Our old Designated Writers buddy Richard Lamb of Shreveport became friends with the family of patriarch Billy Cannon, who passed away Sunday at 80, when he lived with Billy Jr. in college at Texas A&M. He spoke for the family at Dr. Cannon’s funeral Wednesday and talked with DW for a while Thursday.

“Doc had cardiomyopathy; he had a defibrillator. I told the family that God just decided to take him. He was working right up until the end. He just retired from Angola a few months ago. He was still out working horses last week…

“Doc’s one of the neatest people I’ve ever met. So is (wife) Dot, who was a great basketball player. The first time I walked into their house was around 1980, pretty intimidated. There’s the trophy case with all Doc’s trophies in it, but Dot had plenty herself. I just love that whole family…

“I had one sports hero in my life and it’s him. The thing I’m most proud of him for is in the book: redemption. (“Billy Cannon: A Long, Long Run” by Charles N. deGravelles.) He made a mistake: a terrible mistake. But he paid for it. I went and saw him when he was in that prison in Texas. I’ve kept the letters he wrote me. Thank God people forgive us. Some people are just boneheads. ‘Well he’s an ex-con.’ They don’t even know the man…

“To me he’s what a Heisman Trophy winner is. Never talks about himself. He talks about teammates and friends and people he went to college with. And their kids. You can’t find somebody who loves kids more than him.

“In my deal at the funeral, I said that you have one momma and one daddy. Maybe you’ll have step mom or dad. Either way, you don’t like to share them. But I told the family, I thank you all for sharing your mom and dad all these years. I’ve been to football games at LSU with Billy and every 10 feet somebody wants to talk. He always stops and talks…No airs about him. Like I’ve said, one of the most wonderful guys you could ever know…”

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There are a lot of solutions that the NFL could have come up with regarding the National Anthem situation. I’m not sure the one they did come up with qualifies as a solution.

Pure and simple, this was a business decision. It was made by businessmen because it was good for business. But is it really good for the NFL as a whole? More importantly, is it really a solution?

I’m like most of the football-watching public; I don’t think it’s too much to ask everyone to display some sort of reverence when the anthem is being played. (I do think we get a little carried away over degrees of reverence, but that’s another story.)

But the new policy the owners have so triumphantly come up with states that any team personnel, including players, must “stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem” if they’re on the field at that time. The previous policy said that players “should” stand but did not make it required.

There’s no ambiguity there, right?

Despite what they will tell you about their “unanimous” vote, the owners left themselves plenty of wiggle room. What’s the fine going to be? Who pays it? Who decides what is appropriate and what is not? Some players can stay in the locker room, but is that a protest too?

But the bigger issue to me that they didn’t call in the NFLPA and ask them to be a part of the discussion. They didn’t, because they didn’t have to. It’s not a collectively bargained issue.

That doesn’t make right. When you are trying to find a solution that affects your bottom line and your workforce, it doesn’t help matters by unilaterally making a decision like this. At least make the NFLPA feel like it had a part in shaping this policy, even if it’s a small role.

You know why the NBA doesn’t have this problem? Because the owners, the players and the league got together and figured out a way to make it work. That’s a partnership. The owners own and the players play, but everyone has a stake in what’s right for the league.

The NFL should have taken the hint.