Former National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue penned a letter to the editor of the New York Times, taking issue with the characterization of his relationship with late union boss Gene Upshaw, and stating the importance of labor peace in the NFL.

"And far from having a backslapping, 'easy relationship,' Mr. Upshaw and I (and others in the NFL) had a constructive relationship that grew out of one imperative that is absent today: We both had two decades of deep experience as adversaries in a highly destructive labor-management 'war'," Tagliabue wrote.

"Mr. Upshaw was in the picket lines and other trenches when many people now involved on the union’s side were in high school or younger. Recall the 1982 players’ strike, as well as the 1987 strike that resulted in three 'replacement' games.

"Like others who have experienced a war’s destruction firsthand, Mr. Upshaw and I (and others) came to see the value of peace. An extraordinary game, coupled with reasonable revenue and cost-sharing, soon created the means to achieve it."

Here's the full text of Tagliabue's letter, and the article that prompted the former commissioner to speak.