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PALM BEACH, Fla. — Gordon Gekko, played with the appropriate arrogance by actor Michael Douglas, made famous the line “Greed … is good” in the movie “Wall Street.” John Mara inadvertently offered up a spin on that famous movie line when he tried to dispense some wisdom this week at the NFL owners’ meetings:

“Sometimes,” Mara said, “modest is good.”

Sometimes, Mara could have added, modest is necessary.