Bleacher Report - Articles by Dean Hybl

10 Reasons Baltimore Orioles Fans Can Still Be Thankful

Dean Hybl — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:38:26 -0500

Yes, the last dozen years have been particularly painful for Baltimore Orioles fans, but as we observe the Thanksgiving Holiday we still have much to be thankful for.

As an Orioles fan for 40 years, I’ve compiled a list of the 10 things I think Orioles fans can be thankful for. If you are a fan of the Orioles, I’d welcome hearing other things you think we should appreciate during this time of thankful reflection.

10. Buck Martinez —I don’t know what other Orioles fans think of Buck Martinez as a broadcaster of Baltimore games, but I hope they like and appreciate him. Personally, I think the world of him after he took 10 minutes out of his hectic schedule before a game between the Orioles and Rays in St. Petersburg this past summer to give me a personal interview. He did an amazing job giving me the rundown on the young players and key needs of the Orioles and didn’t care that I was writing for sports blogs instead of a major newspaper. For that I am most appreciative and thankful.

9. Boog Powell — My all-time favorite Oriole. I am thankful not just for the 303 home runs Boog hit for the Orioles, but also for his great personality as an advertising legend on the Lite Beer Commercials. I also am thankful for the great Boog’s Barbecue that has become a staple of Camden Yards.

8. Chuck Thompson —Most cities have a sports broadcaster from history who is most associated with that city. In Baltimore, Chuck Thompson was the voice of the Orioles and Colts long before those franchises became successful. His recognizable voice brought the action to fans for decades and he will always be considered the "Voice of the Orioles and Colts."

7. Jim Palmer —I sometimes think that the greatness of Jim Palmer has been forgotten by much of the sports world. While Orioles fans know him as the best pitcher in franchise history, because he didn’t win 300 games he often gets overlooked in the conversation of best of all-time. After his career ended, he also has been a standout broadcaster for 25 years, but again has been lost by the rest of the country. I really don’t understand why he no longer does national broadcasts considering that he is 10 times better than Tim McCarver.

6. Andy MacPhail — I know there are some Orioles fans who will be looking to run him out on a rail if the Orioles don’t start winning in the next two seasons. However, I truly believe that he has built a solid foundation for the future and it will just be a matter of time before the team starts winning. If he can sign Roy Halladay or some other pitching ace this off-season I will be even more thankful for his presence.

5. Nick Markakis, Adam Jones and Nolan Reimold —Sure the Orioles may not have ended 2009 with a winning record, but the play of these three young and talented outfielders has certainly provided hope for the future. If all three are able to harness their potential and live up to their early performances, the Orioles could end up with one of the best outfield units in baseball for years to come.

4. The Ripken Family —As a fan of a sports team, you have to be most appreciative of those who spent their entire careers striving to make your team better. Cal Ripken Jr. and Cal Ripken Sr. both did exactly that. And while Billy Ripken wasn’t quite as vital to the Orioles as his famous father and brother, he still was a solid team player for a number of years.

3. Matt Wieters and the young pitching staff —I may be looking at things with orange colored glasses, but after his performance over the final months of the 2009 season, I truly believe that Matt Wieters will be the next Joe Mauer and maybe even better than the current league MVP. Wieters has the potential to be more of a power hitter than Mauer and while he may never win a batting title, I think Wieters can be a regular .300 hitter. When combined with the many young guns the Orioles have in their pitching staff, I think the Birds could have a great pitch and catch combo for years to come.

2. Frank & Brooks Robinson —It is relatively rare in sports that two people with the same last name play for the same team at the same time, but even rarer that they were not related. However, during the glory years of the 1960s and early 1970s, the Baltimore Orioles rode the talent of future Hall of Famers Frank and Brooks Robinson to two World Series titles and four World Series appearances. The Orioles have truly been blessed to have these two super people and super athletes as representatives of their franchise.

1. Oriole Park at Camden Yards —There have been a lot of nice ballparks built since the Orioles opened the doors of Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1992, but there still is not a better baseball stadium in the league. Camden Yards was the standard barer for the modern baseball stadium and is an amazing place to watch a ball game. The Orioles may not have been the best team on the field in the last decade, but they at least play in the best stadium.

This article is an original story from Baltimore Sports Then and Now , which w as created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

10 Observations from the NFL's First 10 Weeks

Dean Hybl — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:10:44 -0500

With 10 weeks of the NFL season now in the books, here are 10 observations about what we have seen so far and what we could see over the final seven weeks of the 2009 NFL regular season.

Big Happenings in the Big Easy

The New Orleans Saints aren’t just the most explosive and exciting team in the NFL; they may also be the best team. Without question, the Saints have an offense that can put pressure on any defensive unit. Ranking in the top five in the NFL in both passing and rushing yards makes them a nightmare for defensive coordinators.

What makes the Saints particularly dangerous is that over the last three to four years they have accumulated an amazing collection of talented athletes on both sides of the ball. Their defense is ranked near the middle of the pack in most categories, but they do what they have to in big situations.

Most specifically, they don’t have one glaring weakness that can be easily exploited by opposing quarterbacks.

Drew Brees has developed into one of the 3-4 best quarterbacks in football, but the best quality for the Saints is that he does not have to do it alone. With a solid corps of runners and receivers, the Saints don’t have to rely on one player to win games for them.

It may seem very strange to say the words Saints and Super Bowl in the same sentence, but unless something dramatically changes over the last half of the season they could have a chance to punch their ticket to the Super Bowl for the first time in the 42-year history of the team.

No Tony Dungy, No Problem

Sure, the Indianapolis Colts should have lost to the New England Patriots, but the scoreboard shows that ultimately they came out on the right side of the scoreboard.

While Tony Dungy deserves his due as one of the great coaches of this generation, the reality is that Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark and Dwight Freeney are a bit more valuable to the success of the franchise than was the coach.

However, as the last weeks of the regular season unfold, the Colts could discover another missing piece is actually the most valuable of all. Without Bob Sanders, who is now out for the season, I think it will be very difficult for the Colts to win the AFC and reach the Super Bowl.

Are These Really the Bengals?

With season sweeps of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens already under their belt, it might appear to be time to start looking at the Cincinnati Bengals as a potential AFC title contender.

However, given the lackluster history of the team I have a hard time believing they aren’t going to do something down the stretch to mess it all up.

In fact, that something could be the signing of running back Larry Johnson. I know Johnson is a great talent and if Cedric Benson is hampered by injuries they will need another back. However, I think they would be better served signing an old veteran like Warrick Dunn or Edgerrin James than in signing a player who has been a malcontent and troublemaker over the last several seasons.

After years of being able to have team practices at the county jail, the Bengals have finally gotten away from that past and bringing in a player like Johnson seems to have the potential to get them back into the same old habits.

The Cowboys Are Good, but Not That Good

Losing to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field is not necessarily an indicator that the Cowboys aren’t capable of contending in the NFC. Heck, Roger Staubach lost to the Packers at Lambeau in years when the Cowboys were perennial Super Bowl contenders and the Packers were not as good as the current squad.

Dallas has shown over the last month that they can play at the level that many believe their talent warrants. Tony Romo is not quite one of the elite quarterbacks in the league, but he is very good and capable of getting hot and leading his team to victory.

If the usually potent running game can get back to normal, the Cowboys could be tough come playoff time.

Favre Made Right Choice and So Did the Packers

Even though they have not played a particularly difficult schedule and escaped with wins over the Ravens and 49ers, which could have easily been losses, you have to now consider the Minnesota Vikings as legitimate contenders in the NFC.

The addition of Brett Favre seems to be working as he is playing within himself and letting Adrian Peterson be the star. Of course, the presence of Percy Harvin and emergence of Sidney Rice as a Pro Bowl caliber player hasn’t hurt Favre’s performance.

While some may point to the success of the Vikings and say “I told you so” to the Packers, they actually are in pretty good shape with the quarterback now calling the signals. Aaron Rodgers has been nearly as good this season as Favre and they know that he will be with the team for more than one or two more years.

The reason the Packers struggled last season and are just 5-4 in 2009 isn’t Rodgers. It is the fact that the defense that was so great in their big 2007 season has been pedestrian the last two years. If they can bottle the performance against Dallas over the final seven games, then the Packers could return to the playoffs in 2009.

Vince Young: All He Does Is Win

Is it a coincidence that Vince Young has started the last three games for the Tennessee Titans and they have won each of those games after starting with six straight losses?

It is painfully obvious that Young will never be confused with Peyton Manning, Drew Brees or Tom Brady when it comes to ability as a passer. However, when he has been in the lineup during his career he has shown the ability to lead his team to victories. He is now 21-11 in games he has started for the Titans since 2006.

With Pro Bowl running back Chris Johnson averaging 6.4 yards per carry and assuming much of the offensive load, Young doesn’t need to create spectacular plays. Instead, he simply needs to make good decisions, make an occasional big play and keep from making mistakes that can cost the team.

That he has completed 65 percent of his passes since his return and been sacked only one time is a good sign that Young understands what he needs to do.

Obviously the Titans have figured something out as they have averaged 35 points per game the last three weeks.

Lots of Contenders for “Worst Team” Label

The Cleveland Browns showed in their Monday night embarrassment against the Baltimore Ravens that they deserve to be in the conversation for the worst team in the NFL.

Of course, the Detroit Lions, St. Louis Rams, Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Kansas City Chiefs all are also vying for the distinction.

What seems particularly obvious this season is that there are a lot of really bad teams in the NFL.

It used to be that half the league would finish between 7-9 and 9-7. This season is seems like half the league could finish with 10 or more losses. So far this season, 10 teams have at least six losses with four teams all boasting only a single victory.

We all know that last season the Lions set the new standard for futility, but this season they have some companions at the bottom of the pile.

Tampa Bay has shown some signs of life over the last couple weeks with rookie quarterback Josh Freeman and could see some improvement over the next seven games, but the Browns, Rams, Raiders and Chiefs have not shown much hope that they can get to respectability in the near future.

Is Chad Henne the Next Tom Brady?

Tom Brady and Chad Henne seem to have much more in common than the fact that both players are former Michigan Wolverines.

If you remember back to 2001, the Patriots seemed headed to an awful season when starter Drew Bledsoe went down with an injury and second year pro Tom Brady had to enter the lineup.

Of course, the Patriots found their legs with Brady under center and went on to win the Super Bowl.

When Chad Pennington went down, the Miami Dolphins were 0-3 and many thought they were in real trouble with an inexperienced quarterback.

Henne has been solid in place of Pennington and the Dolphins have clawed back to a 4-5 record.

After averaging 14 points per game in their first three games, the Dolphins have averaged 29 points per game in their last six contests.

Henne is not yet a superstar, but if you will recall, Brady didn’t have eye-popping stats in his first couple years, he simply made the plays when needed and made few mistakes. If Henne can duplicate that formula, the Dolphins could sneak into the playoffs this season.

Rookie Quarterbacks Are Getting Mixed Reviews

Given the early fanfare surrounding Matt Stafford and Mark Sanchez, it is kind of ironic that Josh Freeman has been the best looking of the rookie quarterbacks over the last couple games.

After a promising start, Sanchez has wilted under the pressure of leading a team that has just enough talent to frustrate their fans, but not enough to really be a contender. It will be important for him in the next couple weeks to minimize mistakes and get back to what was successful during the 3-0 start.

Stafford was sidelined for a while with a knee injury, but is now back in the lineup. He has shown some promise, but with 12 interceptions already, he is making the kind of mistakes that can be expected from a rookie. Like Sanchez, over the next few weeks, he will need to minimize mistakes and instead try to make solid decisions.

Could the Falcons Really Be Cursed?

When the Atlanta Falcons started with a 4-1 record it looked like there was little doubt that this would be the year that the Falcons registered consecutive winning seasons for the first time in team history.

However, after losing three of their last four games, the Falcons now are starting to make their quest for history a bit tenuous.

Fortunately, they have a relatively easy schedule the rest of the way with two games against Tampa Bay and games against the Jets and Bills remaining. Overall, they are 4-0 at home and still have four home games, so a nine win season still seems like a good possibility.

This article is an original story from Sports Then and Now , which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit Of The NFL

Dean Hybl — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:12:23 -0500

Like the proverbial question about the sound of a tree in the forest, I have a similar question about the NFL.

If they play an NFL game in prime time and half the people in the country can’t watch, is it still considered an NFL game?

That is my question following the game Thursday night between the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers, which was broadcast on the NFL Network.

Like many others across the country, my cable company, Bright House Network, is embroiled in a long-running disagreement with NFL Network over channel placement, pricing, and other such things that seem trivial to me, but important to television executives.

Overall, seven of the top 10 cable companies in the country do not offer NFL Network.

Considering that the NFL Network started broadcasting just over six years ago on Nov. 4, 2003, you would think these companies would have settled the disagreement by now, but unfortunately, it looks like many of us will be enduring another year of missing out on some exciting NFL matchups.

Now it is one thing not to have access to all games on a Sunday afternoon. That has been part of the NFL makeup since the very beginning and fans understand that they can only see one or two different games in their market at a time.

However, not being able to watch a “stand alone” NFL game on a Thursday or Saturday night is another animal entirely.

After all, isn’t it written in the constitution that American football fans have the inalienable right to watch prime time NFL games?

If it isn’t, then they need to make an adjustment to the constitution. After all, who really cares about being able to have a gun or freedom of speech? Freedom to watch Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and Troy Polamalu seems far more important.

Yet, unless there is some kind of miracle I will miss the opportunity to see those players and many other stars at least once over the next few weeks.

Heck, the week before Christmas those greedy SOBs are going to keep most of us from getting to watch Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and Tony Romo in the same weekend!

If both teams keep playing as they have lately, the Dec. 19 game between the New Orleans Saints, led by Brees, and the Dallas Cowboys, under the guidance of Romo, could end up rivaling the Patriots-Giants game from a couple years ago as the biggest game ever broadcast by NFL Network.

If you will recall, that game broadcast on Dec. 29, 2007 featured the New England Patriots trying to make history against the New York Giants.

After a national uproar, the NFL finally worked out a deal to have the game simulcast on NBC, CBS, and the NFL network. The game ended up being the most watched NFL game in 12 years with nearly 35 million people tuning in to see the game.

However, nearly 30 million of those folks watched the game on either CBS or NBC with the NFL Network having an audience of only 4.5 million viewers.

As a life-long NFL fan, I see this inability for the NFL to ensure that all prime time games are available to every NFL fan as a power play and sign of greed by the league.

If the league really cared about its fans, it would have ensured that all major cable providers were on-board with broadcasting the station. Instead, they reach only a portion of the national audience and no one really seems to care.

Even with a smaller audience than it would get if the game were available from coast to coast, the NFL is still getting additional exposure for their television network and a greater audience than it does the rest of the time.

Like usual, the folks with no options or recourse for getting this issue fixed are us, the NFL fans. Sure they will take our money for tickets, jerseys, and satellite television packages, but don’t go asking to actually get to see all the games. That isn’t on their radar.

So, if you happen to be in a market where the NFL Network is available, please enjoy the games for the rest of us.

The Greed Of Adidas: Sticking It To UCF And Air Jordan's Son

Dean Hybl — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:41:53 -0500

Given that his father is synonymous with the company, it is likely that Marcus Jordan had a Nike swoosh on his pacifier as a baby. Certainly, he grew up wearing shoes and clothes designed by the famous sports apparel company.

Now a freshman basketball player at the University of Central Florida (UCF), the young Jordan has become a central figure in a “shoe war” even before playing his first college game.

It seems UCF has a long-term relationship with adidas, and recently agreed on a new six-year, $3-million deal that called for all UCF athletic teams to wear adidas apparel and equipment.

Evidently, at the time Jordan was being recruited to UCF, he asked if he would be able to wear a Nike shoe endorsed by his father instead of the adidas shoes provided to the school. According to all accounts from UCF, the regional adidas representative gave approval for Marcus to wear Nike shoes during games. I’m willing to bet it was an important component of why he ultimately chose UCF.

However, within the last week came word that the national adidas management had overturned that exception and UCF was subject to having their contract revoked if Jordan didn’t wear adidas shoes.

We also have learned that adidas has previously made several exceptions for athletes (mostly kickers) who prefer Nike shoes, both at UCF and at other schools.

However, none of those athletes happened to be the son of the most recognized spokesperson for their biggest competitor.

In addition—and this may be a very key point in why this rival company is holding firm—none of those other athletes had a father who draped an American flag over his shoulder at the 1992 Olympic medal ceremony to ensure that he wasn’t photographed with a Reebok label on his chest.

Though this situation involves adidas rather than Reebok, I’m willing to bet all competitors in the apparel industry have had encounters with the senior Jordan over the years and would relish the opportunity to stick one to a ruthless businessman who always seems willing to throw sticks in the direction of others.

18-year old Marcus Jordan was suddenly put into an unfair position of having to choose between wearing the shoes he had worn his entire life and a pair provided under his school's apparel contract.

It would seem to many Marcus could have just sucked it up and laced up the adidas sneakers. However, having gone through the proper channels and received initial permission, Jordan rightfully decided to hold UCF to their verbal agreement he could wear his dad’s brand of shoe.

To their credit, UCF officials have sided with their freshman athlete, saying the choice is completely up to him regardless of the consequences for the school’s contract with Adidas.

Living here in Orlando and watching the entire saga unfold, I have been amazed by this power play by adidas.

Especially after I actually saw the shoes (see the photo at the top).

They are very nice white high top shoes with no visible Nike logo. If you didn’t know that they were Nike shoes, I don’t think most people would pay it any mind.

To make adidas seem even pettier in my mind, for the team’s first exhibition game Wednesday night, Marcus even had clearly marked adidas anklets directly above the shoes so that anyone who saw them would see the adidas logo.

It almost seemed to me like Marcus was going out of his way to say, “I’ll do whatever you want me to do to highlight Adidas, just please let me wear my dad’s shoes.”

Instead, seemingly before the game was even over, a statement was sent to the media (rather than to the school) announcing the agreement with UCF would be terminated.

Of course, the speculation here is that “Daddy” and Nike should sweep in and rescue UCF. So far that hasn’t happened, but I expect it will. Doing so would both make them the heroes and further emphasize the pettiness of adidas.

Though I don’t know all the facts, I have a hard time not siding with UCF on this entire situation.

I understand they had an agreement with adidas for their athletes to wear their apparel, but exceptions have been made previously, and in this case the exception was requested and approval given months ago.

Adidas may have been trying to send a message to their clients across the country of the importance of sticking to their agreements, but I can’t help but think that the real message they have sent is not one they will like.

It seems to me that in trying to stick one to Michael Jordan and play tough with UCF they have signaled to potential clients that adidas can’t be flexible when situations would seem to warrant flexibility.

I expect Nike, Reebok and the others will be reminding potential clients of adidas’ tough stance the next time they are battling for a contract.

As for young Marcus, I hope that this “shoe war” proves to be just a minor early skirmish and not the defining moment of his college career.

It certainly has to be tough to be the son of a legend trying to follow in his footsteps. I’m sure this is not the start Marcus would have wanted, but hopefully he will show some of the toughness that was a trademark of his father’s career.

I doubt he will ever be “Air Jordan,” but even if Marcus is only half as good as his dad, he will still be better than most.

Yankees Win, Major League Baseball Loses

Dean Hybl — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:01:10 -0500

In a decade in which greed and excess have been dominant themes in all walks of life, it may be only fitting that the final major sports championship would be claimed by the franchise that best personifies those qualities, the New York Yankees.

No team in all of sports has been as blatant or as successful in turning money into championships.

In all, the Yankees have won 27 World Series Championships since claiming their first title in 1923.

And, the Yankees have been leveraging their economic advantages since the very beginning of that run.

When New York acquired Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox in 1920, they began the practice of buying the best talent. It is a strategy that they have continued for 90 years.

While it may seem like I am bashing the Yankees, the reality is that the team is simply working within the rules of the game to give themselves the best opportunity to win.

Because of the financial resources available to the Yankees and the non-existence of league controls, they have always had the advantage over teams from other, smaller cities across the country in signing the top veteran talent to high-dollar contracts.

In the 1950s the Kansas City Athletics were considered the farm team to the Yankees. Players such as Bobby Shantz, Clete Boyer, and Roger Maris are just a small sampling of the talented players that found their way from Kansas City to New York and helped build the Yankee dynasty.

Now, the Yankees don’t just fleece the top talent from one franchise; thanks to free agency, they can out-bid the rest of the league for players from all across the league and even from foreign countries.

The 2009 Yankees are popping champagne as World Champions primarily because the team made the commitment last winter to spend $423 million to sign baseball’s three top available free agents in Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia, and AJ Burnett.

This is in addition to the nearly $300 million the franchise committed to Alex Rodriguez following the 2007 season as well as significant contracts for other superstars including Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera.

Until Major League Baseball does something to reign in this kind of spending, the Yankees will always have a competitive advantage.

Yes, other teams have tried for a season or two to “buy” a championship, but unless you have the kind of resources a team like the Yankees have to compensate for bad decisions, your chances for long-term success are minimal.

In 2005, the Yankees committed more than $50 million dollars to pitchers Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright. The duo combined to win 25 games for the Yankees ($2 million per victory) over the next four years.

For most teams, being saddled with those contracts would have set the team back for years, but the Yankees have made the playoffs in all but one season (2008) since the baseball strike of 1994.

It is the strike of 1994 that really can been seen as the event that has thrust the Yankees into a long period of prominence while sending many other franchises into periods of prolonged failure.

Originally, the agreement was to include a salary cap, but ultimately that element was not included in what was signed following the longest and most costly strike in baseball’s history.

As a result, the Yankees and other teams with consistently high payrolls have enjoyed unprecedented playoff runs while other franchises have faced unprecedented levels of failure.

Between 1950 and 1994, only four teams (1953-1962 Chicago Cubs, 1953-1967 Kansas City Athletics, 1969-78 Montreal Expos, and the 1977-1990 Seattle Mariners) registered periods of 10 or more consecutive losing seasons and two of those four were expansion teams.

Since 1994, five franchises (1993-2009 Pittsburgh Pirates, 1993-2004 Milwaukee Brewers, 1994-2005 Detroit Tigers, 1998-2007 Tampa Bay Rays, and the 1998-2009 Baltimore Orioles) have registered stretches of 10 or more consecutive seasons with a losing record.

In addition, the Kansas City Royals have had a losing record in 14 of the last 15 years (winning mark in 2004 interrupted their streak), the Cincinnati Reds recently completed their ninth straight losing season, and the Colorado Rockies have had only two winning seasons since 1997.

In addition, the lack of financial controls ultimately were a factor in the Montreal Expos, who had the best record in baseball at the time of the strike in 1994, being unable to keep some of the best talent in baseball. The franchise left Montreal for Washington D.C. in 2005, but is still struggling on the field.

While baseball as a whole has grown significantly stronger since 1994, this statistic illustrates that there are clearly places where the agreements reached in 1994 have hampered the ability to compete in an era of spiraling salaries and unbridled spending by the largest franchises.

That the Yankees are World Champions again in 2009 is just another reminder that in baseball money can buy you love (and a World Series).

College Football Weekly Review: Undefeated and Unloved

Dean Hybl — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:12:49 -0400

There is still more than a month left in the college football regular season, but it is now pretty clear that if Florida, Alabama, and Texas all win out through the regular season, the BCS Championship Game will feature the winner of the SEC title game against the Longhorns.

Of course, given that neither Florida nor Alabama looked great yesterday, and that Texas has looked vulnerable at times, there is still a pretty decent chance that at least one of those three teams could end up with a loss. If that happens, the scrum for a spot in the BCS title game could be pretty rough.

In today’s Sports Then and Now College Football Weekly Review, let’s look at the undefeated teams that are currently on the outside looking in, but who with an upset or two could be making a case for inclusion in the BCS Championship Game.

Boise State: Remember them? After making a huge national splash with a dominating victory over Oregon (see below) in the first game of the season, the team with the blue turf has slid back into national anonymity while methodically piling up points and victories. Currently 7-0, the Broncos have out-scored their opponents 283 to 102. Their 54-9 win at Hawaii was the fourth time they have scored 48 or more points so far this season.

Currently holding at the No. 4 slot in the BCS standings, the Broncos seem poised to be the first team to move up if any of the big three fall. However, they also have unquestionably the weakest schedule of any of the remaining unbeaten teams. Of their six remaining opponents, only Idaho (6-2) and Nevada (4-3) have winning records.

I think if the SEC Champion isn’t undefeated and if Texas loses, there will be a lot of pressure to put an undefeated Boise State team into the BCS title game, but I just don’t know that they have done enough to illustrate that they are one of the two best teams in college football.

Cincinnati: Even with a backup quarterback leading the way, the Bearcats continued their march toward perfection with a 41-10 win over Louisville. The Bearcats are proving this year that their run to the Orange Bowl a year ago was no fluke.

Though they have defeated only one ranked opponent (South Florida), they do have big wins at Oregon State, at Rutgers and against Fresno State. With the heart of their conference schedule still to come, including a home game against West Virginia and regular season finale at Pittsburgh, it could be tough for the Bearcats to complete the season without a blemish.

However, if they do, I believe their schedule would warrant a jump over Boise State if a spot in the BCS title game was available.

Iowa: Smoke, mirrors, and answered prayers. That seems to be what Iowa is using to hold on to their undefeated dreams.

The last-second comeback victory over Michigan State was a huge win for the Hawkeyes, but it illustrated that while they are a very good team, it is tough to really put them at the elite level.

Yes, the Hawkeyes have an impressive victory on the road over a very good Penn State team and defeated a pretty good Arizona team at home, but they also needed a last-second miracle to defeat I-AA Northern Iowa and struggled against a below average team from Arkansas State.

Iowa will need to be careful the next two weeks against Indiana and Northwestern, but should be 10-0 when they travel to Columbus to face Ohio State. If they can somehow get out of the Horseshoe with a victory and then finish undefeated against Minnesota, there will be a lot of Big Ten power-brokers putting pressure on the BCS to give the Hawkeyes a spot in the title game.

I think I’d rather see a rematch with Northern Iowa, but a 12-0 Iowa team will be hard to keep out of the mix if there is juggling at the top of the BCS rankings.

TCU: The team with the best nickname in college football became the media darlings after their impressive 38-7 win at BYU. Though currently eighth in the BCS standings (behind one-loss USC), many are calling for TCU to leap frog all the way to number four.

I don’t think I would go that far, but I do think that overall their performance, based on their level of opposition, so far has been more impressive than Boise State and certainly comparable to Cincinnati and Iowa.

TCU still has a major obstacle to overcome on Nov. 14 when they host Utah. But their challenges aren’t over there as the very next week they will play at Wyoming in what could be a "trap" game if they do get by Utah.

Even if they finish undefeated, I think TCU would have a very hard time jumping an undefeated team from the Big East or Big Ten. They also might have a tough time getting placed ahead of either Alabama or Texas if they each end up as conference champions, but have one loss.

Remember Us?

Before the college football season was even one day old, it looked as if the season was over for the Oregon Ducks. Not only did the team look lethargic in a 19-8 loss at Boise State, but they lost their best player due to an unfortunate post-game incident that brought unwanted negative attention to the Ducks.

The general consensus after that game was that Oregon could be in for a very long season.

However, slowly, but surely, they have quietly gotten back to where many people thought they could be before the season began.

They edged Purdue and Utah and then annihilated a California squad that many thought would be the class of the Pac-10. The Ducks now sit as the only undefeated team in the conference and can shockingly get themselves back in the BCS picture this week when they host seventh ranked USC.

Head coach Chip Kelly has done a remarkable job keeping his team together and getting them to the point that they control their own destiny in the Pac-10. In addition to USC the Ducks have some other tough games, but given the way the season started, to be 6-1 and ranked 11th in the country is really amazing.

Classic Rewind: Philadelphia Eagles Rally to Shock Washington Redskins

Dean Hybl — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:54:01 -0400

Each week, Sports Then and Now picks one NFL matchup and looks through the history books to find an intriguing past meeting between the two teams.

We recap the game and hopefully help reintroduce (or introduce for you younger readers) you to some of the greats (and in some cases not-so-greats) from the history of professional football.

Since their first meeting during the 1934 season when the Redskins still called Boston home, the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins have played some exciting and memorable games. As NFC East rivals, they play twice annually in games that often have playoff implications.

Until the late 1980s, it surprisingly was not common for both the Redskins and Eagles to be contenders at the same time.

When the Redskins were contending in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the Eagles were among the weaker teams in the league. By the time the Eagles became a contender in the late 1940s, the Redskins had already started a stretch in which they recorded only three winning seasons in 22 years.

Despite the struggles of the Redskins, they did give the Eagles a serious run during the 1947 season opener. In a game for the ages, Sammy Baugh connected on five touchdown passes and Eddie Saenz had a 94-yard kickoff return for the Redskins.

However, Tommy Thompson threw three touchdown passes and Steve Van Buren scored on a 95-yard kickoff return and a one-yard run as the Eagles held on for a 45-42 victory.

While the Redskins became winners in the 1970s, the Eagles struggled for much of the decade.

It wasn’t until the late 1980s, with Joe Gibbs guiding the Redskins and Buddy Ryan guiding the Eagles that both teams were at the top of their game at the same time.

Our Classic Rewind for this week looks at a memorable matchup from the second week of the 1989 season when the Eagles shocked the RFK crowd with a dramatic fourth quarter comeback.

This game has particularly special memories for me as I was serving as an intern in the Public Relations Department of the Eagles at the time and had the pleasure of observing the game from the press box.

The Matchup: Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Redskins

Series Record: The Eagles and Redskins have met on the gridiron 148 times with the Redskins holding a 78-65-5 series advantage.

The Game: Sept. 17, 1989, RFK Stadium, Washington D.C.

Team Records: Eagles 1-0, Redskins 0-1

Overview: The defending NFC Eastern Division Champion Philadelphia Eagles entered their first division game of the 1989 season with a 1-0 record after a decisive 31-7 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in the season opener.

Washington, which was coming off their only losing season in what would be a 12 years stretch that included three Super Bowl titles, was looking to rebound from a disappointing 27-24 loss to the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.

Coaches: Philadelphia – Buddy Ryan (4th year); Washington – Joe Gibbs (9th year)

Notable Eagles: Randall Cunningham (qb), Keith Byars (rb), Anthony Toney (rb), Heath Sherman (rb), Keith Jackson (te), Mike Quick (wr), Cris Carter (wr), Ron Heller (ot), Jerome Brown (dt), Reggie White (de), Clyde Simmons (de), Seth Joyner (lb), Byron Evans (lb), Al Harris (lb), Eric Allen (db), William Frizzell (db), Wes Hopkins (db), Luis Zendejas (pk)

Notable Redskins: Mark Rypien (qb), Gerald Riggs (rb), Gary Clark (wr), Art Monk (wr), Ricky Sanders (wr), Joe Jacoby (ot), Russ Grimm (og), Mark May (og), Jeff Bostic (ot), Dexter Manley (de), Charles Mann (de), Darryl Grant (dt), Wilber Marshall (lb), Darrell Green (db), Brian Davis (db), Chip Lohmiller (pk)

Interesting Notes: The Eagles entered the game having won only seven of 26 meetings played at RFK Stadium. Philadelphia had allowed 270 yards and forced three turnovers in their season opening with over Seattle.

Philadelphia quarterback Randall Cunningham’s second career start and first career win has been in Washington. The Redskins were looking to break an uncharacteristic streak of four straight home losses. They had not lost five straight at home since 1952.

The Game: The Washington Redskins didn’t take long to set the tempo, as speedy receiver Gary Clark raced past cornerback Eric Allen and took a pass from Mark Rypien in stride for an 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the game. A bad snap on the extra point kept the lead at 6-0.

A fumble by Anthony Toney on the third Philadelphia offensive play of the game was recovered by Charles Mann to give the Redskins a chance for another quick score.

They didn’t waste any time as the second offensive play for the Skins resulted in their second touchdown with Gerald Riggs breaking tackles at the line of scrimmage and then rambling 41 yards for the score. A successful conversion made the score 13-0 in favor of the Skins.

Philadelphia turned the ball over deep in their own territory on each of their next two possessions. They dodged a bullet on the first one as Rypien threw a deep pass that was picked off by Eric Allen.

However, after Brian Davis intercepted Randall Cunningham for the third Philly turnover of the quarter, Rypien tossed an 11-yard touchdown to Earnest Byner to make the score 20-0.

Philadelphia finally was able to move the ball on their next offensive possession and got on the scoreboard thanks to a 17-yard touchdown pass from Cunningham to Keith Jackson.

Washington didn’t take their foot off the pedal as they made the score 27-7 on a five-yard touchdown pass from Rypien to Clark.

The Eagles began to turn things around midway through the second half as an interception by William Frizzell gave them great field position deep in Washington territory. Anthony Toney made up for his earlier miscues by scoring on a three-yard run.

Chip Lohmiller converted a late 25-yard field goal to give Washington a 30-14 halftime advantage.

After turning the ball over on their first three possessions, the Eagles settled down and didn’t turn the ball over the remainder of the game. Conversely, turnovers became more of a factor for the Skins as they finished the game with six turnovers.

A five-yard touchdown pass from Cunningham to Jackson completed a 92-yard drive and cut the deficit to nine points. Another five-yard touchdown toss, this one to Cris Carter early in the fourth period following a Washington fumble, cut the Skins' lead to 30-28.

After another Washington turnover, the Eagles had a chance to take the lead, but Luis Zendejas missed a 33-yard field goal.

Having struggled offensively for much of the second half, the Redskins finally got things going with a scoring drive that culminated in a 43-yard touchdown pass from Rypien to Art Monk to make the score 37-28 with 3:06 remaining.

Philadelphia was able to march back down the field and cut the lead back to two points on a two-yard touchdown toss to Mike Quick in the back of the end zone with 1:48 remaining.

Rather than try an onside kick, the Eagles chose to kick away and let their defense stop the Redskins. When Gerald Riggs scampered 58 yards on the first play, it looked like the decision may not have been a good one for the Eagles.

However, a fumble by Riggs two plays later proved to be the break they needed. Al Harris picked up the fumble, but his teammate, Wes Hopkins, took it from him and raced 77 yards before Ricky Sanders tackled him out of bounds icky Sanders at the four-yard line.

Cunningham then capped his career day with his fifth touchdown pass of the game, a four-yard toss to Keith Jackson on the first play after the fumble. The score made it 42-37 with :58 remaining in the contest.

Fittingly, Washington’s final chance ended on the first play of their next possession as Jerome Brown stripped the ball from Mark Rypien, and Reggie White recovered for the sixth takeaway of the game for the Eagles.

Cunningham finished the game completing 34-of-46 passes for 447 yards and the five touchdowns. Keith Jackson caught 12 passes for 126 yards and three touchdowns.

Gerald Riggs had the best rushing game of his career with 221 yards on 29 carries, but the final attempt proved to be a costly one for the Skins.

Post Script: After the game, for some strange reason the Philadelphia Eagles bus was detoured through a number of residential neighborhoods in the area around RFK making for a few tense moments before the team headed back up I-95 toward Philadelphia.

The next week Philadelphia hosted the defending Super Bowl Champion San Francisco 49ers in a highly anticipated contest.

The Eagles raced to a 28-10 advantage before this time they became the victims of a late comeback. Joe Montana tossed four touchdown passes in the final quarter as the 49ers won 38-28.

In their rematch at Veterans Stadium on Nov. 12, the Eagles managed only three points in a 10-3 loss to the Skins.

Philadelphia finished the season with an 11-5 record and hosted the wild card round of the NFC Playoffs. They lost to the Los Angeles Rams 21-7.

Despite a 10-6 record, the Washington Redskins missed the playoffs for the second straight season.

A year later, the two teams would meet in the playoffs for the only time in the history of the rivalry. Washington won the game 20-6 and the Eagles fired head coach Buddy Ryan despite making three straight playoff appearances.

Behind quarterback Mark Rypien, the Redskins won their third Super Bowl in a decade following the 1991 season.

This article is an original story from Sports Then and Now , which w as created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

College Football Week Seven: A Win Is a Win

Dean Hybl — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 01:18:30 -0400

None of the top three teams in college football looked all that dominating this week, but they all took home the “W”, which is really all that matters.

With the first official BCS rankings coming out this week, we will get a sense of where everyone stands, but the reality is that Florida, Texas and Alabama all have their destiny in their own hands. The rankings will merely give us a better idea of which teams will step forward if any of the front-runners stumble.

A Win Is A Win

I wrote last week about whether substance or style was more important for the top college football teams.

We will find out for sure once the BCS rankings are released, but I generally believe this past weekend illustrates that ultimately substance will be the winner.

The Florida Gators looked sloppy and out of sync in their 23-20 last-second victory over Arkansas. However, they accomplished the most important thing, they got the victory.

Unlike a year ago, Florida does not have the schedule or impressive stats to ensure that they can get to the BCS Championship Game with one loss. With only one win over a top 25 team (LSU) and no more games scheduled against teams in the top 25 (I expect South Carolina will fall out after losing to Alabama), the Gators can’t bank on a victory over Alabama in the SEC Championship Game propelling them back to the BCS title game if they have stumbled down the stretch against an unranked opponent.

Conversely, I generally believe that Alabama, which has three wins over ranked teams and still has games against Tennessee, LSU and Auburn on the schedule, could conceivably lose a game in the regular season and get to the title game if they defeat Florida for the SEC Championship. However, if that does happen, it will put a bunch of other teams back in the mix and likely throw things into the hands of those dreaded computers.

Like Florida, Texas hasn’t been dominating opponents, but they have been winning games. Their 16-13 win over Oklahoma wasn’t a classic, but it was a victory and should keep them in the top three.

They still have regular season games against Missouri, Oklahoma State and Kansas remaining, so the schedule isn’t especially easy. I believe they have enough quality opponents left that they could stay in the BCS discussion with one loss.

However, because they have not been overwhelming so far, someone like USC, Iowa or (Heaven help us) Boise State could sneak past them if they lose a game.

Anyone Want To Win The Heisman Trophy?

Last year Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy both sat in the audience and watched as Sam Bradford accepted the Heisman Trophy. That trio was arguably the most impressive collection of Heisman candidates ever as all three had the kind of season that would have won the trophy in many other seasons.

After being re-injured early in the Sooners' 16-13 loss to Texas, we now know for sure that Bradford will not be back to repeat.

However, while neither McCoy or Tebow have been putting up the kind of numbers they did a year ago, they are at least continuing to win games and stay in the national consciousness.

The general consensus this past week was that if Jimmy Clausen had a huge game against USC and Notre Dame won, he would shoot to the top of the list of candidates. While the Irish didn’t win, Clausen did play well enough to at least stay in the Heisman discussion.

His candidacy could now be a little more of a long-shot, but unless McCoy or Tebow start putting up monster numbers, if Clausen keeps playing well and Notre Dame wins out, he could have a chance for the award.

Jahvid Best of California was a popular early season Heisman pick, but the meltdown by the Bears against Oregon and USC have likely sabotaged his candidacy.

Tony Pike of Cincinnati has started to emerge as a star, but he was injured against USF and his candidacy will not get off the ground if he is unable to play at a top level the next couple weeks.

Case Keenum from Houston is piling up stats and gaining momentum, but I have a very hard time believing that another quarterback from a non-BCS conference will ever win the Heisman Trophy.

If Iowa continues to win, it is conceivable that their quarterback, Ricky Stanzi, could gain some consideration, but his stats are not all that impressive and he really isn’t even the best quarterback in the Big Ten.

I know that Daryll Clark laid an egg against Iowa, but he has been outstanding the rest of the season and if the Nittany Lions beat Michigan and Ohio State and finish with one loss, I believe he at least deserves some consideration.

I have heard some discussion that this could be the year a defensive player wins the Heisman, but I really don't see that happening. Unless a defensive player from a national contender rises above the crowd (which hasn't happened so far), I don't see a defensive player getting real serious consideration.

In the end, if no “stat monster” from one of the top teams emerges and Texas and Florida stay unbeaten, Tebow and McCoy will probably both be in New York on Heisman weekend again this year and this time one of them will probably be taking home the hardware.

Is it Time To Take Iowa Seriously?

The Iowa Hawkeyes raised their record to 7-0 with a come-from-behind 20-10 victory at Wisconsin. They next travel to Michigan State for another tough game against a conference foe.

As Purdue shockingly reminded us with their win over Ohio State, winning on the road in major college football is never easy.

Michigan State is not as good as they have been in recent years, but they did defeat Michigan and have now won three games in a row.

After playing the Spartans, Iowa hosts Indiana and Northwestern before playing at Ohio State on Nov. 14 and then hosting Minnesota to close out the season.

If Iowa does somehow finish undefeated, it could throw a wrinkle in the BCS plans.

I don’t think an undefeated Iowa team that barely beat Northern Iowa and Arkansas State will get in the title game over an undefeated Texas, Florida or Alabama, but if those teams stumble, an undefeated Iowa and even an undefeated Boise State could make it awfully hard to put a pair of one loss teams in the BCS title game.

Can a Loss Be a Win?

I heard some radio programs this past week describing the biggest “win” of the Charlie Weiss era at Notre Dame as being their last second loss to USC during the 2005 season.

If that is indeed true, and I’m not really disputing that, does that mean that Notre Dame’s 34-27 loss to the Trojans this year is his second biggest “win?”

Notre Dame looked like a contender against the Trojans. True, USC bolted to a big lead and Notre Dame rallied late, but the fact that they stayed in the game and nearly sent it to overtime illustrates that Notre Dame can compete with the better teams in college football.

Now, of course, the question is whether after five seasons, these mythical “wins” are enough to keep Charlie Weiss at Notre Dame.

Eventually, Notre Dame has to win some of these big games if they want to be taken seriously again and if Weiss wants to stick around South Bend.

The Irish have six games remaining and, with the exception of Washington State and Connecticut, all are against teams pretty close in ability and record to the Irish.

If Notre Dame finishes 8-4 or 9-3, will that be enough to keep Weiss at the helm?

Weiss probably could have secured his future with a victory over the Trojans in the “biggest game of the year” for the Irish. Instead he now has six games left in this regular season and every one of them is the “biggest game of the year.”

Even at 99, John Wooden Can Still Teach Current Coaches

Dean Hybl — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:16:35 -0400

Today marks the 99th birthday of coaching legend John Wooden. Unlike some current coaching greats, Wooden knew when it was time to walk away. It is a legacy that others may want to consider emulating.

When Wooden announced following an emotional 75-74 victory over former assistant Denny Crum and the Louisville Cardinals in the semifinals of the 1975 NCAA Tournament that the upcoming championship game would be his last on the bench, it caught most people by surprise.

But, sure enough, after the Bruins defeated Kentucky for their 10th title in 12 years, Wooden walked away with his legacy secure.

In the ensuing 34 years, the legend of the “Wizard of Westwood” has grown in stature as no coach has come close to matching Wooden’s amazing resumé of success.

At the time of his retirement, most Americans retired at age 65, so even though Wooden was obviously still at the top of his game, his departure mirrored the culture of his time. Plus, considering that he reportedly never earned more than $35,000 while coaching at UCLA, Wooden likely made significantly more money following his retirement than he ever did on the court.

That is in stark contrast to the coaches of today, who are inundated with such luxurious contracts and other perks that walking away at any age is increasingly difficult.

Not to say that I think either Joe Paterno or Bobby Bowden, two coaching legends currently confronting the issue of mortality, are coaching for the money. Instead, I truly believe that they are hanging on because of their love for the game and desire to keep doing what they have done their entire adult lives for as long as possible.

In some respects, the situation of Bowden and Paterno is no different than that of players like Brett Favre and Junior Seau, who struggle to walk away from their playing careers despite having reached an age when most players retire.

Of course, in all cases, it ultimately is about performance. In Favre’s case, he is illustrating that he still has what it takes to compete. Seau has demonstrated in recent years that he still has some of the ability that made him a superstar.

Many supporters of Bowden and Paterno argue that they have done so much for their respective universities that they deserve to coach as long as they desire, regardless what happens to the team they assembled.

In Paterno’s case, the cries for his retirement, which raged earlier this decade when the Nittany Lions went 26-33 over a five year stretch, have quieted significantly as the Nittany Lions have gone 45-12 over the last five years.

At Florida State, the situation is growing uglier by the day as Bowden continues to dig in his heels while calls for his head from some former loyalists grows louder.

Bowden has not had a losing season at FSU since his first year at the helm in 1976, but the Seminoles may be headed to that result in 2009 with a 2-4 record. Despite defeating BYU when they were in the top 10, the Seminoles have suffered embarrassing losses to South Florida and Boston College and had to score twice in the final minute to defeat Jacksonville State.

Knowing when to walk away has long been a challenge for coaches. Both Bill Walsh and Dick Vermeil retired following emotionally draining Super Bowl runs only to soon regret their decision.

Following his third Super Bowl title with the San Francisco 49ers, Walsh left a 49ers team that would repeat as champion the following season. After a short-lived career as a broadcaster, Walsh returned to the sidelines as the head coach at Stanford only to again retire after just three seasons.

Having finally reached the top with the St. Louis Rams, Vermeil felt the pressure to retire and left a team that would make another Super Bowl appearance two years later. He returned to coach five years with the Kansas City Chiefs, but made only one playoff appearance during his tenure.

In college football where Bowden and Paterno both have become iconic campus figures, the balance between loyalty to the coach and loyalty to the school and football program is a fine line.

Certainly, no fan of the Nittany Lions or Seminoles wants to see their team fall short on the field, but the question that really has no easy answer is whether coaches have “earned” the right to decide when they will walk away, rather than having performance on the field dictate the decision.

In today’s multi-million dollar world of college athletics there isn’t as much room for sentimentality as there may have once been.

I’m not advocating that Paterno and Bowden should have followed the path of Wooden and retired at the age of 65. However, here’s hoping that they both have retired by the time they turn 99.

This article is an original story from Sports Then and Now, which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

College Football Week In Review: Style Or Substance?

Dean Hybl — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:41:45 -0400

After weeks of positioning, this was the week where the real contenders and pretenders started to weed themselves out. With a number of big games between contenders over the next few weeks, you can see the national championship picture starting to clear itself up as we head toward November.

Is it about style, substance, or both?

It was very interesting to watch the different ways the top three teams in the college football rankings earned their victories this weekend.

The top-ranked defending champion Florida Gators were very methodical and workman-like in their victory at LSU. Even though we all know LSU is a dangerous team and playing a night game in Baton Rouge is usually a huge advantage for the home team, the Gators never really seemed to be in danger of losing that game.

Their 13-3 victory might have been perfectly fine in the NFL, where it is all about wins, losses, and moving on towards the playoffs and Super Bowl. But in college football many take such a low-scoring win as a sign of weakness.

If you want to be considered the best team in college football, you can’t just defeat a top five team on the road while holding them to just a field goal—you have to win with style. You have to score a bunch of points and make it clear that you aren’t simply better than the other team. You have to show that you are dominant over them.

For that reason, many are now saying that Alabama, which won 22-3 at one-time top five Mississippi, may be the best team in the SEC.

To be fair, I would argue Alabama’s resume so far this season is a little more impressive than Florida's. They soundly defeated a top-10 Virginia Tech team in the season opener, and have proceeded to win each of their next five games by at least 18 points.

Florida, on the other hand, had not faced a ranked team before the win over LSU. They were also less than dominating in their other marquee matchup so far this season, when they defeated Tennessee 23-13 in a game that many had expected them to “teach a lesson” to upstart coach Lane Kiffin.

However, because Florida is the defending champion and overwhelming preseason No. 1 team, there is some legitimacy to the argument that they deserve to keep their top ranking until someone takes it from them on the field.

Especially considering that quarterback Tim Tebow played the LSU game just hours after being medically cleared following a concussion. You have to expect that the Gators will get back to their old dominant selves soon.

What could hurt Florida is now that Georgia and Florida State now out of the Top 25, Florida has only one game remaining against a ranked team. And, given that they play at Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas before hosting the Gators, it is possible that South Carolina won’t be ranked when they play on Nov. 14.

Conversely, Alabama not only hosts South Carolina, but they also still have games against Tennessee, LSU and Auburn. If they are able to run the table, it will be hard to argue against them as the top team in the nation come the end of November.

Fortunately for Florida, even if they do fall behind Alabama in the polls, they will still get a chance to show their stuff head-to-head in the SEC title game, where the only thing that will really matter is which team scores the most points.

Last season, winning a head-to-head matchup against their top rivals didn’t ensure a trip to the national title game (or even the conference title game) for Texas, but this time around they seem positioned to earn a spot if they are able to finish without a blemish.

As with Florida, there have been some critics who argue that the Longhorns have not looked dominant so far this season. They have yet to face a Top 25 opponent, and had a tougher time than many expected against Texas Tech and Colorado.

However, with their next three games against Top 25 opponents—including their traditional Red River rivalry game with Oklahoma next Saturday—they can quickly prove to critics that they belong.

Style remains a big part of the conversation at this time of the year and will certainly shape the polls in the coming weeks. But when it comes to the end of the season, what will ultimately matter is whether you won the games—not necessarily how you looked doing it.

Weekend of Big Games

It is hard not to look ahead with great expectation to the schedule of games coming up next Saturday (Oct. 17). There is a plethora of exciting matchups between classic rivals and teams vying for a place in the national title game.

Though the Red River Shootout has lost a little luster due to the losses by Oklahoma, you can still guarantee that both the Sooners and Longhorns will be ready for a battle.

I usually have a hard time getting excited about the ESPN Thursday night game, but this week could be a good one. The matchup in Tampa between a pair of undefeated squads, Cincinnati and South Florida, will help shape the course of the season for the Big East.

Cincinnati is ranked in the top 10 and appears destined to repeat as Big East champions, but South Florida has “trapped” more than one previous top Big East team at home on a Thursday night. The Bearcats will still have to defeat West Virginia, Louisville, Illinois, and Pittsburgh, but if they can get past the Bulls, they could be on their way to a spot in a BCS Bowl.

USC has been the poster child for “style over substance” in recent years as they annually run up big victories but inevitably suffer one loss that keeps them out of the national championship game.

They have already suffered that loss for this season, so now they must rebuild their reputation with some big victories. Traveling to South Bend and taking out an improved Notre Dame team might help USC position themselves for a shot at the national title if the current top teams falter.

On the other hand, Notre Dame is looking toward this game as a chance to regain some national luster. Quarterback Jimmy Clausen has been outstanding so far, but it has been a long time since Notre Dame was able to legitimately compete against a national championship-caliber opponent. The rest of the Fighting Irish must prove that they are up to the task.

This article is an original story from Sports Then and Now, which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

Greats of Baltimore Orioles History: Bob Boyd

Dean Hybl — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:19:34 -0400

The Baltimore Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Week is the first in a long line of great first basemen for the Baltimore Orioles.

The first player in the modern history of the Baltimore Orioles to hit over .300 in a season, Bob Boyd was a solid line-drive hitter and defensive standout.

A member of the Memphis Red Sox in the Negro Leagues from 1947-1949, Boyd became the first black player to sign with the Chicago White Sox in 1950 and made his major league debut in 1951 at the age of 31.

He joined the Orioles in 1956 and in his first season with the Orioles played in 70 games and hit .311.

Unlike some of the great first basemen that would follow him in Baltimore, Boyd was not known as a power hitter. Nicknamed “Rope” for his line drive hitting, Boyd had only 19 major league home runs. A great contact hitter, he struck out only 114 times in his career.

In 1957, at the age of 37, Boyd finished fourth in the American League with a .318 batting average and was 16th in the American League MVP voting. He had a career-high 154 base hits with 16 doubles, eight triples, four home runs and 34 RBI.

Boyd again eclipsed the .300 mark in 1958 with a .309 average while registering career-highs of 21 doubles and seven home runs. His average dipped to .265 in 1959, but he did register a career-high 41 RBI in his final year as the regular first baseman for the Orioles.

In 1960, the Orioles brought in Jim Gentile as the regular first baseman and the 40-year-old Boyd was relegated to part-time duty. He did, however, hit .317 in 82 at-bats.

Boyd last played in the majors in 1961, ironically splitting the season between two teams that would be moving from their respective cities before the end of the decade, the Kansas City Athletics and Milwaukee Braves.

He did, however, continue playing at the minor league level. In 1962, at the age of 42, he hit .326 with 42 RBI while splitting his season between Louisville and Oklahoma City at the AAA level. The following year, the 43-year-old hit .294 with 29 doubles and 48 RBI while splitting his season between AA San Antonio and AAA Oklahoma City in the Houston organization.

During his five seasons with the Orioles, Boyd hit .301 with 16 home runs and 131 RBI. His career average in the major leagues was .293 with 19 home runs and 175 RBI.

He passed away in 2004 at the age of 84.

Each week, you can help decide which former sports great is recognized as the Baltimore Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Week by nominating your favorite athletes from the past.

Byron Thomas nominated Bob Boyd to be this week’s pick. If you would like one of your favorites of the past to be honored as the Baltimore Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Week, please send me you nomination by e-mail.

Junior Seau: Hard To Say Goodbye

Dean Hybl — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:30:00 -0400

Word came out earlier this week that Junior Seau is still interested in playing in the NFL again and now it looks like Bill Belichick and the Patriots may be interested in adding the 40-year linebacker to shore up their depleted defense.

It sure seems like Seau has retired more times than Brett Favre. Yet every year he ends up back on the field at some point. Last year he played four games for the Patriots late in the season.

Much has been written about how professional athletes, especially Hall of Fame caliber players like Seau and Favre, need to know when it is time to quit and ride off gracefully into the sunset.

However, given the competitive drive that made these guys stand out above the rest, it is hard to ask them to suddenly turn that off just because they have reached a certain age.

Sports is just about the only profession that I know of where you are at your peak in your early to mid 20s and then tossed out like yesterday’s garbage by the time you get to your middle to late 30s.

In all other businesses, kids in their 20s are still sitting in cubicles and getting coffee waiting for a chance to show their stuff. It typically isn’t until you reach your 30s and 40s that opportunities for top management positions and higher salaries appear.

In sports it is the exact opposite, which makes it hard for many greats to say goodbye.

It also makes it all the more peculiar when someone with the same kind of athletic greatness as Favre and Seau walks away so early and never looks back.

I was working earlier this week on my Sports Then and Now Classic Rewind for this week. The game I selected was the 1997 meeting between the Packers and Vikings where Favre threw five touchdown passes.

Also starring in that game was Robert Smith as a running back for the Vikings. He gained 132 yards and scored a touchdown.

In 2000, at 28-years of age and the height of his career, Smith spurned the opportunity for a lucrative contract and retired to pursue a career in medicine. He has since become a semi-regular face at ESPN as a football analyst.

Smith was a great NFL running back (6,818 career yards, 1,512 in his final season) and had he played another 4-5 years may have earned a spot in the Hall of Fame. But, unlike Favre, Seau and some others who played until they had to tear the uniform off them, Smith always saw football as a means to an end and not as his final calling. He had done all he felt he could do in football and left before he endured any permanent physical injuries.

Of course, another example of a player with amazing ability that just walked away was Barry Sanders. My colleague Joe Gill wrote a great piece about Sanders a couple weeks ago that reminds us of his greatness.

Many long-time fans will also recall that Jim Brown left the NFL at the peak of his career, but I think his situation was a little different.

Brown played before NFL players were making life-changing money and recognized that in the long run he could probably make more money as an actor than as a football player. He ended up having a B movie career, but because he left football while still at his top form is always remembered for his greatness and not for being carted off the field after taking one too many hits.

Though not a football player, this week (October 2, 1980) marks the 29th anniversary of when Muhammad Ali took a horrific beating for 11 rounds from Larry Holmes.

While Ali had so many fights that it is hard to say that one specific fight triggered the condition that he has struggled with for the last 20 years, most who know Ali say that he was never quite the same after that fight.

Ali couldn’t quit and evidently neither can Seau. Let’s just hope that if Seau does come back that he eventually is still physically able to walk away.

This article is an original story from Sports Then and Now, which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

College Football Week Five: Returning The Fight To The Fighting Irish

Dean Hybl — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:07:45 -0400

It was another interesting weekend of college football as several ranked teams received unexpected challenges while a couple teams solidified their place in the rankings.

Putting the Fight Back in the Fighting Irish

I’m not ready to call the 2009 Notre Dame Fighting Irish a good team, but they are definitely entertaining.

Now 4-1 following a 37-30 overtime victory over the University of Washington, the last four games for the Irish have been decided by a total of 17 points with all of them going down to the wire.

Except for in the 38-34 loss to Michigan when the Wolverines scored in the final seconds to pull out the win, Notre Dame has been able to make big plays when it counts.

That is a far cry from a year ago when Notre Dame finished 7-6 and seemed to always fall just short in crunch time.

I’m sure that the legions of Notre Dame faithful across the country are ready to claim the return of the “Golden Dome Aura”, and I suspect the Irish will probably inch back into the top 25 this week.

But Charlie Weis has fooled us before. Just last season Notre Dame also started 4-1 before losing five of their next seven games to stumble into the Hawaii Bowl with a 6-6 record.

The Fighting Irish seem to have a much more consistent offense than a year ago as they have scored more than 30 points four times and scored 24 points in the fifth. A year ago they had five games with more than 30 points, but also were held in single digits three times, including a shutout loss at Boston College.

In his third season as the quarterback, Jimmy Clausen has emerged as a dark horse Heisman candidate. He is completing 65 percent of his pass attempts and thrown 10 touchdown passes with just one interception.

It won’t be long before we learn whether Notre Dame is a legitimate top 25 team.

After a bye week, they will host USC in what could prove to be the most significant game in the tenure of Charlie Weis as coach of the Irish.

USC is still very good, but they are not the offensive and defensive juggernaut that they have been in recent years. If Clausen can continue his magical season, the Irish could pull out the victory and re-emerge as a national championship contender.

After USC, the Fighting Irish don’t play another game against a top 25 team and could very easily roll through the rest of their schedule without another loss.

If that did happen, then instead of questions about whether Charlie Weis will keep his job for another year, the questions would shift to whether Notre Dame deserved a shot at the national title.

However, if the Irish struggle against USC, it could be much harder to run the table and then Weis may have his neck back in the noose.

I’m really not sure if Notre Dame can beat USC, but no matter what happens, you can bet they will be fun to watch.

LSU Hangs on to Set Up Meeting With Florida

The Florida Gators and LSU Tigers have claimed the last three BCS National titles. Both teams will be undefeated when they meet in Baton Rogue next Saturday.

LSU scored a late touchdown to overcome Georgia 20-13 in Athens. It wasn’t a pretty game, but the Tigers made the plays they needed down the stretch to win the game.

They now host a Florida team that got a much-needed week off.

With Tim Tebow trying to recover from the concussion he suffered against Kentucky last Saturday, the Gators enter this game seemingly a little vulnerable. LSU is always tough, but if Tebow isn’t 100%, the Tigers will certainly be ready to pounce.

The winner of this game will certainly be near the top of the rankings when the first BCS polls are released later this month.

So Much For the Sooners

Just when it looked like the Oklahoma Sooners would right the ship and be back in the top 10 in time for the annual meeting with Texas on October 17, the Sooners suffered a second loss in just four games.

The 21-20 defeat at Miami is certainly a “better” loss than the loss earlier this season to BYU, but it is nonetheless a loss to a team the Sooners would have been expected to defeat easily had Sam Bradford been in the lineup.

Oklahoma will likely defeat Baylor next week, but the Texas game is now an even more significant game for the Sooners. With two losses, any chances of making the national title game are now just about over, but if they can win the conference title they can still get into a BCS Bowl.

A loss to Texas would end any hope of that happening.

You have to give Miami credit. After being embarrassed last week at Virginia Tech, they overcame an early 10-0 deficit to pull out the one-point victory. Sophomore quarterback Jacory Harris is becoming a big-time quarterback right before our eyes and the Hurricane defense is finally looking like the unit that dominated college football for so many years.

This article is an original story from Sports Then and Now, which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

Dave Trembley Retained By Baltimore Orioles For 2010

Dean Hybl — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:34:22 -0400

At first reaction, the announcement on Friday that the Baltimore Orioles have retained the services of manager Dave Trembley for the 2010 season seems like a head-scratcher.

After all, typically in professional sports the fate of a manager is judged by wins and losses, and in that area Trembley has failed miserably. Since Trembley became manager of the O’s midway through the 2007 season he has posted a 169-244 record and the team’s winning percentage has declined each season.

But, managing the Baltimore Orioles the last couple years as the team looks to build for the long haul has not been your typical job.

“When we embarked on this process, we made a commitment to our system to get as much young talent in there as we could,” said team president Andy MacPhail. “We knew when we made the trades that we made it would be a short term pain for us.

“While the win-loss record is obviously important, Dave’s primary job was to get as many talented young kids up here and have them grow and develop as major leaguers. In our judgment he did that. He absolutely did those things that were important.”

The Orioles took another September swoon in 2009 and seemingly squashed some of the positive energy that had been built over the first five months of the season when a series of young players made their debuts and illustrated the potential to produce at the major league level.

The late struggles led to speculation that Trembley’s days in the dugout were numbered.

However, to hear MacPhail explain it, whether Trembley would be retained had almost nothing to do with how the overall team performed on the field.

Instead, MacPhail was looking to ensure that the young players were properly nurtured and growing as players.

In that manner, Trembley does seem to deserve a passing grade.

You need look no further than Matt Wieters and Nolan Reimold to see the growth among the youngsters.

Despite being given the dual assignment of having to learn how to hit at the major league level at the same time he had to learn call a game and catch at that level, Wieters has thrived.

After hitting near .250 in his first month, Wieters has shown steady improvement over the final three months of the season. He hit .362 in September with three home runs and 14 RBI.

For the season, he is now hitting over .290 with nine home runs and 43 RBI. He has also developed behind the plate to become a solid defensive catcher.

Nolan Reimold’s improvement has not been quite so dramatic statistically. He started strong and has withstood some slow periods to have an excellent first major league season.

Reimold is hitting .279 with 15 home runs and 45 RBI in 104 games. He combines with Adam Jones and Nick Markakis to give the Orioles an outfield that could rival the best units in the majors a year from now.

Given that the Orioles are nearing 100 losses and haven’t had a winning record since 1997, it would have been very easy for MacPhail to take some of the heat off himself by jettisoning Trembley and bringing in a new manager to try to lead the team in 2010.

But, to his credit, MacPhail is committed to building the franchise the right way and isn’t putting blame on Trembley for the poor record. In fact, he seems to see the record as more of an annoyance than something that should be used to judge the improvement of the team.

“Dave’s primary task these first two seasons was to create an environment to nurture and develop as many young talented players as he could,” MacPhail said.

However, MacPhail did signal that the days of focusing on nurturing instead of managing were coming to a close.

“Next year the focus shifts a little bit. He [Trembley] will be judged more on the traditional basis of wins and losses. It’s time for us to make some significant movement upwards in the standings.

When I first heard the news, my initial reaction was to roll my eyes and think “same old Orioles.”

However, after hearing McPhail’s explanation, I actually felt a renewed sense of pride in the team for which I have been unconditionally supportive for nearly four decades.

Most teams would have made Trembley the martyr and made a showy managerial change just to give the impression that they were doing something.

MacPhail, instead, is showing loyalty to an employee who did the job he was asked to do and is giving Trembley the chance to reap what he has sown.

Let’s hope he comes back next season with a huge basket full of wins.

This article is an original story from Baltimore Sports Then and Now, which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

College Football Week 4 Review: Revivals Are Short Lived

Dean Hybl — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:10:11 -0400

One of the early themes of the 2009 college football season has been the revivals demonstrated by a number of programs that had struggled in recent years, but gave indications early in this season that they were ready for a return to prominence.

Some, like Florida State, Miami and Michigan were looking to return to their one-time place among the national elite while others, including California, Mississippi and North Carolina, seemed poised to enter the national championship conversation for the first time in generations.

Well, I guess revivals aren’t what they used to be. Many of those teams were soundly defeated, some by lesser competition, and all struggled on the last weekend of September.

The poster child early this season for the theme of returning to prominence has been the University of Miami. Following impressive victories over Florida State and Georgia Tech, many well-respected national college football “experts” were gushing over how the “U” was back in the national picture. In fact, they went from being unranked at the start of the season to ranked 9th nationally after just two games.

As I wrote earlier this month, we would learn whether the Hurricanes were contenders or pretenders during their stretch of games against Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma.

Well, they passed the test against Georgia Tech, but failed miserably against the Hokies in a 31-7 thrashing. Next week they host an Oklahoma team that is at the very least as good as Virginia Tech and likely significantly stronger.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Randy Shannon is a good coach and will be successful at Miami, but they are the epitome of a program still living on past reputation. Had someone like the University of Virginia, Clemson or Boston College opened the season with wins over Florida State and Georgia Tech after being unranked to start the year they probably would have cracked the top 25, but definitely not the top 10.

In many ways, Florida State has been living off their reputation for years and this season seems to be no different. After losing a close game to Miami, the Seminoles had to score two touchdowns in the final minute to defeat Division I-AA Jacksonville State at home.

Yet, after an impressive win on the road at Brigham Young, the Seminoles jumped from unranked to 18th in the polls. Granted, FSU looked very good in beating a BYU team that many thought might be a BCS contender, but again a team with a lesser national reputation would not have made such a move so quickly.

The Seminoles again proved that word of their revival was a bit premature as they were embarrassed Saturday at home by a South Florida team that was playing their first game without their senior team leader and starting quarterback.

With Matt Grothe out for the year with a knee injury, many expected the Seminoles to easily win at home. The top columnist for the Orlando Sentinel even went as far as to predict that FSU would win by 30 points.

Not only did the Seminoles score only seven points in a 17-7 loss, but the quarterback who led the charge, red-shirt freshman B.J. Daniels, was a local product from the Tallahassee area that had not been seriously recruited by his hometown team.

In the case of both FSU and Miami, it seems like the media is so anxious to get them back on “the map” that anytime they make a little progress, the success is overblown.

I can pretty much guarantee that regardless of their performances against Jacksonville State and USF, if Florida State wins their next three games against Boston College, Georgia Tech and North Carolina you will see them back in the top 20. Same can be said for Miami, who will probably still be in the top 20 when they face Oklahoma next week.

Surprisingly, while FSU and Miami made quick entries into the polls, it has been a little harder for Michigan to gain the support of the national media. Despite winning their first three games, including a dramatic win over Notre Dame, the Wolverines were ranked only 23rd.

In reality, that ranking probably was much closer to accurate than the higher rankings bestowed on FSU and Miami.

Hosting Indiana, a school not generally recognized for their football prominence, the Wolverines struggled, but held on for a 36-33 victory.

With road games at Michigan State and Iowa in the next two weeks, we should get an idea soon as to whether Michigan is deserving of any ranking.

While fans of FSU, Miami and Michigan are all accustomed to high rankings, being considered in the conversation for the BCS bowls is new territory for California, Mississippi and North Carolina.

Both California and Mississippi began the season as popular dark-horse candidates to win their conference and contend for a national title and North Carolina was starting to emerge as one after some early season wins.

However, all three came tumbling back to earth before the season even hit October.

California’s 42-3 pummeling by Oregon was the most surprising as it was just three weeks ago that the Ducks looked like their season had been stymied before it had a chance to start. Oregon lost to Boise State in their season opener and lost their best offensive player for the season due to a suspension following an incident at the end of the game.

Instead, the Ducks have revived their season while it is clear that the Golden Bears were not worthy of the number six ranking.

Similarly, Mississippi was anointed as an early season top five team despite not really doing anything on the field that was worthy of such a lofty appointment.

Steve Spurrier and the South Carolina Gamecocks exposed the Rebels in a 16-10 victory that will certainly end any hope Ole Miss had of earning a spot in the national championship game.

Under the guidance of former Miami head coach Butch Davis, North Carolina also has become a popular pick by some as a team that could win the ACC and gain a spot in a BCS bowl.

The ACC has been under-whelming against non-conference opponents so far this season, which seemed to work in favor of Davis and the Tar Heels. However, a 24-7 loss to Georgia Tech will probably knock them out of the top 25 and make it more difficult for them to claim the conference title.

There have been many debates and arguments as to whether polls and rankings during the first month of the season really provide insight into which teams are the best in college football.

Given that at least one top five team has now lost in each of the first four weeks of the season and four top 10 teams fell this week, it seems apparent that early season rankings don’t really hold much water. It stands as a good reminder that in college football it isn’t about where you start, it’s about where you finish.

So, while these early season revivals have been exciting to watch, it is the late season revivals that will really have meaning as we reach the heart of the college football season.

This article is an original story from Sports Then and Now, which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

Can The Sports World Control Twitter?

Dean Hybl — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:50:23 -0400

It was about a year ago that I first learned about Twitter and started my own personal Twitter account (dhprguy). At the time I was working for a public relations firm and it was pretty obvious that gaining an understanding of the power of social networks was essential for people in the public relations field.

As a networking tool, I’m still not sold on Twitter. Most of the people that follow you and that you follow on Twitter are complete strangers and interactions seem to be a bit forced and trivial.

When you are following thousands of people, as many people do, and have thousands following you, I don’t see how you can expect to have a meaningful conversation or personal engagement with someone.

However, as a tool for disseminating information there is no question that Twitter has a ton of power.

Many companies are using Twitter to inform customers and potential customers about their products. It also is a great place for bloggers like myself to announce our latest post or share a great site or blog that we saw somewhere else on the web.

Many celebrities have figured out that putting something on Twitter before formally announcing it to the media helps ensure that the points they want to make can be told (140 characters at a time).

When Paula Abdul announced that she was leaving American Idol she didn’t do it on The Oprah Winfrey Show or in People Magazine, she announced it on Twitter.

Twitter has also been where coaching changes, roster cuts and player moves have been shared by players with the general public before the media could get their hands on the information.

Of course, this ability to release information without a formal media announcement has ticked off the media and makes them skeptical of Twitter and other social Media outlets.

For a while, ESPN seemed to be encouraging their personalities to create a presence on Twitter, but once they realized that Twitter was much harder to control than TV or radio they began putting restrictions on how ESPN employees could use Twitter.

One flaw with Twitter is that it is very hard to verify the true identity of the user.

My Sports Then and Now account (sportsthen_now) is currently being followed by someone claiming to be NHL President Gary Bettman (Gary_Bettman). However, since most of the posts seem to be making fun of Bettman and the NHL, I am pretty sure that it is not really the NHL boss.

For a while, someone was posting as Shaquille O’Neal. Once Shaq heard about it, he began his own Twitter account (THE_REAL_SHAQ) and has nearly 2.3 million followers.

The NFL seems to be terrified of the power of Twitter.

Of course I think that much like ESPN, the NFL is terrified of anything it can’t tightly control, so it should be no surprise that Twitter has quickly gained the attention of Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Using Twitter was originally banned for players and team personnel before a game and during halftime, but after players such as Chad Ochocinco (OGOchoCinco) were starting to tweet almost instantaneously with the conclusion of the game and before talking with the media, they quickly extended the ban until after players completed formal media interviews.

After the actions this past weekend of rookie Washington Redskins linebacker Robert Henson the NFL might think about trying to ban Twitter use by players from the time they sign a contract until the time they are eligible for Canton.

After the Redskins were booed by frustrated fans during their lackluster performance in a 9-7 victory over the St. Louis Rams, Henson posted the following on his Twitter page:

"All you fake half hearted Skins fan can..I won’t go there but I dislike you very strongly, don’t come to Fed Ex to boo dim wits!!"

The sixth round pick out of TCU also wrote: "The question is who are you to say you know what’s best for the team and you work 9 to 5 at Mcdonalds."

Now I know that being booed by their home fans is frustrating for athletes, but in today’s world where athletes are pampered beyond belief, they need to suck it up, especially in situations like this where it is deserved.

After all, there is historically no more loyal fan base than Washington Redskins fans and over the last 15 years they have had to withstand escalating ticket prices at the same time the results on the field have declined.

The Redskins did win their game over the Rams, but the performance was anything but stellar. Besides, the Rams won two games a year ago. If the Skins can’t beat them by more than two points in their home opener, they deserve to be booed.

The problem with all social media is that it is instantaneous. The moment you press “send,” whatever you have written is out in cyberspace and no matter how hard you try there is no taking it back.

Henson tried to apologize and backtrack, but the damage was done. Whether really deserved or not, he has become the latest poster child illustrating the spoiled nature of today’s professional athletes.

The NFL has also tried to ban use of Twitter during the game by members of the media to try and protect their own content rights holders, but that seems almost impossible.

As Shelley Palmer asks, just exactly who is the media today? Is it only media sitting in the press box at the game or would it also spread to me and any other blogger who is watching the game on TV?

How about the fan sitting in section 325 and tweeting during the game via an iPhone or Blackberry?

Social media has changed the access to information and to providing information.

While anyone over the age of 30 can remember a time without the Internet, anyone under the age of 21 can’t remember a time without text messages and soon won’t remember a time without Facebook, Twitter and iPhones.

Consider that YouTube is now the second largest search engine in the world with 100,000,000 videos. Heck, just about every cell phone in the world is now a video camera and within seconds your pictures and videos can be on YouTube or some other site and accessible to the world.

How exactly does the NFL, ESPN, the NCAA or anyone else think they can control that?

The sports world will continue to try and figure out how to gain control, but social media is an ever changing and growing medium that is like an out of control locomotive and will be harder for the NFL to control than even the egos of Chad Ochocinco or Terrell Owens.

This article is an original story from Sports Then and Now, which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

Classic Rewind: When Baltimore vs. Cleveland Meant Colts vs. Browns

Dean Hybl — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:07:16 -0400

Each week during the 2009 NFL season, Sports Then and Now will pick one NFL matchup and look through the history books to find an intriguing past meeting between the two teams.

We will recap the game and hopefully help reintroduce (or introduce for you younger readers) you to some of the greats (and in some cases not so greats) from the history of professional football.

Thanks to the decision in 1995 by Art Modell to move the beloved Cleveland Browns to Baltimore a decade after the Colts left in the middle of the night for Indianapolis, Cleveland and Baltimore are forever linked. More than a decade later, there is still resentment and anger among some long-time Cleveland fans.

This week, as the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns are preparing to do battle, we look at a game between the two predecessor franchises in those two cities. The Baltimore Colts and original Cleveland Browns had some classic confrontations during the 1950s and 1960s.

But their regular season meeting during the 1968 season is one of the most noteworthy.

The Matchup: Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Colts

Series Record: Between 1956 and 1983 the Browns and Colts met 15 times with Cleveland holding a 10-5 series advantage, including wins in their final five meetings. The two teams met in the playoffs three times, with Baltimore holding a 2-1 edge.

However, Cleveland defeated the Colts 27-0 to win the 1964 NFL Championship. There were some other memorable moments in the series including a 38-31 Cleveland victory in 1959 in which Jim Brown rushed for five touchdowns and Johnny Unitas passed for four scores.

In 1978, veteran running back Calvin Hill caught three touchdown passes to lift the Browns to a 45-24 victory. Two years later, Bert Jones led the Colts on a furious fourth quarter comeback that fell just short in a 28-27 Cleveland victory.

However, of all the meetings, the 1968 matchup is the most interesting and worthy of a Classic Rewind.

The Game: October 20, 1968, Memorial Stadium, Baltimore Maryland

Team Records: Cleveland Browns 2-3, Baltimore Colts 5-0

Overview: The Cleveland Browns came to Memorial Stadium in need of a spark after a surprising loss to the St. Louis Cardinals dropped their record to 2-3. On the other hand, a year after going 11-1-2 and missing the playoffs, the Colts were a team on a mission.

They entered this contest with a 5-0 record and had outscored their first five opponents by more than 21 points per game.

With veteran quarterback Johnny Unitas sidelined by an injury, journeyman Earl Morrall had seized the reigns and was having an MVP-type season. Running back Leroy Kelly was the offensive star for the Browns while quarterback Bill Nelsen was under center.

Coaches: Cleveland Browns – Blanton Collier (6th year); Baltimore Colts – Don Shula (6th year)

Notable Browns: Bill Nelsen (qb), Paul Warfield (wr), Leroy Kelly (rb), Eppie Barney (fl), Milt Morin (te), Gene Hickerson (ol), Bill Glass (de), Don Cockroft (k), Ben Davis (db), Bob Matheson (lb)

Notable Colts: Earl Morrall (qb), Johnny Unitas (qb), Tom Matte (rb), John Mackey (te), Jerry Hill (rb), Jimmy Orr (wr), Willie Richardson (wr), Rick Volk (db), Bubba Smith (dl), Mike Curtis (lb)

Interesting Notes: Colts head coach Don Shula had been a player for both teams, having spent two years as a player under legendary head coach Paul Brown with the Cleveland Browns while also spending four seasons (1953-1956) with the Baltimore Colts.

Two key performers for the Browns would go on to become key players for Shula during his tenure with the Miami Dolphins. Wide receiver Paul Warfield was traded to Miami in 1970 and became the deep threat that complimented the dominant running game. The famous Miami 53 defense was named after Matheson, who wore number 53.

Matheson played with the Browns from 1967-1970 and then with the Dolphins from 1971-1979. One of Shula’s assistant coaches with the Baltimore Colts in 1968 was Chuck Noll, who would become the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers the following season and lead them to four Super Bowl victories.

The Game: The Browns landed the first blow in this struggle between two marquee squads when Bill Nelsen tossed the first of his three touchdown passes to Leroy Kelly in the first period.

Baltimore soon answered with a 23-yard dash by running back Tom Matte. For the game, Matte finished with 64 yards rushing on 13 carries and also caught two passes for 37 yards.

The Browns quickly responded as Nelson’s second touchdown toss, this one to Paul Warfield, gave Cleveland a 14-7 halftime edge.

Nelsen’s third touchdown pass came early in the third quarter and was a two-yard toss to Eppie Barney. None of Nelsen’s three touchdowns passes went for more than six yards. He finished the day completing 15 of 23 passes for 137 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

While Earl Morrall started for the Colts, with the offense sputtering Shula turned to Johnny Unitas and gave him his second action of the season. Unfortunately, an elbow injury that would hamper him throughout the season made him only a shell of his Hall of Fame self.

In one of the worst performances of his career, Unitas completed only one of 12 passes with three interceptions. When in the game, Morrall was only marginally better as he connected on 10 of 18 passes for 130 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

The Colts boasted one of the best receiving corps in the league, but they were held in check by the Cleveland secondary. John Mackey had three catches for 41 yards and Jimmie Orr added three receptions for 38 yards. Willie Richardson did not catch a pass until late in the contest and finished with only one reception for eight yards.

In the third period, the Colts were able to keep the game close as pair of Lou Michaels field goals made the score 21-13.

As the game entered the final quarter, Kelly increased the lead for Cleveland with a four-yard touchdown run. On his way to his second straight NFL rushing title, Kelly rushed for a season-high 130 yards on 30 carries.

The extra point attempt by Don Cockroft failed to keep the game within two scores at 27-13. However, after another failed Baltimore possession, Cockroft connected on an 11-yard field goal to make the score 30-13.

The Colts completed the scoring with a touchdown toss from Morrall to Richardson to make the final margin 30-20.

For the game, the Browns out-gained Baltimore 305 yards to 212. The Colts finished the season with the third-best rushing defense in the NFL, but surrendered 179 yards on the ground to Kelly and company.

Turnovers also proved to be a key in the game as Baltimore threw four interceptions and lost a fumble. The Browns had only one lost fumble in the contest.

Post Script: The victory proved to be just the spark that Cleveland needed. They went on to win eight straight games before dropping their regular season finale. They won the NFL Century Division and then defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the opening round of the playoffs.

Baltimore recovered from their disappointing performance to go the rest of the regular season without losing. They won the NFL Coastal Division with a 13-1 record and defeated the Minnesota Vikings in the opening round of the playoffs to set up a rematch with the Browns.

This time the Colts were prepared for Kelly and company. They held Kelly to 28 yards rushing and Cleveland gained only 173 total yards. Conversely, Baltimore and NFL MVP Earl Morrall gained 353 yards of offense in a 34-0 domination to claim the NFL Championship.

Of course, the dominating performance led just about everyone to expect that Baltimore would steamroll past the New York Jets and win Super Bowl III.

Much like in the loss to the Browns, the Colts were unable to stop the running game of the Jets, turned the ball over at key moments, and were unable to turn opportunities into touchdowns as the Jets pulled the greatest upset in Super Bowl history with a 16-7 victory.

Shula left the Colts following the 1969 season to become the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. After coming close to posting an undefeated season with the Colts in both 1967 and 1968, Shula led the Dolphins to a perfect 17-0 mark and a Super Bowl title in 1972.

Blanton Collier retired as coach of the Browns following the 1970 season due to continuing struggles with hearing loss. In eight seasons leading the Browns, Collier led them to double-digit victory seasons five times and posted a 76-34-2 overall record.

The Colts played in Baltimore through the 1983 season before owner Bob Irsay snaked them off to Indianapolis in the middle of the night.

Baltimore was without NFL football until Art Modell, owner of the Browns, announced late in the 1995 season that he would be moving the Browns to Baltimore in 1996.

After an outcry from loyal Cleveland fans, the NFL agreed to the move, but kept the Browns records, logo and colors in Cleveland. A new Cleveland Browns entered the NFL in 1999.

During the first 10 seasons of the new Browns, Cleveland has registered only two winning seasons and one playoff appearance.

Since beginning play in 1996, the Baltimore Ravens have a wining record and are annually a playoff contender. Since 1999, they have had winning records in six of 10 seasons and made five playoff appearances.

The Ravens defeated the New York Giants 34-7 in Super Bowl XXXV to give the city of Baltimore their first football championship since Super Bowl V.

This article is an original story from Sports Then and Now, which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

Greats Of Baltimore Orioles History: Paul Blair

Dean Hybl — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:51:24 -0400

This week the Baltimore Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Week is an outfielder that patrolled centerfield with grace while also providing the Orioles with timely hitting for more than a decade.

On a team that built its strength through pitching and defense, Paul Blair fit perfectly. He is one of seven members of the Orioles from that era who won at least three Gold Gloves and is tied with Mark Belanger for the second most in team history.

Arguably the best defensive outfielder of his generation, Blair won eight Gold Gloves during a nine-year stretch, a total eclipsed by only five outfielders in baseball history. Possessing great speed, he could play shallow to swallow-up short balls, and then use his speed to track down deep flies.

After playing briefly late in the 1964 season, Blair became the starting centerfielder for the Orioles in 1965 and quickly established himself as a defensive standout.

In the 1966 World Series, Blair used both his glove and bat to help the Orioles sweep the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Blair provided the only run of game three with a solo home run off pitcher Claude Osteen in a 1-0 Baltimore victory. In game four, he preserved a shutout and secured the series sweep by robbing Jim Levebvre of what appeared to be a sure home run in the eighth inning.

The following season, Blair earned his first Gold Glove and also displayed his offensive prowess. He hit a career-best .293 with 72 runs scores, 27 doubles, 11 home runs, and a league-best 12 triples.

In 1969 Blair showed even more offensive pop by blasting a career-high 26 home runs. He also scored a career-high 102 runs, earned his first All-Star appearance, and began a streak of seven straight Gold Gloves. Blair finished 11th in the American League MVP voting, the highest finish among the four years in which he received MVP votes.

Blair was a key component of an Orioles’ team that won four American League pennants, two World Series titles and two additional American League East division titles between 1966 and 1974.

In 13 seasons with the Orioles, Blair earned two All-Star appearances, and hit .254 with 126 home runs and 567 RBI.

Following the 1976 season, he was traded to the New York Yankees. Blair was part of two World Series Champions while with the Yankees.

During his career, Blair appeared in six World Series, winning four, with a .288 batting average. In seven American League Championship Series he hit .238, and drove in 10 runs.

Blair retired following the 1980 season with 134 career home runs, 620 RBI, and a .250 batting average.

If you had a favorite athlete growing up that you would like to see featured as the Baltimore Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Week, send me a nomination by e-mail.

Week Three Provides Some Great College Football Action

Dean Hybl — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 08:14:43 -0400

It will be pretty hard for the rest of the college football season to have an afternoon like we saw this Saturday. If you were lucky enough to be sitting in front of the TV or at a sports bar for the games that started at 3:30 p.m. EDT, you really got a treat.

Just picking which game to focus on was quite a challenge. Though the Virginia Tech/Nebraska game was the only one pitting top 25 teams, there were several other intriguing games during the time period on national television including Oregon/Utah, Notre Dame/Michigan State, USC/Washington, and Florida/Tennessee.

As it turned out, all five games went down to the wire with big plays deciding the outcomes.

For 58 minutes it appeared that Nebraska would get its first road win in more than a decade against a ranked opponent. They led 15-10 and had an anemic Virginia Tech offense pinned deep in their own territory.

After shutting down Tyrod Taylor and the Hokies all day, the Cornhuskers couldn’t get it done when they needed it as Tech burned them for a long pass play to get into scoring position. Taylor then did a great job avoiding pressure and found a receiver in the end zone for the game-winning score.

Notre Dame and Oregon each withstood late comebacks to pull out victories. The win for Oregon over Utah ended the longest winning streak in the nation and, coupled with a BYU loss to Florida State, helped BCS conference leaders breath a bit easier.

The 33-30 win by Notre Dame over a Michigan State squad that had lost the previous week to Central Michigan ensures that Charlie Weis will keep his job for at least another week.

Florida was supposed to teach Lane Kiffin and Tennessee a lesson in The Swamp. Well, I guess paybacks aren’t what they used to be, as Florida could not shake the pesky Volunteers. Florida won the game 23-13, but Tennessee made it very clear that the days of UF stomping all over UT have come to a close.

Then there was the USC game at Washington. Of the five contests, this one seemed like it would be the least compelling.

Though former USC assistant Steve Sarkisian has the Huskies playing better than a year ago when they went winless, there was little expectation that they could challenge a USC squad that won at Ohio State a week ago.

As it turns out, with starting quarterback Matt Barkley out with an injury, the Trojans were unable to display the kind of offense that scored 56 points against Washington a year ago.

USC opened a 10-0 advantage, but was never able to build on their lead. Washington responded to take a 13-10 lead before the Trojans tied the game.

That led to the final scoring drive by Washington that ended with a game-winning field goal.

Now, for the third year in a row the Trojans have lost an early season conference game and will spend the rest of the season trying to claw their way back into the BCS Championship discussion.

However, unlike previous years, USC isn’t necessarily heavy favorites for every game the rest of the season. They still have to play at California, Notre Dame, Oregon, and Arizona State.

Considering that the Trojans have scored just 31 points in their last two games, there is no guarantee that they will be able regain the high-flying ways that has become their trademark under Pete Carroll.

Quite A Recovery For The ACC

While the bottom of the ACC still appears to be weak, at least the top teams in the conference have started showing some signs of life.

The victory by Virginia Tech over Nebraska may not have come exactly how Frank Beamer drew it up, but it does provide some much-needed power ranking assistance for the league since Nebraska appears to be good enough to remain near the top 25 all season.

Similarly, the pounding by Florida State over BYU will help the conference immensely. Having moved to seventh in the nation after their win over Oklahoma, BYU seemed poised to remain a thorn in the side of the BCS conferences.

Considering that Florida State lost their opener to Miami and then needed two touchdowns in the final minute last week to edge I-AA Jacksonville State, it seemed unlikely they would come out of Provo with a victory.

However, it was the host Cougars that never had a chance as FSU roared out to a 30-14 halftime lead and won 54-28.

The ACC could really solidify their resurgence over the next couple weeks. The University of Miami looked like the Miami of old against Georgia Tech. With their next two games being at Virginia Tech and then at home against Oklahoma, if Miami is able to win both, or at least defeat Oklahoma, it would go a long way toward returning some luster to the conference.

Texas Tech Keeps It Close Against Texas

Considering the notorious history that Texas Tech has when playing on the road against the top teams in the Big 12, I didn’t have much hope for their game against Texas.

I figured with Texas playing at home and looking to avenge the last-minute loss they suffered to the Red Raiders a year ago, this game wouldn’t be close.

Surprisingly, it was a 10-3 score at halftime and Texas Tech stayed within shouting distance the entire second half before falling 34-24.

It wasn’t until some late miscues by the Red Raiders that the Longhorns sealed their third victory of the season.

Barring a major surprise against UTEP or Colorado, Texas will be undefeated entering their annual matchup with Oklahoma on Oct. 17.

I’m not convinced that any of the top five teams in the country are as good as they were a year ago, but Texas could end up being the one team that is of elite status in 2009.

Colt McCoy has not yet reached his stride this season, but if he does, expect the Longhorns to get back to their high-scoring ways.

The key for Texas is going to be whether their defense can hold their opponents down. They bent a few times against Texas Tech, but made the defensive plays they needed to pull out the victory.

This article is an original story from Sports Then and Now, which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

Today's NFL Is Different for Top Rookie Quarterbacks

Dean Hybl — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:50:48 -0400

There was a time in the not-so-distant past when the biggest things a rookie NFL quarterback had to worry about on game day were wearing a cool baseball cap and keeping track of his clipboard.

Current rookies Matt Stafford and Mark Sanchez are just the latest reminder that times have certainly changed, at least for top draft picks.

Instead of carrying clipboards and wearing baseball caps, today's highly-drafted rookie quarterbacks usually don't have to wait long before getting a chance to show their stuff.

In the last two seasons, four of the five quarterbacks taken in the first round started the opening game of their rookie season. Only Josh Freeman of Tampa Bay, who was the third quarterback for the Bucs in their 2009 opener against Dallas, wasn’t under center from the beginning of his career.

The Detroit Lions and New York Jets can only hope that Stafford and Sanchez have similar success to what was seen a year ago from rookie quarterbacks Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco.

Ryan, the third pick in the 2008 draft, was an immediate star for the Atlanta Falcons, as he led them to the playoffs following a tumultuous 2007 season for the organization.

After going 4-12 in 2007, Ryan led the Falcons to an 11-5 record and a spot in the NFC playoffs. He finished sixth in the league with a passer rating of 98.0 while throwing for 3,440 yards and 16 touchdowns with only 11 interceptions. He was honored as the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year.

He doesn’t seem to have missed a beat in 2009, as Ryan tossed two touchdown passes as the Falcons defeated the Miami Dolphins in their season opener.

While Ryan was anointed the starting quarterback from day one in Atlanta, Joe Flacco, who was the 18th pick in the 2008 draft, became the starter based on attrition for the Baltimore Ravens prior to the 2008 season.

The retirement of Steve McNair and injuries to Kyle Boller and Troy Smith gave Flacco the job, and he proved to be up to the task.

Though he spent much of his time handing the ball off to the fourth-ranked running attack in the NFL, Flacco also proved to be more than adequate throwing the football.

Starting all 16 games, Flacco earned a passer rating of 80.3 while throwing for 2,971 yards and 14 touchdowns with just 12 interceptions.

After going 5-11 in 2007, the Ravens improved to 11-5 in 2008 and reached the AFC Championship Game before losing to the eventual Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers.

Flacco appears determined to be known for more than just managing the game in 2009, as he passed for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns in the Ravens’ opening victory over the Chiefs.

While there have always been rookie quarterbacks, especially high draft choices, given the chance to play early in their careers, until very recently it was more common for even highly-regarded rookies to have to wait a little while before moving into the starting role.

Since 2000, 26 quarterbacks have been selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Of those, only six were under center to start the first game of their rookie season, with four of those six coming in the last two years.

The other two, David Carr for the Houston Texans in 2002 and Kyle Boller with the Baltimore Ravens in 2003, are no longer with their original teams.

Of the six Hall of Fame quarterbacks who were drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft since 1960 (excluding Jim Kelly and Steve Young, who both made their professional debuts in the USFL), only four started the opening game of their first NFL season.

Bob Griese had an excellent debut, completing 63.2% of his passes for 193 yards and two touchdowns in a 35-21 win over the Broncos. Griese went 3-7 as a starter during his rookie season, but was selected to the AFL Pro Bowl.

John Elway started his debut game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but completed just one of eight passes and was replaced by Steve Deberg. Elway struggled while starting the first five games of his career, but looked much more comfortable later in the year, when he started the final five games of the season.

Terry Bradshaw and Troy Aikman both entered the league as the first pick in the NFL Draft and both played for teams that were not very good.

Aikman was 17-35 for 180 yards and two touchdowns in his career opener. But the Dallas Cowboys lost 28-0 to the Saints and Aikman was 0-11 as a starter that season.

Bradshaw didn’t fare much better early in his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He went 4-for-16 for 70 yards and a touchdown in his debut against Houston before being replaced by Terry Hanratty. Bradshaw started eight games as a rookie, winning three, and completed only 38 percent of his passes with six touchdowns and 24 interceptions.

Money and expectations have always played a role in why some rookie quarterbacks saw very little time as a backup before moving into the starting lineup. With the high salaries most quarterbacks taken in the first round receive, coaches and front offices have much more pressure to see immediate return on that investment than when a quarterback is taken lower in the draft and isn’t receiving such a significant salary.

When Joe Namath signed a $427,000 contract with the New York Jets in 1965, the Jets were not paying for a clipboard holder.

After watching Mike Taliaferro complete four of 21 passes in the season opener, Namath saw action in every game the rest of the season and made nine starts.

Similarly, it didn’t take the Miami Dolphins long to move first round pick Dan Marino into the lineup in 1983.

Marino didn’t play until the third week of the season, but went 7-2 as a starter and set the foundation for his second season when he established a plethora of new passing records and led the Dolphins to the Super Bowl.

But while some top draft choices responded to playing early in their careers with Hall of Fame numbers, others struggled with being immediately thrust into the lineup.

Tim Couch, the first pick in the 1999 NFL Draft ahead of future All-Stars Donovan McNabb and Daunte Culpepper, went 2-12 as a starter for the Browns during his rookie season. In five seasons with Cleveland, Couch was 22-37 as the starter and was out of the game by age 26.

Injuries also can play a key role in whether a young quarterback will have success. Often, high draft picks are playing behind makeshift offensive lines and take a greater pounding than quarterbacks on more successful teams.

Before Joe Flacco did it last year, only three rookie quarterbacks in NFL history had led their team to 2-0 starts. One of them, John Elway, is in the Hall of Fame. The other two, Ryan Leaf and Greg Cook, had only fleeting success before injuries derailed their careers.

Greg Cook actually led the 1969 Cincinnati Bengals to three straight wins before suffering a torn rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder. After missing three games, Cook came back to play well enough to earn AFL Rookie of the Year honors.

However, a series of surgeries could not repair his shoulder and Cook retired after just one NFL season. He made a brief comeback in 1973, but was unable to return to his previous glory.

Ryan Leaf is best known for tantrums and being considered one of the biggest draft busts in NFL history. However, he did start his NFL career by leading the Chargers to a pair of victories to start the 1998 season.

He ended up going 3-6 as the starter for the Chargers during his rookie campaign and threw 15 interceptions with only two touchdown passes.

Leaf missed the entire 1999 season with a shoulder injury and then in 2000 went 1-8 as a starter and displayed a negative attitude that led to his exit from the NFL following a short stint with the Dallas Cowboys in 2001.

The list of quarterbacks taken in the first round that failed to make it in the NFL is a long and distinguished one that includes names such as Joey Harrington, Akili Smith, Heath Shuler, Rick Mirer, Dan McGwire, Andre Ware, Rich Campbell, Steve Pisarkiewicz, John Reaves, and Terry Baker.

All were believed to have the talent to make it in the NFL, but for whatever reason were unable to fulfill their potential.

It is yet to be seen whether Stafford and Sanchez will enjoy superstardom like Aikman, Elway, and Bradshaw or have their names added to the list of NFL quarterback busts. However, it is apparent that they are part of a new era where top rookie quarterbacks will be learning on the field, instead of by holding a clipboard.

This article is an original story from Sports Then and Now, which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

Greats Of Baltimore Orioles History: Mike Cuellar

Dean Hybl — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:26:24 -0400

We recognize as the Baltimore Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Week one of the key pitchers for the Baltimore Orioles during their championship run of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Sometimes timing is everything. After toiling away in the minors and on primarily losing teams for a decade, a seemingly insignificant trade following the 1968 season proved to be all that Mike Cuellar needed to become one of the top pitchers in baseball.

A native of Cuba, Cuellar originally signed with the Cincinnati Reds in 1957 after originally drawing attention for a no-hitter he pitched in 1955 while serving in the Cuban army.

He made two relief appearances for the Reds in 1959, but quickly returned to the minors and bounced around before finally earning a shot with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1964.

Being used primarily in relief, Cuellar pitched in 32 games for the Cardinals and registered a 5-5 record and 4.50 ERA. He did not pitch in the World Series as the Cardinals defeated the New York Yankees.

Following the season, Cuellar was sent from the World Champions to the baseball basement as he joined the Houston Astros for their fourth season in the league.

During his four seasons in Houston, the Astros never won more than 72 games and finished no better than eighth out of 10 teams in the National League.

Cuellar became a starter in 1966 and posted a 12-10 record and a 2.22 ERA. The following season, he made his first All-Star appearance while winning 16 games with a 3.03 ERA.

In 1968 Cuellar posted a 2.74 ERA, but won only eight games as the Astros again struggled.

After the season, Cuellar was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for outfielder Curt Blefary. It proved to be an amazingly one-sided trade as Blefary spent just one season in Houston and was out of the league by 1972.

On the other hand, it was quickly obvious that all Cuellar needed was to be part of a team with enough offense to compliment his assortment of screwballs and changeups.

In his first season with the Orioles, Cuellar shared the Cy Young award with Dennis McLain while registering a 23-11 record and 2.38 ERA. The Orioles lost the World Series to the New York Mets, but Cuellar earned the only Baltimore win in the series and had a 1.12 ERA in 16 innings.

The following season, Cuellar went 24-8 with a 3.48 ERA and finished fourth in the Cy Young voting. He was the winning pitcher of the World Series-clinching fifth game as he allowed three runs in earning a complete game victory.

Cuellar teamed with Jim Palmer and Dave McNally to give the Orioles one of the most dominant starting pitching threesomes in baseball history. In 1971 that trio became a quartet as Pat Dobson joined the staff and they became the first team in more than 50 years to feature four 20-game winners.

After winning 18 games during both the 1972 and 1973 seasons, Cuellar registered his fourth 20+ victory season in 1974 as he went 22-10 with a 3.11 ERA.

That proved to be his final big season as Cuellar went 14-12 in 1975 and then struggled with a 4-13 record and 4.96 ERA in 1976.

Released by the Orioles following the 1976 season, Cuellar signed with the California Angels. He allowed seven earned runs and pitched only 3.1 total innings for the Angles before being released in May 1977.

Cuellar finished his career with a record of 185-130 and a 3.14 ERA. In eight years with the Orioles, Cuellar went 143-88 with a 3.18 ERA. He ranks fourth in Orioles history in wins and fifth in winning percentage.

If you had a favorite athlete growing up that you would like to see featured as the Baltimore Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Week, send me a nomination by e-mail.

Check out more from Dean Hybl at Baltimore Sports Then and Now where passionate fans can stay updated on the latest in Baltimore sports while also reliving the great moments, players and teams of Baltimore's tremendous sports history.

College Football Week Two Review: Are They Really Back?

Dean Hybl — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:32:25 -0400

Each Sunday during college football season, Sports Then and Now looks at some of the big games, stories, and events from the action of the week.

Are They Really Back?

I noticed a lot of similarities between the outstanding game Saturday afternoon between Michigan and Notre Dame and the equally entertaining contest last Monday night between Florida State and the University of Miami.

Both games featured two teams with proud football traditions that have been struggling in recent years, but appear to be turning the corner back toward respectability.

After Miami turned back Florida State’s final charge in the closing seconds of the game, all post game talk was about whether this signaled the return of Miami as a football power and if FSU was also now poised to return to national relevance.

While we will learn more about Miami in their next three games against Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma, we may have learned all we needed to know about Florida State on Saturday.

Playing at home against Division I-AA Jacksonville State, the Seminoles trailed 9-7 in the final minute of the game before scoring two quick touchdowns to post a 19-9 victory.

Had they lost to Jacksonville State, it would have undoubtedly been the most embarrassing loss of Bobby Bowden’s long and storied career. Even in victory, it really isn’t exactly a glorious moment for a program that is used to fighting for wins against teams such as Florida, Nebraska and USC.

After the dramatic last-second victory by Michigan over Notre Dame, it is easy to draw the conclusion that Michigan is back after struggling through the last two seasons.

And even Notre Dame in defeat could easily be considered as a team on the rise as quarterback Jimmy Clausen looked excellent despite playing in a hostile environment.

Before I’m prepared to anoint either program as being “back” among the national elite, I want to see how they fare over the next few weeks.

With their next two games against Eastern Michigan and Indiana, it is very likely that Michigan will be 4-0 when they travel to East Lansing to face Michigan State.

Considering that the Spartans lost Saturday to Central Michigan, it could be a very winnable game for the Wolverines.

Michigan could very easily finish the season with eight or nine victories and a quality bowl appearance just a season after going 3-9.

Except for a mid-season matchup with USC, Notre Dame doesn’t have a game remaining where they will be an obvious underdog.

Now they also do not have a game remaining that could be considered a “gimme” win, but if they want to save the job of head coach Charlie Weis and regain some of the luster they have lost in recent years, they must win most of those games.

Sports Illustrated Jinx

You and I may know that there really isn’t any such thing as the Sports Illustrated Jinx, but try telling that to fans of Oklahoma State this weekend.

Just days after having receiver Dez Bryant grace the cover of the most prestigious sports magazine in the country following a huge victory over the University of Georgia, Oklahoma State was upset in Stillwater by a team from a non-BCS conference.

It has been a long time since the University of Houston has been in the national picture, but quarterback Case Keenum has the Cougars poised for a big season.

Keenum rushed for a touchdown and passed for two in the first half as Houston raced to a stunning 24-7 halftime advantage.

The Cowboys appeared to have things back under control after out-scoring their opponents 21-0 in the third quarter.

However, Keenum and the Cougars responded in the fourth quarter with three touchdowns to post a stunning 45-35 victory.

Coupled with the loss last week by Oklahoma, two of the three Big 12 teams picked in the pre-season national Top 10 have already been defeated.

Considering that Texas, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State all still have to play each other, it could make it much tougher for the Big 12 to get two teams into a BCS bowl than in recent years.

Freshman Leads Trojans To Late Victory

Just when it looked like the Ohio State Buckeyes might finally pull out a victory over a highly rated team from another BCS conference, the University of Southern California’s freshman quarterback snatched the victory away with a drive that could propel him to greatness.

Trailing 15-10 with just over seven minutes remaining in his second collegiate start, Matt Barkley led the Trojans on a 14-play, 86-yard drive that took more than six minutes and culminated in a two-yard touchdown run by Stafon Johnson.

Barkley’s numbers for the game were not spectacular (15-for-31 for 195 yards and an interception), but on the final series he completed 3-of-5 passes for 55 yards. He also connected with Joe McKnight on a two-point conversion that gave the Trojans the 18-15 lead.

While the Pac-10 is not the best conference in college football, it does have some very solid teams. USC will have to show a bit more offense during road games at California, Notre Dame, and Oregon if they want to play for a national championship this season.

Ohio State faithful are certainly disappointed, as I’m sure they feel they let one get away. But in a conference with few potentially dominant teams, the Buckeyes still are the favorite to win the conference and earn a trip to the Rose Bowl.

I have a very hard time believing that they will lose again before they play at Penn State on Nov. 7 in what surely will be the biggest game between two Big Ten teams this season.

This article is an original story from Sports Then and Now, which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

Classic Rewind: The Day the Scoring Never Stopped

Dean Hybl — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:19:50 -0400

Each week during the 2009 NFL season, Sports Then and Now will pick one upcoming NFL matchup and look through the history books to find an intriguing past meeting between the two teams. We will recap the game and hopefully help reintroduce (or introduce for you younger readers) you to some of the greats (and in some cases, the not-so-greats) from the history of professional football.

The Matchup: Washington Redskins vs. New York Giants

Series Record: Two of the oldest teams in the NFL, the Redskins and Giants have met 152 times with the Giants holding an 87-61-4 advantage. The two teams have been division rivals since the Redskins joined the NFL as the Boston Braves in 1932.

The Game: November 27, 1966

Team Records: Washington Redskins 5-6; New York Giants 1-8-1

Overview:

When the Redskins and Giants met late in the 1966 season, neither team was headed to the playoffs. Far from it as the Giants were on their way to the worst season in team history just three seasons after playing for the NFL title. The Redskins were trying to reach .500 for the first time in a decade. What ensued on this late November afternoon was not necessarily one of the best played games in professional football history, but it was a contest filled with more big plays and scoring than any game in the history of the league.

Coaches:

New York Giants – Allie Sherman (6th year); Washington Redskins – Otto Graham (1st year)

Notable Giants:

Tom Kennedy (QB), Homer Jones (WR), Gary Wood (QB), Joe Morrison (RB), Dick Lynch (DB), Jim Katcavage (DL), Pete Gogolak (K), Allen Jacobs (RB), Spider Lockhart (DB)

Notable Redskins:

Sonny Jurgensen (QB), A.D. Whitfield (RB), Charley Taylor (RB), Bobby Mitchell (FL), Jerry Smith (TE), Sam Huff (LB), Chris Hanburger (LB), Brig Owens (DB), Paul Krause (DB), Charlie Gogolak (K)

Interesting Notes:

Linebacker Sam Huff, who had earned his reputation as one of the fiercest players in the NFL as part of the great Giants teams of the 1950s and early 1960s, was in his third season as a member of the Washington Redskins; The game featured the famous soccer style kicking brother duo of Pete (Giants) and Charlie (Redskins) Gogolak; This was the second meeting of the season between the two teams as New York’s lone victory so far in the season had been a 13-10 win over the Redskins on October 16th.

The Game:

After shifting between Earl Morrall and Gary Wood as the starting quarterbacks for much of the season, New York Giants head coach Allie Sherman decided to try rookie Tom Kennedy from Los Angeles State in the contest with the Redskins.

While Sherman had a rookie playing in only his third NFL game under center, Washington’s head coach Otto Graham (himself a legendary quarterback) had the luxury of starting future Hall of Fame quarterback Sonny Jurgensen.

Kennedy didn’t get off to a good start as Washington defensive back Brig Owens intercepted Kennedy’s first pass of the contest. It would be just the start of a memorable day for Owens, a rookie out of the University of Cincinnati.

Jurgensen immediately took advantage of the mistake as he led the Skins down the field. They took the lead on a five-yard touchdown run by A.D. Whitfield. The extra point attempt by Charlie Gogolak was blocked by New York tackle Jim Moran.

Over their next three offensive series, Kennedy and the Giants were unable to move against the Washington defense. Using blitzes to rattle the rookie quarterback, the Redskins kept Kennedy off-balance and he didn’t complete a pass during in each of the three series.

Meanwhile, the Redskins started what would end up being a record-setting day for big plays with a 63-yard scoring run by Whitfield late in the first quarter. The extra point by Charlie Gogolak made the score 13-0.

Kennedy tried to answer, but the Redskins continued to harass the rookie. Midway through the second quarter he went back to pass, but was caught by linebacker Chris Hanburger. The hit caused Kennedy to fumble and the ball was scooped up by Owens, who raced 62-yards for the first touchdown of his career.

Now trailing 20-0, Kennedy finally started to get the offense moving. He completed a 14-yard pass to Homer Jones and a 35-yarder to Aaron Thomas to move into Redskins territory. From there, the running game took over and Allen Jacobs scored from six yards out to trim the lead to 20-7.

Washington didn’t move the ball on their next possession, but another interception gave them the ball in Giants territory and Whitfield scored his third touchdown of the first half on a 1-yard run to make the score 27-7.

Kennedy’s third interception of the day, by future Hall of Famer Paul Krause, led to the fifth Washington touchdown of the half. Former Giant Joe Don Looney scored on a 9-yard run to make the score 34-7.

Sherman had seen enough of his rookie and inserted third-year pro Gary Wood at quarterback late in the half. Wood took advantage of a 45-yard pass interference call against the Redskins to move the Giants down the field. He scored on a one-yard run to make the score 34-14 at intermission.

A 31-yard kickoff return by Phil Harris to start the second half gave the Giants good field position near midfield. Wood completed an 11-yard pass to Joe Morrison for a first down and then hit Morrison again on a 41-yard touchdown pass to make the score 34-21.

That was the first of an amazing streak of six consecutive touchdown plays that were more than 30 yards in distance.

Sonny Jurgensen led the Skins down the field and hit future Hall of Famer Charley Taylor for a 32-yard touchdown pass to make it 41-21.

The game then started to resemble a pinball game as the two teams kept going back and forth down the field.

Wood’s hit Homer Jones on a 50-yard touchdown pass that made the score 41-28. Jurgensen then answered by again connecting with Taylor, this time on a 74-yard scoring toss.

At the end of the third quarter, the score stood 48-28.

Washington forced a New York punt early in the final period and Rickie Harris took the kick 52 yards to put the Redskins above the 50-point barrier.

It didn’t take long for them to break 60 as an errant pass by Wood was intercepted by Owens and returned 62-yards for another Washington score.

That marked the third interception of the game for Owens and his second 62-yard scoring play of the contest. The two touchdowns were the first two of his career. Owens would go on to play 12 seasons with the Redskins and scored only three additional touchdowns.

Now trailing 62-28, Sherman put Kennedy back in the game and the rookie was finally able to consistently move the team. He completed five passes on a drive that culminated with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Kennedy to Aaron Thomas. The Giants missed the extra point to make the score 62-34.

Graham replaced Jurgensen with backup quarterback Dick Shiner. Considering that the Skins had racked up more than 60 points it was surprising that Jurgensen’s statistics for the game were not earth shaking. He completed 10 of 16 passes for 145 yards and three touchdowns.

He also did not toss an interception, which proved not to be true for Shiner as his only pass of the game was intercepted by second year defensive back Spider Lockhart. Dan Lewis scored on a 1-yard run with 1:35 remaining to make the score 62-41.

At this point you would think the Giants would just try to run out the clock and get out of town without any further embarrassment. However, that proved not to be the case.

The Giants attempted an onside kick, but the Redskins recovered. Future Hall of Famer Bobby Mitchell then got into the act with a 45-yard run to make the score 69-41.

Mitchell’s touchdown was the ninth scoring play of 30 or more yards in the contest.

With just seconds remaining, this high-scoring game got bizarre.

The Giants took over deep in their own territory, but again instead of just running out the clock, Kennedy tried to move the offense. With the ball on his own 22-yard line and only seven seconds remaining, Kennedy hurriedly threw the ball out of bounds to stop the clock.

However, Kennedy was confused as to what down it was and his errant throw occurred on fourth down, rather than third as he had thought.

The Redskins got the ball one final time and instead of graciously taking a knee and ending the game, Graham called on his rookie placekicker. Graham later said that he wanted to give Gogolak, who had missed two kicks the previous week, additional practice in a game setting. Some reports said that Sam Huff, still angry about having been traded by the Giants two years earlier, encouraged Graham to send out the kicker.

Regardless, he converted on a 29-yard field goal to end the scoring. The 72 points by the Redskins surpassed the 70 points scored by the Los Angeles Rams in 1950 as the most scored in an NFL game. The 113 total points was also an NFL record and remains the most ever scored by two teams in an NFL game.

Post Script: The Redskins went on to finish the season with a 7-7 record while the Giants finished 1-12-1.

The win literally came with a cost for the Redskins. Because the NFL did not have nets to catch kick attempts, extra points and field goals often sailed into the stands and fans kept the footballs. A total of 14 balls ended up in the stands during this record setting contest. At a cost of $22.50, the balls cost Washington $315 for the day.

This game would be the only career start for Tom Kennedy. He did throw four touchdowns two weeks later in a 47-28 loss to Pittsburgh, but his final career appearance came the following week in the season finale against the Dallas Cowboys. The Giants traded for Fran Tarkenton following the season and improved to 7-7 the following year.

Otto Graham coached the Redskins for three seasons and finished with a 17-22-3 record. Vince Lombardi replaced him as coach of the Redskins following the 1968 season.

This article is an original story from Sports Then and Now, which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

Calvin Hill: From the Ivy League to the NFL

Dean Hybl — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:38:31 -0400

With the NFL season starting this week we recognize as the Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Week a player who was the NFL Rookie of the Year 40 years ago and went on to a successful 12-year career.

Many were surprised when the Dallas Cowboys used the 24th pick in the 1969 draft to select a running back from Yale University. However, Calvin Hill proved to be a perfect pick.

Dallas coaches originally thought the 6'4", 227 pound Hill might be better suited for the NFL as a tight end, but the retirement of running back Don Perkins and injuries to other backs at the start of the 1969 training camp forced the Cowboys to keep Hill in the backfield.

As it turned out, it was one of the best non-moves that Hall of Fame coach Tom Landry ever made.

Hill rushed for 70 yards and threw a 53-yard touchdown pass in his first NFL game as Dallas defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 24-3. The next week, Hill rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-17 victory over New Orleans.

Through the first nine games of the season, Hill was the best running back in football with 807 yards rushing and seemed on his way to easily breaking the NFL rookie rushing record of 1,004 yards set by Beattie Feathers of the Chicago Bears in 1934.

However, while rushing for 150 yards in a 41-28 victory over the Washington Redskins in the ninth game of the season, Hill suffered a broken bone in his foot.

He missed the next game and then gained only 135 yards over the final four games as Gale Sayers passed him for the NFL rushing lead and Hill finished with 942 yards to fall short of the rookie record.

For the next two seasons, Hill played well when in the lineup, but injuries and the presence of Duane Thomas, who Dallas drafted in the first round of the 1970 draft, limited his opportunities.

Dallas advanced to the Super Bowl in each season, but Hill had only one kickoff return in a 16-13 loss in Super Bowl V and the following season had 25 yards rushing as the Cowboys defeated the Dolphins 24-3.

Finally, in 1972 Hill was able to overcome his history of injuries and reemerge as one of the top rushers in the league.

He became the first running back in Dallas Cowboys history to crack the 1,000-yard mark and finished seventh in the NFL with 1,036 yards rushing. Hill also displayed his talent as a pass catcher as he ranked in the top 10 in the conference with 43 receptions. His 1,400 total yards from scrimmage ranked fourth in the NFL.

The following season, Hill was even better with 1,142 yards rushing to finish third in the NFL and only two yards behind John Brockington in the NFC. His 1,432 yards from scrimmage were second in the NFL.

Hill and the Cowboys appeared headed for their third Super Bowl in four years before injuries again raised their ugly head.

In the opening round of the NFC Playoffs against the Los Angeles Rams, Hill rushed for 97 yards, but suffered a separated shoulder in the second half diving for a loose ball after a fumble.

The Cowboys won the game 27-16, but without Hill in the lineup were unable to overcome the Minnesota Vikings the following week in the NFC Championship Game.

Injuries continued to haunt Hill in 1974 as he played in only 12 games as Dallas missed the playoffs for the first time in his career. However, Hill still ranked eighth in the NFL with 844 yards rushing and was selected to the Pro Bowl for the fourth time in six seasons with the Cowboys.

Playing in an era when player salaries were tightly controlled and free agency was non-existent, Hill joined several other NFL stars (including Miami Dolphins stars Paul Warfield, Jim Kiick and Larry Csonka) following the 1974 season to bolt the NFL for the new World Football League (WFL).

Hill joined The Hawaiian, based in Honolulu and was immediately the biggest name on the roster. He played in three games before suffering a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee.

The injury ended Hill’s brief foray into the WFL and effectively ended his time as a featured running back.

After the WFL folded following the 1975 season, Hill was declared a free agent and signed with the Cowboys’ archrivals the Washington Redskins.

In two seasons with Washington, Hill was only a shell of the player that had terrorized the Skins during his six seasons with the Cowboys.

Instead, Hill rushed for only 558 yards and caught 25 passes in 28 games.

It appeared that his career might be over following the 1977 season as veteran coach George Allen left the Skins and new head coach Jack Pardee looked to make the team younger.

Hill was out of the league at the start of the season, but after four games signed with the Cleveland Browns, who were looking for a veteran running back to compliment perennial All-Pro tailback Greg Pruitt and emerging fullback Mike Pruitt.

Though he rushed the ball 80 times in his first season with the Browns due to injuries to Greg Pruitt, Hill’s primary role was as a receiver out of the backfield.

In his first three seasons with the Browns, Hill caught 90 passes for 1,098 yards and 14 touchdowns. He also brought veteran leadership and experience to a team that was on the rise.

The Browns just missed the playoffs in 1978 and 1979 and in 1980 posted an 11-5 record and won the AFC Central Division title for the first time since 1971.

Hill retired following the 1981 season with career totals of 6,083 yards rushing, 271 receptions, 8,944 yards from scrimmage and 65 touchdowns. At the time of his retirement, Hill was the 16th leading rusher in NFL history (he now ranks 67th).

Following his retirement, Hill worked in the front office for the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Orioles. He now is with the Dallas Cowboys.

Over the last two decades, Hill has received notoriety as part of one of the best father-son athletic tandems in sports history. His son, Grant, was an All-American basketball player at Duke University and has been an All-Star in the NBA playing for the Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic and Phoenix Suns.

If you had a favorite athlete growing up that you would like to see featured as the Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Week, send me a nomination by e-mail.

This article is an original story from Sports Then and Now, which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

Why Football Powers Should Start The Season With Cupcakes

Dean Hybl — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:00:10 -0400

Each Sunday during college football season Sports Then and Now will look at some of the big games, stories, and events from the action of that week.

Why You Start With Cupcakes

While the Florida Gators, Texas Longhorns and Penn State Nittany Lions were opening the season with huge victories over cupcake opponents, some of the other high ranked teams opened with much tougher opponents and in at least one case may have ended any hopes at a national title before the season is barely a week old.

It was anticipated that the BYU Cougars would give the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners a tough game, but very few actually thought they could beat one of the teams on the short list of national championship contenders.

However, the high-flying Sooners’ offense of a year ago was nowhere to be found in Dallas.

Defending Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford was solid early in the game (10 of 14 for 96 yards and a touchdown), but left in the second quarter with a sprained shoulder and never returned.

With freshman Landry Jones running the show, Oklahoma managed only three points in the second half and BYU was able to pull out the 14-13 upset.

Since BYU was ranked No. 20 in the preseason, it isn’t exactly like losing to a I-AA program, but the loss by a top 5 team to a school from a non-BCS conference will certainly make things interesting come the end of the season when teams are jockeying for the multi-million dollar bids to the BCS Bowls.

Coupled with the loss by Oregon to Boise State earlier this week, the BCS conference schools are not doing too well against the top teams from non-BCS leagues.

Another team that got more than they bargained for was No. 6 Ohio State. The Buckeyes seemed to have their game against the Naval Academy well in-hand in the fourth quarter, but defenses lapses by the Buckeyes helped give the Midshipmen a chance to pull off the upset.

Navy rallied from a 29-14 deficit to line up for a two-point conversion that could have tied the game. However, the pass was intercepted and returned for a defense conversion to account for the final 31-27 Ohio State victory.

With the USC Trojans coming to town next week, Ohio State will have to be better in game two if they want to stay in contention for a spot in the national championship game.

Not All I-AA Games Are Cupcakes

While some of the matchups between Division I-A and I-AA teams (I know they go by different names now, but those acronyms are confusing and everybody knows what I-A and I-AA means anyway) were blowout wins, there were also some very tough games during the first weekend of the season.

Northern Iowa came very close to pulling an upset over the No. 22 Iowa Hawkeyes. In fact, it took two blocked field goals late in the game to keep Iowa from suffering an embarrassing defeat to an instate opponent.

The University of Virginia wasn’t so lucky as they lost to William & Mary 26-14.

While UVA was expected to struggle this season, losing decisively to the Tribe does not speak well for the ACC. Especially considering they were not the only I-AA team from Virginia to defeat an ACC team on Saturday.

Though probably not really an upset, it still does not help the national reputation of the ACC to have the Duke Blue Devils lose to defending I-AA champion the University of Richmond.

Considering that four other conference schools, North Carolina State to South Carolina, Wake Forest to Baylor, Maryland to California and Virginia Tech to Alabama, lost their openers, the ACC isn’t doing much to overcome their reputation as a basketball conference.

Top 25 Battles Are The Best

Even though No. 7 Virginia Tech wasn’t able to hold on to a fourth quarter lead against No. 5 Alabama in a 34-24 loss, the Hokies still looked like a solid team.

Like many others on the opening weekend of the season, they never got the offense going on all cylinders. However, they at least looked like they belonged on the field with the Crimson Tide.

Definitely a much better showing than what Clemson did in a similar opening game battle with Alabama a year ago.

Another good contest between two top 20 teams was the contest between #9 Oklahoma State and No. 12 Georgia.

Considering that they were looking to replace first round picks at both quarterback and running back, you have to give Mark Richt credit for not shying away from a tough opening weekend opponent.

This game was certainly big for both teams, but I think Oklahoma State needed the win a bit more than Georgia, especially since they were playing at home. With games later this season against both Texas and Oklahoma, a loss to Georgia would have made it hard for Oklahoma State to earn a mid-level or higher bowl appearance this season.

Also, in light of the loss by Oklahoma, the Big 12 needed the victory by Oklahoma State to maintain a higher conference power rating.

Is Football Easier Than Basketball?

There have been a number of college athletes who have played both basketball and football at the same time and even a few college basketball standouts who have gone on to play in the NFL.

However, you still have to be a little amazed with the quick transition that former Duke University point guard Greg Paulus has made from the hardwood to the gridiron.

For him to go four years without playing football and then emerge as a starting quarterback is quite impressive.

While Paulus wasn’t perfect in Syracuse’s overtime loss to Minnesota, he did have a solid first showing. Paulus completed 19 of 31 passes for 167 yards. His only interception of the game led to the winning field goal in overtime.

Now that he has his first college football game under his belt, you can expect to see Paulus continue to get better as he becomes more accustomed with his new role.

This article is an original column from Sports Then and Now, which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

What Might Have Been: Remembering the 1994 Montreal Expos

Dean Hybl — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:45:45 -0400

Had Major League Baseball and the Baseball Players Union made some different choices 15 years ago, September 2009 might have been a great time to be a fan of the Montreal Expos. If I close my eyes, I can almost picture it.

The City of Montreal is abuzz for baseball with record crowds filling the new state-of-the-art downtown stadium to watch the Expos battle for another National League Eastern Division crown.

Fans are also excited to relive the memories from 15 years ago when the 1994 Montreal Expos forever solidified a place for baseball in Montreal with a thrilling run to a World Series title.

Indeed what a run it was.

After a slow start to the season that saw the team with a 4-9 record and already eight and a half games out of first place on April 18, manager Felipe Alou steadied the ship. They won five straight games to get back to .500 and after a loss to the Dodgers rattled off six straight wins and were soon heading toward the top of the division.

They secured sole possession of second place on May 11 and by mid-July had overtaken the Atlanta Braves for the division lead and quickly started to pull away from their new division rival (the Braves moved from the NL West to the NL East as part of realignment in 1994).

The 1994 Expos were a young, yet exciting team filled with talent and promise. The team had won 94 games in 1993 and would be satisfied with nothing short of a World Series title.

Among the position players, 28-year-old third baseman Sean Berry was the oldest starter, though only in his second season as a regular.

The outfield consisted of three 27-year-olds all destined for stardom.

Moises Alou, the son of the manager, was the budding superstar. Alou enjoyed a breakout season in 1994 as he finished third in the MVP voting. He earned his first trip to the All-Star Game and returned to Montreal as a hero following his game-winning hit in the 10th inning.

Centerfielder Marquis Grissom was the table-setter for the potent Montreal offense. Since coming into the league in 1990, Grissom had provided a combination of speed, power and defense that made him an All-Star and MVP candidate.

Larry Walker had been with the organization since signing as a free agent in 1984. In his fifth full season, Walker had already won two Gold Gloves in right field and was emerging as an offensive force.

The rest of the lineup was filled with solid young players that seemed destined to help the Expos contend for years to come.

There was 21-year-old Cliff Floyd at first base, 22-year-old Wil Cordero at shortstop, 26-year-old Mike Lansing at second base and 27-year-old Darrin Fletcher behind the plate.

Berry and Lansing would end up as the only members of the lineup never to make an All-Star squad and both of them had solid major league careers.

The bench was even impressive as it included future All-Star outfielder Rondell White, veteran catcher Lenny Webster and slugging first baseman Randy Milligan.

Though not as young as the position lineup, the pitching staff had the perfect mix of experience and youth.

At 28 years of age, Ken Hill enjoyed the finest season of his career in 1994. He won 16 games and finished second in the Cy Young voting.

Since being acquired by the Expos from the Dodgers in a trade for Delino DeShields following the 1993 season, 22-year-old Pedro Martinez had displayed glimpses of brilliance on the mound. Though in his first season as a major league starter, Martinez posted an 11-5 record and averaged a strikeout per inning.

In addition to the two staff aces, 31-year-old Jeff Fassero, 25-year-old Butch Henry, and 23-year-old Kirk Rueter gave the Expos a starting rotation that rivaled even the great Atlanta Braves in 1994.

The bullpen for the Expos was possibly even better than the starting staff.

With four of the primary relievers all 27 years old and the fifth one (Gil Heredia) a year older, the Expos had a bullpen that was merciless on opposing hitters.

Leading the way was closer Jeff Wetteland. In his third season with the Expos, Wetteland had saved 80 games in his first two seasons with the team and would add 25 in 1994.

Mel Rojas was an outstanding setup man for Wetteland and also took some of the pressure off of Wetteland as he could save games as well. He recorded 16 saves in 1994.

Tim Scott, Jeff Shaw and Heredia were all great situational pitchers who could fill the void on the rare occasions when the starters struggled.

Overall, the Expos staff tied Atlanta for the lowest earned run average in the league with a 3.57 mark.

By the time the team reached August 11, they had the best record in baseball, as they were 34 games over .500 with a mark of 74-40.

And the fans of Montreal were starting to rally behind their team. A three-game home series against Atlanta in late June averaged nearly 44,000 fans per game and in their last two home series, the Expos averaged more than 34,000 fans per night in sets against the Dodgers and Cardinals.

However, the season and the building excitement could have been derailed at that point had not the owners and players union come together on a last-minute agreement to save the season and preserve the balance within the game.

Though a new minimum and maximum salary cap meant that small-market teams like the Expos, Oakland A’s, Minnesota Twins, and Kansas City Royals had to guarantee a certain annual payroll, it also meant that larger-market teams like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs could not spend whatever they wanted on player salaries and monopolize the free agent market.

Having the strike averted seemed to energize the Expos and they sailed into the postseason maintaining the best record in the game.

It was the first season of the new playoff structure with three division champions and one wild card team.

In the opening round of the playoffs the Expos easily defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in three straight games while the Braves had little trouble with the Cincinnati Reds.

The showdown between the experienced Braves and the young Expos proved to be one for the ages.

With Hill, Martinez, and Fassero standing toe to toe with Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and John Smoltz, the pitching in the series was reminiscent to what had been experienced in the 1991 World Series between the Braves and Minnesota Twins when every hit, every base runner, and every out had significance.

It took seven games, but Alou, Floyd and the Expos were able to thrill the full-house crowd at the old Olympic Stadium with a dramatic victory to earn their first trip to the World Series.

As the Florida Marlins would do nearly a decade later, the Expos faced the New York Yankees in a World Series battle that was being depicted by many as David versus Goliath.

Only this time David was launching missiles rather than rocks and though the Yankees were a solid team, there was little question that the primarily homegrown Expos had the better squad.

Overshadowing the talent of the Expos entering the series was the excitement by the New York media that Don Mattingly was finally making an appearance in the World Series after a decade of toiling away for uncharacteristically mediocre Yankee teams.

However, once the focus turned to the field it was the Expos that shined. After the grueling nature of the series with Atlanta many questioned if Montreal had enough left in the tank to defeat the Yankees.

However, that concern was refuted from the very beginning as the Expos thrilled the home crowd with dominating victories in the first two games of the series.

After winning one of three in New York, Montreal returned home and provided their home fans with the greatest thrill in sports, a clinching World Series victory.

The excitement in Montreal catapulted the city to grasp baseball fully as a sister sport to their beloved hockey and the city leaders became dedicated to keeping and expanding baseball in Montreal.

The downtown stadium that opened early in the new century would rival any other park in the league for its beauty and fan friendliness.

As I open my eyes, my clear vision of the 1994 World Series, the new stadium in Montreal, and the excitement around the Expos starts to fade away.

What happened?

Alas, as we all know, the owners and players union did not come to an agreement on that fateful day in August of 1994 and though it would take another decade for it to officially happen, for all intents and purposes, baseball in Montreal ended the day the 1994 baseball strike began.

Instead of enjoying their first World Series Championship, the management, fans, and players associated with the Expos had to deal with the reality that their dream season had been snatched away.

When baseball did finally return in late-April of 1995, the Expos were not the same.

Gone from the lineup were Larry Walker and Marquis Grissom. The team also was without staff ace Ken Hill and closer Jeff Wetteland.

Ironically, the Expos would win eight fewer games in a 144-game 1995 season than they did in a 114 game season the previous year.

While Montreal was struggling to a record of 66-78, Grissom was earning a World Series ring in Atlanta and Walker was leading the Colorado Rockies to the playoffs. Wetteland would win a World Series with the Yankees in 1996 and after leaving the Expos, Alou claimed a ring with the Florida Marlins in 1997.

By 1998, the Expos had a completely new team as none of the position starters or primary pitchers from the great 1994 squad were still on the team.

In 2005, baseball left Montreal for good. Instead of playing in a new stadium in downtown Montreal, the franchise had to move to Washington, DC to find a new facility. Now known as the Washington Nationals, the franchise plays their home games in a new stadium in Washington, but still struggle on the field and for crowd support.

The Nationals posted an 81-81 record in their first season in Washington, but have had a losing record each of the last four seasons and in 2009 are averaging only 22,740 fans per game. That figure is less than the 24,543 the Expos were averaging at the time of the strike in 1994, but significantly better than the 10,285 that the team averaged in their final five seasons playing in Montreal.

While the Expos are undoubtedly the most notable casualty of the 1994 labor dispute, the agreement that led to baseball’s return has also seriously hampered a number of other baseball franchises.

Between 1950 and 1994, only four teams (1953-1962 Chicago Cubs, 1953-1967 Kansas City Athletics, 1969-78 Montreal Expos and the 1977-1990 Seattle Mariners) registered periods of 10 or more consecutive losing seasons and two of those four were expansion teams.

Since 1994, five franchises (1993-2009 Pittsburgh Pirates, 1993-2004 Milwaukee Brewers, 1994-2005 Detroit Tigers, 1998-2007 Tampa Bay Rays and the 1998-2009 Baltimore Orioles) have registered stretches of 10 or more consecutive seasons with a losing record.

In addition, the Kansas City Royals have had a losing record in 14 of the last 15 years (winning mark in 2004 interrupted their streak), the Cincinnati Reds are working on their ninth straight losing season and the Colorado Rockies are currently experiencing only their second winning season since 1997.

While baseball as a whole has grown significantly stronger since 1994, this statistic illustrates that there are clearly places where the agreements reached in 1994 have hampered the ability to compete in an era of spiraling salaries and unbridled spending by the largest franchises.

The Expos were the first direct casualty of the 1994 baseball strike, but they may not be the last.

This article is an original story from Sports Then and Now, which was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

It's "Pie" Time for the Baltimore Orioles

Dean Hybl — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:36:05 -0400

With Adam Jones potentially done for the season with an ankle injury, much-maligned Felix Pie will get a chance to prove he belongs in the Orioles starting lineup come 2010.

If you remember, Pie began the season as the starting left-fielder for the Orioles, but after registering an abysmal .157 average in April, it didn’t take him long to get buried on the Baltimore bench.

The emergence of Nolan Reimold and solid starts by Luke Scott, made it look like Pie’s time in Baltimore might be short-lived.

To his credit, even when everyone across the sports blogosphere was calling for the Orioles to give up on the talented—yet unproven—Pie, he kept his head down and moved forward.

He carried a .195 batting average into June, but even though his chances to show his talent were sparse, he began to show some sparks of the ability everyone knew he possessed.

Slowly but surely, Pie began to move out of the doghouse and back into the mind of manager Dave Trembley.

In June, he went 7-for-14 with two multi-hit games and a pair of pinch hits. He was only 5-for-13 in July, but had multiple hits in each of his last two starts in the month.

By the time August rolled around, Pie was starting to see regular action, as Adam Jones struggled for the first time all season, Scott’s production waned, and Aubrey Huff was traded.

After starting only seven games in the two previous months, Pie made 16 starts in August and made the most of his opportunity. He hit .333 (21-for-63), including a four-hit game and a pair of three-hit outings.

Despite his miserable start, Pie now has his season average up to .270 with eight home runs and 24 RBI.

With Jones now out for at least the next couple of weeks—and potentially for the remainder of the season—Pie should get what some thought was all he needed during his time in Chicago: a chance to play everyday.

If his performance over the last month is any indication, Pie could be ready for a big month with the bat and the glove.

As the Orioles continue to build for 2010, whether Pie is part of the plans could be determined over the next few weeks.

Check out more from Dean Hybl at Baltimore Sports Then and Now where passionate fans can stay updated on the latest in Baltimore sports while also reliving the great moments, players and teams of Baltimore's tremendous sports history.

Matt Wieters Gives Baltimore Orioles a Building Block For The Future

Dean Hybl — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:31:23 -0400

By any measure, Baltimore Orioles rookie catcher Matt Wieters has been outstanding since making his Major League debut for the Orioles on May 29.

While it is easy to notice his 13 RBI in the month of August and .277 batting average since July 1, what is especially impressive is the strides Wieters is making in his role of grooming the young Baltimore pitching staff.

With five rookies having made their first big league start this season and nearly half the starts on the staff coming from first year pitchers, it might seem strange to have a rookie catcher behind the plate.

But former major league catcher and current Orioles Broadcaster Buck Martinez thinks having Wieters working with the young pitchers could be a long-term blessing for the Orioles.

“Ideally you might want a veteran presence behind the plate when you have so many young pitchers,” Martinez said, “but because he [Wieters] is such a high profile catcher and projects to be an impact catcher with the bat you kind of let them grow together.

“The pitchers have a lot of confidence in Matt and throw to him with conviction.”

While adjusting to the Major Leagues is a tough task for any rookie, it has been particularly challenging for Wieters because he is being asked not only to become a solid major league hitter, but also to call games for a young pitching staff against hitters that he has never seen before.

“One of the problems in the minor leagues is that there aren’t enough instructors to teach catchers the art of game calling,” Martinez said. “In the minor leagues you don’t groom a catcher. You instruct the catcher to groom the pitchers.

“Matt never called a pitch at Georgia Tech. Now he is dealing with calling pitches for pitchers he doesn’t know against hitters he doesn’t know and might not see again this year,” Martinez added.

Making things even more complicated for Wieters is that as a switch hitter he is working on two offensive swings while also getting a crash course in the art of calling a major league game behind the plate.

“So he has two swings to worry about, blocking balls, calling pitches for a rookie staff and dealing with the American League hitters,” Martinez said. “It’s quite challenging.”

But, so far, Wieters appears to be up to the challenge. After hitting .247 during his first month in the majors, Wieters has raised his average to .271 and has 16 multi-hit games (including a four-hit game on July 28 against Kansas City).

He also has increased his run production and now has five home runs and 25 RBI in 66 games. He had a career-high four RBI in a recent win over Cleveland.

“Given everything he’s dealing with, Matt has done a marvelous job,” said Martinez.

Certainly, he is giving the Orioles the kind of production they expected when he was drafted with the fifth overall pick in the 2007 draft.

His continued improvement, along with that of the young pitching staff that he is grooming, is a primary reason that there is a sense of optimism in Baltimore even as the Orioles struggle through their 12th straight losing season.

“The only way to beat the Yankees and the Red Sox on a regular basis is to out-pitch them and to play good defense. That is the kind of ball club the Orioles are building,” Martinez said.

Without question, Matt Wieters will continue to be an important part of that building process and as he becomes more comfortable in his multitude of roles it is exciting to think that he is just starting to tap his full potential.

Chatting College Football with Former Marshall Coach Jack Lengyel

Dean Hybl — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:28:21 -0400

As we prepare for the much anticipated start of the 2009 college football season, Sports Then and Now will spend this week getting ready for the college football season with previews of some of the top teams and conferences in the country as well as special features on greats from the past.

We kickoff coverage with an interview with a former college football coach whose tenure as head coach at Marshall University was chronicled in the 2006 movie We Are Marshall. The movie starred Matthew McConaughey and brought renewed attention to a small town that dealt with a big tragedy in 1970.

Though Jack Lengyel is now most associated with his tenure as the coach who kept alive the football program at Marshall following the death of 75 players, coaches, staff, and boosters in a plane crash on Nov. 14, 1970, his career in college athletics actually spanned six decades.

Lengyel began his coaching career as an assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of Akron, in 1959 and served as an assistant at Heidelberg College and Cornell University before becoming the head coach at the College of Wooster in 1966.

“I was a firm, disciplined coach,” Lengyel said when asked to describe his coaching style. “I was demanding, but fair.

“To me, it was all about recruiting quality character people, both as players and as members of your staff. I firmly believed in the total person concept.”

Lengyel took a team that had been 0-9 at Wooster before his arrival and turned them into a winning program.

When he took over as head coach at Marshall University following the plane crash only months earlier, Lengyel inherited a program that was questioning its existence and struggling not to be an embarrassment to a very proud and shaken community.

“When we got there we only had a month to get ready for spring practice,” Lengyel said. “We pretty much just had the returning freshmen and recruited whoever we could find.”

Lengyel had run a flip-flop offense at Wooster, but knew that wouldn’t work at Marshall because of the need for experienced linemen.

“We needed an offense that would work for the players we had and give us a chance to win,” Lengyel said.

One of the more interesting moments of the movie is a scene where Lengyel and his assistant, Red Dawson travel to Morgantown to “ask” West Virginia head coach Bobby Bowden if they can study the Houston Veer offense, which was run by Bowden’s Mountaineers.

While Lengyel said the fundamentals of that story are true, the reality is that they talked to Bowden and his staff in advance and the entire Marshall coaching staff actually spent three days during spring practice watching practice and films in Morgantown.

“Frank Cignetti (who spent four seasons as head coach of the Mountaineers after Bowden left in 1976) taught us the offense in three days,” Lengyel said. “It gave us some options and some hope.”

Using their new offense was sometimes a challenge, as the team didn’t have enough players during spring practice to play all the positions.

“I played defensive end, we had coaches playing the defensive line, whatever it took for us to teach the team the new offense,” Lengyel recalled.

The big test occurred at the end of spring practice when Marshall hosted what was then an annual tradition of the alumni facing the current varsity team.

“There was a lot of pressure on us as the community wanted to see if we were going to be an embarrassment.

“We won 26-0 and it gave the community hope,” Lengyel said.

It was that same community that welcomed with open arms the filming of the movie We Are Marshall.

When asked if the movie was an accurate depiction of the events from the early 1970s, Lengyel gave an honest, yet somewhat diplomatic answer.

“It is as accurate as most Hollywood movies,” he said. “I struggled at first with things like composite characters, but overall it did a tremendous job of telling the story 37 years later.”

In describing his depiction by Matthew McConaughey, Lengyel jokingly said, “My sideburns weren’t that long, I didn’t have a constant five o’clock shadow and I didn’t dress like Bozo the Clown.

“But seriously, he [McConaughey] did a tremendous job communicating the story. He spent a lot of time in the town making sure that he got a sense of the community and he really did a great job.”

Overall, Lengyel said he was very pleased with the way the studio handled the sensitivity of the movie and made the town feel like part of the production.

“We didn’t want a Beverly Hillbillies movie that would desecrate the memory of the 75 people that perished in the crash,” Lengyel said. “Huntington is a unique place. The town and gown relationship is like a fist and I think they did a great job of capturing that.”

Lengyel also said that over time the Warner Brothers crew became part of the community.

“The first day there was one guy wearing a green Marshall hat. By the end everyone was wearing Marshall green.”

The community also helped create the atmosphere for the movie as more than 2,000 people showed up when a call was made for stand-ins. When they needed period cars they were inundated with people willing to help for free.

Conversely, Lengyel said that when the shooting shifted to Atlanta, they had to spend a small fortune on period cars.

After shooting campus scenes in Huntington, the crew moved to Atlanta where the football and crash scenes were shot.

The movie was premiered in Huntington at a special screening for families of the victims before a full premier for the community.

“Warner Brothers was very sensitive of the situation and really wanted to do it right. I think everyone appreciated how they handled the entire production,” Lengyel said.

Lengyel left Marshall after the 1974 season and never coached again. However, after a short stretch in private business, he returned to spend the next three decades in college administration.

He served as associate athletic director at the University of Louisville and the University of Missouri. He then was the athletic director at Fresno State for two years and then briefly returned to the University of Missouri as athletic director.

In 1988 he became the director of athletics at the U.S. Naval Academy and served in that capacity until 2001. Though technically retired, Lengyel has served stints as the interim director of athletics at Temple University, Eastern Kentucky University, and the University of Colorado.

He also has spent significant time stoking a passion that has been with him since he started coaching, technology. Lengyel is currently the vice president for business development for XOS Technologies, which is the leading provider of video technology for college and professional coaches.

“Technology has exploded,” Lengyel said. “You can now get instant information on opponents or on recruits where once it would have taken you days or weeks to get the information and then even longer to catalog everything.”

While an assistant coach at Cornell in the 1960s, Lengyel was first exposed to using computers for game planning.

“The first computer system we used was the size of a building,” Lengyel recalled, “and had the power of today’s cell phone.

“Now you have everything you need virtually at the push of a button. The question becomes how much information can you really use.”

At 74 years old and now 50 years removed from his first college coaching job, Jack Lengyel has seen a lot of changes in college athletics, but he is still active, engaged and ready to lend a hand wherever one might be needed.

Sports Then and Now was created to give passionate sports fans a place where they can analyze and discuss current sports topics while also remembering some of the great athletes, moments, teams and games in sports history all at one site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out today.

Remembering Nile Kinnick: An American Hero

Dean Hybl — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:15:16 -0400

In preparation for the start of college football season, we recognize as the Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Week, a former Heisman Trophy winner who was more than just a football hero—he was an American Hero.

It was 70 years ago that Nile Kinnick Jr. led the Iowa Hawkeyes to an improbable run into the national top 10.

A talented all-around athlete, Kinnick had been a Junior Legion baseball teammate of Bob Feller. He also excelled in both basketball and football, first at Adel High School in his hometown and then, after the family moved to Omaha following his sophomore year, at Benson High School.

Choosing to return to his home state and attend the University of Iowa, Kinnick played both football and basketball as a sophomore in 1937.

He earned All-Big Ten and third team All-American honors in football. On the basketball court, he ranked 15th in the Big Ten in scoring.

Following an injury-plagued junior season in which he earned honorable mention honors on the gridiron, Kinnick decided not to continue his basketball career and instead looked to concentrate on his senior football season for the Hawkeyes.

After posting a 2-13-1 record on the football field during the two previous seasons, the Hawkeyes and their senior leader looked to change their fortune in 1939.

Dubbed the “Ironmen” because most of the starters played both ways and rarely came off the field, the Hawkeyes posted a 6-1-1 record, finished second in the Big Ten and were ranked ninth in the final AP poll.

Kinnick was the unquestioned star of the Hawkeyes in 1939.

Known for his late-game heroics, Kinnick scored the game-winning touchdown against Notre Dame and threw late touchdown passes in wins over Indiana and Wisconsin.

Playing primarily at left halfback, Kinnick rushed for 374 yards and five touchdowns. Though he attempted only 31 passes, he totaled 638 passing yards and 11 touchdowns. He also served as the punter and placekicker while returning punts and kickoffs on the other end of special teams.

Overall, Kinnick was involved in 16 of the 19 touchdowns scored by the team during the season and 107 of 130 total points. He established 14 school records during the season.

Kinnick was a consensus first-team All-American and the only unanimous selection by the Association Press. He was named the Big Ten MVP and received the Walter Camp Award and the Maxwell Award. The Associated Press chose Kinnick over such notable athletes as Joe Louis, Joe DiMaggio, and Byron Nelson as the 1939 AP Male Athlete of the Year.

In the fourth annual selection of the Heisman Trophy, Kinnick easily outdistanced Michigan junior Tom Harmon, who went on to win the award the following year.

The acceptance speech Kinnick gave at the award ceremony in New York reflected the sentiment in the country just two years before Pearl Harbor, and it illustrated the character of the then-21-year-old.

After recognizing his coaches and teammates, Kinnick thanked God that he was “warring on the gridirons of the Midwest, and not on the battlefields of Europe.” He also added that, “the players of this country would much more—much—rather struggle and fight to win the Heisman award than the Croix de Guerre.”

Following Kinnick’s speech, Bill Cunningham of The Boston Post wrote “This country’s okay as long as it produces Nile Kinnicks. The football part is incidental.”

After graduation, Kinnick was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers in the second round of the 1940 NFL Draft and offered a $10,000 contract. Instead, Kinnick chose to return to Iowa as an assistant coach while attending law school.

In his only appearance against professional players, at the 1940 Chicago All-Star Game, Kinnick gave a glimpse of what might have been had he joined the NFL.

He scored two touchdowns and kicked four extra points in a 45-28 loss to the defending NFL Champion Green Bay Packers. It was noted that all four touchdowns by the All-Star team came while Kinnick was in the game and they managed only one first down when he was on the sidelines.

The grandson of a former Iowa Governor George W. Clarke, Kinnick was reportedly interested in politics.

As an undergraduate, Kinnick had maintained a 3.4 grade-point average, been selected as a Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated “with distinction.”

In his first year of law school, Kinnick ranked third in his class. He also served as an assistant coach for the Hawkeyes, working with the freshman team and assisting in scouting of upcoming games.

The following year, he left law school and enlisted in the Naval Air Reserve. He reported for induction three days before Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Training to be a fighter pilot, he was deployed with the USS Lexington in late May of 1943.

On June 2, 1943, Kinnick was on a routine training mission off the coast of Venezuela in the Gulf of Paria. He had been flying for over an hour when his plane developed an oil leak that was too serious for him to either reach land or the USS Lexington.

Kinnick followed standard military procedure and executed an emergency landing in the water approximately four miles from his ship. Rescue boats arrived on the scene a mere eight minutes later, but they found only an oil slick. His body was never recovered.

Since his death, Kinnick has received many honors and memorials.

He was a member of the initial class of inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951. The University of Iowa retired his number (No. 24) and the coin flipped at the start of every Big Ten game bears his image.

After initial reluctance from his father, Nile Kinnick Sr., to have Nile singled out among the 407,000 Americans who lost their lives in military service during World War II, the football stadium at the University of Iowa was finally renamed Kinnick Stadium in his honor in 1972.

In 1989, he was selected as the best player in the first 100 years of football at the University of Iowa.

As we prepare for the start of the 2009 football season, it is important to recognize and appreciate the accomplishments and sacrifices made by Kinnick and many others that have helped make college football such an important part of our American culture.

If you had a favorite athlete growing up that you would like to see featured as the Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Week, send me a nomination by e-mail.