Now what would this be, a peace offering? I walked into my hotel room to find a large arrangement of flowers, adorned in orange and blue ribbons, with a nice note thanking me for my coverage of the Bears and hoping I enjoy my stay on South Beach.
It was signed: ''With respect and admiration, Dan Grossman.''
That would be the father of the quarterback, the maligned and irritated Rex, and when I contacted the hotel operator to make sure it wasn't some hoax, she informed me that Dan Grossman was staying in the hotel and indeed had sent me a floral bouquet. Dutifully, I sent a return note thanking Dr. Grossman, the ophthalmologist, for not knocking on my door and burning my retinas with blowtorches. After a quick check to make sure poison ivy wasn't in the batch, I reflected on an insane season in which I'd personally coined the Good Rex/Bad Rex paradox, compared his passer rating to John Belushi's ''Animal House'' grade-point average, pushed for Brian Griese on two occasions and openly questioned whether he could be trusted after the Green Bay debacle. I concluded Dan was a classy guy, assuming he wasn't tweaking me with the kind of bone-dry sarcasm that might accompany a longtime friend of Bob Knight.
