ESPN labeled the release of the schedule a "new holiday." Can't wait to see the cards Hallmark comes out with to help us celebrate it.
At a table in the back of his newest restaurant, Shula's 347 Grill, located in the Philadelphia Marriott West Hotel in Conshohocken, Don Shula shook his head in amazement as he talked about the $6 billion-a-year behemoth that the NFL has become.
"I remember Super Bowl III," the 77-year-old Hall of Fame coach said of the epic game in 1969 that his heavily favored Baltimore Colts lost to Joe Namath's New York Jets. "When we got off the bus at the hotel, there were just a couple of reporters there. We walked over to the hotel lounge and I had my news conference there. Now, you've got 3,000 people covering the game.
"It's unbelievable. I turned on the television a few weeks ago and they were televising the scouting combine. Guys pumping iron and running the 40-yard dash. People can't get enough."
People can't seem to get enough of Shula these days, either. His 219-seat restaurant in Conshohocken is the latest addition to his steak-joint empire, which now numbers 26 across the country. Shula's oldest son, Dave, who coached the Cincinnati Bengals for four-plus seasons in the early '90s, runs the restaurants for his father.
When Shula isn't opening restaurants, he can be seen pitching diet food (NutriSystem) or hawking hearing aids or meds for hyptertension or playing golf or spending time with his 16 grandchildren.
Dave knew long ago that his father never would be able to remember all of the names and birthdays of his grandkids. So he came up with an idea. Bought white-paneled footballs to put in the old man's office.
