Monday, July 29, 1996

Paul Tagliabue had considered six-game penalty for Michael Irvin

CANTON, Ohio - A six-game suspension, one game more than he eventually levied, was the maximum penalty Paul Tagliabue considered in punishing Cowboys' wide receiver Michael Irvin, the NFL commissioner revealed on Saturday.

For the first time since announcing his decision in the Irvin case last week, Tagliabue amplified and clarified his reasons for reaching a five-game verdict. Were it not for a quirk in the Cowboys' regular-season schedule - an open date on the sixth week - Tagliabue inferred that Irvin likely would have received a six-game suspension.

"I felt five (games) with a bye week at the end was the fairest to his team," the commissioner said prior to the New Orleans-Indianapolis pre-season game to climax Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. "It was appropriate to the offense he was charged with and pleaded to."

Tagliabue disagreed with critics who thought he'd been too lenient with Irvin considering the issues raised before and during 12 days of nasty trial testimony in Dallas:

-A felony cocaine possession charge to which Irvin pleaded no contest and received four years of adjudicated probation, $10,000 fine and 800 hours of community service.

-Allegations of witness tampering by Irvin.

-A secretly recorded film, reviewed by Tagliabue, where Irvin's voice was heard mocking NFL drug-testing procedures.

Further, Tagliabue's agreement with language in the court order that concluded Irvin's trial. The phrase the commissioner repeated in his suspension decree referred to a phrase that stated ... "evidence submitted substantiates defendant's guilt of the offense charged."

It was put to Tagliabue that overall reaction, even in Dallas, regarded his five-game levy as generous. He thought not.

"I don't think that is the general reaction. People have told me they thought it was just right. Four (games) is the norm. Many people have recognized that the terms of probation are far more serious than anything a private employer can do."

Tagliabue elaborated on how the sixth-week bye impacted his deliberation. Of all factors, the schedule tipped scales toward a lighter sentence. Tagliabue reminded that suspended players can't practice during their exile and so need another week or two of refinement to be combat ready.

A five-game suspension puts Irvin back in uniform during the bye week with 12 days to prepare for the next playing date on Oct. 13 against Atlanta in Texas Stadium. The commissioner reasoned that a six-game ban would punish Irvin too far beyond the length of that term.

"If I put any player out six games, plus a bye week, and in doing that, he's prevented from practicing, he's sitting down for seven weeks," Tagliabue said. "Then it becomes a seven- or seven-and-one-half-game suspension issue as a practical matter. He needs to be practicing.

"I felt it would be excessive to stretch it out to where in the seventh and eighth game he (Irvin) was still seeing only limited action."

Tagliabue was asked if anything connected with the Irvin case made him cringe in distaste. In carefully chosen words, the commissioner alluded to Irvin's arrogance: "I think you're always better off in life with a little humility. At various times along the way, I think he has gotten lots of people angry with the way he's conducted himself."

A potential charge of witness tampering against Irvin vanished with his no-contest plea. Tagliabue therefore never considered it while deliberating.

"The prosecuting attorney said it was a dead issue as far as the criminal justice system was concerned. So it was a dead issue for me," he said.

Tagliabue did consider trial transcripts and tapes that included Irvin's brag of beating NFL drug tests and his only public remarks since being suspended - an apology-laden, no-questions-answered statement at Valley Ranch earlier this month.

"The main thing I focused on," said the commissioner, a lawyer by training, "was the offense itself and the consequences as far as their impact on the league. Other things I considered extraneous."

There is room to debate whether Tagliabue acted with the wisdom of Solomon, who threatened to cut an infant in half to settle a child custody problem. Neither the Cowboys nor Irvin have a legitimate beef. Not after Tagliabue stayed his sword from delivering a maximum six-game chop.

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