Last Wednesday, the sports pages of The New York Times had two wonderful anecdotes, one about managerial leadership, and one about the art of negotiation. In the first, by William C. Rhoden, Emerson Boozer, a star running back on the Super Bowl II-winning Jets, told a story about the key role played by the team’s owner, Sonny Werblin, in bringing the team together.
“Our core unit had played at least three to four years together,” Boozer said. “We knew each other and trusted each other.” The turning point came as a result of an off-field incident during training camp before the 1967 season. Unresolved racial tensions that had percolated for some time surfaced during an ugly episode at a bar in Peekskill, N.Y., where players congregated after practice. Boozer recalled that one of the Jets’ white players got into a dispute with [running back Matt] Snell, who is black, over the use of the pool table. “It was a ‘we want you darkies off the pool table’ kind of thing,” Boozer said. “It was from one of your teammates. Not a resident, but a teammate.”
News of the incident got back to the Jets’ owner, Sonny Werblin. The next morning, Werblin 
went to the training facility in a chauffeured limousine. He addressed the entire team, including coaches, at the evening meeting.
“He says: ‘You know, I’ve got fine thoroughbred horses down at Monmouth Park. When those horses train and do not perform well, should I fire my trainer?’ ” Boozer said. “`‘I’ve got this football club here and I’ve got two stars on this club. I’ve got Namath and Snell. The rest of you can pack your things now if what happens at that bar last night ever happens again.’ ” Werblin left the room, got back in his limo and returned to New York.
“Werblin cleaned it up instantly,” Boozer said. “There was not another incident. No more spats, no more backstabbing. Things calmed down. After that, we built a good rapport. ”
In the second article, Richard Sandomir talked about an incident of Congressional horse-trading. After the AFL and the NFL merged, the newly-expanded NFL needed an antitrust exemption to operate. The man who held the key to that exemption was House Majority Leader Hale Boggs, a Louisiana man, and his price was an NFL team in New Orleans.
“Boggs was serious enough about the deal to blow up at [NFL Commissioner Pete] Rozelle before the conference committee’s vote on the legislation, which was one of many riders to an anti-inflation bill that was expected to pass. According to MacCambridge, as Rozelle and Boggs walked to the Capitol Rotunda, Rozelle said he did not know how to thank Boggs. “What do you mean you don’t know how to thank me?” Boggs said. “New Orleans gets an immediate franchise in the N.F.L.”
Rozelle waffled ever so little, saying he would do everything he could. “Well, we can always call off the vote while you — ” Boggs said.
“It’s a deal, Congressman,” Rozelle said. “You’ll get your franchise.”
Boggs’s son, Thomas, was then a 26-year-old tax lawyer. (“Rozelle tried to hire me,” he said, to help get the legislation passed.) On Monday he described the quid pro quo. Boggs said that during a break in the committee’s hearing, “my old man was out in the hall with Rozelle, and Rozelle asked, ‘Have you done anything with our amendment?’ and my father said, ‘Have you done anything with my team?’ ”
At another point, Boggs said, Rozelle sent a note into the committee room telling the elder Boggs that he had polled N.F.L. owners and that they had “approved of New Orleans.”
“And the committee approved the exemption,” said Boggs.”