FanHouse TonyDungy

Tuesday morning, DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players Association, met with NFL officials about saving the league.

In 2011, there might not be any NFL football.

It's hard for fans to understand why owners and players, who make millions of dollars, are having problems right now in a popular sport that gets high television ratings and has two high-profile cities, New York and Dallas, in the finishing stages of building billion-dollar stadiums.

The reality is the owners are struggling and the union doesn't believe them.

This is sure to rile up the natives but, well, Rodney Harrison built a career around that -- along with late hits, blows to the head, and 15 years of some pretty solid football.

Earlier today he announced his retirement from tackling fat guys for a living, as well as his plans for the future: studio analyst for NBC's Football Night in America, along with recently retired Colts coach Tony Dungy.

NBC will add former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy and former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison to its Sunday night football broadcast team, the network announced today.

"Both of these guys will have no problem talking about the game in both positive and critical ways," NBC chairman Dick Ebersol said on a conference call.

The NBC executives on the call said they hadn't finalized their broadcast crew for the 2009 season, but they did say they were planning more changes, that they would be moving at least part of their pregame show to the venues where the Sunday night games will be played and that they'll be "clearing out" more time for their analysts to analyze the specific game they're broadcasting that night.

Former Buccaneers and Colts head coach Tony Dungy said when he retired that he wanted to spend more time not just with his own family, but helping other families. Specifically, he wants to encourage men to be good fathers, and he wants to visit prisons and minister to the inmates.

One of Dungy's first projects is Michael Vick.

The Indianapolis Colts are one of the premier franchises in the NFL at the present. Since 1999, they've made the playoffs and won 10 games in all but one season. They've won at least 12 games in the past six. They've had offensive coordinator Tom Moore and offensive line coach Howard Mudd in place during that entire timespan. Tony Dungy was the head coach for the past seven. All three have now departed.

Their replacements are Jim Caldwell (head coach), Clyde Christensen (offensive coordinator) and Pete Metzelaars (offensive line coach). Translation: The Colts just drastically downgraded at three very important coaching positions.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Just because Michael Vick is set to be released from federal prison tomorrow doesn't mean he'll be having his reinstatement hearing anytime soon.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell today repeated his earlier assertion that Vick must demonstrate real remorse about his involvement with dogfighting in order to be reinstated. Goodell also said that he would wait "until the end of the legal process" before dealing with the Vick situation one way or the other. Since Vick will remain in federal custody (via home confinement) for the next two months, you can take that to mean that it'll be at least that long before he gets his hearing with the commissioner.

The Indianapolis Colts have already had to replace their head coach this off-season. Now they're in danger of losing two of their most important assistants as well.

In the first act of Michael Vick's Redemption Tour, Tony Dungy visited the world's worst dog owner in prison Tuesday.

In the coming weeks, expect Oprah, Diane Sawyer and Larry King to get an audience. Then Jesse Jackson will host a Town Meeting where Vick tearfully apologizes to Lassie, Snoopy and all living and dead members of the Westminster Kennel Club.

If everything goes as planned, the public will believe Vick really, really regrets his dogfighting days. Now can't we just bury the past like one of those skeletons found in Vick's backyard?

No.

This is the kind of information that can only help Michael Vick in his efforts to get back into the NFL. According to John Clayton of ESPN.com, the jailed former Falcons quarterback met with former Colts coach Tony Dungy today at the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan. to "discuss life after he gets out of prison."

Vick, who is scheduled to leave Leavenworth in two weeks and serve out his sentence at home, is interested in a return to the NFL. Commissioner Roger Goodell has said he'll be looking for "genuine remorse" from Vick regarding his dogfighting crimes when considering reinstatement. Seeking counsel from somebody as universally respected as Dungy is can only help Vick in the eyes of the commissioner as well as the public.

Rumors started swirling last Wednesday. NFL Network's Adam Schefter reported that Marvin Harrison's days were numbered in Indianapolis. Then, on Sunday, Harrison asked to be released after refusing to take a pay cut. The Colts were apparently for his release, before they were against it, before they were for it again.

Shorter, clearer version: Indy officially cut Harrison Tuesday afternoon. Hardly surprising given the buildup, but it's another big change in an offseason full of them for the Colts. Head coach Tony Dungy retired, defensive coordinator Ron Meeks was fired and now Harrison, the team's 1996 first-round pick and eight-time Pro Bowler, is no longer with the organization. Team president Bill Polian sounded the right tone in announcing the move: