NFL Quiz: The other week the New York Giants’ Tiki Barber
became the seventh in NFL history to accumulate 8,000 yards
and 500 receptions for his career. Name the other six. Answer
below.
Jim Brown
……..games….no. …yards…avg
1957…12 .…202…..942…4.7
1958…12 .…257…1527…5.9
1959…12 .…290…1329…4.6
1960…12 .…215…1257…5.8
1961…14 .…305…1408…4.6
1962…14 .…230…..996…4.3
1963…14 .…291…1863…6.4
1964…14 .…280…1446…5.2
1965…14 .…289…1544…5.3
Career 118 …2359…12312…5.2
The above are the rushing numbers for the great Jim Brown. I
faintly remember him in 1965, but have seen more than enough
clips to say he was the greatest running back in the history of the
game. Sure, Barry Sanders and Walter Payton fans will disagree,
and I also add that Gale Sayers was the most “exciting” NFL
player of all time. But if I was a general manager these days I
think I’d select Brown over the others to be in my backfield.
[Ask me in about 7 or 8 years if it’s Brown or Reggie Bush.]
But Jim Brown wasn’t just a great running back and superior
athlete (he is also one of the great lacrosse players of all time and
was a terrific decathlete), Brown was an outspoken man and in
some respects a force in the civil rights movement.
Following are some tidbits, courtesy of Michael
MacCambridge’s book “America’s Game: The Epic Story of
How Pro Football Captured a Nation.”
It’s fall 1956 and the NFL is preparing for its college draft.
Johnny Unitas had signed with the Baltimore Colts earlier that
year and the New York Giants had gained linebacker Sam Huff.
They were about to be joined by Jim Brown, thus forming a
triumvirate that was critical in carrying the league into the 60s as
the game’s popularity began to soar.
Michael MacCambridge:
“Going into the 1957 draft, held November 27, 1956,
(Cleveland’s) Paul Brown was suffering through his first losing
season as a pro coach, as well as his first year without (the great)
Otto Graham. He was desperate for a quarterback, and possessed
the sixth overall selection in the first round.
“Green Bay won the bonus choice, and went for Heisman
Trophy-winning quarterback Paul Hornung; the Packers also had
their own pick at number four and took tight end Ron Kramer.
Drafting second and needing a running back, the Rams selected
Southern Cal running back ‘Jaguar’ Jon Arnett, the hometown
attraction who was seen as one of the top two running back
prospects along with Syracuse’s Jim Brown. Decades later,
many were still regretting the decision. ‘The scouting
department, and all our graders were for Jim Brown,’ said the
Rams’ cinematographer, Mickey Dukich, who helped compile
and collate scouting reports close to the draft. ‘The grade points
were for Jim Brown, but [Rams co-owner] Ed Pauley wanted the
local boy.’
“The two quarterbacks that most interested Paul Brown were
Stanford’s John Brodie, who went third to San Francisco, and
Purdue’s Len Dawson, selected fifth by Pittsburgh.
“With two quarterbacks gone, Paul Brown selected Jim Brown,
and in so doing, found more than he could have hoped for.
Brown’s impact as a runner was immediate, and powerful.
Instantly, he would dominate the position in pro football. At 6-
foot-2, 230 pounds, he was a fast, intimidating, angry runner who
delivered as much punishment as he sustained. He’d take off
from his three-point stance, moving with a power and purpose,
take the ball from the quarterback, and burst forward with a
brutal confidence, running in a coiled position with his head up.
Then, at the point of contact, when other runners would cover up
or try to fall forward, Jim Brown exploded. Tucking the football
tightly to his gut, he’d lower a shoulder toward his tackler, and
swing his free arm into his opponent’s chest with a stunning
forearm shiver. After a touchdown run against the Steelers in the
Browns’ first exhibition in 1957, Brown came to the sidelines,
where Paul Brown sought him out and said simply, ‘You’re my
fullback.’”
[Just a note on the above draft. Brodie and Dawson were
obviously successful. And Paul Hornung ended up in the Hall of
Fame, as much for his versatility as anything else. But Ron
Kramer caught only 229 passes from 1957-67 and Jon Arnett
amassed 3,833 yard rushing with a 4.0 average in a rather
mediocre career lasting 1957-66. But hey, wait a minute.
Hornung also played from 1957-66 and had 3,711 yards rushing
with a 4.2 average. What’s so great about that? Well, he also
did the placekicking for Green Bay and he won some
championships so that’s why we view him as a Hall of Famer.
Arnett had no rings, and thus was just another running back.]
Race was a big issue in football in the 1950s / early 60s, just as it
was in other sports, but Jim Brown confounded the stereotypes.
“He was neither surly nor jovial,” writes MacCambridge. “He
was a team player, but one who was fully aware of his value to
the team. And while he embraced many of the notions of team
unity on the field, he was unquestionably his own man off it,
where in his rookie season he purchased a light purple-and-white
Cadillac convertible, which he parked next to the Browns’
practice field…He was the sort of man, to borrow the Southern
expression of the period, who took guff from no one.”
But while Jim Brown was playing for the rough Paul Brown, Jim
recalled, “Paul’s dictatorship discouraged cliques, and
discouraged racial prejudice. His rules were not to be
questioned, by anyone. We all had to abide by them equally.
That was very pleasing to me.”
Jim Brown, though, had observed other pioneers like Jackie
Robinson and Jesse Owens and vowed he wouldn’t act as they
had. “Jackie had to do it,” Brown said. “Jackie had to play a
role because of the plan that they had, and he made a vow to
Branch Rickey, to play that role. That was not his nature; if he
did not have to do it for the betterment of the whole, he would
not have done it. Joe Louis was a nice man that was kind of like
that anyway; Jesse Owens was obviously that way. My attitude
was, in no way was I going to be that way…In no way did I ever
feel that I would accept discrimination.”
When Jim Brown was at Syracuse and the team went down to
Dallas for the Cotton Bowl in 1957, the lack of integrated hotels
forced Brown to stay separate from his teammates. [Two years
later, Tex Schramm of the new Dallas Cowboys franchise had to
convince Dallas’ Citizens Council to integrate a Ramada next to
Love Field for opposing teams.]
And in 1961, when Cleveland went to Miami for the Playoff
Bowl, which back then pared the runners-up in each conference,
Paul Brown brought his entire team. But he was greeted by a
hotel manager who informed him that the club’s black players
would have to stay elsewhere.
“No, our team stays together,” said Brown.
After a heated exchange, the manager stood his ground.
“I’ll tell you what then,” said Brown. “We’ll just get back on the
plane and go back home.”
The hotel capitulated and you could say the Cleveland Browns
integrated Miami hotels on that day.
Just a few sidebars on this topic, the first involving Packers
coach Vince Lombardi. During his first training camp with the
Packers in 1959, Lombardi confronted his team on racism. “If I
ever hear nigger or dago or kike or anything like that around
here, regardless of who you are, you’re through with me,” he
said.
And then you had the Washington Redskins, owned by George
Preston Marshall. [Not the Marshall of ‘Marshall Plan’ and
World War II fame.] While George Marshall wasn’t viewed as a
racist, he didn’t want to upset his southern fan base as the team
used to barnstorm in the region during the exhibition season.
Here it was 1961, the Redskins still played “Dixie” before their
home games, and they were the only team of 14 not to have a
black player. Marshall vowed, “We’ll start signing Negroes
when the Harlem Globetrotters start signing whites;” an attitude
that elicited responses such as the following from the
Washington Post’s legendary sportswriter Shirley Povich, in
recapping a Redskins-Browns game in 1960:
“For 18 minutes the Redskins were enjoying equal rights with
the Cleveland Browns yesterday, in the sense that there was no
score in the contest. Then it suddenly became unequal in favor
of the Browns, who brought along Jim Brown, their rugged
colored fullback from Syracuse. From 25 yards out, Brown was
served the ball by Milt Plum on a pitch-out and he integrated the
Redskins’ goal line with more than deliberate speed, perhaps
exceeding the famous Supreme Court decree. Brown fled the 25
yards like a man in an uncommon hurry and the Redskins’ goal
line, at least, became interracial.”
[By the start of the 1962 season, President John F. Kennedy’s
secretary of the interior, Stewart Udall, along with Bobby
Kennedy, used guidelines contained in the National Capital Parks
System, where the new D.C. Stadium was technically located, to
force Marshall to integrate the team.]
Meanwhile, back to Jim Brown, Blanton Collier took over as
coach from Paul Brown in 1963. Jim Brown had an off year (for
him) in ’62, but under Collier he flourished and in 1963 rushed
for a record 1,863 yards and an astounding 6.4 per carry.
“One of the reasons that I welcomed Blanton at the time is
because he gave me that ability to truly express myself in the
years that he was there,” said Jim Brown. “You see coaches
sometimes don’t want players to have input – and great players
must have input….Blanton knew all that stuff, and he gave us the
freedom.”
But after the 1963 season, Collier sat the team down for their
evaluation and spoke of an uneasiness he had; the issue of race
was dividing the team as never before. It was something that had
been simmering over the years due to items such as perceived
salary inequities, or blacks being excluded from club-sponsored
cocktail parties.
Jim Brown:
“They don’t invite us to the parties and events with the pretty
white girls, then we won’t go to those community functions, that
boring, political s—, where they want to make us look like one
big happy family. If we can’t go to all the stuff, the fun stuff,
then we won’t do the fake stuff. They room us together, we’ll
stay together. We’ll play hard, dress right, carry ourselves with
class, and be team people. But we don’t have to kiss any ass, or
take any attitude, to pacify some redneck from Mississippi.”
The next season, Collier allowed the team leaders, including
Brown, to set the tone. There would be no racial divisions on
Cleveland. The result was Cleveland’s first world championship
since 1955.
Michael MacCambridge:
“In a rudimentary way, the successful racial reconciliation of the
Browns players offered a tentative first step – for management,
the media, and many pro football fans – toward learning to
accept the modern black athlete on his own terms. Just as there
were people in Boston who couldn’t abide Martin Luther King,
Jr., but would learn to appreciate Bill Russell, so it was in
Cleveland, where many who were bewildered by Malcolm X and
notions of black power would grow to respect Jim Brown. This
was not, of course, a substitute for true empathy or political
enfranchisement, but it offered a hope, and a beginning toward a
broader understanding.”
And then just like that, in 1965, following a season in which Jim
Brown rushed for another 1,500+ yards and his 8th rushing title in
nine years, Brown quit…at the age of 30. He felt it was time to
move on, try new things, like acting. This is a guy who never
missed a down in his nine seasons. He certainly would have
competed at a high level for at least another three years, one
would think. And talk about feeling old, this coming Feb. 17,
Jim Brown will turn 70.
—
Q School…Warning: for golf fanatics only…
It was a year ago at this time that I was in California for one of
the great sporting events in the world, the qualifying school for
the PGA Tour. Thankfully, few realize just how much fun it is
as a spectator because I plan on heading back, possibly this
coming year, and part of the charm is there are so few in
attendance.
This week’s event took place in Florida and allow me to set the
stage for those of you who aren’t too familiar with the process.
Each year the top 125 on the PGA money list qualify for their
tour card the following year. [Plus there are others who have
exemptions by virtue of past wins or medical issues.]
If you don’t finish in the top 125, you have to go back to Q
School. There, you are competing with those who didn’t finish
in the top 20 on the Nationwide Tour list (the AAA league of
golf), and all the other aspirants in the world.
Q School has three stages, though most of the names you’d
recognize are exempt through the first or second stage. That
said, this year the following couldn’t get through the second
…Steve Pate, Duffy Waldorf, Matt Kuchar, David Gossett (this
guy, once destined for stardom, is history already), Ty Tryon,
Ricky Barnes and David Frost.
So now we get to the third stage. The top 30 and ties earn their
cards for ’06. It’s six rounds, not the normal four, and the
pressure is unreal.
Last year you’ll recall I walked all six rounds with Bill Haas, son
of tour veteran Jay and a fellow Wake alum. Bill missed gaining
his PGA privileges by just two strokes. Bill then fell two strokes
short of earning his card on the Nationwide Tour this past
summer. So Bill was back at school this time and he needed to
birdie the 108th hole to get in the top 30. In a clutch performance
down the stretch he came through, just sliding a two-footer into
the hole with his body shaking under the pressure.
But here’s what you won’t find anywhere else. How did last
year’s Nationwide and Q-School graduates actually do in 2005?
34 made it through Q School last year and just 10 earned their
cards for 2006 by virtue of finishing in the top 125 on the money
list. [PGA rookie of the year Sean O’Hair was tops in his class at
#18, while Lucas Glover came in #30.] Another 3 golfers gained
“conditional status,” meaning they can enter some fields, by
finishing #126-150. But 21 had to go right back to the pressure-
cooker.
Of the 20 on the Nationwide Tour who earned their PGA cards
for ’05, only 3 then finished in the top 125, with #77 Charlie
Warren being the best. 5 of the 20 gained conditional status.
In other words, sports fans, it’s a bitch. Except for about 40-60
golfers that the casual fan is familiar with, it’s a constant grind to
stay in the big time….no guaranteed contracts, no nothing.
To give you a good example of how it works, I got to know the
parents of a kid, Roland Thatcher, who earned his Tour card at
last year’s Q School. Roland had some injuries to deal with and
finished #173 on the money list in ’05, earning $326,000. [Trust
me, this is not a lot when you take into account all the expenses,
including for the caddy, plus he didn’t exactly rake in the
endorsements.]
So Roland had to go back to Q School and ended up finishing
five strokes back of getting his card. He’ll now be playing
Nationwide again, after a taste of the big show.
I just have a tremendous amount of respect for those who can
compete at the top level, year in and year out. And in 2006,
you’ll have to forgive me for following Bill Haas intensely on
the pages of Bar Chat. [As well as Jerry Smith…a Nationwide
Tour graduate I’m familiar with.]
Stuff
–Yikes!!!!! Japan is dealing with a surge in the echizen kurage
population. Better known among us English-speaking peoples as
the Nomura jellyfish, it is the largest creature of its kind in
Japanese waters and marine biologists are stumped as to why the
number of these scary creatures is exploding.
Measuring 6 feet wide and weighing up to 450 pounds, the
Nomura jellyfish has poisonous tentacles.
The Nomura is also devastating the fishing industries of China
and South Korea, as well as Japan.
“Often the weight of the echizen kurage broke the nets or
crushed the fish to death; those that survived were poisoned and
beslimed by their tentacles.” [London Times]
But others have managed to turn the jellyfish into tofu. Yum
yum.
And did you know that the largest jellyfish ever found had a bell
7 feet across with tentacles extending about 100 feet? Goodness
gracious.
Finally, here’s a quiz: What do you call a collection of jellyfish?
Answer below.
–I see where the folks who pass out Pulitzer Prizes will now
consider online content as part of the selection process. Which is
why here at Bar Chat we are working on submitting our finest
work, like “Dirtball and Jerk of the Year.”
[Reminder…our exclusive year end awards are coming soon…
Dec. 29.]
–It’s that time of year again…drunken moose in Scandinavia.
Craig Medred of the Anchorage Daily News notes that the
problem is fermenting fruit. Snowfall can bury newly fallen fruit
and the moose feast on the fermented delicacy, thus ending up
drunk.
Normally, a moose will just sleep it off, but according to an
expert, “Their behavior can alter, and they can become
frighteningly aggressive.”
And they can even fly! Consider this tale from Norway.
“Flying moose lands on car’s roof
“A leisurely Sunday drive came to an abrupt halt for a couple in
southern Norway over the weekend when a fully grown moose
suddenly landed on the roof of their car. ‘We didn’t even have
time to think when there came this enormous thud,’ said a shaken
Leo Henriksen.
“He and his wife were cruising along the two-lane Highway 405
in their little, red Mazda. The couple was a few kilometers south
of Vatnestrom when their involuntary encounter took place.
“The moose, a female weighing about 770 pounds, apparently
had been running through the forest when she suddenly came
upon a cliff leading down to the highway.
“Unable to stop, the moose seemed to literally fly off the cliff,
landing first on the Henriksen’s car before catapulting further
into the oncoming lane.
“The moose-versus-motorist drama ended when Randi Olsen,
driving in the oncoming lane with her young daughter, was
unable to stop and hit the moose now lying in the road.”
None of the passengers were hurt seriously, but the moose was
dead.
And so we pray……………………………………
–I don’t have a bird feeder myself, but if you do make sure you
clean the freakin’ thing from time to time. Many birds fall prey
to salmonellosis, which is a disease that is spread when feeders
aren’t cleaned enough. And as a piece in the Star-Ledger noted,
it’s the dominant birds in a species that then die, because the
dominant ones, err, dominate the feeder and eat all the
contaminated seeds, suet, and lobster newburg that you all are
leaving out.
–A new mammal has possibly been discovered in the jungles of
Borneo. If further study proves this to be the case it would be the
first discovery on the Indonesian island since 1895’s ferret-
badger, a vicious SOB with the power of a wolverine and the
stealth of a jaguar. [Actually, I have no idea just what a ferret-
badger can do but something tells me you really don’t want to
find out…especially if you’re just ambling along in the jungle,
thoughts elsewhere.]
–New Jersey has a bear hunt going on this week….and one
bagged bruin weighed in at………..725 pounds!!!!! And you
scoff at my concern as I walk out to get the morning paper.
–NFL: Teams vying for playoff spots
AFC
New England…7-5
Indianapolis…12-0….ahem, your editor’s pick to go all the way.
Jacksonville…9-3
Cincinnati…9-3
Pittsburgh…7-5
Denver…9-3
San Diego…8-4
Kansas City…8-4
NFC
Giants…8-4
Dallas…7-5
Carolina…9-3
Tampa Bay…8-4
Atlanta…7-5
Chicago…9-3…the defense has given up just 127 points
Minnesota…7-5…amazing comeback from stripper / cruise
fiasco
Seattle…10-2…anyone stay up for Monday Night’s second half?
My Jets, meanwhile, at 2-10 are in the Reggie Bush hunt. It’s
been an exciting season for us as we’ve scored 143 points! And
if we don’t get Bush, next year we may score 120 the entire
season!!
–There was some fun college basketball on Tuesday night,
including Bucknell’s bid to upend #4 Villanova. The Bisons fell
way short, losing 79-60, but they hung in there until late and I
still say they’re a top 25 team. [In the AP poll this week,
Bucknell had enough votes to be #26.]
But how about Villanova? They’re starting lineup goes 6-1, 6-2,
6-2, 6-4, and 6-8. Most Division III squads have a far bigger
lineup than this one. But they shoot the lights out.
–Speaking of Division III hoops, fellow Demon Deacon Phil W.
now works at Guilford College (N.C.) and drew my attention to a
recent contest between Guilford and Emory & Henry, which
Guilford won, 147-136. Yup, you’re reading that right…and no
overtime.
But here’s the astounding thing. Guilford took only two, 3-point
shots the entire contest. Emory & Henry? Try 97! 97 threes!
They made 30 of ‘em.
Of course they set all kinds of records in this one but the game
wasn’t unusual for E&H. No sirree. In their first six contests
they are 129 of 436 (.296) from downtown. They have only 239
conventional field goal attempts. Hey, how much fun would it
be to play for these guys? E&H is 2-4 thus far and has been
involved in other scores of 137-127, 139-122, 150-110, and 150-
101. Next game? Up in Lynchburg, VA, Dec. 10.
–Tiger Woods won the PGA Tour Player of the Year for the 7th
time in 9 full seasons. In 2005, for the fifth time he captured all
three major categories; player of the year, the leading money
winner, and lowest scoring average.
–First the Toronto Blue Jays gave suspect closer B.J. Ryan a $47
million, five-year deal. Now they’ve awarded Florida’s A.J.
Burnett a five-year, $55 million contract. $55 million for a guy
who is 49-50, lifetime, and is a total jerk in the clubhouse.
The Marlins, incidentally, have now parted with Burnett, fellow
hurlers Josh Beckett and Guillermo Mota, Carlos Delgado, Paul
Lo Duca, and Luis Castillo in their bid to slash the payroll.
–Jeff B. wrote in with this holiday tip from the Seattle Times.
Beware of plainclothes state troopers bearing signs around their
necks that read “Happy Holidays Buckle Up.”
It turns out a trooper stood on a corner with this sign and when
“he spotted someone who wasn’t wearing a seat belt, the trooper
radioed fellow troopers parked nearby who pulled over the
offender.”
In four hours, 41 cars were stopped and 30-seat-belt tickets, each
costing $101 per infraction, were handed out. They also made a
drug arrest.
Personally, if I saw a guy wearing a sign like this I probably
wouldn’t just dismiss it. After all, when I see a vagrant wearing
a “The End is Near” sign, I tend to panic, selling my stocks and
bonds while preparing the bunker and updating the will.
But back to this whole incident with the troopers; as Jeff Spicoli
once famously said, “What a —-!”
Top 3 songs for the week of 12/8/73: #1 “Top Of The World”
(Carpenters) #2 “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (Elton John) #3
“The Most Beautiful Girl” (Charlie Rich)…and…#7 “The Love I
Lost” (Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes) #8 “Hello It’s Me”
(Todd Rundgren…one of your editor’s top three, all time)
NFL Quiz Answer: Seven with 8,000 yards rushing and 500
receptions.
Emmitt Smith….18,355 yards rushing……515 receptions
Marcus Allen…..12,243………………….587
Marshall Faulk…12,137………………….749*
Earnest Byner……8,261………………….512
Herschel Walker…8,225………………….512
Roger Craig……..8,189………………….566
Tiki Barber………8,160………………….506*
[Curtis Martin is at 14,101 and 484 receptions]*
*Thru games of 12/4.
Jellyfish question: A collection of jellyfish is called a “smack.”
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
