Bob Lobel: Revis and Butt-Head

 By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

How is it possible for a defensive back to hold the NFL hostage? 

How many Super Bowls did the Patriots win without Darrelle Revis? That would be three. One with, three without. Granted, a fifth would be easier with him, and we know the money is available, but you can't take chrome off a bumper if it doesn’t want to go. 

Not the first time the team has had to do stuff like this, and this is the perfect example of why the run of Belichick and Brady has been so memorable. It's so different, and so much more difficult in this world of free agency and salary caps, to maintain a team that competes year after year and actually wins four of those bad boys.  

When it's all said and done, that will be the legacy of what we have experienced. No disrespect intended, but the 49ers and Steelers had their great runs, just not under these ground rules. So be it. 

Enough of he NFL for now. Give it a rest. 

A couple of observations on some different subjects. I had the opportunity this week sit down and interview Chris Herren, one of the great basketball prospects to come out of Massachusetts, who had his career blown up by alcohol and drugs. 

Almost 40 now from Durfee High in Fall River, Chris runs theHerrenProject.org. Please look it up and see one of the outstanding motivational speakers who is bringing a message into the teeth of today's teenage drug problems so prevalent in every one of our communities.

Chris Herren today is so much more deserving of being on a pedestal than he would have been as an NBA player.  

Ironically, just 24 hours after that interview at Salem State, Herren's 30 for 30 story was on ESPN.  Since that was one of my favorite interviews, I just need to mention my other favorite also took place this year. It must be something about middle age, but the chance to sit down with Jack  Nicklaus and Barbara, his wife, for a round table at Willowbend. It was a personal career highlight. 

Even better than Bird, Ted, and Bobby Orr. 

So, now sitting next to Chris Herren, listening to his story of courage and triumph with spellbound Salem State student athletes, it was a moment to cherish. 

Being next to greatness like Nicklaus and Herren, greatness that came about in such different ways and arrived in such different packages, yet fulfilled every definition of greatness, was a gift of unreal proportions.