American Football (NFL, College, etc.)

shin2 wrote:Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders Mt. Rushmore: Al Davis, Jim Otto, Ted Hendricks, Dave Casper

All good choices, but I might have picked Willie Brown over the Stork.

The rookies had a good game. Especially rookie RB Stevan Ridley who had three touchdowns.

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Jav_sol wrote:rookie RB Stevan Ridley who had three touchdowns.

Pretty easy to do when there's no one on the field. :P

gaijinmark wrote:

All good choices, but I might have picked Willie Brown over the Stork.

The problem (a good one) is that the Raiders had so many exceptionally great players that there was bound to be deserving ones who weren't chosen.

Marcus Allen, Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, Howie Long, and yes, Willie Brown--if you saw them play and/or read their resumes, they were certainly among the elite players of their generation.

My reasoning, if anyone cares, was as follows: Al Davis and Jim Otto were no-brainers; anyone who knows the history of the AFL would I think concede this. I ended up selecting the Ghost and the Stork because, imo, they were the best to ever play their respective positions by my criteria: Casper as a TE, and Hendricks as an OLB/DE in the 3--4 defense.

I had this same conundrum with previous selections involving the Bears, Packers, and Cowboys.

How could you not choose Gale Sayers, Red Grange, Mike Ditka, or Mike Singletary?

Or Ray Nitschke, Jim Taylor, Willie Davis, or Brett Favre?

Or Bob Lilly, Tony Dorsett, Lee Roy Jordan, or Mel Renfro?

I started this Mt. Rushmore thing as a whimsical long-time-fan-of-football exercise, triggered by the start of football season and a guilty (well, maybe not so guilty) shirking of more important things to do.

I must admit I am enjoying this bit of innocuous fluff, and suggest that, if you have a favorite team or teams, try coming up with your own Mt. Rushmore selections. Part of the fun (believe it or not) is actually doing a little research on-line or wherever on various players and teams; I guarantee you'll come across some interesting stuff and trigger some neat recollections from your memory banks. :mrgreen:

shin2

My problem with the Mt. Rushmore thing is that the list simply gets too long, when I think about the teams that I've followed closely. The Giants, the Jets, the Raiders, the Niners. Every time I get the list down to ten or eleven, I think of four or eight more that simply have to be one it.

Then, when I turn my attention to the teams that don't matter to me at all... I have a hard time remembering who it was I hated the most.

This is not a fluffy exercise. It's frustrating beyond belief.

On to tonight's pre season game between the Niners and the Saints.

Hmm. You know, Tommy Nobis probably deserves a spot on Atlanta's Mt. Rushmore.

Geezer wrote:

My problem with the Mt. Rushmore thing is that the list simply gets too long, when I think about the teams that I've followed closely. The Giants, the Jets, the Raiders, the Niners. Every time I get the list down to ten or eleven, I think of four or eight more that simply have to be one it.

Sounds like you don't need a mountain, you need a mountain range.

Geezer wrote:You know, Tommy Nobis probably deserves a spot on Atlanta's Mt. Rushmore.

Ah, Tommy Nobis. A Texas schoolboy legend (in a state where they grow 'em by the bushelful) who went on to become a UT legend and was the first pick of the newly formed expansion Atlanta Falcons.

Nobis is a prime example (his fellow Mt. Rushmore companions [see below] are also good examples) of an elite player who never got the full recognition, nationally and historically, that he deserves because he played on mediocre teams.

For me, Nobis will forever be inextricably linked with Dick Butkus. Only one year apart in age, both were high school football prodigies who stayed in-state and became college football all-time greats where they excelled as two-way players. As pros, they toiled their entire career for losing teams while performing at a level that very few football players attain.

Atlanta Falcons Mt. Rushmore: Tommy Nobis, William Andrews, Mike Kenn, Claude Humphrey

shin2 wrote:Browns Mt. Rushmore: Paul Brown, Jim Brown, Otto Graham, Lou Groza

Bit o' trivia: I read in Thursday's LA Times that Jim Brown was one heckuva Lacrosse player for Syracuse as well.

shin2 wrote:
Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders Mt. Rushmore: Al Davis, Jim Otto, Ted Hendricks, Dave Casper

IMO, everything Al Davis has done for the Raiders over the past decade is enough to scratch him off of this list and put him on the Mt. Rushmore of incompetent sports executives.

Okey-dokey, I'll take a shot at this:

Denver Broncos Mt. Rushmore: John Elway, Randy Gradishar, Floyd Little, Rich Jackson.

Minnesota Vikings: Bud Grant, Fran Tarkenton, Alan Page, Ron Yary.

mrsmith10 wrote:IMO, everything Al Davis has done for the Raiders over the past decade is enough to scratch him off of this list and put him on the Mt. Rushmore of incompetent sports executives.

I was thinking the same... Davis shoulda gave up control before senility/dementia set in.

bmwracer wrote:
I was thinking the same... Davis shoulda gave up control before senility/dementia set in.

At least his good skin will secure him a future in the movies...as the Crypt Keeper


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LMAO. :rofl:

The physical similarities are undeniable. :hehe:

bmwracer wrote:LMAO. :rofl:

The physical similarities are undeniable. :hehe:

I know that cat is old but dayem...talk about serious mitochondrial damage to the DNA of his skin cells...that fool looks wrecked!

He needs to stay in the dungeon and forgo the light.
:sweat:

bmwracer wrote:
Bit o' trivia: I read in Thursday's LA Times that Jim Brown was one heckuva Lacrosse player for Syracuse as well.

He was indeed an All-American in lacrosse. He also played basketball and ran track at Syracuse.

You know, he was only 30 years old and still in excellent health when he retired from pro football. At the time of his retirement he was making a movie--The Dirty Dozen--and refused to leave the movie set in order to go to training camp. So, very unexpectedly, he chose his nascent movie career over his established football career.

gaijinmark wrote:Okey-dokey, I'll take a shot at this:

Denver Broncos Mt. Rushmore: John Elway, Randy Gradishar, Floyd Little, Rich Jackson.

Rich Jackson--man, he was a vicious player, not in a dirty way but in an aggressive to the extreme way, the Broncos' version of Deacon Jones. If I recall, his career was cut short by injury.
Speaking of which, did you consider Terrell Davis? Before injuries derailed his career, I thought he was the best RB in the league since Walter Payton.

gaijinmark wrote:Minnesota Vikings: Bud Grant, Fran Tarkenton, Alan Page, Ron Yary.

My favorite Viking was Bill Brown who played FB for Minnesota in the 60's and 70's. He was a tough gritty player, a grinder who ran, blocked, caught passes, and played on the specialty teams. An old school throwback, he would have fit right in playing with a Chuck Bednarik or Bronko Nagurski.

shin2 wrote:He was indeed an All-American in lacrosse. He also played basketball and ran track at Syracuse.

You know, he was only 30 years old and still in excellent health when he retired from pro football. At the time of his retirement he was making a movie--The Dirty Dozen--and refused to leave the movie set in order to go to training camp. So, very unexpectedly, he chose his nascent movie career over his established football career.

Odd decision on his part, unless there's more to his decision to retire. :headscratch:

shin2 wrote:Speaking of which, did you consider Terrell Davis? Before injuries derailed his career, I thought he was the best RB in the league since Walter Payton.

Yeah, I did. If he'd managed to play a couple more years I probably would have included him. People forget that he was Super Bowl MVP the first time the Broncos won it.

I was trying to figure a way to include the Phipps Brothers, Gerry and Alan. If not for them buying out Bob Howsam, there's more than a fair chance the Broncos would have moved to Atlanta. For the first 5 or 6 years of their existence, the Broncos were the laughingstock of the AFL. From what I've read/heard it was pretty much a done deal that the team was moving until the Phipps' stepped in at the last minute.

I think the Pittsburgh Steelers have the most interesting history of all of the current NFL teams. I have to admit that one reason for this opinion is due to Roy Blount Jr.'s terrific book, About Three Bricks Shy of a Load, which I read many years ago. Then too, there are these interesting hiccups in their resume, like when they became known as the Steagles ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steagles ) or, in the following season, when they fielded a team officially named the Card-Pitt but referred to by everyone as the Carpets ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card-Pitt ).

The Steelers have won more Super Bowls (six) than any other team. Yet, for the first 40 years of their existence, they were habitual losers and never once won a championship of any sort.

Pittsburgh Steelers Mt. Rushmore: Chuck Noll, Joe Green, Jack Lambert, Mike Webster
(I suspect that when his career is over, Troy Polamalu will be bumping one of those names off the mountain)

Talks of cuts already...


Source: Patriots will cut Ochocinco or Haynesworh

09:29 AM ET 08.14 | Chad Ochocinco and Albert Haynesworth might not be long for New England. One NFL executive familiar with the Patriots ways told me he believes one or both of the big name acquisitions will be cut before the season starts. The front office man thinks coach Bill Belichick will use the controversial players to help control and send a message to his locker room.

Source: National Football Post

Tu_triky wrote:Talks of cuts already...


Source: Patriots will cut Ochocinco or Haynesworh

09:29 AM ET 08.14 | Chad Ochocinco and Albert Haynesworth might not be long for New England. One NFL executive familiar with the Patriots ways told me he believes one or both of the big name acquisitions will be cut before the season starts. The front office man thinks coach Bill Belichick will use the controversial players to help control and send a message to his locker room.

Source: National Football Post

Chad and Albert, we hardly knew ye. :rofl: