H
houbb
Guest
It's more like rediscovering it. I remember when I got it back in 1978, along with a couple of signed Topps cards (yep, still have those), that I thought that note was really cool. This was before I had ever thought of writing the players and asking them questions and get written responses back, but that signed note on my letter was the first time I had ever received anything like that from an athlete. That was why I saved it. I think my mom was in my room one day, and was just grabbing a few of my things to make room for something, which would explain the odd assortment of things I found in that box, and put them away. Maybe she intended to go through it, or maybe she was thinking of doing some spring cleaning and meant to throw it out, but it never made it to the trash. Kind of ironic, because one time she did throw out my collection of neatly stacked '60's Marvel Comics (Hulk 1-6, Iron Man 2-10, Xmen 1-12, etc.) in a box in my closet, simply because she thought I needed two more feet of space in my closet instead of that box. Hey, it's because of mom's like that why this stuff is worth money today. Any way, I thought both the Jones note and the Rozelle letter were a part of history and my memories. Like I said, it was really cool to see both of them.
Oh, in case you were wondering why Pete Rozelle wrote me a letter in the first place, back in the Fall of 1971, I had written him a letter outlining some suggestions on expanding the NFL season, and the NFL market. My suggestion was Canada, because of the strength of their economy, or perhaps a system to pair the best in the NFL against the best in the CFL. Hey, I was 10-years old. I can dream, right? Any way, I sent it off and never expected a response. When he replied about 4-months later, I was pretty amazed. In his response he said he felt the NFL season was already too long, and expanding it would increase the possiblity of injury to personnel. I look back at that letter, and I look at how the league has expanded and how the schedule has grown. They have even taken NFL games to other parts of the world, as well. Maybe, just maybe, I was just a little bit ahead of my time.
