Two things you've got to appreciate about Foote the human being:
Five years ago, he learned he had an 8-year-old son by a high school girlfriend. He gained custody of the boy and began raising him as a single dad. (Foote has since married another woman, and his son is part of their growing family.)
Last year, Foote paid the funeral costs of a 10-year-old Detroit boy who fell through the ice and drowned on the Rouge River, near the player's childhood home. He didn't know the grieving family but was touched by their story after reading it in the newspaper.
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Irvin: Retire Favre
Count Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin among those who think Brett Favre should bag the idea of playing for Minnesota and instead call it a career.
"Listen, Favre's 100 years old; stop this already," said Irvin, in Los Angeles to promote his Spike TV reality show "4th and Long."
"This is what's killing everybody. Every time Favre says, 'I want to come back,' it's like everybody on ESPN says, 'Whatever team he says he wants to come to, he makes them automatically a Super Bowl contender.'
"They said that same stuff last year with the Jets, and Favre gave out toward the end of the season.
"I love Favre and I think he's been a phenomenal talent for a long time. But when I think about it now, I say, 'Stop it already.' I don't mind that you still want to play football, but do you want to play so much, and you want to get back at [Green Bay General Manager] Ted Thompson so much, that you're willing to go back into Lambeau and hurt those fans that supported you for so long?"
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Super letdown?
The Arizona Cardinals are looking to avoid the almost inevitable hangover that afflicts Super Bowl losers, and they're not off to a strong start. Three of their star players are disgruntled -- receiver Anquan Boldin, defensive end Darnell Dockett and outside linebacker Bertrand Berry -- and have skipped voluntary practices this off-season.
Before their dazzling 2008 playoff run, the Cardinals had not made the playoffs since 1998 -- and they fell off the table in 1999, finishing 6-10.
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By the numbers
Some numbers worth noting:
* 6: Quarterbacks on Oakland's roster (JaMarcus Russell, Bruce Gradkowski, Jeff Garcia, Andrew Walter, Danny Southwick, Charlie Frye).
Predicted survivors out of training camp: 1. Russell, 2. Garcia, 3. Gradkowski.
* 12: Dollars per hour that Bryan Pittman, Seattle's long snapper, earned in his last job, as a security guard at a freight company.
* 74.7: Times larger (at minimum) Mark Sanchez's first contract was than Joe Namath's, which was four years at $25,000 each plus a $200,000 bonus.
* 129: Yards Redskins hopeful Dominique Dorsey returned a missed field-goal try for a touchdown . . . on an elongated Canadian Football League field.
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Tweets of the Week
* (@NJ_StevePoliti) Woody Johnson on Mark Sanchez: "When we were looking at taking Mark, I studied all the great generals . . . " I hear Patton had a nice spiral.
* (@SteinbergSports) If average family income is $40,000, how much sense does it make to have an athlete complaining in paper he is only offered 7 mil, not 10??
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sam.farmer@latimes.com
twitter.com/latimesfarmer.
