Of course it was very difficult to read the book. We read it through many tears, even knowing the story, ... But we feel he was certainly fair, and the story just keeps going on and on and on.

The part I always hated, ... was when a guy doesn't actually tackle you. He just props you up, so other guys can come in and get free shots. That's what really takes it out of you.

And, ... I was a little bit pensive, not unlike Ricky Williams. I understand, I think, some of what he was sensing. Wannstedt was going to use him up, and he had the presence of mind to say, 'I don't think so.' They weren't going anywhere last year, and perhaps he sensed that, too. Look, Ricky's got his problems -- don't we all? But when I watched him [Monday], he was thoughtful. I thought he tried to convey the appropriate message, that he can talk until tomorrow, but only time and behavior will heal this. I like that he said he had no big message. I do applaud Ricky Williams. . . . Do not confuse Ricky Williams and Terrell Owens. I'm not impressed with T.O. and what he's doing.

He said he believed in the golden rule,

[Williams, it seems, is being tolerated by his teammates. There's no sense he's going to disrupt anything. But T.O.? Goodness knows what he'll do next. So I asked Riggins how he thought this T.O. matter could best be handled.] I think T.O. likes somebody to hold his hand, ... It might have taken nothing more than for [Eagles Coach] Andy Reid and [team president] Joe Banner to go hold his hand. The Eagles could have called everybody in, sat T.O. down and told him, 'T.O., we will never forget what you did for us last year, especially putting your career on the line like that to play in the Super Bowl coming back from such a severe injury.' And for that matter, they could have worked out a little deal the rest of us would never have known about. But the Eagles were immutable on the matter . . . totally intractable.

The story really is, in a way, Joel -- doing what he did while dealing with this illness,