FanHouse Roger Staubach

If there is somebody who understands what Michael Vick is going through on the field, it's former Cowboys quarterback and Hall of Famer Roger Staubach.

Vick, who is expected to play for the Eagles in Thursday's preseason finale against the Jets, has just started his comeback after serving a two-year prison term on dogfighting charges.

Staubach underwent a similar, more honorable absence from the game. After finishing his playing career for the Naval Academy in 1964, Staubach had to fulfill his military commitment. The Cowboys selected him in the 10th round of the 1964 draft, but Staubach did not actually debut until 1969 because he was serving with the U.S. Navy.

"You have to have the confidence," Staubach told FanHouse this week. "If you're physically able to do it a few years ago, why can't you get back into it? If you have the talent and you can hang in there, and if you haven't lost speed or strength, you can make it happen again."

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CANTON, Ohio – "Bullet" Bob Hayes hated his reputation as a track star who played football. He reminded anyone who would listen that he had been a football player first at Florida A&M University.

Hayes, of course, will always be remembered for his title as World's Fastest Human after winning two gold medals as a sprinter in the 1964 Olympic Games. On Saturday, his NFL greatness as a wide receiver was recognized when Hayes was immortalized posthumously as a Pro Football Hall of Fame legend, member of the Class of 2009.

The former Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers star remains the only man to win a Super Bowl ring and an Olympic gold medal, and is the second gold medalist in the Hall of Fame, following Jim Thorpe.

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There is only one professional athlete who should be called The King these days and he's not playing in Cleveland.

Tom Brady returned to practice this week for the Patriots. Brady is the same man with three Super Bowl titles, two Super Bowl MVP awards and four Pro Bowl berths. Say what you want about Peyton Manning being the best quarterback in the league -- all Brady does is win games.

He is one of four men to win three or more Super Bowls and earn multiple Super Bowl MVP awards. Brady has a better career winning percentage than Roger Staubach and Joe Montana in the Super Bowl era. Before his season-ending knee injury in last year's opener against Kansas City, he had started 128 consecutive games, the second-longest streak among active quarterbacks and third-longest all-time.

ESPN and various media outlets have Brett Favre talking with Vikings coach Brad Childress about something.

Many speculate it's about coming out of retirement. Favre's agent Bus Cook told Fanhouse last week that we could stick a fork in Favre and that the only way the quarterback would return would be to win another championship. If that's the case, the Vikings are not that much better with Favre as their quarterback. The beasts of the NFC are the Giants and Eagles. (But that's another story for another day.)

Favre's returning could embarrass him. The fact is that Favre is an old quarterback. He turns 40 in October and old quarterbacks don't win Super Bowls unless they have plenty of help.

This Sunday, the Washington Redskins will make their (likely) final trip to Texas Stadium. The Dallas Cowboys will be entering new digs next year.

The Cowboys-Redskins rivalries are one of the best in sports and Texas Stadium has served as a prime backdrop during the rivalry.

Who could forget the Thanksgiving Day game back in 1974 when Clint Longley came in for an injured Roger Staubach and rallied the Cowboys to a 24-23 win? Longley threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Drew Pearson with just :28 remaining.

There was the season finale in 1979 when Dallas and Washington were playing for the NFC East division crown. This time, it was Staubach leading Dallas to a wild fourth-quarter comeback and downed the Redskins, 35-34. Before that game, Cowboys defensive end Harvey Martin received a funeral wreath (which was allegedly sent by the Redskins). After the game, Martin stormed into the Redskins locker room and threw the wreath back at them.

"Old School" is the College Football FanHouse's irregular look back at the rich history of college football, usually through the medium of embeddable flash video. Check out the Old School archive for more famous plays and infamous hair.

With the news that future Army vs. Navy games might take place in different cities around the country, it's probably a good time to look back at this historic rivalry in all it's glory. I'm big on tradition in college football. Some things are so big that they should be set in stone and never changed. But the Army-Navy game transcends college football , especially in times of war. While this game doesn't have the influence it used to have on the national championship, it still deserves to be played in front of 100,000 screaming fans. If that means moving the game around the country every year, then so be it. Everyone should have a chance to see this game in person at least once before they die. And it should look just like this, but with newer uniforms and in color.

When Oscar De La Hoya purchased a piece of Major League Soccer's Houston Dynamo last week, the news didn't get much attention because, well, the MLS never gets much attention.

But it pointed to one quietly simple fact about De La Hoya, a champion in six weight classes: As fine a boxer as he is, his savvy as businessman is on a whole other level. This is the smartest businessman in sports.

Many elite competitors understand that it's the athletes who do the work but the owners who make the money. But De La Hoya is the one who has used his business acumen to control the means of production after years being used by it.

While professional athletes in the 21st century make the kind of money that their predecessors (not to mention you and I) could only dream about, they do not run their own show. As noted economist Chris Rock explained, "Shaq is rich. The white man who signs his check is wealthy."

De La Hoya is wealthy: Next month this extraordinary pugilist will make millions on a boxing match without ever stepping into the ring.

Before Suzy Kolber, AA, and Jake Gyllenhaal, Joe Namath was a professional football player. Here he, um, let's Noxzema cream his face before ... well, before doing something Roger Staubach might not approve of. By the way, this might be the creepiest commercial ever produced.

Between the Morgan Fairchild knockoff lip-synching to what sounds like Louis Armstrong and Namath rubbing shaving cream all over his mug in dark velour-walled bathroom, it's all a bit weird. But hey, welcome to the '70s, I guess.