Namath

*TC Joe Namath at 49 is tanned and fit, grinning and in great spirits, happy and handsome as ever. The signs of wear and tear don't become evident until he begins to walk, or has to climb a step. Then, the most famous player in New York Jets history looks like he is learning to walk all over again.To a large extent, he is.It has been just three months since Namath underwent replacement surgery on both knees, but already he can get around without the use of a cane. He is not at all self-conscious about the scars, arriving at Jets camp yesterday appropriately attired in polo shirt and shorts.

While Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco has won some people with his play the past two weeks, Joe Namath's mind had long been made up. He didn't need to see Flacco out-shine Indianapolis Colts phenom Andrew Luck and outplay Denver Broncos future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning to conclude that Flacco is one of the league's better quarterbacks. In a phone interview with The Baltimore Sun this week, Namath said that he has a been of fan of Flacco's ever since he first saw him play with the Ravens and he doesn't believe “you can give Flacco too much credit.” “A lot of that respect comes from knowing how tough the position can be at times, what kind of valleys we can get into mentally, emotionally.

That Wilbur "Weeb" Ewbank coached and won the two most celebrated pro football games of the last 50 years sets him apart. It's a distinction that is his alone to cherish and treasure for perpetuity.The Baltimore Colts and Ewbank beat the New York Giants, 23-17, in the first overtime the NFL ever knew in winning the 1958 championship. Then, after being fired in Baltimore, he rebounded in New York and took the Jets to a 16-7 victory over a Colts team that was a 16 1/2 -point favorite in the Jan. 12, 1969, Super Bowl.

Larry Bruno , a former Geneva (Pa.) College football star who turned down a chance to play for the Steelers and later coached Joe Namath in high school, has died. He was 88. The Steelers drafted Bruno, a running back, in the 13th round in 1947, but he chose to go into coaching. His career at Monaca (1949-58) and Beaver Falls (1959-78) high schools was highlighted by a Namath-led Beaver Falls team that went 10-0 in 1960 and won a western Pennsylvania championship. There were no statewide playoffs.

Joe Namath was born in Pennsylvania, but he is a New Yorker's dream figure of a top sports star. The Jets former star athlete once wrote a book titled I Can't Wait Until Tomorrow ... 'Cause I Get Better-Looking Every Day. The book captures his essential qualities of good-humored ego. He was - and remains - a beloved figure in American pop culture. (Remember those delightful pantyhose commercials?) Now it seems Paramount Pictures wants to put Joe's colorful - and not always jolly - life onscreen.

Boomer Esiason was an 8-year-old fan growing up on Long Island when Joe Namath guaranteed victory for the New York Jets in Super Bowl III over the Baltimore Colts and then pulled it off.Esiason never dreamed that one day he would become good friends with Namath and follow in his footsteps as the Jets' quarterback."

Blame Joe Namath. He's the guy who started this whole thing. Namath famously guaranteed his upstart New York Jets would upset the massively favored Baltimore Colts in the third Super Bowl. You remember what happened. (Mr. Flip figures Namath must have made another guarantee somewhere along the way that didn't pan out. How else did Namath wind up selling pantyhose on television?) But Namath wasn't the end of it. Other guarantees followed. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn't. And now we've reached this point: Last week, we got a guarantee of victory over the New England Patriots by a relatively obscure member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, defensive back Anthony Smith.

It is almost certain that Brett Favre will finish his career playing for a team other than the Green Bay Packers, the franchise with which he will be associated decades from now. And the thought of Favre in an unfamiliar uniform brought back a moment from the first NFL game I covered as a green sportswriter an eon ago. It was an exhibition game in the Los Angeles Coliseum, and when it was over and I walked into the locker room, sitting on a stool 10...

1 It's a Blast,: Blast, Blast: The first-place Blast hosts second-place Monterrey at 7:35 p.m. at 1st Mariner Arena. The league is the NISL, by the way. 2 Off the bench: The Pistons have just turned Rip Hamilton into a sixth man. See how it's working (Mavericks at Pistons, 7 p.m., ESPN). 3 Our Pammy: Regardless of who is playing at the Australian Open (7 p.m., 11:30 p.m., ESPN2), Baltimore's own Pam Shriver (left) will be analyzing. 4 Gael warning: No. 5 Mount St. Joseph hosts No. 3 Calvert Hall at 7 p.m. in a matchup of boys basketball powers.

The big brains at the Freedom Forum's Newseum in Arlington, Va., have come up with a list of the 100 least significant news stories of the century. Here are some of them:Millennium mania, 1999.Yakov Smirnoff immigrates to America, 1978.Wiffle Ball, 1953.World War II temporarily disrupts production of porcelain pixie Hummel figurines, 1942.Supermodels enter restaurant business, 1995.Menudo-mania, 1984.Back to LouisianaWillie Nelson was among the performers who took the stage celebrating the Louisiana Hayride.

1 It's a Blast,: Blast, Blast: The first-place Blast hosts second-place Monterrey at 7:35 p.m. at 1st Mariner Arena. The league is the NISL, by the way. 2 Off the bench: The Pistons have just turned Rip Hamilton into a sixth man. See how it's working (Mavericks at Pistons, 7 p.m., ESPN). 3 Our Pammy: Regardless of who is playing at the Australian Open (7 p.m., 11:30 p.m., ESPN2), Baltimore's own Pam Shriver (left) will be analyzing. 4 Gael warning: No. 5 Mount St. Joseph hosts No. 3 Calvert Hall at 7 p.m. in a matchup of boys basketball powers.

I'll have to double-check Wolf Blitzer's collegiate loyalty and also Lee Corso's political affiliation, but last week, I believe I became the charter member of the uber-liberal anti-Terps media elite. The charges were levied in successive days, when I found myself interviewing voters and writing about a presidential election on a Tuesday and then witnessing the Maryland football team's dismemberment on national TV on a Thursday. I knew the day was coming. I knew my brief turn as a reporter chipping in with campaign coverage would end and I would return to the cozy confines of a sports press box. I just thought the difference between the two assignments might be a bit more striking.

It is almost certain that Brett Favre will finish his career playing for a team other than the Green Bay Packers, the franchise with which he will be associated decades from now. And the thought of Favre in an unfamiliar uniform brought back a moment from the first NFL game I covered as a green sportswriter an eon ago. It was an exhibition game in the Los Angeles Coliseum, and when it was over and I walked into the locker room, sitting on a stool 10...

Unlike Joe DiMaggio, Tom Brady's legacy and his legend will never be enhanced by his inclusion in an Ernest Hemingway novel. Hemingway - who used "The Great DiMaggio" as a symbol of courage, inspiration and resilience for his protagonist fisherman, Santiago, in his battle with a marlin in The Old Man and the Sea - has been dead for 46 years. It's also unlikely, when Brady retires, that Paul Simon will write a song that uses Brady's quiet dignity to lament America's lost sense of innocence.

Blame Joe Namath. He's the guy who started this whole thing. Namath famously guaranteed his upstart New York Jets would upset the massively favored Baltimore Colts in the third Super Bowl. You remember what happened. (Mr. Flip figures Namath must have made another guarantee somewhere along the way that didn't pan out. How else did Namath wind up selling pantyhose on television?) But Namath wasn't the end of it. Other guarantees followed. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn't. And now we've reached this point: Last week, we got a guarantee of victory over the New England Patriots by a relatively obscure member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, defensive back Anthony Smith.

Joe Namath was born in Pennsylvania, but he is a New Yorker's dream figure of a top sports star. The Jets former star athlete once wrote a book titled I Can't Wait Until Tomorrow ... 'Cause I Get Better-Looking Every Day. The book captures his essential qualities of good-humored ego. He was - and remains - a beloved figure in American pop culture. (Remember those delightful pantyhose commercials?) Now it seems Paramount Pictures wants to put Joe's colorful - and not always jolly - life onscreen.

Curt Gowdy opened the NBC telecast 26 years ago by remarking: "Joe Namath has come down here to Miami and he has said the Jets are going to win. He doesn't even predict it. He says, 'I guarantee a Jets victory.' "That was about it for the Super Bowl III hype on Jan. 12, 1969. The pre-game show lasted 30 minutes. It didn't even include an interview with Namath. The telecast also included -- get this -- a cigarette commercial.Watching the videotape of the Super Bowl III telecast, it's obvious the game has changed as much off the field as on it.But the legend of the Jets' 16-7 upset of the Baltimore Colts is as alive today as it was a quarter of a century ago.Even the NFL, which is doing everything it can to keep a team out of Baltimore, is willing to sell Colts history.

Unlike Joe DiMaggio, Tom Brady's legacy and his legend will never be enhanced by his inclusion in an Ernest Hemingway novel. Hemingway - who used "The Great DiMaggio" as a symbol of courage, inspiration and resilience for his protagonist fisherman, Santiago, in his battle with a marlin in The Old Man and the Sea - has been dead for 46 years. It's also unlikely, when Brady retires, that Paul Simon will write a song that uses Brady's quiet dignity to lament America's lost sense of innocence.

Television has searched long and hard over the years for a solid way to portray high school athletics. Unless you count The Waverly Wonders, a 1978 sitcom starring Joe Namath - and why on Earth would you? - the medium has mostly has failed. The latest attempt, Friday Night Lights, a one-hour drama airing Tuesdays on NBC (locally, channels 11 and 4) is a noble effort that largely does well and should do better, given time. Alas, based on the ratings from last week's premiere, Friday Night Lights, a heavily promoted and critically acclaimed look at Texas high school football, may not be given the chance.

Joe Namath, in an interview last night with Dan Marino on HBO's Real Sports, said he never gets tired of talking about the legendary guarantee of the New York Jets' 1969 Super Bowl victory over the Baltimore Colts. "No way," Namath said. "Don Larsen, who pitched a perfect game for the New York Yankees [in 1956], came up with the perfect answer. I was standing there and someone asked Don, `Do you ever get tired of talking about your perfect game,' and Don said, 'Why should I?' " Marino asked Namath if the Jets played the Colts in the Super Bowl 10 times in 1969, how many times would the Jets have won?