The purpose of this post is to make a somewhat silly and trivial point, but as a Washington Nationals fan, it relates to something that bugs me more and more each day.  So. bear with me.  I recently finished reading a book about Stan Musial, the St. Louis Cardinals Hall-of-Fame slugger, who played for them from 1941 through 1963.  I had the good fortune of being able to see Stan the Man play late in his career (that does make me sound old, huh? – I was 8 years-old or so).  Although he was in the winding down stage of his career, he was by that time a living legend, so it was exciting to be able to see him on the field.

A guy usually doesn’t play as long as Musial did without putting up some great numbers.  Musial’s were better than great.  In his first 16 full seasons with the Cardinals, Musial never hit below .310 in any of them.  In 7 of those seasons he won the National League batting title.  He led the league in hits 6 times and is 4th on the all-time career hits list.  He won the National League Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) 3 times and finished 2nd in the MVP balloting 4 other times.  He clearly was one of the best hitters to ever play the game.

Okay, so why do I tell you all of this?  Well, it’s the set-up!  I want to point out one of Musial’s seasons in particular.  In 1943, Musial had 700 plate appearances.  And out of all those trips to the batters box that year, do you know how many times Stan the Man struck out?  Seriously, if you haven’t already peeked ahead to the next sentence, go ahead and take a guess.  Well, the answer is 18!  That’s right – 700 plate appearances with only 18 of them ending with him striking out.  To quote the phrase that today’s sportscasters use way, way too often – “Are you kidding me!”  I realize that it was a different era of baseball and the approach to hitting may be a bit different now, but still!

Anyway, how does that stat relate to the point I want to make?  Allright, so I’m one of those guys who likes to do the “six degrees of separation” thing.  You know, the idea that everyone, on average, is approximately six steps away, by some connection, from any other person on Earth.  Not that I really believe that, but it’s kind of fun to think about it in certain situations.

So, I got to thinking about the “six degrees” idea, and calling upon my vast experience as a long-time baseball fan, I realized that I may be on to something.  So I did some research.  During Stan Musial’s long career, one of his teammates for 6 seasons was a guy named Dick “Ducky” Schofield.  Dick Schofield actually played a total of 18 seasons in the majors for a number of teams, mostly as a utility infielder.  BUT, the interesting thing is that Dick Schofield is the grandfather of the Nationals rightfielder, Jayson Werth.

Last year for the Nats, Werth had 649 plate appearances and he struck out a whopping 160 times!  ”Are you kid… ”  - well, you get the idea.  And. through 4 games this year, Werth has 1 hit in 14 official at bats and he has struck out 7 times in 17 plate appearances.  At that rate, by the time the Nats finish their first two weeks of the 2012 season, Jayson Werth will strike out more times than Musial did in his entire 1943 season.  So here Werth is, two degrees of separation from Stan Musial.   Don’t you think there could be some way that, through Werth’s grandfather, we could get Werth to channel some Musial, and actually make some contact at the plate?  Even if it’s just when there are men on base.  Is that too much to ask for?

Certainly, although I am not a Jayson Werth fan, I had no expectation that he should play anywhere near the level of a guy like Musial.  Very few players will ever be able to do that.  But I do think it is reasonable to expect that there wouldn’t be 180 degrees of separation between him and Musial in terms of stats.  I fear that the pressure on the Nats to play Werth because of his ridiculous salary is going to pull this team down.  And that would be a big disappointment for us Nats fans who had a lot of hope for success going in to this season.

In the past, whenever there has been an upcoming major event like the Super Bowl or March Madness, I’ve written a blog presenting some trivial facts about that particular event.  For the most part, the facts were irrelevant in terms of their bearing on the potential outcome of the event.  But to some at least, they were interesting tidbits that were just fun to know.  So, on the assumption that you are reading this because you consider the NFL Draft to be a major event (and why wouldn’t you?), I offer up a few pieces of information and other observations about past NFL Drafts – enjoy!

• The first NFL draft was held in 1936 and lasted 9 rounds.
• Over the intervening years, the number of rounds in the NFL Draft has fluctuated between a high of 32 rounds to the current 7-round format we have today.
• In 1960, the NFL had to start competing for college players with the newly-formed American Football League (AFL).  These rival leagues held separate drafts from 1960 through 1966 and bidding wars for top draftees commenced.  In fact, that first “competing” draft in 1960 resulted in half of the NFL’s 12 first round draft picks signing with the AFL.
• After players were signed, there was an unwritten agreement to honor the contracts signed in the other league.  That agreement unraveled in 1966 when the Giants signed kicker Pete Gogolak, who was under contract with the Buffalo Bills.  About that time, Al Davis became the Commissioner of the AFL and, with his encouragement, AFL owners began to raid NFL teams by signing established star players to include John Brodie, Mike Ditka and Roman Gabriel.  Those raids along with the continued bidding wars over college draft choices prompted the initiation of merger talks.  The merger talks resulted in an agreement that the “raided” NFL players would remain with their NFL teams.  With respect to the drafting of college players, it was agreed that starting in 1967 through 1969, a single “Common Draft” would be held with the order of  selection determined by the final records of the teams in their respective leagues (worst to go first).
• The merger was fully implemented in 1970 and since that year a single NFL Draft has been held.  The draft time frame from 1970 to the present is commonly referred to as “The Modern Era Draft”.
• In 1960, the Dallas Cowboys NFL expansion franchise was hastily established in an effort to compete with the Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs), one of the the original AFL teams.  The Cowboys acquired players through an “expansion draft”, whereby they selected players from existing NFL teams that were placed on a list of players that each team was willing to part with.  However, because the Cowboys franchise was not awarded until after the 1960 college player draft was held, they did not have the benefit of stocking their roster with top college players in their first year of existence.  They remain the only NFL team to never have participated in the draft in their inaugural season.
• The 1961 draft was the first regular draft for the Cowboys.  Since they finished the 1960 season with the worst record, they ordinarily would have had the first pick in the draft.  However, the Minnesota Vikings franchise was added as an expansion team in 1961 and they therefore were awarded the first overall pick.  The Cowboys had the 2nd overall pick but they traded it to the Redskins for quarterback, Eddie LeBaron.  The Cowboys did work a trade with the Cleveland Browns to acquire the Browns first round pick (#13 overall) and made future Hall of Fame defensive lineman, Bob Lilly, the very first Cowboys draft pick.
• In 1967, the first year of the Common Draft, the New Orleans Saints team was an expansion franchise that was to begin play in the 1967 season.  They therefore had the first pick in the 1967 draft, which they traded to the Baltimore Colts.  The Colts selected Bubba Smith, a defensive tackle out of Michigan State, as the #1 overall pick.  An AFL team didn’t select until the #4 overall spot but the Miami Dolphins hit the jackpot with that pick when they selected future Hall of Famer, Bob Griese.
• Intrigued by the AFL-NFL competing drafts from 1960 through 1966, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the notable players of that era and see who drafted them.  A few of those observations follow:

• • 1961 – Mike Ditka was the first pick of the Houston Oilers but he signed with the Bears who took him in the 1st round (#5 overall)
  • 1963 – Quarterback Terry Baker, the Heisman Trophy winner out of Oregon State, was selected in the 12th round by the Chargers.  He was the #1 overall pick of the Rams in the NFL draft and he signed with them.  The Chargers seemed to know what they were doing since he turned out to be one of the first truly monumental draft busts,  playing just three unremarkable seasons for the Rams.
  • 1964 – This draft produced 10 future Hall of Famers including Carl Eller (Vikings@#6/Bills@#1), Charley Taylor (Redskins@#3/Oilers@#9) and Paul Warfield (Browns@#11/Bills@#28).
  • Also drafted in 1964 was future Hall of Famer, Roger Staubach, the Heisman Trophy winner from Navy.  Because he had the service commitment, teams didn’t want to waste a high round draft pick on him.  He was selected by the Cowboys in the 10th round (#129) and by the Chiefs in the 16th round (#122).  Even though the Cowboys had to wait until 1969 for him join the team, most people would agree that it turned out to be a wise draft pick and he was well worth the wait.
  • 1965 – the Bears got two gems in Dick Butkus (#3/Broncos@#9) and Gale Sayers (#4/Chiefs@#5).
  • 1966 – Heisman Trophy winner, running back Mike Garrett out of USC, was selected almost as a throwaway pick by the Chiefs in the 20th round (#178) because all indications were that he was only interested in signing with the NFL team that selected him.  The Rams selected him in the 2nd round (#18).  He surprised everyone, by signing with the Chiefs.
• One of the most interesting draft scenarios involves Bo Jackson, the Heisman Trophy winner and two-sport star out of Auburn.  He was drafted #1 overall by the Buccaneers in the 1986 draft.  The Buccaneers gave him an ultimatum to choose football over baseball.  He chose baseball and signed with the Kansas City Royals.  He decided to again enter the draft in 1987 and was selected by the Raiders in the 7th round.  Al Davis, owner of the Raiders, allowed him to be a part-time runningback, playing football only after the Major League Baseball season ended.  He had several very productive seasons in that role for the Raiders until a serious hip injury ended his football career.
• The 1983 draft became known as the draft with “the quarterback class of 1983″ because of the fact that six quarterbacks were selected in the 1st round of that draft.  That’s the most quarterbacks ever taken in the 1st round.  All six were taken by AFC teams and three of the six were eventually elected to the Hall of Fame.
• There’s always interest in the first quarterback taken in any draft.  The lowest drafted “first quarterback taken” occurred in 1988.  That year, Tom Tupa, a quarterback/punter out of Ohio State, was the first quarterback drafted when the Cardinals selected him in the 3rd round (#68).  Because Tupa only had one year where he had any significant (and unremarkable) playing time at the quarterback position in the NFL, it’s questionable if he should even be considered a quarterback for this observation.  Tupa had a long, and very successful career as a punter in the NFL.  The next quarterback selected in the 1988 draft was Chris Chandler, drafted by the Colts in the 3rd round (#76).  So, if you consider Tupa to have been drafted for his punting ability rather than as a signal caller, then it turned out that the 1988 draft had a kicker and two punters drafted before the first quarterback was drafted!
• Speaking of punters and kickers, there have been two of each selected in the first round of a draft in the Modern Era (1970-present).  Those turned out to be a somewhat of a 50-50 proposition.  Russell Erxleben out of Texas was actually drafted as a placekicker/punter, taken in 1979 by the Saints in the 1st round (#11).  His placekicking career quickly turned out to be a bust and he was primarily known as a punter.  He played for six seasons with varying degrees of success.  On the other hand, Ray Guy was drafted in 1973 by the Raiders in the 1st round (#23) and he played for 13 seasons.  His punts were long and had amazing hang time.  He was considered to be an extra offensive weapon for the Raiders because he was so successful in turning around field position in the Raiders favor.  As for placekickers, Steve Little out of Arkansas was drafted in 1978 by the Cardinals in the 1st round (#15).  He quickly became a bust, lasting only two years in the league.  Sebastian Janikowski out of Florida State was drafted in 2000 by the Raiders in the 1st round (#17) and has had a very successful career.  Known for his long-distance range, he is still with the Raiders, about to enter his 12th season with them.
• Now, let’s conclude with some information that doesn’t pertain directly to teams or players.  And this is really important.  The 1980 NFL draft was the first to be aired on national TV in it’s entirety.   ESPN did the honors.  Chris Berman has been involved in every ESPN telecast of the draft since 1980, either as a reporter or as the anchor.  Mel Kiper first appeared as ESPN’s “draft guru” in 1984 and has held that assignment every year since then.  I believe that ESPN”S decision to televise the draft is the factor that is most responsible for creating the numerous “draftniks” out there who just can’t get enough of NFL draft talk.   Many of you who are reading this fall into that category.  Thank you ESPN!!

Back before the Super Bowl, I wrote a blog discussing a number of facts about the event that were trivial but a little interesting to look at nonetheless.  They weren’t your typical record book type of facts.  The intent was to throw out the type of  information that perhaps people could have some fun with.  So with the NCAA Tournament (March Mayhem) fast approaching, I thought I’d try and do the same sort of thing and offer up the following 16 sweet tidbits related to the tournament for you to ponder.  These aren’t necessarily the “sweetest” 16 facts about the tournament and aren’t provided in any particular order of importance – but hopefully, you’ll get a kick out of some of them.  Enjoy!

1)    The tournament was created in 1939 and consisted of just an 8-team field.  The Championship game that year was played at Patten Gym in Evanston, Illinois and drew a crowd of 5,500.  That’s probably only slightly more than the number of people who will be working as “Events Staff” at this year’s Final Four.

2)    The lowest number of points by a winning team in a Championship game is the 39 points put up by Wisconsin in their 1941 win over Washington State, 39-34.  The second lowest point total for a Championship game winner was registered by Utah in their 42-40 win over Dartmouth in 1944.  And that game went into overtime!

3)    Between 1946 and 1980, a game between the two semi-final losers was played to determine a third place finisher.  In the history of sports, that game has to rank 2nd behind only the NFL Pro Bowl as being a contest where the players on both sides would have absolutely no interest in playing.

4)    In the 72-year history of the tournament, only 21 teams that entered the tournament as the # 1-ranked team in the nation, went on to win the Championship.

5)    Up and into the 1950′s, The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) was just as big a tournament as the NCAA Tournament.  Some teams would even bypass the NCAA Tournament and choose to play in the NIT instead.  Some, would play in both.  In 1944, Utah lost in the first round of the NIT but then went on to win the NCAA Tournament that year.  And in 1950, CCNY won both tournaments, defeating Bradley in the finals of each tournament.

6)    The NCAA didn’t start seeding teams until 1979.  Only once since then have all four # 1 seeds made it to the Final Four (2008) and # 1 seeds have matched up in the Championship game only 6 times.

7)    An interesting observation.  Dartmouth and Holy Cross each have two Final Four appearances, which is one more than current Big East powerhouses Notre Dame and Pitt have.  Both Notre Dame’s and Pitt’s appearances came before they were members of the Big East – Pitt in 1941 and The Fighting Irish in 1978.  Additionally, Penn State made it to the Final Four one time as well – in 1954.  I don’t know what is more surprising, that Notre Dame and Pitt have only made it to the Final Four one time or that Penn State actually made it to the Final Four once!

   Prior to 1975, only one team per conference was permitted to play in the NCAA Tournament.  This of course led to some controversies.  In the 1971 season, USC was ranked # 2 in the nation at the end of regular-season play with only two losses, both of which came at the hands of conference rival, and the # 1 ranked team, the UCLA Bruins.  UCLA of course won the conference title and therefore went to the NCAA Tournament.  Further, in 1974, 2nd ranked North Carolina State edged out 3rd ranked Maryland for the ACC title and went on to the Big Dance, leaving Maryland on the outside looking in.  The following year, the tournament was expanded to 32 teams and the restriction that only one team per conference could go to the tournament was lifted.

9)    Of the 72 tournament champions, only 11 times has the champion school NOT had their city or their state represented in their name.  Those schools are:  Duke (4 times),  Stanford,  Holy Cross, LaSalle, Loyola, Marquette, Georgetown and Villanova.

10)  Let’s take a look at the nicknames of all the schools that have won the NCAA tournament to see if there is anything interesting there.  Of course the vast majority of the nicknames are an animal – Bruins, Wildcats, Wolverines, etc.  You had a few birds represented – Jayhawks, Cardinals, Golden Eagle and even the Ducks (Oregon was the first champion in 1939 – I guess they were the Ducks then?).  It wasn’t until the last decade that the reptiles were represented – Florida Gators (2006 & 2007) and the Maryland Terrapins in 2002.  Throughout the years you would occasionally see an “occupation” make the scene – Cowboys, Spartans – even the Crusaders!  I guess you could add the Blue Devils to this list – nasty occupation though.  Now let me pause for an Andy Rooney moment.  Have you ever wondered why Duke’s devils are blue?  Historically devils have been portrayed in the color red.  Yet Duke’s are blue.  Does it mean that they are particularly sad?  Or could it be that Duke just couldn’t let UNC corner the market on the color blue.  Never know just how far some rivalries will go!    And speaking of UNC,  that brings us to the category of, “what are they – really?”.  You know, the Tarheels, the Hoosiers and of course, the Hoyas.  What IS a Hoya?  Oh well, what’s in a name or nickname as the case may be?

11)  The first “true” Final Four, where all four semi-finalists met in the same city, did not take place until 1952.  Taking a look at the location of the Championship games pre-1952 and the Final Four locations since,  a few interesting things jump out.  Of the first 12 Finals, 7 of them were held at the old Madison Square Garden in New York City, the last of those being in 1950.  The Finals/Final Four has not appeared back in the state of New York since then.  Now the Final Four was held at the arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey in 1996.  But New Jersey only counts as New York in football.  Somewhat surprisingly, the state that has hosted the Finals/Final Four the most times is Missouri with 13 (11-Kansas City & 2-St. Louis).  Kentucky is next with 7 and Indiana follows right behind with 6, counting this year’s game.

12)  The Final Four was first held in a domed stadium in 1971 at the Houston Astrodome.  Then every few years it would be held in a domed stadium such as the Superdome in New Orleans, the Kingdome in Seattle or the Metrodome in Minneapolis.  But since 1997, it has been held in a domed stadium every year.

13)  In 1974, North Carolina State won the Championship with out ever having to leave the state of North Carolina to play a tournament game.  All of it’s Regional games were played at their home arena, the Reynolds Coliseum and the Final Four was played at the Greensboro Coliseum.

14)  Between 2004 and 2006, Regions were not geographically identified (West Region, Southeast Region, etc.).  Instead, they were identified by the city where the Regional Final was to be held (Phoenix Region, Atlanta Region, etc.).  Presumably this was done to make the brackets less confusing for the fans.  And presumably it was changed back because the fans still couldn’t figure it out.

15)  There is the belief that the team that wins the Championship is given the court on which the game was played, but that is not the case.  The winning team is given the option of purchasing the court and if they decline, it is offered to other schools for purchase.

16)  One of the most exciting things about March Mayhem is the bracket sheets.  For the record, we can’t use the term March M**ness since the NCAA owns the copyright of that term and we know how they love to crack down on the little guy.  After all, rules are rules – right?  That is unless you are the head football coach at a particular school in a major money-making conference that just happened to flaunt the rules.  Then you just get a tap on the wrist.  But I digress – back to the brackets.  Lots of people play in numerous bracket challenges, filling out multiple bracket sheets.  And productivity at workplaces goes down in March as we stand around water coolers discussing how the latest upset just busted our bracket.  And these challenges are everywhere.  Indeed you have the opportunity to participate in one right here on Fanspeak.  Just go to the homepage, click on the March Mayhem button and register to play.  But here’s the last tidbit for you to keep in mind if you’re feeling a bit cocky about how well you know your stuff.  You have a 147.57 quintillion to 1 chance of getting every single game correct on a bracket sheet.  So you might want to think twice about making a side bet with someone that you will run the table on one of your bracket sheets!

Have fun gang – enjoy the games!

With Super Bowl XLV approaching, I thought it would be fun to take a historical look at the event.  But I didn’t want to do the typical Records/Statistics type of analysis.  You know, the “career leader in passing yards” or “most receptions in a game”  kind of thing.  I was more focused on making observations from some of the information I found.  Where I did look at records and stats, it was more from a team standpoint than an individual standpoint.  So what follows is my random look at Super Bowls past (although where appropriate, I included info about the upcoming game).  It’s guaranteed to be insignificant and trivial – but hopefully you can find something fun or interesting!

TEAM TIDBITS:

• One of the participants in this year’s game, the Green Bay Packers, won the very first Super Bowl and then won it again the following year.  They returned 29 years later to win their third Super Bowl.  The only other time the Packers appeared in the game was the following year when they lost Super Bowl XXXII to the Broncos.  Now as most people know, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the other participant in this year’s game, hold the record for most Super Bowl wins with 6.  Their only loss came in Super Bowl XXX to the Cowboys.  So, Super Bowl XLV pits two of the most storied franchises in NFL history and after the game is over, those two will have combined to win more than 1/5 of all the Super Bowls!
• With their appearance in Super Bowl XLV, the Steelers will tie the Cowboys for most Super Bowl appearances with 8.
• Of the current 32 franchises in the NFL, only four have never even made an appearance in the Super Bowl: Browns, Jaguars, Texans and Lions.
• The Bills hold the record for the most consecutive appearances in the Super Bowl with 4 (SB’s XXV thru XXVIII).  They also hold the distinction of losing the most consecutive games – all four!  The Dolphins have the 2nd most consecutive appearances with 3 (SB’s VI thru VIII), going 2-1 in those games.
• Looking just at teams with multiple Super Bowl appearances, the 49ers are the only team that is undefeated, with a 5-0 record.  The Steelers have the 2nd best winning percentage at .857 and the Packers are tied with the Giants for third best with a .750 winning percentage.
• No team has ever won more than two consecutive Super Bowls.  There have been 7 different teams that have won back-to-back Super Bowls.  The Steelers performed that feat twice (SB’s IX & X and XIII & XIV).  The other teams that did it are the Packers, Patriots, Broncos, 49ers, Dolphins and Cowboys.  The 49ers are the only team to have done it under different head coaches (Walsh & Seifert)
• Going to the other side of the ledger, the most Super Bowl losses by any one team is 4.  There are three teams that lay claim to that dubious honor:  Bills, Vikings and Broncos.  Broncos fans can at least cheer the fact that they have 2 wins to go along with those 4 losses.  For the Bills and Vikings, their 4 losses came in their only appearances in the big game.
• As previously noted, the Bills hold the record for consecutive losses with 4.  The only other teams with consecutive losses are the Vikings and the Broncos with each losing two in a row.  The Broncos thus have the distinction of being the only team to have back-to-back losses and back-to-back wins.
• In addition to the Bills and Vikings, there are only two other teams with multiple Super Bowl appearances who are winless: Eagles & Bengals – both with 0-2 records.  An interesting fact here is that of these four winless teams, the Vikings are the only team to have never held a lead for even ONE second in any of their games!
• In the last 8 Super Bowls (counting this one), the NFC has been represented by 8 different teams while the AFC has only had 3 different representatives (Steelers, Colts & Patriots).  If you look at the last 10 Super Bowls, the NFC has actually had 10 different representatives.  Put another way to my fellow Redskins fans – - the Redskins are 1 of only 6 NFC teams to not have appeared in the last 10 Super Bowls!
• Speaking of dry spells, of all of the teams who have ever appeared in the Super Bowl, the Jets have the longest drought since their last appearance – 42 years.  They are followed by the Chiefs (41 yrs.), the Vikings (36 yrs.), the Dolphins (26 yrs.), the Bengals (22 yrs.) and yes … the Redskins (19 yrs.).

GAME NOTES/ODDITIES:

• The first Super Bowl, really wasn’t the “Super Bowl”??  That game, which was played on January 15, 1967, was actually billed as the “First World Championship Game AFL VS. NFL”.  It has since been dubbed Super Bowl I.
• Even though the game was called the Super Bowl after that first one, the title “Super Bowl” didn’t actually appear on game tickets until Super Bowl IV.
• No game has ever been played on the home field of any of the game participants.
• No game has ever gone into overtime.
• No team has ever been shutout.  Miami is the only team to not score a touchdown, losing to the Cowboys 24-3 in SB VI.
• There have been 8 kickoff returns for touchdowns yet not one punt has ever been returned for a TD.  Now I know that it’s probably a little easier to take a kickoff to the house than it is a punt, but still, I find this disparity to be odd.
• Still marveling at the fact that there has never been a punt returned for a touchdown, I did a random sampling of regular season stats for several different years and found that, on average, the number of punt returns for TD’s and the number of safeties recorded were relatively equal each year.  So given that, how do you then explain the fact that there hasn’t been a punt returned for a TD in a Super Bowl but there have been 6 safeties recorded over the years?
• And speaking of safeties, it was a safety that figured into what I think is the oddest halftime score in Super Bowl history.  The Steelers led the Vikings 2-0 going into the half in SB IX, a game they eventually won 16-6.

LOCATION, LOCATION:

• Only 8 states have ever played host to the Super Bowl.  Florida leads the way with 15, California is next with 11 and Louisiana follows closely behind with 9.  Texas is next closest with 3 games, counting this year’s game in Dallas – the other two were in Houston.
• Of all the cities that have hosted Super Bowls, Miami leads the way with 10, followed closely by New Orleans with 9.
• The venue that has hosted the most Super Bowls is the Louisiana Superdome.  The game has been played there 6 times, although it was just called the Superdome the first time the game was played there in 1977 (SB XII).  The game has been held in two different venues in Miami over the years.  The first 5 Miami games were held at the old Orange Bowl Stadium, which has since been demolished.  The last 5 Super Bowls held in Miami took place in the same stadium, although you wouldn’t know it if you just looked at the name.  That particular facility was originally known as Joe Robbie Stadium and it bore that name for it’s first two Super Bowl stints.  The next time the game showed up there, the stadium was called Pro Player Stadium.  Then the year the Colts beat the Bears in SB XLI (2006)  the game was held at that site again – it was called Dolphin Stadium then.   The fifth time that facility hosted the game was last year when the Saints beat the Colts.  It was named Sun Life Stadium that day.  It still goes by that name today – I think?

COLORS:

I took a look at team colors to see if they could somehow give us a clue as to what the outcome of Super Bowl XLV will be.  Every team has official team colors.  There will be a predominant color with one or more complementing colors by which the team is recognized.  So for example, the Steelers’ predominant color is black with gold being their main complementing color and they are often referred to as “The Black & Gold”.  Likewise, the Packers’ predominant color is green (officially dark green) and they too have gold as their main complementing color.  Of course in games, a team will wear either a white jersey that incorporates their team colors into the design or they will wear a dark jersey that is their predominant color with complementing colors included.  Now there are exceptions to this, like when a team may wear what is now called their “alternate” jersey or when they wear a “throwback” jersey from a time when their franchise may have had a different predominant color.  But that can be confusing so let’s just ignore it.  Okay, with this overly-detailed discussion as a backdrop, what observations did I make?

Taking a look at just the Super Bowl winners and considering them solely on the basis of their predominant color, paying no attention to the color of the jersey they happened to wear in the game, I found the following:

• “Green” teams have won 4 of the Super Bowls.
• Interestingly enough, 3 of the 4 “green” wins came in the first three Super Bowls (Packers twice then the Jets).  The Packers got the only other “green” team win in SB XXXI.
• “Black” teams have won a total of 9 Super Bowls (6 by the Steelers – 3 by the Raiders)
• For reference purposes, over the course of Super Bowl history, there have been a total of 3 “green” teams in the NFL and a total of 3 1/2 ‘black” teams (the Falcons were a “red” team for about as long as they have been a “black” team – thus the 1/2!)

It should be noted that in this year’s Super Bowl, the Packers were designated the home team.  As a result, they got to choose whether they would wear their dark jersey or their white jersey.  They decided to go with the dark jersey so then obviously, the Steelers will be wearing their white jersey.  Now taking into consideration the color of the jerseys worn by the participants in each of the Super Bowls, some interesting observations were made:

• In the last 6 Super Bowls, all of the winning teams wore their white jerseys.
• The team wearing white has won 13 of the last 19 Super Bowls.
• Of the 44 Super Bowls that have been played, the teams wearing the white jerseys have won a little more than 61% (27) of the time.
• The Packers wore their green jerseys in two of their three wins, including their last win.  Their only loss came while wearing white.
• In the Steelers six wins, they wore their black jerseys three times and their white jerseys three times.  They were in their white jerseys for their their last two wins.  Their only loss also came while wearing black.

So what can we conclude from all this color stuff?  Well, “conclude” may be a bit strong.  With respect to the predominant color scenario, given that the overall number of “green” teams and “black” teams has been pretty much the same, then clearly, “black” teams are more successful in the Super Bowl.  Considering the color of the jersey scenario, there certainly has been a long-running trend suggesting that you are much better off playing in your white jersey.  Looking at the Packers Super Bowl history, they are more successful playing in their green jersey so it is understandable why are decided to go with that his year.  On the other hand, the Steelers have had a little more success in their white jerseys, especially lately.  If you like to go with the law of averages line of thinking, then you might say that the Packers are in good shape this year since it is time for a team in the dark jersey to win.  So, add it all up and what do you get?  Who knows?  Bottom line is that color really doesn’t matter.  As we’ve always known, it’s the performance out on the field that matters.  Who wins the individual matchups, who comes up with more big plays at the right times, which team collectively has the bigger heart.  Those are the things that bring you victory.  Those are the things that make the game fun to watch.  Well, that and the commercials!

Anyway, as I said in the beginning, I guaranteed that what I had to say would be insignificant and trivial.  I trust that I have delivered!  But if any of this gave you an “I didn’t know that!” moment, then I accomplished what I set out to do.  Enjoy the game!

He retired from the National Football League prior to the 1959 season – and then he REALLY retired 16 years later after the 1975 season.  Who am I talking about?  Why George Blanda of course.  He was 49 years young when he retired after a 26 year career in pro football that spanned four decades.  Blanda died in late September of this year at the age of 83 and his passing had a little more significance for me than it might have for a lot of people.

Growing up as a young boy in Western Pennsylvania in the late 50′s and early 60′s, I knew the Blanda name quite well.    George Blanda was born in 1927 in Youngwood, a small town not far from my hometown.   George starred in football at the then Youngwood High School.  He then went on to play for Coach Bear Bryant at the University of Kentucky and was subsequently drafted in 1949 by the Chicago Bears, which was coached by the legendary George “Papa Bear” Halas.  A little more than a decade after George departed Youngwood High, that school and several other small schools in the area were merged into one very large high school, Hempfield Area High School.  And it was George’s younger brother Tom who was the very first starting quarterback on that first Hempfield High team in 1956.  Tom was an excellent quarterback in his own right and he later went on to start at quarterback for Army.  Indeed, after his initial Army commitment was  just about up, the St. Louis Cardinals considered signing him but he decided to stay in the Army.  So yeah, the Blanda name was big around my parts!  (By the way, and not that it matters, but I later played football at Hempfield High in the late 60′s/early 70′s and one of my minor claims to fame is that a teammate of mine was a nephew of George and Tom.  Neither of us enjoyed even 1/1,000th of the success that George and Tom did.  Again, not that it matters.)

Anyway, back to George, and it really was George that people around my area talked about and rooted for.  From his first year with the Bears in 1949 however, Halas didn’t seem to have much confidence in him as a quarterback.  In the first couple of years, George was rarely used at quarterback and in fact, in 1951, Halas moved him to linebacker for that season.  From 1952 through 1954 George got some starts at quarterback but after that he was essentially used as a backup quarterback.  Throughout his whole time with the Bears, George was their placekicker.  Although his stats don’t reflect it, George was a pretty good, old-fashioned, straight-on placekicker, and he seemed to get better with age.  But for whatever reason, he and Halas never really got along and, getting tired of just being a kicker, George retired prior to the 1959 season.  But then came the American Football League in 1960, and George had a new lease on his football life.

George became the starting quarterback for the Houston Oilers of the upstart league and he led them to the first two AFL Championships.  George and his Oilers, as well as a number of other AFL teams, played an entertaining, wide-open brand of football and many people, including me, really embraced the new league.  I would argue, as do many others, that the success of the AFL helped to fuel the shift in popularity from baseball to pro football.   Soon,  the bidding wars for players ensued which in turn prompted the merger of the two leagues.  Clearly, Blanda played no small part in helping to create the NFL “monster” we have today.

However, Houston felt that, at age 39, George was done after the 1966 season.  George on the other hand believed that he had a lot left in the tank, so he moved on to the Oakland Raiders.  Granted he served as the placekicker and was only a back-up quarterback with the Raiders.  But he certainly had an impact on the Raiders success over the NINE years he played for them.  And not just as a kicker.  He was the backup to Daryl Lamonica and later, Ken Stabler, both of whom were accomplished quarterbacks.  But there were times when they struggled and George was sent in to try and ignite a spark.  And often he did.  There was one five-game stretch in the middle of the 1970 season that stood out.  It started in late October when he stepped in at quarterback early in a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers to replace an injured Lamonica.  He threw for three touchdown passes that day and kicked a field goal to lead the Raiders to a 31 – 14 victory.  He followed that up the next week by kicking a game-tying, 48-yard field goal (this was before sudden death overtime was instituted for regular season play) against the arch-rival Chiefs.  One week later Blanda entered at quarterback late in a game against the Cleveland Browns with the Raiders trailing by 7 points.  He engineered a drive that culminated in a 14-yard touchdown pass to Warren Wells.  With Blanda’s extra point conversion, the game was tied at 20-20.  Then with just 3 seconds on the clock he kicked a 52-yard field goal to win it.  But he wasn’t done.  The next week, again in relief of Lamonica, he lead the Raiders to another come-from-behind rally by throwing a touchdown pass late in the 4th quarter to beat the Denver Broncos,  24-19.  He capped off this amazing streak of game-savers with a last-minute field goal to beat the Chargers, 20-17.  Not bad for a 43-year old, huh?  I think this streak did two things.  First, this 4-0-1 run helped propel the Raiders on to a first place finish in the AFC West Division.  Secondly, his week-after-week heroics really excited football fans everywhere – no matter who their favorite team was, they rooted for the “old guy” to pull off another exciting comeback.

Blanda put in five more years with Raiders and continued to come through with clutch performances from time-to-time, mainly as a field goal kicker.  Although there was never anything like that logic-defying, 5-week performance in 1970, people never ceased to be amazed by the fact that this man in his 40′s could still compete in a truly young man’s game.

I only had the opportunity to see Blanda play twice, both in 1972.  The first was the opening game of the season when the Raiders went to Pittsburgh to play the Steelers.  My father and I, both rabid Steelers fans, went to the game anxious for the Steelers to get off to a good start in what we hoped would be a championship season for them. (Full disclosure – having moved to the Washington area  in 1975, I am now a diehard Redskins fan – OUCH!)  The Raiders were starting third-year quarterback, Kenny Stabler, with the idea that Lamonica would be turning over the reins to him and he would become the quarterback of their future.  While he eventually did, it did not start out well for him that day.  The Steelers jumped out to a 17-0 lead early in the 2nd quarter.  Meanwhile,  Stabler was struggling, throwing three interceptions.  Hoping to get a spark, Raiders coach John Madden sent Blanda in the game in the 2nd quarter and he promptly led them down the field with some clutch completions, ending the drive with a 26-yard touchdown pass that finally got the Raiders on the scoreboard.  Amazed by what we were seeing on that drive from this 45-year old, my dad blurted out rather loudly after one of his completions, “Look at that SOB”, only he didn’t use that abbreviated version!   But the way he said it clearly had the tone of admiration, not one of anger at what Blanda was doing to the Steelers.  I of course being the proper 19-year old, immediately chastised him for using that kind of language in a public setting with young kids around.  (You have to understand that in those days, fans were much more civil at games than they are now a days.  The foul language that unfortunately is so prevalent at NFL games today, was not commonplace back then.)    In any event, in response to my admonishment, my dad looked at me and said, ‘”What?  Look at what he’s doing”.  And he was right.  What we were witnessing from this old guy who was much closer in age to my 56-year old father than he was to me, was indeed truly amazing.  Without admitting it, I think we were both kinda pulling for this home-grown guy who we rooted for from afar for years, even if he was leading his team against the Steelers.  But Madden did get his spark from Blanda. In the second half, he inserted Lamonica into the lineup and he threw for a couple of touchdown passes to make things interesting.  But the Steelers hung on for a 34-28 victory.  We left that game satisfied with the victory and thrilled that we got to see one of Blanda’s last hoorahs.  Although somewhat anticlimactic, the second time we saw Blanda that year was in the AFC Divisional Playoff Game when he came in to kick the extra point late in the 4th quarter after Stabler scrambled for a 30-yard touchdown run.  After Blanda’s PAT, the Raiders took a 7-6 lead and seemingly wrapped up a hard-fought win.  But that was the Franco Harris Immaculate Reception game, so we were able to leave that game very happy as well.

If you look at both Blanda’s passing and kicking statistics you’ll find that they are not remarkable, especially when compared to today’s standards.  His career completion percentage was 47.7% and his career field goal percentage was 52.4%.  His season-high completion percentage as a starter was 53% in 1963 and he had a season-high 69.7% field goal percentage in 1973.  So you might ask, how did he get into the Hall of Fame?  Well, fortunately, I think the voters not only recognized his longevity but his overall contribution to the game.  He provided exciting fireworks on the field in those early years with the Oilers, at a critical juncture in time, when pro football was trying to establish it’s game as the new “America’s Pastime”.  His leadership skills and his ability to consistently come through in the clutch, often in unbelievably storied fashion, helped elevate his stature to a Hall of Fame level.  additionally, his fiery style of play contrasted with his genuinely likable character off the field didn’t hurt either.  Blanda respected the game and he respected the fans.  In this era of the “Me First” athlete, I get a sense of comfort when I think back about guys like Blanda, who played as much for the love of the game as they did for the money they earned.  So, it was for all these reasons, and not just for the fact that he was a hometown boy, that George Blanda became one of my boyhood (and adult) sports heroes.  And that’s why when he passed away, I took a moment to pause.