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!!

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!