I take my hat off to the great Tim Brown who has today, at nearly 38 years old, announced his retirement from the NFL. It is a great and thoughtful tradition that allows for a player to take a one day contract with his old team so that, in this case, Tim retires as an Oakland Raider and not as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer.

For 16 seasons he was the ‘heart’ of the Raiders, playing in 240 games – the most in franchise history. Drafted in 1988, he still holds most of the receiving records for the team: 1,070 catches for 14,734 yards and 99 touchdowns. I particularly enjoyed his partnership with all time great Jerry Rice in the last few years of his career.

And by all accounts, he is a bloody nice chap.