Some Intersting Football History for Super Bowl Sunday

Here’s some interesting information I’ve come across about the history of football. I hadn’t paid much attention to football until 1972. I was a track guy, and could give you stats on lap breakdowns and distances jumped and thrown, sprint times etc. of world class track athletes. What happened in 1972 was the Miami Dolphins. A perfect season. (I lament my New England Patriots had a longer winning streak than the Dolphins, have more games in a season, but didn’t win the Big One that year.)

A perfect season. No loses and winning the Super Bowl. Here’s an interesting tidbit. The average offensive lineman for the Dolphins then was 260 pounds. The national all-star high school team average for offensive linemen is 310 pounds.  Damn.

The concussion issue is being dealt with, and I think with good results. There are, I think, 2,000 NFL players. They’re all super well compensated and have the highest quality medical care both on and off the field. There are about 3 million kids playing the game, and there are somewhere between 50,000 to 60,000 concussions a year. From various sports articles I’ve read, it seems this is being addressed, though I can’t determine effectiveness.

A little history I just learned is pretty stunning. At the beginning of the 20^th century there was a move to get the game outlawed. Players were allowed to punch each other. Fighting was pretty much allowed. Broken noses, broken arms, and in 1905 nineteen players died.

College football was a nasty business too. Didn’t know this either, but there were players called “ringers” that were professional football players that would suit up and play on college teams. Turns out Theodore Roosevelt called several football officials to the White House and told them they need to clean up their act. They did, and that pretty much launched the modern era of the game. 

We'll All Be Chicks

I bought my brother Adam Corolla’s In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks for Christmas. Hilarious stuff, and probably true.

Take the case of the NFL, the No Fun League. Growing up we played football in rain and mud, and if it weren’t the Southwest desert I lived in, would have played in sleet and snow. We grew up watching college and pro-football played in the worst conditions possible. Freezing sleet and snow, a gazillion degrees below zero, foot deep mud, and that was the game; play no matter what. Then came indoor football on fake turf. We all bemoaned that.

This past Sunday I turned on the game at 5 PM, and it was canceled due to snow. WTF!?!?!? A football game? It was expected to snow a whole 11 inches! Oh well then, lets all go home and get in our snuggles! The Minnesota Vikings can’t play in a snow storm any more? I appreciate the skill and the pain those great big guys womping on each other experience, but really, what a bunch of wimps. (I’ve done a lot of major dangerous manly stuff so I have the pedigree to call ‘em wimps, I don’t care how big their muscles are.)

Speaking of which, in addition to being ‘fraidy cats, do they know when they make all those booty shakin’ moves after a touchdown how gay they look? Just shut up gay people, you know what I mean.  

Fans in Green Bay sit in what? Screamin’ ice storms! Horizontal snow! So freakin' cold the thermometers shiver. The fans are tougher than the woosies taking to the field; and they can’t run around and keep the blood flowing.  Bud Grant, who used to coach the Vikings when the NFL had real men, didn’t let his players use hand warmers no matter how cold.  

I guess now snuggles should be part of the equipment issue. Good grief.

Hat tip for my tirade. Will Bunch article here. 

Driscoll Middle School Trick Play

How fun is this?

Tribute to George Blanda

George Blanda…I grew up watching this guy. A man’s man, a player’s player. 26 years in pro football, retiring at the age of 48. 

From Blanda’s A.P. obituary:

Blanda began his memorable run in 1970 by throwing three touchdown passes in place of an injured Daryle Lamonica in a 31-14 win over Pittsburgh on Oct. 25. The following week he kicked a 48-yard field goal in the final seconds to give the Raiders a 17-17 tie against Kansas City.

Blanda was just getting started. He threw a tying touchdown pass with 1:34 remaining and then kicked the game-winning 52-yard field goal in the final seconds the following week in a 23-20 win over Cleveland.

He followed that with a 20-yard TD pass to Fred Biletnikoff in place of Lamonica in a 24-19 victory over Denver the next week, then kicked a 16-yard field goal in the closing seconds to beat San Diego 20-17 on Nov. 22.

Passing TD's in a game: 7 (Tied with 4 others) November 19, 1961 vs. New York Titans[1]

Most seasons played: 26 (1949–58, 1960–75)

Most seasons scoring a point: 26

One of two players to play in 4 different decades: (40s, 50s, 60s, 70s) – Jeff Feagles being the other

Most PATs made (943) and attempted (959)

Most interceptions thrown, single season: 42 (1962)

Held record of most pass attempts in a single game: 68 (37 completions, vs. New York Titans on 11/1/1961) until 1994 when Drew Bledsoe had 70

Oldest person to play in an NFL game: 48 years, 109 days

First player ever to score over 2,000 points

Oldest quarterback to start a title game

3rd Fewest receiving yards in a career: – 16

Most total points accounted for (including TD passes) in a career: 3,418 (not an official stat)

Ten years with the Chicago Bears, seven seasons with the Houston Oilers, and nine-years with the Oakland Raiders. His 340-game career was the longest in league history. 

RIP 

Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburg Steelers, Portrait of Faith

We've all seen the long black hair flying out of his helmet as he crosses the field in a flash and gets his man. There may not be a better Safety in the NFL. I was astonished to learn he's a man of deep faith and religious convictions.

Polamalu is Greek Orthodox and likes monastic life. He attends several Greek Orthodox churches, Greek Orthodox monastery in Saxonburg [Nativity of the Theotokos], a monastery in Arizona, and reportedly several churches in Pittsburgh.

On spiritual struggle: "It’s the struggle of good and evil, and with that comes the struggle with greed, jealousy, materialism, sexual morality, pride, all these types of struggles that we face every day, in every second of the day."

Religious and monastic life: "For me, faith is to be simple in this way. If anybody believes in God and believes in the Holy Bible, how can you be in any grey area? I’m talking about myself here, how can “I” think one way and do another way? To me, Christianity is very black and white. Either you take it serious or you don’t take it serious at all. The monks’ example to me is that they take salvation seriously in every facet of their lives. This is a model for me as a Christian and for my family on how to live our lives."

He's inspired by Greek Orthodox monks: "They wear beards to cover their face so they're not vain; they don't have mirrors because they don't want to look at themselves from being vain; they wear black because black is humility; they seldom talk because they don't want to be proud or arrogant; they keep their eyes down because they don't want their eyes to wander; they pray constantly."

I've always been blown away by his athletic ability, but now I'm blown away by his religion, faith, wisdom and insight. Full interview here.