PORT ARTHUR — Jimmy Johnson will be featured this fall on the NFL Network as part of a series of one-hour documentaries titled “A Football Life” being produced by NFL Films.  After talking to one of the producers Thursday, I’m guessing Port Arthur is going to get some pretty good exposure out of the documentary. The producer wanted photos of Jimmy’s parents — C.W. and Allene — and tapes of the two Port Arthur News Homecoming Roasts honoring JJ after his national championship at Miami (1988) and his first Super Bowl title with the Cowboys (1993). What I can’t wait to see in the documentary is how Jimmy’s firing by Jerry Jones is handled, and how big a lie Jethro tells when asked about the coach who gave him credibility as an owner. No date has been set as yet for the airing . . . Jones, by the way, hasn’t taken long to show he’s in idiot form at training camp. Asked at the camp-opening news conference why he hadn’t talked to Dez Bryant in the two weeks since the receiver’s arrest on charges of assaulting his mother, Jethro’s reply was that he was “too pissed” to talk with Bryant. Now that’s the kind of leadership you want out of your CEO and general manager. Then, a couple of days later, Jones got caught up in the moment and invited fans to come watch the Cowboys kick the New York Giants tails when they meet in Arlington. Except he didn’t use the word tails. I’m guessing everybody in the Giants organization fell over laughing. Shame on the Metroplex media for being as soft as they’ve been on this clown over the years.

    In all the years I’ve been writing sports in Southeast Texas, I don’t think there’s been a more remarkable story that PN-G ex Lew Ford making it back to the major leagues two weeks shy of his 36th birthday. For a guy pretty much written off five years ago to earn — and the key word here is earn —  another opportunity after playing in Japan, Mexico and with the Independent League Long Island Ducks, is so far off the charts it doesn’t even compute. I doubt Las Vegas would even make odds on something like that. No matter how long he’s able to stick with a Baltimore team that’s in the thick of the American League wild-card chase, Lew has carved himself a special niche in Southeast Texas sports history . . . Ford, incidentally, was part of an interesting Mid-County confrontation a couple of weeks ago when he came to bat for the AAA Tidewater Tides. The guy on the mound for the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs was Nederland’s Brian Sanches, who has since been released by the Philadelphia organization and been signed by the Houston Astros. Sanches, who last crossed paths with Ford in 2002 when he was in the Kansas City organization and Ford was playing AAA ball in the Twins organization, won the latest confrontation by getting the former Indian on a second-pitch pop up . . . So what does Sanches make of Ford’s amazing ascension. “I’m really happy for him. I didn’t know Lew as well as I knew his brother Shelby, but I was always impressed with him. To be back in the majors after where he’s been says a lot about his character. Before we played Tidewater, I was telling some of our guys he was one of the best athletes to ever come out of our area. I remember being surprised that he didn’t get drafted out of high school. The thing that got my attention when we played Tidewater was that his hands are still really quick. There’s no doubt he can still play.”

    Former Port Arthuran Vincent Messina grew up in a family of Cowboys fans but has been a Green Bay Packer diehard since his uncle Jake Messina, who played for LSU, introduced him to Packer Hall of Famer Jimmy Taylor at a Tigers’ game in the 1960s. Vincent, who now lives in Beaumont, started making an annual pilgrimage to Packers games in 1989, is a member of a support group called Packer Legends and recently had his name drawn for four tickets to  festivities inducting Mike Holmgren into the Green Bay Hall of Fame. Messina took his wife, son and daughter and had the time of his life rubbing elbows with many Packer executives and all-time greats. His daughter Madelyn, who works for the San Antonio Spurs, wound up writing a terrific blog about the experience for a Packers site . . . If any PN-G fan somehow missed out on seeing or never got a DVD copy of Glory Trails — Beau Freyou’s wonderful look at 75 years of PN-G football — it can now be found on YouTube. Port Arthur News Friday Night Experience co-founder Jim Barton, who has done so much great video stuff surrounding schoolboy sports in Southeast Texas, stumbled across his Glory Trails DVD recently, decided it merited wider exposure and posted it. Easiest access is to go to www.youtube.com/legacysportsnetwork . . . Barton’s influence for Southeast Texas, by the way, is being manifested once again this year in Fox Sports Southwest’s Football Friday returning to the Golden Triangle for Memorial’s Nov. 2 game at West Brook. Last year, of course, Jim sold FSS on spotlighting the Midcounty Madness battle between Nederland and PN-G. Out of all the schoolboy games played in Texas, only 11 a year get the Fox Sports Southwest’s Football Friday spotlight. It’s pretty significant that we’ve gotten one in both years of the project.

    For the first time ever, the Associated Press is planning to do a weekly ranking of NFL teams along the lines of the college football polls. AP will use a voting panel consisting of 12 of the most knowledgeable writers and broadcasters who cover the NFL. In case you missed it, the pre-season poll was published last week. Green Bay was No. 1, followed by New England and the NY Giants. Houston was No. 6 and Dallas a surprisingly low No. 15. Though I put little stock in polls, and appreciate the fact a couple of key injuries can totally change a team’s outlook, it was shocking to see a team as talented as the Cowboys clear down at No. 15. What that tells me is that more-and-more folks are recognizing Jerry Jones is too much of a buffoon as owner/GM for his players and coaches to overcome . . . Speaking of injuries, does anybody have worse luck with them than the Texans? Losing QB Matt Schaub, WR Andre Johnson and DE/LB Mario Williams for long periods last season arguably kept the Texans from being a Super Bowl- caliber team. Now, in the first week of training camp, Johnson, LT Duane Brown and DE JJ Watt have all gone down. Those guys are only in the top five in their positions in the NFL. Fortunately, all are expected back no later than the start of the regular season. But it was close to being much worse for Brown and Watt. Dating back to Day One, this franchise has had buzzard’s luck. When will it change ? ? ? Even the Weather Channel has found a way to be a part of NFL news. With no hurricanes brewing a couple of weeks ago, the folks at the Weather Channel came up with a ranking of the “10 Worst Weather Training Camps.” Not surprisingly, Houston was No. 1. The Texans were closely followed by Miami, Tampa Bay, New Orleans and Jacksonville. In other words, the toughest combination of heat and humidity won out.

    Despite the inconsistency of the past couple of months that has sent him sliding down the money list and Fed Ex Cup points chart, Chris Stroud appears to have a better than average chance of getting into next week’s PGA Championship at the last minute. Stroud is the No. 2 alternate at the rugged Kiawah Island Ocean Course. Working in his favor is the fact spots are being held back for the winner of this week’s Bridgestone Invitational and Reno-Tahoe Open. But if those winners have already met one of the qualifying criteria, the spots go to alternates. Given the field at the Bridgestone, it’s almost a lock its winner is already in the PGA. Odds aren’t as good out of Reno, but it’s still a possibility. Either way, Chris will have to be on site in South Carolina. I’m betting he gets in . . . Congratulations are in order for Lincoln ex John Clayton on his induction this past week into the Prairie View Interscholastic League’s Hall of Honor. The 69-year-old Clayton was in coaching for over four decades, including two seasons (2005-06) as head coach at Ozen. He’s one of the really good guys in the business and has been a positive influence on several generations of kids. His son, John Jr., is currently coaching at Ozen . . . Don’t know whether this is significant or not, but ESPN has found a way to broaden the appeal of its white elephant known as the Longhorn Network. Starting Friday, 12 Southwest Region games leading up to the Little League World Series are scheduled to air over ESPN’s $15 million-a-year bloodbath which has been labeled the “Failhorn Network.” There might be some good news for ESPN on the horizon, however. Time-Warner has reportedly expressed an interest in buying a piece of the network a relative few can currently access.

    Sports editor Bob West can be e-mailed at rdwest@usa.net.