Someone hacked the NFL's Twitter account Tuesday morning and posted: "We regret to inform our fans that our commissioner, Roger Goodell, has passed away. He was 57. #RIP."

It caused enough of a buzz that Brian McCarthy, head of public relations for the NFL, tweeted that Goodell was "alive and well."

That wasn't the only rough spot for Goodell on the web Tuesday. He appeared on Monday at a golf tournament sponsored by former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly in upstate New York, where he had his photo taken with a New England Patriots fan who was making an obscene gesture. The fan, Jim Podanoffsky, found that he'd become a web sensation because of the photo and expressed his regrets to the New York Post.

For his part, Goodell seemed to handle things well, at least based on this tweet Tuesday afternoon: "Man, you leave the office for 1 day of golf w/ @JimKelly1212 & your own network kills you off. #harsh."

HOWARD SINKER