I don't know if I could put it any better than Ken Murray did on the front of this morning's Sun, or John Eisenberg on the front of the sports section. I'm not even from here (yeah, you all know where I'm from), and had I been completely detached from the impact it had on Baltimore, the announcement of Paul Tagliabue's resignation this summer as NFL commissioner still would have left me cold. But throw in the utter disrespect he showed this city, the hypocrisy in dealing with other cities, the overall legacy of franchise free-agency and his generally pompous demeanor, and it's hard to work up much of a glowing testimonial.

OK, give him the nearly 20 years without having lost a game to a labor stoppage; even that little tussle a few weeks ago over the collective bargaining agreement extension was nothing compared to what baseball, the NBA and the NHL went through. And football came back to town on his watch, whereas it had left under Pete Rozelle's watch.

But also consider this:

* Cleveland had to get jerked around in order for Baltimore to get a team  back.

* Cleveland was allowed to keep its team name, colors and history, something that never happened with Baltimore.

* Also deserted callously: Los Angeles (the second-biggest market in the country) and Houston (how do you let Texas lose a pro football team?). L.A. remains unresolved, while Houston got a team back almost immediately, as had Cleveland - again, a reward Baltimore never was offered or considered for. It's all thanks to stadium roulette, which reached its peak under Tagliabue and shows no signs of stopping. Garbage franchises with inept ownership and management get to twist the arms of cities and states for stadiums, with Super Bowls dangled before them by the distinguished commissioner as a carrot. Not to mention Detroit specifically, of course.

* Charlotte and Jacksonville got the expansion teams. No one needs to go into that story again. But Jacksonville is proving more and more every day to be a mistake, no matter how much Tagliabue would like to selfishly convince everyone it wasn't. Meanwhile, Baltimore has been a huge success in every way, even managing one of the smoother owner-transfers ever done. Which, again, highlights the fact that Tagliabue isn't exactly the type to ever admit he was wrong. We've already pointed out here that he's not always on the best of terms with the truth, at least not in public.

Sports Illustrated gave him the big-feature treatment in January; you can see an excerpt here, although the entire story is accessible only to subscribers. His putdown line about baseball is worth the price of a subscription alone, although he (rather weakly) backtracked on it in a letter to the editor in a later issue. It seems to sum his persona up pretty well.

As for the other commissioners: if David Stern resigned today, his legacy would be that he truly saved his league. Gary Bettman nearly ruined his. Bud Selig has presided over so many dizzying highs and disgraceful lows, his reputation will be all over the place.

Tagliabue's somehow has a nice glow on it. It's undeserved. Be happy that while he was in charge, you saw a full slate of games every weekend. Be justifiably angry that, here in Baltimore, you had to wait too long to see games in person.