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Nov 2 in Sports History: Useless NFL record trivia


In 1969: If you had to answer the trivia question, “Name the two quarterbacks who combined for an NFL record 12 touchdown passes in one day,” an easy guess would be something like Dan Marino and Jim Kelly in the old Miami-Buffalo shootouts, or John Elway vs. Dan Fouts, or even a Joe Namath-Johnny Unitas clash. Of course, you’d be way off. In a game at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium, two unlikely gunslingers named Billy Kilmer of the Saints and Charley Johnson of the Cardinals put on an aerial display that would’ve made Broadway Joe himself blush with inadequacy and embarrassment (not that wearing pantyhose ever did). Each tossed six TD passes and threw for well over 300 yards in the Saints 51-42 victory. Of course, neither team could keep up the pace the rest of the season (or the century, for that matter), as the Cardinals finished 4-9-1 while the Saints didn’t have a winner until 1987.

In 1997: Chargers’ running back/kick returner tied his own NFL record when he ran back two punts for scores – including an 85-yarder – in a 38-31 loss to the Bengals in Cincinnati. Metcalf also pulled the same trick in October of 1993 against the Pittsburgh Steelers while playing for the Cleveland Browns. Metcalf holds the NFL record with 10 career punt returns for touchdowns. Useless trivia to take into your weekend (we know it’s only Thursday, but hey, take a long one!): Metcalf was traded at the end of the season from San Diego to Arizona so the Chargers could move up one spot in the draft. Who did the Chargers end up jettisoning Metcalf for? Ryan Leaf. Ouch. (The ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia).

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Hey… where’s Sean Salisbury?



I suck

We’re a little heavy on the ESPN news today but ProFootballTalk.com is reporting that Sean Salisbury was recently suspended for a week but is now back on the air. No one really noticed but the smug-terrible-ex-athlete quotient was down all last week owing to the absense of Salisbury.

Michael Irvin was suspended for a week last year for failing to tell ESPN about his arrest on chages of possession of drug paraphernalia but no one knows why Salisbury was suspended. Excessive smirking into the camera perhaps?

By the way, how is it possible that Salisbury didn’t make this list of Worst Sportscasters on TV?

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Woman wins $444,186 on a $5 football bet



Our new picks system

A 21-year-old bartender named Sarah Mabee won the Ontario (that’s Canada) Pro Picks Pools lottery game by picking all 13 games correctly last weekend. Mabee knows nothing about the NFL and it was only her second time playing the lottery game.

So basically what this tells you is that no matter the amount of research you do, it doesn’t beat just throwing a dart at the wall or picking the team with the prettier uniforms/hotter cheerleaders/cooler mascot. Or picking the Oakland Raiders over the Arizona Cardinals because it was her grandfather’s favorite team.

Mabee won enough money to quit her job and we’re still trying to figure out how we picked the Cardinals to beat the Raiders. That’s it, from now on, we’re going with the team with the hotter cheerleaders. That means Pittsburgh and Green Bay will lose every game.

Finally, why isn’t a Pro Picks lottery game available in the US? Isn’t it safer for us to go to the store and put this bet down instead of finding the shady fat guy at the end of the bar?

Links:
[Toronto Star]: Bartender’s NFL picks net $444,186 prize

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Stadium threats "non-credible" but you should probably stay away from Oakland anyway

The FBI has deemed the threat against seven NFL stadiums non-credible and is interviewing a “young adult” in Milwaukee who is suspected of posting the message on an internet site called “The Friend Society”. The message said that trucks would deliver radiological dirty bombs on Sunday (it’s the last day of Ramadan) to New York, Miami, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Oakland and Clevelend. Perhaps the tip off to the feds was that the Jets actually play in New Jersey. As for the young adult, he’s currently shitting his pants as he awaits his “Code F’ed in the A” in Gitmo.

The poster, handle of “javness”, wrote:

The death toll will approach 100,000 from the initial blasts and countless other fatalities will later occur as result from radioactive fallout.

Later, through al-Jazeera, Osama bin Laden will issue a video message claiming responsibility for what he dubbed ‘America’s Hiroshima.’

Well, since it’s going to happen at NFL games, wouldn’t the message be relayed through the al-Jazeera for athletes, ESPN?

The FBI warned the NFL and stadium security teams but since the threat is not credible, no increase in security is expected this weekend. So. as always, expect to get your ass kicked a the Oakland Colliseum if you’re in Cardinals colors this weekend.

Links:
[USA Today]: FBI interviewing ‘young adult’ over NFL ‘dirty bomb’ threat

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Lawrence Phillips is going to be someone’s girlfriend


Former Nebraska star RB Lawrence Phillips was convicted today of seven counts of assault with a deadly weapon and is facing up to 20 years in prison. The incident occured last year when Phillips was upset about losing in a pickup football game and in his little mind decided that the other players were stealing from him so he got into his car (well, it was stolen but it was his for the moment) and proceeded to try to run everyone down. (It kind of reminds us of the guy in White Men Can’t Jump who threatened to get his other gun and shoot everybody.) Phillips ran over two boys age 14 and 15 and a 19 year old. His excuse? That the car hit the front wheel of a bicycle and fishtailed into the kids. What kind of car is so weak that a bicycle tire causes it to fishtail? Was Phillips driving an Adobe?

You know how commercials say that past performance is not guarantee of future returns? Well, that certainly can’t be said of Lawrence Phillips who was 1) suspended from the Cornhuskers for dragging his exgirlfriend by the hair down a flight of steps, 2) got into a fight with Dick Vermeil — Dick Vermeil! 3) assaulted a woman in a nightclub while with the Dolphins, 4) kicked off the Montreal Alouettes for insubordination, and 5) cut by the Calgary Stampeders for yelling at a coach. A blind man could see a pattern there.

Sentencing is expected on October 19th. And somewhere Steve Young is having a private chuckle.

Links:
[Yahoo]: Lawrence Phillips convicted of assault with deadly weapon

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NFL General

Sep 22 in Sports History: The Replacements


In 1987: Almost five years to the day of the previous work stoppage, the NFL players went on strike against the owners. Guess what was the heart of the issue again? After Week 3 was cancelled, the owners decided they didn’t want to take the financial hit of several lost games like they did in 1982. They hired replacement players to fill the rosters, and the Scabs took the field for three weeks, much to the dismay of coaches and fans. A few of the players actually stuck with NFL squads for years, like John Fourcade in New Orleans and Steve Bono in Pittsburgh (and later Kansas City). The players eventually caved; many crossed the picket lines early and the rest agreed to go back to work without a new CBA.

In 1991 Don Shula of the Miami Dolphins won his 300th career game with a 16-13 victory over Green Bay at Joe Robbie Stadium. Shula is the all-time winningest coach in NFL history, with 328 victories from 1963-1995. (The ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia)

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Sep 21 in Sports History: Monday Night Football debuts


In 1970: An experimental prime time TV show called Monday Night Football made its debut on ABC television (although games were played on Monday nights occasionally in the 1960s). The first “episode” featured a struggling Joe Namath and the Jets losing to the Browns in Cleveland 31-21. It was a sloppy game which featured a Monday Night record 161 penalty yards that still stands today. The game presentation, which featured the first three-man booth (Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell and Don Meredith), was also the first to use multiple camera angles, instant replays and graphics of statistics that we’re used to today. The experiment was an instant success, with 35 percent of the American viewing audience tuning in. MNF lasted for 35 years on ABC until it switched to ESPN for the 2006 season.

In 1982: Following a Monday Night game between the Packers and Giants, the NFL Players Association began a 57-day strike. The main issue was revenue sharing between the players and owners. The season was reduced to nine games and a different playoff format was used. Instead of traditional division play, the top eight teams in the conference standings qualified for the playoffs, with 1-8 seeding. The 8-1 Redskins won the Super Bowl over the 7-2 Dolphins.

(Courtesy of the 2006 ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia)

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NFL General

Who are the best fans in the NFL?


The question of who has the the best fans has been debated 4,983,823,422 times and counting now on various message boards  across the internet and at bars.  Well, American City Business Journals attempts to answer that question using a formula for fan loyalty.  They ranked all 32 teams based on seven categories from 1996-2006; the first three concentrate on support and the other four are based on the difficulty of supporting that team:

  • Average attendance
  • Percent of capacity
  • Attendance fluctuation
  • Winning %
  • Market population
  • Per capita income
  • December temperature

The winner?  Cleveland, followed by Kansas City and Philly.

Here’s the entire list:

  1. Cleveland Browns
  2. Kansas City Chiefs
  3. Philadelphia Eagles
  4. Green Bay Packers
  5. Dallas Cowboys
  6. Buffalo Bills
  7. Houston Texans
  8. Denver Broncos
  9. Baltimore Ravens
  10. Washington Redskins
  11. New York Giants
  12. Carolina Panthers
  13. Miami Dolphins
  14. St. Louis Rams
  15. New England Patriots
  16. Detroit Lions
  17. San Francisco 49ers
  18. New York Jets
  19. Minnesota Vikings
  20. Cincinnati Bengals
  21. Pittsburgh Steelers
  22. San Diego Chargers
  23. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
  24. New Orleans Saints
  25. Indianapolis Colts
  26. Jacksonville Jaguars
  27. Chicago Bears
  28. Tennessee Titans
  29. Seattle Seahawks
  30. Arizona Cardinals
  31. Atlanta Falcons
  32. Oakland Raiders

Links:
[MSNBC]: Cleveland is No. 1 in rankings of NFL fan loyalty
[Biz Journals.com]: All 32 teams ranked

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Sep 7 in Sports History: Pro Football Hall of Hame Opens in Canton


In 1963: The Pro Football Hall of Fame was dedicated in Canton, OH., where pro football originated. The original class had 17 members, including Red Grange, George Halas, Bronko Nagurski, Jim Thorpe and Sammy Baugh. There are now 235 members enshrined. A new class is selected each year the day before the Super Bowl, and is inducted in August.

In 1979: Although some thought the idea was ludicrous (Ron Burgundy included), The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) made its debut on cable television. ESPN started as a small operation showing off-the-wall sports like Aussie Rules football and strongest man competitions, but is now a global empire that includes MLB, NBA and NFL telecasts. It’s available in over 80 million homes and has dozens of networks, including ESPN2, ESPN Classic and channels on each continent.

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All the NFL Power Rankings you need: Madden style


People (ok.. we) have been known to use Madden to simulate games for predictive/gambling purposes. It never really works but it’s kind of fun to do anyway. Well, the folks at Tecmo Blog have taken things waaaaaay too far and ranked all 32 teams according to their Madden 07 ratings for players.

You can read their methodology and comments here but here is the quick list. This list does bring up the question of how good can Madden rankings be if they have the Titans ranked above the Patriots and the Eagles? Also, is it acceptable to play with a team other than your own just because your team sucks in Madden? We say no.

Madden 07 Team Rankings
1. Steelers
2. Seahawks
3. Colts
4. Giants
5. Chiefs
6. Chargers
7. Falcons
8. Panthers
9. Bengals
10. Cardinals
11. Redskins
12. Dolphins
13. Broncos
14. Titans
15. Patriots
16. Eagles
17. Saints
18. Packers
19. Rams
20. Cowboys
21. Raiders
22. Ravens
23. Texans
24. Buccaneers
25. Bears
26. Jaguars
27. Vikings
28. Browns
29. Bills
30. Jets
31. Lions
32. 49ers