Wednesday Morning Reading Room: A good Chad Greenway story, a movement to banish kickoffs in college football

With the NFL lockout, former Iowa linebacker Chad Greenway can't get any help from his Minnesota Vikings for his fifth-annual Gridiron Gallup 5K fundraiser for the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Department.

No matter. He's still holding the event, as detailed in this story by Ann Carroll of Fox Sports North. A passage:

In February, the Vikings made Greenway their franchise player, which is step toward Greenways' ultimate goal of playing his entire career with one team.

“I am excited to be the franchise player,” he says. “I do hope to get a deal done to keep me here longer. That will work itself out once we are back in the office. Hopefully, the Vikings have the same outlook pre-lockout moving forward.”

Greenway has led the Vikings in tackles the past three seasons.

Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano

is making news this week for his proposal that the NCAA eliminate kickoffs from the college game.

A radical notion? Perhaps. But it's with safety in mind, and it has the backing of Vin McInerney said. He is chairman of the state's Committee on Medical Aspects of Sports, a group that made an official recommendation to eliminate kickoffs at the high school level this fall.

Steve Politi of the Newark Star-Ledger has a column on the matter. To access it, click here.

“It's the one play doctors are most fearful of,” McInerney said. “That's the one play where it looks like Brave Heart – everyone is running at each other and screaming – and the collisions are not even comparable to other plays in the game.”

Schiano proposes a punting situation, much safter than kickoffs. He suggests something akin to the option of trying to convert a 4th-and-15 with an offensive unit in place of onside kicks.

I think it's a bold, smart idea. Kickoffs are seldom exciting, unless you're on the field while they're happening. You can't totally police safety in football, but this would seem like a good way to increase it.

Tweet-sized thoughts:

If it weren't for Twitter ... U.S. congressmen would get in less trouble, and Tiger Woods would have to announce his future plans via press release.

Tiger may not be playing in the U.S. Open, but John Daly is committed to the John Deere Classic. As someone who covers the Deere every year, I'll take that push.

I don't care which networks win the rights to the Olympics or anything else. I am still sore, however, that "Deadwood" got the plug pulled on it after just three seasons on HBO.

And if you haven't watched "Friday Night Lights" on NBC these last five years, you've missed one of the more-intelligent, more-human, more-thoughtful, best-acted  programs that's ever come down the network pike.