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Classic Team Logo of The Day

05 Nov

newmexst07now

Logo of an independent college football team, the New Mexico State Aggies. Their program began in 1893 and they have been members of various conferences in the past, most recently the Sun Belt Conference in 2017. The school is undefeated (3-0-1) in bowl games. Aggie alumni who have gone on to play pro football include Duriel Harris, Charley Johnson, Pervis Atkins, Leo Barker, Andy Dorris, Roy Gerela, Walter Johnson, Fredd Young, Joe Pisarcik and  Danny Villenueva.

 
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Classic Sports Card of The Day

05 Nov

61fleermiltplum

1961 Fleer football card of former quarterback Milt Plum, who played 13 seasons in the NFL for 4 different teams. He started his career in Cleveland in 1957 when the Browns drafted him in the second round, after choosing Jim Brown in the first round. Plum quarterbacked the Browns for 5 years, engineering an offense built around the running of Brown and Bobby Mitchell, but he still was able to make the Pro Bowl twice. He was traded to Detroit in a six-player deal in 1962 and guided the Lions’ offense for 5 years there. Plum holds a unique NFL record – the longest pass completion to himself – 20 yards.

 
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NFL – Throwback Thursday: The Fog Bowl

31 Oct

It’s time for another Throwback Thursday feature with the NFL entering week nine of its’ season, and two old NFL franchises, the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles, are matched up this week. That will take us back to a playoff game between these two teams, played on New Year’s Eve, December 31st, 1988 at Chicago’s Soldier Field. The game was a coaching matchup of two men who served together on the Bears’ coaching staff during their 1985 Super Bowl run, Mike Ditka and Buddy Ryan. Ditka was a Chicago icon dating back to his playing days with the team in the 1960s, while Ryan, during his time as the defensive coordinator of the team in the Ditka regime, stole as much of the spotlight as he could from the head coach since his defensive unit was the strength of the team. There was no love lost between the 2 men, and Ryan left to take the Eagles’ head coaching position in 1986. The game itself was no masterpiece, at least allegedly, since there wasn’t much of the action visible to the fans in the stadium or on television. A deep fog descended on the field making visibility difficult for the players, coaches and officials. The game, won by the Bears 20-12, would go down in NFL lore as “The Fog Bowl”.

 

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Bears, Eagles enjoying “Fog Bowl” action

 

The Chicago “Monsters of The Midway” defense, although a couple of years removed from their ’85 championship, was still a formidable unit and held the Eagles to 4 Luis Zendejas field goals on the day. Randall Cunningham, Philly’s elusive quarterback, threw for 407 yards in the game but couldn’t get his team into the end zone. He was intercepted 3 times and sacked 4 times. Bears’ QB Mike Tomczak also threw 3 picks, but was able to find his wide receiver, Dennis McKinnon, through the fog for a 64 yard touchdown to open the scoring in the first quarter. When Neal Anderson scored on a 1 yard run for the Bears in the second quarter to up the Bears’ lead to 14-6, the game was pretty much over. The teams spent the rest of the afternoon trading Zendejas and Kevin Butler field goals and feeling their way through the fog. McKinnon was able to make himself visible enough to catch 4 passes for 108 yards and his TD, and a pair of Eagles, running back Keith Byars and tight end Keith Jackson, also had over 100 yards receiving, making up most of the passing yardage from Cunningham. Unfortunately for the Bears, they would get torched 28-3 by Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers the following week in the NFC Championship game, and San Fran would go on to win the Super Bowl.

 

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Bears’ fans express their sentiments during the “Fog Bowl” game

 
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Classic Team Logo of The Day

31 Oct

ChiRushArena

Logo of a defunct football team that played in the Arena Football League from 2001 until 2013, the Chicago Rush. They made playoff appearances in 10 of their years of existence and won the Arena League title in 2006. Former pro quarterback Mike Hohensee served as their head coach for all but 3 years and the franchise retired the jersey numbers of 2 players who played for them – John Moyer and Bob McMillen, who is also a member of the Arena League Hall of Fame.

 
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Classic Sports Card of The Day

31 Oct

86toppsmckinnon

1986 Topps football card of former wide receiver Dennis McKinnon, who enjoyed an eight year career in the NFL, all but one season with the Chicago Bears. Most of his glory with the Bears was earned as a punt returner and in postseason play. He still is second all time in career punt return yards for the Bears, and holds a team record for playoff receiving touchdowns with 4. He recently wrote a book about his time playing for the Bears titled Silky D Bares All.

 
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NFL 100 – Pete Rozelle

30 Oct

One of the most important figures in the 100 year history of the NFL being celebrated this year is former commissioner Pete Rozelle. He wasn’t considered very important when he first took over the job in 1959 following the death of then-commissioner Bert Bell. He was a young general manager of the Los Angeles Rams at the time and wasn’t a popular choice for the commissioner’s post. It took 23 ballots by the owners to get him confirmed for the job. He took over at age 33 and wasn’t shy about making changes to the game during his tenure. The NFL at the time was a 12 team league playing their games in half-filled stadiums and television wasn’t much of a part of the league’s plan, as only a few teams had local or regional TV contracts. He took over the same year a rival circuit, the new American Football League, was being formed with a plan to start play in 1960. Rozelle took immediate action to counter the new league. The NFL added an expansion franchise in Dallas and a year later in Minnesota, and allowed the foundering Chicago Cardinals franchise to move to St. Louis, effectively cutting off the AFL’s path to 3 different cities they were considering. The AFL’s Dallas franchise, owned by league founder Lamar Hunt, was forced to move to Kansas City after 3 seasons and an AFL team slated to be placed in Minnesota had to be quickly relocated to Oakland before it even started play. Rozelle recognized the power of the media to promote the game early on and negotiated a deal with the CBS network to carry NFL games regionally. He also championed the cause of shared revenue with the owners, which they agreed to. The shared revenue model still exists today and is a major reason the league is as competitive as it is. The owners awarded Rozelle with a five year contract to remain in his job in 1962. He faced a couple of his most important decisions the next seasons. Prior to the 1963 season, Rozelle suspended Green Bay’s Paul Hornung and Detroit’s Alex Karras for gambling, a powerful move on his part. In November of that year, however, he made a decision that he later said was his biggest regret during his tenure as commissioner. He allowed NFL games to be played on the weekend of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, a decision that was widely criticized. The rival AFL had cancelled their games and drew praise for that decision. Also, the AFL had negotiated a television contract of its’ own with NBC and began competing for players with the established league, landing a big fish when the New York Jets signed Joe Namath. When the New York Giants signed Buffalo placekicker Pete Gogolak, it started an all-out war between the leagues to “raid” each other’s rosters for star players. Established NFL stars like John Brodie, Mike Ditka and Roman Gabriel signed “future” contracts with AFL teams. Rozelle, realizing the battle between rival league owners was hurting the game, worked behind the scenes with Cowboys’ executive Tex Schramm and Chiefs’ owner Hunt among others to negotiate a merger of the two leagues. The negotiations were successful and in 1966 the merger was announced. Due to television commitments, the two leagues remained separate until 1970 but a common draft was instituted and an annual AFL/NFL Championship game was set up to be played after each season. During this time the AFL added expansion franchises in Miami and Cincinnati.

 

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Pete Rozelle after the NFL/AFL merger was successful

By 1970, pro football was beginning to grow into the television monster it has become today. The annual championship game, which would become known as the “Super Bowl”, became the top sporting event in the country if not the world. Today the game has almost reached the status of becoming a national holiday. Before the leagues could effectively merge, Rozelle had to convince 3 NFL owners to move their franchises to the newly formed American Football Conference, since the NFL had 16 teams and the AFL only 10. Cleveland and Baltimore, two teams that had been merged from the old All American Conference in 1950, were chosen along with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Rozelle also came up with the idea of a weekly prime time game, and with his vision Monday Night Football was born and another network, ABC, was added to the league’s revenue stream. The man who was regarded as professional sports’ most successful commissioner presided over its’ golden era, but wasn’t without his troubles over the years. Oakland Raiders’ owner Al Davis was a constant nemesis, beginning in the days of the merger when Davis, who was AFL commissioner at the time, had to give up his post to allow Rozelle to preside over the newly merged leagues. He battled in the courts with Rozelle over moving his franchise from Oakland to Los Angeles and back again. (The Raiders are planning another move, to Las Vegas, next season.) When the Raiders won the Super Bowl following the 1980 season, Rozelle was put in the awkward position of having to award the Lombardi Trophy to Davis.

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Rozelle presents the Lombardi Trophy to Al Davis

Rozelle retired from the commissioner’s post in 1989, citing health issues. Davis would later say he regretted giving Pete so much grief during his time as commissioner, and felt that he may have contributed to Rozelle’s health issues. Rozelle left with the sport in great shape and left behind a legacy that is unmatched by anyone in the game’s 100 years when it comes to how much he helped grow the game. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985 while still serving as commissioner and in 1990 the league instituted the Pete Rozelle Award to be given to the MVP of the game he helped create, the Super Bowl. Rozelle passed away of brain cancer in 1996. Taking a look at the sport today compared to when he took over: a 12 team league now has 32 franchises, the Super Bowl is the world’s most popular sporting event, the league’s players are among the most recognizable sports heroes and the annual draft of college players has become a cottage industry in itself.

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Rozelle presides over the 1966 draft, on a blackboard

 
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Classic Team Logo of The Day

30 Oct

NFLlogo2129

Not a team logo, but the logo of the National Football League used from the first season as the NFL, in 1921, until 1929. The league was known as the American Professional Football Association when it organized into a single league and began play in 1920, and became the NFL in 1922. Teams came and went in the early years, but some lasted until today, including the Chicago Staleys, who became the Bears, the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Cardinals, who currently reside in Arizona.

 
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Classic Sports Card of The Day

30 Oct

63toppsmeador

1963 Topps football card of former pro football defensive back Eddie Meador, who played 12 seasons in the NFL for the Los Angeles Rams. He was a six-time Pro Bowler and was named to the NFL’s All Decade team for the 1960s. He split his career between cornerback and safety, and excelled at both spots. Ram teammate Merlin Olsen once called him “the best defensive back I have ever seen.” He still holds the Rams’ career record for interceptions with 46, for blocked kicks with 10 and for fumble recoveries with 18. He served as the Players’ Association president for 2 years prior to retiring, and is considered to be a player who has been overlooked for Hall of Fame consideration.

 
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NFL 100 – Mike Ditka

29 Oct

For one of this week’s NFL 100 features, we’ll look at a character who left a long and lasting legacy in the league as a player, coach and studio analyst, Mike Ditka. When he joined the Chicago Bears as a rookie tight end in 1961, he proceeded to redefine the position from what was always a blocker, almost an extra lineman next to the tackle, to a legitimate receiving threat. In that rookie year, he caught 58 passes and scored 12 touchdowns, a Bears’ rookie record, and was named NFL Rookie of The Year. He played 5 total seasons with Chicago and was a Pro Bowler in all of them. His rugged style of play earned him the nickname “Iron Mike”, as he not only changed the tight end position with his receiving ability but also was known for his yardage gained after the catch, regularly trucking defensive backs and linebackers on his way to picking up extra yards. A contract dispute with owner George Halas got Ditka traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1967. He played there for 2 years and then was traded to Dallas where he played his final 4 seasons. The highlight of his Cowboy days came in 1971 in Super Bowl VI when he scored a touchdown to help the team defeat the Miami Dolphins 24-3 to give legendary coach Tom Landry his first championship.

 

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Mike Ditka, All Pro Bears’ tight end

Ditka retired in 1972 and was immediately hired to join Landry’s coaching staff in Dallas. He spent 9 years there, learning from the best. The Cowboys made the playoffs in 8 of those seasons and won the Super Bowl again in 1977. While serving as an assistant on Landry’s staff, Ditka wrote a letter to Halas, who he had a strained relationship with, saying he would like to return to Chicago as the Bears’ head coach when he was ready. Halas took him up on that request in 1982 when he went out on a limb and hired his old tight end to lead the Bears. Ditka held a team meeting upon taking the job and promised the players that if they stuck with him he would have them “in the dance” within 3 years. By 1985 he delivered. His ’85 Bears club reached “the dance”, the Super Bowl, and demolished the New England Patriots 46-10 in the game. Although it was the only title Ditka would win in Chicago, that ’85 Bears team is considered one of the greatest of all time, especially the defense. They had swagger, led by coach Ditka, his flamboyant quarterback, Jim McMahon, Walter Payton and William “The Refrigerator” Perry and even put together a video, the “Super Bowl Shuffle”, before they had qualified to play in the game. They were a confident bunch.

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Tom Landry, Ditka’s coaching mentor

During the 1988 season Ditka suffered a heart attack and was expected to not be available for most of the season. However, he was back on the sideline as an advisor the next game and returned to his full time duties as head coach the following week. A couple of losing seasons in the early 1990s led to his firing in Chicago in 1992. He went on to coach the New Orleans Saints for 3 years, beginning in 1997, but that stint was largely forgettable and was “highlighted” by an ill-fated move in which Ditka traded his entire stock of draft picks to Washington for the rights to running back Rickey Williams, who never panned out in the Crescent City. Overall, it’s hard to think of the NFL’s 100 year history without mentioning Ditka. He and Tom Flores are the only 2 people who won championships as a player, assistant coach and head coach in league history, and Ditka was the first to achieve this. Today he is an icon in Chicago. He owns a chain of restaurants and regularly is on sports talk radio shows in the Windy City. He was a regular football studio analyst on ESPN for years before being dropped for voicing political opinions. Saturday Night Live had a running skit for years featuring Bill Swerski’s Superfans, a group of mythical Bears fans, including George Wendt, who worshipped “Coach Dikka”. Ditka, in 1988, was honored to be the first tight end inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

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Coach Ditka Halloween costumes were once popular in Chicago

 
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Classic Team Logo of The Day

29 Oct

chibearsalt6392angryditka (2)

Has anyone ever seen the 1963 alternate Chicago Bears’ logo and their former coach, Mike Ditka, in the same room together? Many people say they resemble each other. All joking aside, Ditka not only was a star tight end for the ’63 Bears, who won the NFL Championship, but also went on to coach them to a Super Bowl title following the 1985 season. Other than founder/owner/coach George “Papa Bear” Halas, Ditka may be the man most closely associated with the franchise.

 
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