of 32 bloodthirsty businessmen and women to be satisfied with an obscene amount of riches rather than holding out for even more. Said Giants co-owner Steve Tisch after the meeting: “I never heard Paul more opinionated and more animated and committed and passionate as he was tonight. I’m extremely impressed with his positioning, his leadership and his passion, which really came up on the afternoon sessions.”

But that performance alone does not represent Tagliabue’s contributions to the NFL, only the culmination of them. He has been doing his job well all along, despite society’s tendency to make fun of a high-profile administrator in a suit.