Carroll’s Column: Football Reads as We Gear Up for Super Bowl LX

Image Credit: NFL

NEW YORK, NY — Catching up on some winter reading sounds like a plan with the 2025-2026 National Football League season soon coming to a conclusion. 

The current NFL season ends Sunday with the Super Bowl LX with the New England Patriots taking on the Seattle Seahawks in Santa Clara, California. If you are a football fan who is worried about withdrawal pains from not having football games to watch for a while, there are two recent books which should satisfy your pigskin fix.

Ken Belson, a veteran New York Times journalist who worked in their sports department, before moving over to the business section, gets to combine both worlds with his book, “Every Day Is Sunday” (Grand Central Publishing).

The title refers to how the NFL, thanks in large part to its current commissioner, Roger Goodell, and his predecessor, the late Paul Tagliabue, has kept pro football on the forefront of sports fans’ minds even during the off-season thanks to free agency, the NFL Draft, and even the reveal of the schedule for the upcoming season.  

Belson gives credit to Paul Tagliabue for working with Gene Upshaw, the late executive director of the NFL Players Association, for maintaining labor peace for a quarter of a century following the disastrous three-game players strike which marred the 1987 season. Roger Goodell was influential in getting the 2011 lockout, which did not result in missed games, because it occurred in the off-season. Many of the owners thought Tagliabue and Goodell were too soft in their dealings with the union. Goodell’s response to the owners was “I can make more money for you if you let me handle it my way,” and he did.

Roger Goodell is understandably the central figure in the book. Belson sees him as the ultimate politician who deftly navigates between ownership groups, as well as a magician who can extinguish public relations fires such as dealing with players who commit off-field violence;  the relationship between pro football and brain lesions (CTE); and the Colin Kaepernick/ kneeling for the national anthem issue, among many others.

For many baby boomer and Gen X football fans, the broadcast team of John Madden and Pat Summerall were the gold standard of NFL broadcast booths, as they were a tandem for 21 seasons, and on two networks, CBS and FOX.

Author Rich Podolsky has carefully crafted the biographies of both men into one book, aptly titled “Madden & Summerall” (Lyons Press). Madden is the bon vivant everyman who suffered from claustrophobia, while Summerall, comes off as popular but stoic, and who quietly battled alcoholism.

Whereas Ken Belson’s book focuses on NFL commissioners, Podolsky collects testimony from broadcasters, television executives, and talent agents. Belson saw Cowboys owner Jerry Jones as the key for the NFL dropping CBS for FOX in 1993, whereas Podolsky blames then-CBS Sports president Neal Pilson for not properly valuing NFL rights, while foolishly overpaying for MLB rights. CBS also lost the NBA during his tenure.    

Interestingly, Belson does not mention New York Jets owner Woody Johnson in his book, while the New York Giants ownership family, the Maras, gets a few pages, but nowhere near the ink Robert Kraft or Jerry Jones do. Given Friday’s news about Giants co-owner Steve Tisch’s email exchanges with Jeffrey Epstein, Ken may be thinking about authoring a book about our local NFL team stewards.   

Jets make changes to coaching staff

The change of year from 2025 to 2026 has not improved things for beleaguered Jets head coach Aaron Glenn. He dismissed or demoted all the coaches on his staff, only to discover that very few quality NFL coaches are interested in joining Gang Green.    

Glenn needlessly embarrassed former Giants defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale by conducting two interviews with him without informing him he would not be calling the plays during the game. Martindale had no interest in taking the Jets defensive coordinator job in which he would be a figurehead.

Remembering and Paying Tribute to Frank Ramos

I was saddened to hear of the passing of former Jets public relations director Frank Ramos who held that position from 1963 to 2002. Frank, to his credit, did not have a media caste system. His attitude was “Here is your media credential and parking pass. Talk to the coaches and players. Enjoy the cafeteria. Leave me alone.” That is my kind of PR executive!

Ramos was 87.

David Robertson retires from MLB after 17 seasons 

Relief pitcher David Robertson, who enjoyed a lengthy big-league career, including a stint with the Mets and a pair with the Yankees, called it a career last week.

Here is a trivia fact to make a lot of us feel old. Robertson’s retirement leaves Max Scherzer as the only active big leaguer who played at Shea Stadium.

Mets sign Craig Kimbrel to minor league contract 

Robertson’s contemporary, Craig Kimbrel, signed a minor league contract with the Mets. Kimbrel was once a dominant closer, but he has struggled mightily in recent years. The Mets are hopeful Kimbrel may have a little magic left.

Willie Randolph to join YES Network as analyst 

Former Mets manager and Yankees coach Willie Randolph will be an analyst on select YES Network games this season.

Randolph is replacing John Flaherty whose contract was not renewed at the end of the 2025 season.    

Harrison Bader joins Giants on one year deal

Centerfielder Harrison Bader, who grew up in Westchester and played for the Mets and the Yankees, signed a two-year contract with the San Francisco Giants. Bader is an elite defender. There was a particularly good chance Mets President of Baseball Operations, David Stearns, would have signed him had he not been able to trade for Luis Robert Jr. from the Chicago White Sox.   

Isiah Thomas’ new venture off the court 

Former Knicks general manager and head coach, as well as NBA Hall of Fame member, Isiah Thomas, has entered the spirits business. Thomas introduced his champagne brand at this week’s annual Kosher Wine & Food Expo.

Former Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire has produced a line of Israeli wines for nearly a decade. 

2026 Philly and New York Auto Shows

The New York International Auto Show will return to Javits Center the first week of April, but if you want to get an early peek at the latest car models, the Philadelphia Auto Show is taking place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City. It runs through Sunday.

Tributes pour out for comedy actress Catherine O’Hara    

The death of comedy actress Catherine O’Hara took everyone by surprise. While she is best known for her roles in “Beetlejuice” and “Home Alone,” I will always associate her with the syndicated 1970s “Second City Television” series which starred O’Hara, along with Andrea Martin, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, and the late John Candy and Joe Flaherty. It is a shame that “Second City Television,” which was a solid rival to NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” in its early years, has been rather forgotten.

You can read more of Lloyd Carroll’s columns posted weekly on The Queens Chronicle.