NFL NOTEBOOK : Murphy’s Law Was the Rule Last Week

That was the week that wasn’t for the National Football League.

Last week was the NFL’s Murphy Law’s week: Everything that could go wrong, did.

It made league officials long for the good ol’ days of two weeks ago when Jerry Glanville made headlines by calling Jack Pardee a “jerk.” Glanville would have been relegated to the back pages last week.

The headline event, of course, was the tawdry situation in New England, where Patriots players made obscene comments and gestures to a Boston Herald reporter, Lisa Olson, and the team’s owner, Victor Kiam, then was reported to have called her a “classic bitch.”

Kiam has since apologized, the league has appointed a special counsel to investigate, the Herald has called for a boycott of Sunday’s game with the New York Jets and the suspension of Kiam by the NFL, and the National Organization for Women has called for a boycott of products made by Kiam’s Remington company.

That was only the most publicized of the league’s problems last week.

At the Los Angeles Coliseum, a Pittsburgh fan from Arizona attending the game between the Steelers and Raiders was beaten and left in critical condition by Raiders fans.

In San Diego, Joe Phillips, the Chargers’ nose tackle was sidelined for at least eight weeks after being beaten by three men outside a restaurant. He had left the restaurant with a woman, who wasn’t his wife, and exchanged words with the men, who apparently made a comment about the woman, before the attack.

At Giants Stadium in New Jersey, Jets Coach Bruce Coslet was involved in a verbal exchange with a rowdy fan. He told the fan, “Why don’t you come down here and say that?” Coslet said the incident was “kind of funny,” but General Manager Dick Steinberg said he’d speak to him about it.

Last, but not least, the NFL found itself in a hassle in Washington. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said the league is using Super Bowl tickets and expansion teams as bargaining chips to gain votes in support of a measure to ban sports lotteries.

DeFazio charged the league told representatives of states seeking expansion teams that they wouldn’t be considered for a team if they favored sports lotteries.

“They are being told ... they’d better back off, otherwise they are not going to get an expansion team,” he said.

The league admitted lobbying on the issue, but denied the other charges.

This just happens to be the first bye week of the season. The four National Football Conference West teams get the weekend off.

It’s unfortunate the whole league can’t take a bye and start the season over on a better note.

This was supposed to be a grand day for John Hannah, the offensive lineman who was the best player ever to play for the Patriots.

When he retired, he was involved in a lawsuit with former owner Billy Sullivan over deferred pay. Kiam settled the suit and the Patriots are welcoming him back into the team family by retiring his jersey Sunday.

But, the occasion is being overshadowed by the Olson controversy and the proposed boycott of the game. The way the Patriots draw, it may be hard to tell if the boycott is effective or the fans are just apathetic.

“If my luck ran any better, I couldn’t stand it,” Hannah said. “I’m honored they’re going to retire my jersey. It’s not appropriate for me to comment on the situation. I do want to say this, though. There are a lot of solid individuals on this team... but they’re tagged with the image and that’s just not right. If some players did what was reported they did, they were totally wrong. Their actions don’t represent the team as a whole.”