Joe Namath

When the Jets traded for Tim Tebow last week, one of the most vocal critics was Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath. "I think it stinks," the former Jets star told USA Today. He said starting quarterback Mark Sanchez, who had just been signed to a three-year contract extension, should consider the trade "a slap in the face. " But Namath dialed down the disdain a bit Monday in an interview with Fox Business Network, saying, "I have changed my mind slightly" on Tebow, who was introduced as the backup in a predictably over-the-top news conference.

Tim Tebow already has been dealt a demotion of sorts in 2012, going from starting at quarterback for the Denver Broncos last year to backing up Mark Sanchez for the New York Jets this season. But legendary Jets quarterback Joe Namath thinks Tebow belongs even further down on the team's depth chart. “God forbid something happens to Sanchez," Namath told ESPNNewYork.com on Tuesday night. "See, this is where I'm confused. I don't think the second guy really is Tebow.” That would leave third-string quarterback Greg McElroy as the one taking over in such a situation.

The entertainment media, no doubt, will miss him, as will opportunistic producers who have capitalized on his name. But Joe Namath, nonetheless, couldn't be happier about his hiatus from show business. For the next six months and the last half of 1986 at least, the former quarterback will be working from football rosters instead of scripts. Most of his time will be spent in an ABC television booth as a "Monday Night Football" color commentator, or in preparing for his weekly telecast.

When the Jets traded for Tim Tebow last week, one of the most vocal critics was Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath. "I think it stinks," the former Jets star told USA Today. He said starting quarterback Mark Sanchez, who had just been signed to a three-year contract extension, should consider the trade "a slap in the face. " But Namath dialed down the disdain a bit Monday in an interview with Fox Business Network, saying, "I have changed my mind slightly" on Tebow, who was introduced as the backup in a predictably over-the-top news conference.

Namath wore mink coats and rode in limousines. Even good ol' country boy Richard Todd, a pickup-truck-kind-of-guy from Alabama, bought a sports car when he got to New York. But don't expect to see the New York Jets' current quarterback skid into the training camp parking lot behind the wheel or in the back seat of something exotic. Ken O'Brien drives a 1979 Volkswagen convertible. "The Volkswagen is definitely him," O'Brien's wife, Stacey, said. "Very laid back."

David A. (Sonny) Werblin, who signed Joe Namath and helped bring credibility to the American Football League, died of a heart attack at 81.

ABC's "Monday Night Football" is a great show or could be if only Frank Gifford was allowed to describe the game without the help of those magpies who step on each other's tongue trying to grab the spotlight. Joe Namath and O. J. Simpson may have been great athletes and they are useful for half-time shows, but during the actual play-by-play, who needs them? J. C. Neal, Los Angeles

Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath had both knees replaced by surgical procedure Wednesday. Namath, 48, who has arthritis, underwent bilateral knee replacement surgery at The Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. The operation was necessitated by advanced arthritis compounded by pro football injuries. The surgery took four hours. Namath led the New York Jets to the 1968 NFL championship, capped by an upset of the Baltimore Colts in the Super Bowl.

The Rams in the last 10 years have acquired three career-ending quarterbacks: Joe Namath, Bert Jones and Dieter Brock. If that was an experiment, it failed. It's time for them to revert to the draft for a quarterback. Dieter Brock was just handed the starting job. He didn't beat out Jeff Kemp for it. It seems John Robinson forgot the good job Kemp had done the year before. So much for loyalty. I saw Brock pass well in 2 1/2 games this year; 2 1/2 games do not make a season. LUCIANO AGUIAR Tulare

Our interview with Jack Youngblood is the latest in a series of Q&As with prominent sports figures. Jack Youngblood is 61 and still Ram tough. The Los Angeles Rams defensive lineman from the 1970s and early '80s has just released a biography, "Because It Was Sunday," a reference to Youngblood's willingness to endure whatever pain necessary to play in the NFL. The Hall of Famer famously broke a leg in the second quarter of a playoff upset of the Dallas Cowboys. Youngblood completed that game, helped the Rams shut out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 9-0, to put the Rams in their first Super Bowl in 1980, then suited up in a near-upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Broadway Joe was back on campus, finally getting a diploma to go with his football accolades. Joe Namath, who won a national championship with the Crimson Tide in 1964 but quit school before going on to become a pro football great, returned to the University of Alabama on Friday to pick up the degree he earned 42 years later. Namath completed a 30-hour program over the last five years to earn bachelor of arts degree in interdisciplinary studies.

Ask the average football fan to name the game's famous players, and the odds are pretty good that Joe Namath, though he hasn't thrown a pass since Jimmy Carter's second year in office, will be at the top of the list. If you recognize his name but don't know why you should, "Namath: A Biography" by former New York Daily News columnist Mark Kriegel will tell you what all the fuss was about.

Joe Namath, who led the New York Jets to victory in Super Bowl III, was in Los Angeles this week speaking to groups of arthritis sufferers about his battles with the disease. He has formed Joe Namath's Arthritis Huddle and travels around the country touting a drug called Mobic. Football took its toll. He can't close his hands. Ten years ago, he had both knees replaced. He has suffered torn ligaments in both shoulders and a broken wrist, ankle, ribs and cheekbone.

Dan Daly of the Washington Times, commenting on the late Johnny Unitas: "Growing up in Beaver Falls, Pa., Joe Namath idolized Unitas--so much so that friends called him 'Joey U.' Namath wore Johnny's No. 19 jersey for home games, but had to settle for No. 29 on the road because there was no 19." * More Unitas: Jamison Hemsley of the Baltimore Sun commenting on Tampa Bay's rout of the Ravens, 25-0: "On a day to remember a legend, the Ravens delivered a performance to forget."

Forget those notorious knees. Joe Namath wants to talk about his thighs. He rises slowly from his chair and gestures toward the back of his left leg. "It's a grapefruit!" he says. Or possibly a cantaloupe. Namath's hamstrings rolled up like window shades when he snapped them 30 years ago, and the repairs left a large knot in each leg. He also has new knees, bum thumbs, a bad back and a foot that tingles at night.

Heartfelt congratulations to Capital Cities Broadcasting for getting rid of the asinine clown (Joe Namath) and the incoherent babbler (O.J. Simpson) on the Monday night NFL telecasts, something ABC hadn't the sense or guts to do. Many viewers won't even be aware of this "loss" since for years we have astutely turned down the sound during the broadcasts to bypass the banalities and puerile behavior. LANNY R. MIDDINGS San Ramon

After three weeks, I'm ready to cast my vote: Dennis must go. Please, ABC, acknowledge you made a mistake hiring Dennis Miller and fix it now. Miller just doesn't work. His sarcastic, sometimes acerbic, wit; his obscure references (beyond the grasp of most MENSA members) and his over-pursuit of the joke seriously detract from the show. There are many more-qualified broadcasters or other personalities more deserving of the spot, including Matt Millen, Tim Brando, Bill Maas, Mark Malone, Merrill Hoge, Mike Patrick, Ronnie Lott and Joe Namath, to name a few. Pick one!

After three weeks, I'm ready to cast my vote: Dennis must go. Please, ABC, acknowledge you made a mistake hiring Dennis Miller and fix it now. Miller just doesn't work. His sarcastic, sometimes acerbic, wit; his obscure references (beyond the grasp of most MENSA members) and his over-pursuit of the joke seriously detract from the show. There are many more-qualified broadcasters or other personalities more deserving of the spot, including Matt Millen, Tim Brando, Bill Maas, Mark Malone, Merrill Hoge, Mike Patrick, Ronnie Lott and Joe Namath, to name a few. Pick one!

First of all, are you sitting down? Be sure who you tell this to or they'll think you've been drinking. On Sunday afternoon, the canary ate the cat. The mailman bit the police dog. The minnow chased the shark out of its waters. The missionaries swallowed the cannibals. The rowboat rammed the battleship. The mouse roared, and the lion jumped up on a chair and began to scream for help. The first thing that's going to surprise you about the Super Bowl game is the closeness of the score.