American Football (NFL, College, etc.)

shin2 wrote:Pepper Rodgers era. Tommy Prothro was earlier, from 65--70. Prothro coached Gary Beban, the Bruins' only Heisman Trophy winner.

Oh... I guess my brother got to see both coaches. :)

gaijinmark wrote:

Found this article from the Colorado Springs (home of the Air Force Academy) newspaper. It's ten years old, but gives some interesting insight into why they went with the wishbone:http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4191/is_20000730/ai_n9976324/

Thanks for the link. Brought back fond memories.

Over this past weekend, Ollie Matson passed away at the age of 80.

Matson was a running back who played in the NFL in the 50's and 60's. When he retired, only the great Jim Brown had more total all-purpose yards than he did.

Ollie Matson is a member of both the college football and professional football halls of fame.

How good a player was he? Well, at one point in his NFL career, he was traded by the Chicago Cardinals to the Los Angeles Rams for nine players.

He played his college football at the University of San Francisco where the 1951 team he was on went undefeated. Two of his teammates on that team--Gino Marchetti and Bob St. Clair--are also in the pro football hall of fame. (Has there been another college football team that had three pro football hall of famers?)

Matson was a big back for his time--6'2" and 220 lbs.--and fast. How fast? Well, he won two Olympic medals (a bronze in the 400 meters and a silver in the 4X400 relay) at the 1952 Olympic Games.

There aren't very many people who can claim to have won two Olympic medals and be in two football halls of fame. Ollie Matson can.

^ Saw his obituary in the Times the other day...

Japan versus South Korea in football:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sf20110227a1.html

Wow, 76-0!!!! :doh: And that wasn't as bad as their game in 2003. :naughty:

49ers pioneer Wally Yonamine dies at 85
Posted on March 1, 2011 by Eric Branch

"Wally Yonamine, who became the first Asian American to play professional football when he debuted with the 49ers in 1947, died of prostate cancer on Monday night. Yonamine was 85.

Yonamine played just one season, but his signing was significant in the Bay Area where many Japanese residents had recently returned after being placed in an internment camp in Utah during World War II. In 12 games with the 49ers, Yonamine, a running back and defensive back, rushed for 74 yards on 19 carries, caught three passes for 40 yards and had an interception.

gOne day, I was surprised by an unknown caller on the telephone,h said 49ers owner and co-chairman Dr. John York in a statement. gWally Yonamine reached out to me and asked that I present him into the Japanese American Sports Hall of Fame, in 2002. That phone call introduced me to a wonderful new friend and a man that is very important in 49ers history, the 49ers first Asian American player. Wally will be sadly missed by me and those with a love of 49ers history.h

After his season with San Francisco, Yonamine turned to baseball and enjoyed a legendary career. He went abroad and played for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan, becoming the first American in Japanese baseball in the post-World War II era. In 11 seasons, Yonamine was a seven-time all-star who won three batting titles and three Japan Series titles. After his retirement, he coached or managed in Japan for 26 years and was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.

In 2002, the 49ers recognized Yonamine during an exhibition game at the Osaka Dome in Japan. Yonamine was an honorary team captain and received a standing ovation following a video tribute."

A bit before my time. In fact, Yonamine played for the Niners before they entered the NFL in 1950, But he was featured on local TV and in lots of interviews after 2002 and he seemed like a very cool guy.

One thing not mentioned in the article above was the fact that he took some pretty harsh treatment from the Japanese fans over the first few years of his baseball career. And I"m talking rocks and bottles thrown from the stands.

But he fought through and won the fans over.

^ I posted the story in the baseball thread: http://jdorama.com/viewtopic.php?p=918709#918709 :mrgreen:

BMW

Good.

I haven't watched baseball in... well, a very long time. So I don't read that thread. But the notice about his passing belongs over there as well.

Geezer wrote:I haven't watched baseball in... well, a very long time. So I don't read that thread. But the notice about his passing belongs over there as well.

Really?

I thought you followed the Giants, particularly during their surprising WS run.

bmw

Never in my life.

I was born and raised a Yankee fan (because somebody stole our Dodgers.)

Sort of lost interest when I moved out here, and then dismissed the MLB out of hand in what was it... 1994?

Geezer wrote:bmw

Never in my life.

I was born and raised a Yankee fan (because somebody sole our Dodgers.)

Sort of lost interest when I moved out here, and then dismissed the MLB out of hand in what was it... 1994?

Wow, since '94, huh? :sweat:

Admittedly, the Dodgers mediocrity since 1988 and the O'Malley's selling them off to the Devil and related have numbed me over a bit...

bmwracer wrote:
Wow, since '94, huh? :sweat:

Admittedly, the Dodgers mediocrity since 1988 and the O'Malley's selling them off to the Devil and related have numbed me over a bit...

Then in that case, join the ever expanding nation! :victory:
http://www.meetup.com/RedSoxNation/

BMW

Dude! You said the bad word! O'Malley

First joke every Brooklyn boy from my generation learned:

You're in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and O'Malley.

You have a gun, but only two bullets.

What do you do?

Answer? Shoot O'Malley twice.

hitomi #1 wrote:Then in that case, join the ever expanding nation! :victory:
http://www.meetup.com/RedSoxNation/

I've always liked the BoSox, thanks mainly to Williams and Yaz. :victory:

For Geezer and any other 49er fans out there, found this. If your a Niner fan you would probably call it "A Tragedy in 15 Parts". It's the 1970 NFC championship game between the Niners and the Cowboys. The first 14 parts are exactly the way it was broadcast on CBS (including commercials) on Jan. 3rd 1971. That takes it up to the beginning of the 4th quarter. Part 15 is 4th quarter highlights from NFL films.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this was the last game played at Kezar Stadium: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAXFw0bXPQs

gaijinmark wrote:For Geezer and any other 49er fans out there, found this. If your a Niner fan you would probably call it "A Tragedy in 15 Parts". It's the 1970 NFC championship game between the Niners and the Cowboys. The first 14 parts are exactly the way it was broadcast on CBS (including commercials) on Jan. 3rd 1971. That takes it up to the beginning of the 4th quarter. Part 15 is 4th quarter highlights from NFL films.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this was the last game played at Kezar Stadium: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAXFw0bXPQs

Thanks for supplying the link. Watching it brought back a lot of memories. Nine future hall of famers were in this game: Bob Lilly, Rayfield Wright, Herb Adderley,Mike Ditka, Mel Renfro, Bob Hayes, and Roger Staubach from the Cowboys, and Jimmy Johnson and Dave Wilcox from the 49ers. (Staubach didn't actually play in this game; he was the back-up at the time, although the following season he would become the starting QB and lead Dallas to its first Super Bowl victory) In addition there were a number of other notable players in this game. For example, Steve Spurrier was the Niners' punter. Cliff Harris and Charlie Waters, who would become one of the best safety duos in NFL history, were both rookies. The infamous Duane Thomas, who for a couple of seasons looked like the second coming of Jim Brown until he self-destructed, was the Cowboys starting halfback. Lee Roy Jordan, one of the best players ever to play for Bear Bryant and who, as the Cowboys' MLB was imo, better than some of the LBs in the HOF, had a crucial interception in the game. QB John Brodie and WR Gene Washington were big stars in the NFL at the time. The game also featured two of the toughest and most overlooked FBs from that era: Ken Willard and Walt Garrison.
Oh yeah, Ray Scott did the play-by-play; he's on my list of top 5 all-time football broadcasters. And yep, it was the last game played at Kezar Stadium.

Glad you liked it. I'm a big fan of Ray Scott as well.

While watching it, a couple things came to mind. First of all, the announcers just announced the game, that's all, they didn't give promos after every play and there weren't ads continually popping up on the screen. Fortunately, that technology did not exist at the time. Also, almost a complete lack of advertising around the stadium. It's almost as if the fans at Kezar and at home were there just to watch the game. What a novel concept!!

The other thing, and I believe it was mentioned during the broadcast, was that Landry was calling all the plays using rotating tight ends, while Brodie was calling all his plays himself. I seem to recall this was a bit of a controversy at the time. A lot of people felt the coach shouldn't be calling plays. That was the quarterbacks job, he was the one on the field and had a much better feel for what was going on.
Can you imagine now if a coach went up to a quarterback 5 minutes before kick-off and told him he'd have to call his own plays? He'd break out in a cold sweat and faint dead away!

gaijinmark wrote:

While watching it, a couple things came to mind. First of all, the announcers just announced the game, that's all, they didn't give promos after every play and there weren't ads continually popping up on the screen. Fortunately, that technology did not exist at the time.

The only time I heard Ray Scott do a promo (aside from several references to an upcoming televised hockey game) was when he announced the return of The Honeymooners--no graphics, just a quick mention. (Aside: has there ever been a greater comedic duo in television than Jackie Gleason and Art Carney?)

gaijinmark wrote:The other thing, and I believe it was mentioned during the broadcast, was that Landry was calling all the plays using rotating tight ends, while Brodie was calling all his plays himself. I seem to recall this was a bit of a controversy at the time. A lot of people felt the coach shouldn't be calling plays. That was the quarterbacks job, he was the one on the field and had a much better feel for what was going on.
Can you imagine now if a coach went up to a quarterback 5 minutes before kick-off and told him he'd have to call his own plays? He'd break out in a cold sweat and faint dead away!

Yep, after many years of QBs calling their own plays, Landry started calling every play from the sideline that season. It was different although hardly innovative--the late great coach Paul Brown used guards to shuttle in the plays.
While QBs nowadays don't call their own plays (aside from 2-minute drills), I think, especially in the NFL, they have to process more information than in the past. That's because they run tons of "check with me" plays and have greater latitude with changing plays. In addition, defenses are much more complex than they were in the past. And so much, on the both sides of the ball, involve packaged personnel these days that there's more for an NFL QB to think about.
In watching that game, both offenses basically ran 2-back, 1-TE sets the entire game, regardless of down and distance; the defenses only went away from their base personnel a small handful of times. It's a lot different and more sophisticated game nowadays.

Speaking of that, it was interesting to see things in that game that would be anachronistic to younger football fans today. The goal posts on the goal line; no announcing by the ref of the player guilty of the penalty; the offenses huddling 10 yards from the line of scrimmage; punt teams huddling; flipper blocking; FBs carrying the ball as much as HBs; the ref allowing the visiting Cowboys to re-huddle because the Niner fans were too loud. . . .

AaaKK! I just checked this thread and saw the link to the 1970 Championship game.

Thank you Mark!

No kidding. I was just thinking that I would pull out one of the games from last season and give it a watch tonight.

Not anymore!

I was still a Giants / Jets fan back in 1970, so I rarely got to watch Brodie play.

Re: announcers in the old days. My favorite TV experiment happened a couple of decades ago. NBC decided to broadcast a game with no announcers. You could hear the crowd, and you could hear the PA announcements from the stadium. But no talking heads in a booth. It was bliss.