Recently when I think of the National Football League and Commissioner Goodell a certain scene from the movie Gladiator plays in my mind.  I see Goodell riding into the NFL empire in all his glory as did Commodus into Rome and thinking “ He enters Rome like a conquering hero. But what has he conquered?”  Well it becomes more and more apparent, that Goodell has conquered some of the FUN.  The NFL acronym no longer stands for the National Football League in the minds of many fans, but has morphed into the No Fun League.

Something even more deplorable than fining OCHO CINCO for any of his various celebratory antics or fining T.O. for his always entertaining comments has recently occurred, the NFL actively preventing donations to Gridiron Greats, a nonprofit that helps retired players.  According to the AP, Captain Morgan  was planning to make $10,000 donations to the Gridiron Greats for every time a player appeared on camera in the iconic “Captain’s” pose.

"The issue is that players are specifically prohibited under our policies from wearing, displaying, promoting or otherwise conveying their support of a commercially identified product during a game while they're on the field," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told Yahoo! Sports. (AP).   Translation, the NFL wants ALL the control, and more importantly wants to be compensated for all advertisement.

Granted, Captain Morgan may not have followed all of the procedures and regulations set by the NFL and endorsement of an alcoholic libations by players may not be the best “role model” for young fans (god-forbid have to talk to their children about alcohol, that is if they don’t already do because of all the beer and liquor commercials crunched between NFL games) , but dare I say lighten up NFL.  Most fans know or should know that the NFL is notorious for not taking care of its retired players, but if you don’t take a few minutes and check it out.  You may be thinking don’t they get paid a bazillion dollars a year and if they don’t have the money to pay for necessary medical procedures and treatments then shame on them.  But many of the retirees in need played before the days of monopoly money contracts and have serious need for the NFL and NFLPA  to step up take care of those players whose back the league was built on.

Now I am not a proponent of NFL players endorsing alcohol, nor am I am fan of the NFL denying needed donations to support Gridiron Greats, so I guess I don’t have a rhetorical horse in that race.  But I do hope that this controversy does not focus on the Commissioner versus the Captain, but can expose issues and needs plaguing countless Gridiron Greats of the past.

After the warm-up tournaments have been completed, and the tune-up games have been played, straight-up conference play is almost here. And with these early season, out of conference matchups, high profile teams have been left in the dust and the mid-major teams that no one in their area code had heard of suddenly become future upset threats in March Madness. So here are three teams that normally get garbage recruits, get beat on in out of conference warm ups, and haven’t had a win or even a visit at the big dance, the NCAA tournament.

1. Northern Iowa (8-1)- This team is limitless. Their first loss came two games into the season to a DePaul team (even though they aren’t good, let’s remember DePaul is in the Big East), and since then they’ve won seven straight, beating three potential NCAA tournament teams - Siena, Boston College, and Denver - while pounding on bigger schools like Iowa (67-50) and North Dakota (64-41).

THE WAY I SEE IT- And that’s just to go along with the fact that their conference is basically terrible, paving the way for them to wreck havoc in March Madness.

2. Harvard (7-2)- All right, I think a few people have heard of this school for some other reasons but this year I could see this team surprising a few people basketball-wise. Besides an embarrassing loss by three points to Army, they have been on a role lately that doesn’t seem like stopping any time soon. After a six point loss to UCONN where some how they out- rebounded the physical monsters UCONN finds at the corners of the Earth, they beat Boston College, and are set to beat a good Georgetown team. Some other key wins were against Madness hopefuls - Boston University and Williams and Mary.

THE WAY I SEE IT-Jeremy Lin, Harvard’s star guard, could very likely lead this team to an IVY league title and some tournament upsets.

3. Temple (9-2)- The Atlantic 10 is always a very competitive division so making it into March Madness should be their first concern, but really, this Temple team looks to be one of the better teams in the country. They lost to St. Johns and then Georgetown by one, while beating Siena, Virginia Tech, Penn. St., Seton Hall, and the biggest win of all, Villanova.

THE WAY I SEE IT-Those are all very competitive teams and solid non-conference wins making and at-large bid very possible for Temple. #1 Kansas should really be on upset alert for their upcoming game.

-I'm not kidding, this Temple team is very dangerous.