Dick Butkus: Quintessential Bear, Quintessential Linebacker

The Chicago Bears and the Arizona Cardinals are the only two original NFL franchises that still exist. The Bears were dubbed "Monsters of the Midway" during their glory years in the 1940s when they won four NFL titles (1940, 1941, 1943, 1946) in a seven year span, but no player embodied that "Monsters" ethos more than Dick Butkus, who passed away in his sleep yesterday at the age of 80. 

Chicago native Butkus led the University of Illinois to a 17-7 Rose Bowl win versus Washington in 1964 before being drafted by his hometown Bears as the third overall selection in the 1965 NFL Draft, one pick ahead of fellow future Hall of Famer Gale Sayers. The legendary George Halas--who at various times played for, coached, and owned the Bears--was the team's coach and owner at that time, and he remained the coach through 1967. Butkus made the Pro Bowl in eight of his nine NFL seasons, missing out only in his last, injury-riddled campaign during which he played in just nine of 14 games. Butkus injured his right knee in high school, but he battled through the pain and limitations caused by that injury until he had nothing left and retired from the NFL at the age of 30; prior to his final season he played in 110 of a possible 112 games. Butkus was selected First Team All-Pro five times (1965, 1968-70, 1972). He finished his career with 22 interceptions, 27 fumble recoveries, one touchdown scored, one safety and two extra points; the last number requires some explanation: before the NFL added a two point conversion rule in 1994, if a team passed or ran the ball into the endzone on an extra point attempt that counted as one point. On November 14, 1971, the Bears beat the Washington Redskins 16-15, with Butkus providing the winning margin by catching a Bobby Douglass pass in the endzone after the Bears botched the snap on an extra point attempt and were forced to go into scramble mode. You can see a video of the wild play here. In 1972, Butkus caught another extra point pass. 

The numbers do not tell the full story of Butkus' impact--literally and figuratively. He was renowned--and feared--as perhaps the hardest hitting NFL player, and he took pride in the fact that after he hit someone the player did not have to try to figure out who made the play: a Dick Butkus tackle felt like no other. Although Butkus was a fierce player, he also took pride in playing within the rules, and when some Detroit players accused him of being a dirty player Butkus deeply resented the accusation, declaring, "No one but those jerks has ever called me a dirty player. I play as hard as I can. I try to hit as hard as I can. To me that’s what the game is all about."

Butkus never played for an NFL champion or even for a playoff team. The lack of playoff success by a Chicago team that featured Butkus on defense and Sayers on offense is a stark reminder that football is perhaps the ultimate team sport: in basketball one dominant player can carry a team, and in baseball a dominant pitcher can have a tremendous impact, but in football even an elite player needs a lot of help in order to enjoy team success. Jim Brown is arguably the greatest football player of all-time, and his Cleveland teams posted a 1-2 record in the NFL Championship Game during his fabulous nine year NFL career.

Despite the lack of postseason success, in his nine NFL seasons--all spent with the Bears--Butkus earned recognition as the prototypical linebacker. NFL Films President Steve Sabol called Butkus the greatest defensive player of all-time, describing him as "A force of unmanageable proportions, he was Moby Dick in a goldfish bowl. His career as the middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears stands as the most sustained work of devastation ever committed on a football field by anyone, anywhere, anytime...No one played harder or better than Dick Butkus."

Butkus was selected to the NFL's All-Decade Teams for both the 1960s and the 1970s, he was inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979 (the first year that he was eligible), and he was inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983. Starting in 1985, the Butkus Award has been presented to the best linebacker in college football; since 2008, the Butkus Award has also been presented to the best NFL linebacker and the best high school linebacker. 

After he retired, Butkus became an actor in TV shows, TV commercials, and movies, and he did some football commentary as well. I suspect that the first time I ever saw Butkus was probably in a Miller Lite commercial during an NFL telecast! I am too young to have seen Butkus play during his career, but I saw a lot of NFL Films footage of him, so I understand why he was so respected and so feared. I cannot find the exact quote, but I remember reading something to the effect that it was not possible to block Butkus head on, so players resorted to chipping him low, which infuriated Butkus because he already had a bad knee. It is remarkable that Butkus played nine seasons at such a high level under those conditions. 

It is disconcerting to see so many people from my parents' generation--people who were in the prime of their lives when I was a child--getting old and passing away. For me, the 1970s and 1980s were a golden age in many different sports, even though I only remember the second half of the 1970s: when I think of great basketball I think first of Julius Erving, Pete Maravich, George Gervin, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird; when I think of great baseball I think first of the Big Red Machine teams, of Reggie Jackson's clutch play with the New York Yankees, and of Eric Davis' early career brilliance; when I think of great football I think first of the dynastic Pittsburgh Steelers (even though as a Cleveland Browns fan I hate them); when I think of great tennis I think first of Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe; when I think of great boxing I think first of Muhammad Ali. That does not mean that each of the listed players and teams was the greatest of all-time (although a strong case could be made for several of them), but rather just that my deep love of sports was forged by watching and admiring them. That time is long past, but the memories and the historical impact will live forever.

Butkus was from just before that time, but I have great respect for icons like Dick Butkus, Jim Brown, and Sandy Koufax who made such indelible impacts on the sports world despite having relatively brief careers. Today, the sports world generates more money than ever, and new technologies make it possible to watch more games in more ways than ever, yet it feels like something is missing.

Rest in peace, Dick Butkus, and enjoy your reunion with George Halas and the other legends from the past.

NFL Legend Jim Brown Has Passed Away at the Age of 87

The terms "legend" and "GOAT" (Greatest Of All Time) are overused regarding athletes. A legend is not just a great player; he is a transformative figure. The GOAT--if such a figure exists--possesses a combination of skill set strengths and accomplishments that are unmatched.

Jim Brown, who passed away Thursday night at the age of 87, earned the titles legend and GOAT. As long as football is written about and discussed, he will be a legend and he will be on the short list of GOAT candidates. Brown played nine dominant NFL seasons before retiring to become an actor and a social activist. Brown helped to found the Black Economic Union, and his Amer-I-Can Program operates predominantly in inner city areas, focusing on ending gang activities and helping young people to develop life skills. Brown was an active participant in the Civil Rights movement, and he joined Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and other prominent athletes at the 1967 Ali Summit in Cleveland after Muhammad Ali had been stripped of his heavyweight boxing championship for refusing induction in the U.S. military.

Unlike many self-proclaimed activists whose main activity is promoting themselves, Brown never took part in virtue signaling or empty gestures; he focused on obtaining results through self-improvement and building economic self-reliance within the Black community. He was a strong social justice advocate who also was proud to be an American, as he noted in 2018 when many athletes refused to stand for the National Anthem: "I am not going to denigrate my flag and I'm going to stand for the national anthem. I'm fighting with all of my strength to make it a better country, but I don't think that's the issue. Because what is the top side? Are you not going to stand up? This is our country, man."

Although Brown is best known for his football career and his social activism, he is also a member of the Lacrosse Hall of Fame, and he was such a dominant lacrosse player that the sport changed its rules regarding stick-handling in response to his play. At Syracuse, Brown lettered in football, lacrosse, basketball, and track. He served as both a running back and a placekicker in Syracuse's 1956 regular season finale versus Colgate, setting an NCAA single-game scoring record with 43 points (six touchdowns plus seven extra points). Dick Schaap resigned as a Heisman Trophy voter after Brown did not receive the award in 1956.

The Cleveland Browns selected Brown with the sixth overall pick in the 1957 NFL Draft. The Browns made 10 straight championship game appearances from 1946-55 (four AAFC, six NFL) and won seven championships, but they fell on hard times in 1956 with a 5-7 record after Otto Graham's retirement. Brown had a great rookie season in 1957, leading the NFL with 942 rushing yards in a 12 game season; he also led the league with nine rushing touchdowns as he won the Rookie of the Year award and the AP MVP award. The Browns finished first in the NFL East Division with a 9-2-1 record, but lost 59-14 to the Detroit Lions in the NFL Championship Game. In 1958, Brown earned his second AP MVP award after setting the NFL's single season rushing record with 1527 yards, shattering Steve Van Buren's 1949 record of 1146 yards. Brown led the NFL with 18 touchdowns scored, four more than second place finisher Lenny Moore. 

Brown won the rushing title in each of his first five seasons, and in eight of his nine seasons overall. No other running back has more than four NFL rushing titles. In 1963, Brown set a new single season rushing record (1863 yards) that stood for 10 years and was only surpassed once in a 14 game season. Brown's total now ranks 13th all-time, but the NFL season expanded to 16 games in 1978 and 17 games in 2021, so it is worth noting that his 1963 season ranks second all-time in rushing yards per game (133.1).

The Browns had a winning record in every season of Brown's career, but did not return to the NFL Championship Game until 1964, when they beat the favored Baltimore Colts 27-0. The Browns went 11-3 in 1965 but lost 23-12 to the Green Bay Packers in the NFL Championship Game. After the 1965 season, Brown scored three touchdowns in the 1966 Pro Bowl and won co-MVP honors as his Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference 36-7. That proved to be Brown's final NFL game; he went to London to film the movie "The Dirty Dozen," and when rain delayed completion of the film Brown was late for the Browns' training camp. Cleveland owner Art Modell publicly threatened to fine Brown for every week of training camp that Brown missed, and Brown responded by announcing his retirement at age 30. The greatest running back--and, arguably, greatest player--in NFL history ended his career on his terms at the peak of his powers. Brown's acting career lasted from the 1960s until well into the 2000s in both movies and on TV, but he made his greatest impact during his post-NFL days as an activist battling to end gang warfare and create economic opportunities for the Black community.

When Brown retired, he was not only the NFL's all-time leading rusher with 12,312 yards--a record that stood for 19 years--but he was 2589 yards ahead the second ranked rusher, Joe Perry, who was 2321 yards ahead of the third ranked rusher (Jim Taylor). Only Peyton Manning (five) and Aaron Rodgers (four) have won more AP NFL MVPs than Brown (three, tied with Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre, and Tom Brady). Brown is the only non-quarterback who has won more than one AP NFL MVP. Brown earned nine Pro Bowl selections plus eight All-Pro First Team selections. 

You do not have to be a football savant to see and appreciate Brown's physical gifts, but it is important to understand that he was a student of the game. When Bill Belichick coached the Cleveland Browns in the early 1990s, he brought Brown in to provide counsel to the team's running backs. Belichick praised Brown's ability to clearly and succinctly provide valuable tips about leverage and reading the defense. Belichick also called Brown the greatest football player ever "without question."

In 1999, the AP named Brown the greatest football player of the 20th century, and at the 2020 NCAA National Championship Game he was recognized as the greatest college football player of all-time. Brown ranked fourth on ESPN's SportsCentury list of the 50 greatest American athletes of the 20th century, trailing only Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, and Muhammad Ali.

I never interviewed Brown, but I met him and shook his hand at the 2004 National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland during a special dinner celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Browns' 1964 NFL championship. I am too young to remember Brown's playing career, but as a lifelong (and long-suffering) Cleveland Browns fan it was great to not only meet Brown but also meet several other Browns legends, including Leroy Kelly and Gene Hickerson. The 2004 National Sports Collectors Convention is also the event where I met and interviewed Dolph Schayes. 

During his nine season NFL career, Brown never missed a game--and that was not because he was never injured. He never showboated, and he was a highly productive player for winning teams. Although some of his numbers have been surpassed, his dominance of the running back position has never been approached, and it is difficult to imagine that it ever will be. As great as he was as an athlete, Brown wanted to be remembered as an activist. "I was fighting for freedom, equality and justice every day of my life," Brown said in a video made 10 years ago. "I was always active to create equal opportunity and to use whatever money or power I had to affect social change."

John Madden: An American Original

Terms such as "legend," "icon," and "American Original" are thrown around so loosely and thoughtlessly that there is a danger that those concepts lose meaning and relevance. John Madden, the Super Bowl-winning Hall of Fame coach, 16-time Emmy Award winner, and face/likeness of perhaps the most successful sports video game ever, without question earned the right to be classified as a legend, icon, and American Original. 

Madden, who passed away yesterday at 85, reached the pinnacle in three distinct arenas: coaching, broadcasting, cultural touchstone. 

I am too young to remember Madden's coaching career, though I became well-versed about his accomplishments as part of my sports history self-education. I never played Madden Football, as in general I am not a big video game enthusiast. Thus, my greatest personal familiarity with Madden pertains to his lengthy and decorated broadcasting career during which he was the lead color NFL commentator for CBS, FOX, ABC, and NBC, but before reflecting on those years I will briefly discuss the other two facets of Madden's legacy.

Madden posted the highest winning percentage all-time among NFL coaches who coached at least 100 games (.759). He coached the Oakland Raiders for 10 years, winning seven division titles and never finishing worse than second in the division. Madden's Raiders lost once in the AFL Championship, and they lost five times in the AFC Championship, including three defeats at the hands of the Steel Curtain Pittsburgh Steelers and one to the powerhouse Miami Dolphins. Madden's greatest season was 1976, when the Raiders went 13-1 before routing Minnesota 32-14 in the Super Bowl. Madden's fear of flying plus health issues that he experienced as a result of the stresses of the job convinced him to retire in 1978 when he was just 42. If he had never done anything else of note the rest of his life he would have still been remembered as a Hall of Fame coach who was spectacularly successful during a highly competitive decade.

Starting in 1988, Madden not only lent his face and likeness to football video games produced by EA Sports but he was actively involved as a creative consultant for the games. Madden viewed the games not only as fun, but also as a way for fans to become educated about football's strategic nuances. Madden has not had a publicly active role in the NFL as a coach or broadcaster for more than a decade, but his name still appears on the video games, and that will probably continue to be true for a long time, a tribute to his lasting impact on the sport and the way that his name resonates deeply with the public.

My most vivid memories of Madden date back to the 1980s, when he and Pat Summerall provided the soundtrack for powerhouse teams such as the San Francisco 49ers, the Washington Redskins, the Chicago Bears, and the New York Giants. Madden and Summerall were the number one broadcasting team for CBS, the network which then owned the broadcast rights to NFC games. After CBS lost NFL broadcasting rights, that same duo did the big NFC games on Fox in the 1990s. Madden and Al Michaels teamed up on Monday Night Football on ABC from 2002-2005 before Madden and Michaels moved to NBC for the network's new Sunday Night Football package. Madden retired as a broadcaster after the 2008 season, and his last game was Super Bowl XLIII in 2009.

Madden was folksy and down to earth, which contributed to his popularity, but make no mistake that he understood football strategy at a deep level. He could make the complex things seem simple, which is the touchstone of his greatness (and the touchstone of greatness in general: the great ones make the complex things seem simple, while the average ones make the simple things seem complex).

In Competitive Greatness: Why Tom Coughlin Should Always be More Respected Than Tony Dungy, I recounted a situation that reveals much about Madden, Coughlin, and Dungy:

The NFL Network series "A Football Life" is a wonderful tribute to Steve Sabol's visionary genius. The Tom Coughlin episode includes a great story about the final game of the 2007 season. Coughlin's New York Giants could not improve their playoff position but instead of resting his starters Coughlin played the game straight up. The New England Patriots defeated the Giants 38-35 to clinch the only 16-0 record in NFL history but Coughlin's approach earned him a powerful phone message from Hall of Fame Coach John Madden: "Yeah, Tom, this is John Madden calling on Sunday morning just to congratulate you and your team for a great effort last night--not good, but great. I think it is one of the best things that has happened to the NFL in the last 10 years and I don't know if they all know it but they should be very grateful to you and your team. We were getting too much of that 'Well, they're going to rest their players because they don't need it.' That's not sports and that's not competition. Anyway, I'm a little emotional about it but I was so damn proud of what you guys did. It is something that we all ought to thank you for because, believe me, the NFL needed that. Congratulations." Coughlin saved that phone message and played it for his entire team; Coughlin explained to the NFL Films interviewer, "When John Madden calls you, that brings it right to mind again that that's really what football is: it's sport--and what is sport all about? We're trying to win. That's what this league is about, competitive greatness and always putting your best foot forward." The Giants eventually beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

Meanwhile, Tony Dungy's well-rested Indianapolis Colts watched New England defeat San Diego in that season's AFC Championship Game; instead of truly competing in the final week of the 2007 regular season, Dungy made sure that Reggie Wayne won the receiving yardage title and then Dungy shut his whole team down. Every time Dungy pulled this stunt his team lost in the playoffs; despite their great regular season records under Dungy, the only time his Colts won the Super Bowl was the one season that the situation forced Dungy to actually act like every game really matters. Sports is not about trying your best some of the time or acting like some games matter while other games don't matter; Tony Dungy may be a wonderful human being but he should never, ever be ranked alongside Tom Coughlin--or New England's Bill Belichick--as a head coach.

I wrote John Madden: Style and Substance after he officially announced his retirement as a broadcaster:

...It was a treat listening to Madden talk about what made a young Bill Parcells a good coach or why Walter Payton was so special. Although Madden was always very energetic and enthusiastic during telecasts, if you paid attention to what he was saying you could learn something about the game: he had a keen, quick eye for what was happening on the field and his folksy way of expressing himself should not delude you into forgetting just how much he knows about the sport's strategies.

Madden also understood the human element of the game. Whenever he did Super Bowl telecasts, at the end of the game he would always say something to the effect that for the winning coach this was the greatest feeling in the world, something that no one could ever take away from him.

It was always hilarious to hear Madden carrying on during the annual Thanksgiving game about the "turducken." I first thought that he had just made the whole thing up but there actually is such a thing as a de-boned turkey stuffed with a de-boned duck stuffed with a de-boned chicken. Madden obviously had a lot of fun during the broadcasts but I respect the fact that he did his homework thoroughly before games, meeting with the coaches and key players so that he knew exactly what to expect from a strategic standpoint.

The All-Madden teams honored players who Madden felt played the game the right way and it was always interesting to hear his take about that.

During his coaching career, Madden had just three rules for his players:

1) Be on time.
2) Pay attention.
3) Play like hell on Sunday.

Micromanagers often lose sight of the bigger picture, and thus never achieve their most important goals. Madden understood that punctuality, attention to detail, and supreme effort are the three most important prerequisites for success, and he brought that same perspective to his broadcasting career, which elevated the production value not only where he worked but across the industry. 

When Madden did a Super Bowl broadcast, he seemed to take special, personal joy when the winning coach was doused with Gatorade and/or lifted up by his players. Madden typically said something to the effect of, "This moment is the greatest feeling in the world, and it is a moment that no one can ever take away from you for the rest of your life." Madden experienced that moment in 1977, and then he shared his perspective on such moments during a broadcasting career lasting more than 30 years. I will never forget his insights, his humor, and his passion not just for football but for life. John Madden is very much a legend, icon, and American Original.

The Most Overinflated "Scandal" Ever

In the past week or so, we have learned that there is no consensus among NFL quarterbacks concerning the ideal amount of air in a football. Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers--arguably the best quarterback in the game today--prefers that his footballs are "overinflated," while other quarterbacks prefer that the footballs are not inflated past the NFL's prescribed air pressure range. The New England Patriots are being accused of deriving some supposedly great advantage by allegedly deliberately underinflating the footballs that their offense used during the first half of New England's 45-7 victory against the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game. The NFL is investigating the matter and all that can be confirmed at this point is that New England's 12 footballs were properly inflated before the game, that 11 of those footballs were deemed to be underinflated by halftime and that the footballs New England's offense used in the second half of the game were properly inflated at halftime and after the game. New England led 17-7 at halftime before blowing the game open in the second half and Tom Brady's worst pass of the game was an underthrown attempt late in the first half that was intercepted by the Colts' D'Qwell Jackson.

According to an Indianapolis writer who perhaps thinks that this is his chance at snagging a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, Jackson immediately detected that something was wrong with the football and Jackson submitted the football to Indianapolis' trainer for further investigation. The problem is that this is not true. Shockingly, a member of the mainstream media wrote something that is false (forgive the sarcasm but the mainstream media is completely out of control and if writers cannot even get their stories straight about footballs then why should we trust what they say about matters of global importance?). Jackson emphatically states that he noticed nothing wrong with the ball that he intercepted. Jackson kept that ball because he wanted a souvenir of his first postseason interception. He could not tell the difference between that football and any other football. Ironically, thanks to this media driven "scandal," Jackson does not even have possession of his souvenir, because the NFL is keeping it as some form of evidence.

It is bizarre to believe that the Patriots would tamper with footballs on game day after the footballs have been inspected and fully realizing that officials and opposing players are going to handle those footballs. Every time the Patriots see the Colts, the Patriots beat the Colts like the Colts stole something and the Patriots generally accomplish this by running the ball down the throats of the soft Colts defense. So how would underinflating the footballs even fit in with New England's game plan?

I have a theory about this. I think that the Colts knew that they were going to lose and that they sent an undercover operative to New England's sideline to tamper with the footballs. That tampering resulted in the Brady interception that helped to keep the score reasonably close at halftime and the subsequent "scandal" has diverted focus from how poorly the Colts prepared for, coached and played this game. Of course, I have no proof whatsoever to support this theory but why should that stop me from writing about it? Lack of proof does not stop anyone else from coming up with asinine theories and then lying about the facts in order to bolster those theories. I demand an NFL investigation into the Colts' tampering with New England's footballs!

I don't believe a word that I wrote in the last paragraph. The point is that it is easy to make stuff up and create a tempest in a teapot. Let's try to apply Occam's Razor here. Instead of coming up with conspiracy theories and looking for underinflated footballs under grassy knolls, wouldn't it make more sense to believe that footballs that are thrown, squeezed, spiked and otherwise handled during wet, cold weather will probably lose some inflation during the course of a game? Has anyone from the NFL tested footballs at halftime of cold weather games prior to last weekend? The only reason that this is a national story is that some doofus writer in Indianapolis has an ax to grind with New England and/or he wants his 15 minutes of fame. So why didn't the second half footballs become underinflated? Maybe the outside conditions that affect inflation changed. Maybe fewer footballs were used during the second half. Maybe the second half footballs were slightly overinflated to make sure that even if they lost air they did not become underinflated.

It is reassuring to know that the NFL and the mainstream media are right on top of this story, though. This is a lot more important than PED use, concussions, domestic violence, fatal DWIs, etc. ESPN's Mike Wilbon wants the NFL to throw the hammer down on New England Coach Bill Belichick because Wilbon considers Belichick to be a habitual rules breaker. Does Wilbon have an opinion he would care to share with the world about his fellow ESPN employee Ray Lewis, who led Baltimore to two Super Bowl wins after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice in a still-unsolved double murder? If you just want to cover sports, bloviate during a half hour TV show and make up controversies, then stick to that. If you want to be some kind of commentator and social crusader, then don't pick and choose your issues--unless you think that "Spygate" and some allegedly underinflated footballs are more important than a double murder. Before someone throws out "innocent until proven guilty" concerning Lewis, keep in mind (1) Lewis pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in an unsolved double murder so he is, by his own admission, at least guilty of obstruction of justice and (2) just because Lewis has not been proven criminally guilty of double murder that does not mean that the NFL and/or ESPN must hire him or glorify him.

Media members have been on Belichick's case for more than 20 years. They hated him when he mumbled through his press conferences in Cleveland, they mocked him when he did not take the head coaching job with the Jets and they have looked for every reason to discredit/belittle his success in New England. That is the real story here. This deflated football controversy has provided a great opportunity for grandstanding media blowhards to revive the so-called "Spygate" case. If we are going to stomp over that well-trod ground yet again, let's at least stick to the facts:

1) The Patriots did not "spy" on anyone; they conducted their filming out in the open, using a team employee who was dressed in full Patriots regalia. In a May 2008 article, I explained how ludicrous it is to suggest that the Patriots conducted some kind of covert, nefarious operation:

I have not been able to find the "Spygate" videos online but SportsCenter had a great clip of someone--presumably Matt Walsh--standing under a huge stadium scoreboard in full Patriots regalia openly filming the field. The only way he could have been more visible is if he had worn a Bozo the Clown nose and started waving giant semaphore flags. There is no way that any objective person could watch that tape and conclude that the Patriots were trying to hide what they were doing. They committed a technical violation of an NFL rule and were heavily punished for that but to call them "cheaters," to imply that this was some kind of covert operation or to suggest that the Patriots' Super Bowl wins are in any way tainted is absurd--and for Specter to call for a Congressional investigation of the violation of an NFL rule is ridiculous. Should Congress investigate holding penalties and pass interference calls, too? Any analogy made between "Spygate" and the performance-enhancing drugs problem is bogus because PED usage without a prescription is illegal and represents a potential public health problem, particularly for young athletes who look up to stars like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

2) Some sore losers and some New England haters are resuscitating the unproven allegation that the Patriots secretly taped the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough before New England's 20-17 victory over St. Louis in Super Bowl XXXVI; the Boston Herald irresponsibly--and without any evidence--published that unfounded rumor just two days before the Patriots lost 17-14 to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII, a terrible accusation to make at any time and particularly before such a huge game. The Boston Herald subsequently published a retraction of that article, admitting that there is no factual basis for their original story and that they never should have published it.

3) Two-time Super Bowl winning coach Jimmy Johnson publicly stated that his teams and many other teams did the same kind of filming that the Patriots did.

4) The Patriots won 69.3% of their regular season games prior to "Spygate" and they have won more than 75% of their regular season games since "Spygate." The Patriots have the best regular season record in the NFL since "Spygate." "Yes," the man wearing the tinfoil hat while listening to alien communications from Area 51 says, "but New England won three Super Bowls before 'Spygate' and New England has not won a Super Bowl since 'Spygate.'" The answer to that is simple if you understand probability and sample size; the best NFL team wins the Super Bowl less than 25% of the time. That is why even when Tiger Woods was by far the best golfer in the world it was smart to bet on the field over Woods in any one particular event. The Patriots are in contention to win the Super Bowl almost every year, just like the San Antonio Spurs are in contention to win the NBA title almost every year--but even the best team cannot realistically expect to win every game or every championship.

5) If people are going to persist in declaring that New England's pre-2007 success is "tainted" by "Spygate" then let's take an unjaundiced look at some other Super Bowl champions. The New Orleans Saints figured, "If you can't beat 'em, maim 'em," and their ownership/management/coaching staff/players put out bounties on opposing players. The Saints mauled their way to the 2010 Super Bowl title before the NFL suspended GM Mickey Loomis, Coach Sean Payton and several other coaches and players after discovering the long paper trail proving the existence of the bounties. The San Francisco 49ers violated salary cap rules during the 1990s. Any time you hear the iconic "This one's for John" audio, keep in mind that John Elway failed miserably in his first three Super Bowl appearances before the Denver Broncos circumvented the salary cap in order to put enough talent around him to help him win the big game that he was never able to win while following the rules. The Broncos were twice fined nearly $1,000,000 for those salary cap violations. The 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers are considered the pioneers of NFL steroid usage, which could explain why so many players from those squads have experienced mental and/or physical problems before dying young.

If you believe that a guy sitting in the stands wearing Patriots regalia and filming signals that anyone could "intercept" by carefully watching a TV broadcast committed a sin against football remotely equivalent to the actions of the Saints, Broncos, 49ers and Steelers then there is nothing I or anyone else will be able to say to help you think more clearly.

Marv Levy: Champion Without a Ring

It is a paradoxical reality of the sports universe that if one never makes it to the big game one can still be perceived as a winner but if one makes it to the big game repeatedly without winning it then one is generally perceived as a loser. Coach Marv Levy led the Buffalo Bills to an unprecedented four straight Super Bowls (1991-94) and if the Bills had won just one of those games then history would view Levy much more kindly--but the Bills lost all four, including three blowouts plus one game decided on a last second field goal missed by Buffalo kicker Scott Norwood, and thus it is unlikely that Levy will ever get the full credit that he is due.

Rick Telander, a narrative non-fiction master, realized that there is much more to Levy than those four Super Bowl losses; in an October 17, 1994 Sports Illustrated article titled No Joke, Telander explained why Levy is not only a great coach but also a well-rounded human being. Levy possesses the intelligence and determination to succeed in just about any field but the Harvard history major fell in love with football, a decision that did not meet with the immediate approval of his father. When he told Sam Levy what he planned to do, the elder Levy considered the matter in silence before saying simply, "Be a good one."

The stereotypical football coach breathes fire and instills fear but Marv Levy rejected that approach: "I hear sometimes that to be a good coach you have to be mean. I disagree, because the essential quality of a coach is to be a good teacher. Just because my personality is different from, say, Mike Ditka's doesn't mean a thing. What I always say is, 'Plan your work and work your plan.' If you have everything prepared, the rest takes care of itself.'"

After that fourth Super Bowl loss, Levy offered a defiant response when asked if the Bills could make a fifth straight trip to the Super Bowl: "Is our goal to win? No! Our goal is to develop our team, to earn what we get, to learn, to develop unselfish attitudes. If we achieve that, the result is that we'll win."

Those words may sound trite but coaches who have won multiple championships--including Phil Jackson and John Wooden--said very similar things: competing in sports at the highest level is about the process, about doing your work the right way and about having the proper mindset: those things do not guarantee championships but they guarantee that you can look in the mirror and know that you, in the words of Rudyard Kipling, filled "the unforgiving minute/With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run."

The Cleveland Browns Must Use Bill Walsh's Three Year Plan

In an October 5, 1998 Sporting News article, Bill Walsh insisted that it should only take three years to build a championship caliber team--provided that ownership, management and the coaching staff are all on the same page. The Pittsburgh Steelers have been one of the NFL's model franchises since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger and it is not a coincidence that they have been rock solid in all three areas identified by Walsh; they have been owned by the Rooney family since 1933, the team's management has done a great job of finding (and keeping) talented players and the franchise has a proven track record of hiring the right coach: since 1970, the Steelers have employed just three head coaches--Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin--while winning six Super Bowls in eight Super Bowl appearances. Each of those three coaches led the Steelers to at least two Super Bowls and at least one Super Bowl title.

Since the Cleveland Browns returned to the NFL in 1999, they have been the opposite of a model franchise; their owners have thrown around money but not spent those funds wisely, management has consistently failed to bring in quality players despite having numerous high draft picks and the team's six head coaches are distinguished only by the fact that none of them had notable head coaching success before, during or after taking the helm in Cleveland. Based on Walsh's formula, the Browns should have been able to build a contender by the early 2000s and even rebuild a second contender a few years later if some of the players from the first contender declined due to age. Instead, the inept Browns have posted just two winning records and made just one playoff appearance since 1999; they won five games or less in nine of the last 13 seasons. In year 14, the Browns are currently 5-8 but the current three game winning streak has raised some hope that perhaps the franchise is finally, belatedly heading in the right direction (though it must be noted that two of the wins were against sorry Oakland and Kansas City squads while the third win came against a Pittsburgh team starting a third string quarterback).

New Cleveland Browns majority owner Jimmy Haslam used to be a Pittsburgh Steelers minority owner, so he is very familiar with the inner workings of that organization. He must not allow himself to be swayed by a small winning streak; he must look at a larger body of evidence in order to decide whether or not General Manager Tom Heckert can build a championship roster and then Heckert (or the new General Manager) must decide if Pat Shurmur is a championship caliber head coach. Even with the three game winning streak, Shurmur's career record with the Browns is just 9-20--and Shurmur's game plans/game management skills do not indicate that he is an elite head coach. Once the Browns have the right General Manager and head coach in place, they must determine if 29 year old rookie Brandon Weeden can lead a team to a Super Bowl; if it takes three years for the new Browns brain trust to put together a championship caliber roster then Weeden will already be 32 and might be within five seasons of retiring. If it is not reasonable to expect Weeden to develop into an excellent quarterback then the Browns need to draft or sign such a quarterback during the offseason. I think that the Browns should keep Heckert and Weeden but replace Shurmur with a top shelf coach--either a proven NFL winner or else a young, promising assistant (much like Bill Belichick and Mike Tomlin were before they became Super Bowl-winning head coaches).

If Haslam makes wise choices then the Cleveland Browns should be a contender--not just a playoff team but a legitimate Super Bowl contender--in three years; if he does not put the right General Manager and head coach in place (and if those two guys do not groom Weeden or someone else into an excellent quarterback) then the Browns will continue to frustrate their loyal fans by missing the playoffs. 

Mutiny on the Bounty: NFL Must Severely Punish Renegade Saints

Supposedly, "real" NHL fans don't want fighting taken out of their game and "real" NFL fans don't care about bounties paid out for hits that could maim a player or even end his career. If that is what it means to be a "real" fan then I am proud not to be a "real" fan because I believe that even in an inherently violent sport there still should be not just a written code of conduct--which the New Orleans Saints clearly and admittedly violated in several ways from 2009-2011--but also an unwritten code. Current and former players often speak of a "brotherhood" or "fraternity" that crosses team lines but the idea of an institutional mindset involving large cash payments expressly for "cart off" and "knockout" hits makes a mockery of such alleged unity.

This bounty scandal is inevitably being compared to the so-called Spygate situation but I still don't understand how something can be called "spying" when it involved someone in team regalia not even attempting to disguise the fact that he was gathering publicly available information. As King Kaufman put it, "Where a team has an expectation of privacy, it should get privacy. A guy standing on the sideline and flashing semaphores to the middle linebacker can't expect privacy." The Spygate situation did not affect the outcome of games, unlike three scandals that I mentioned in a September 15, 2007 BEST article: (1) the widespread use of steroids/PEDs by the 1970s Steelers teams that won four Super Bowls, (2) the use of steroids/PEDs by more recent Pro Bowl players like Shawne Merriman and (3) the salary cap circumvention that enabled the Denver Broncos to build and maintain a roster that won back to back championships.

The Saints' bounty program run by then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams with the knowledge (and thus tacit approval) of Coach Sean Payton allegedly included between 22 and 27 players, resulted in injuries sustained by two star quarterbacks (Brett Favre and Kurt Warner) during playoff games won by the Saints in their 2009 championship run and is an egregious violation of both written and unwritten rules. The written rules involve the prohibition against specifically and deliberately targeting individual players with the intent of committing injuries and also involve circumvention of the salary cap through the payment of bonuses; the unwritten rules, as indicated above, involve the gross (in every sense of the word) and flagrant disregard for the brotherhood that supposedly unites all NFL players.

Another very real and significant issue here is that the NFL has to swiftly and severely punish everyone involved in the bounty program not only to react to what has happened and prevent it from ever happening again but also to make it clear that from an institutional standpoint the NFL firmly comes down on the side of player safety. Hall of Fame quarterback and current ESPN analyst Steve Young noted that if he had been injured playing against the Saints during the time period in question he would have to seriously consider filing a lawsuit because of the organized and institutional nature of the Saints' program to deliberately and seriously injure opposing players. The NFL is already under fire for its current and historical policies regarding head injuries and post-career health care, so the Saints' bounty program is a legal, ethical and public relations nightmare for the league (not to mention possible implications regarding legal wagering on games whose outcomes were altered by "cart off" and "knockout" hits). If it is true that Williams ran similar bounty programs with other teams and/or that such programs are also in place on other squads that he was not involved with then that only makes the NFL's problem even worse.

Today on ESPN, former NFL defensive back and head coach Herm Edwards summed it up best: "Players and coaches alike all know this: it's a privilege and not a right to be a part of the National Football League. The intent to maim or take a player out or maybe end his career is not professional football. It shouldn't be coached that way and shouldn't be taught that way and shouldn't be played that way."

The idea of deliberately targeting a specific opposing player for a "cart off" or "knockout" injury is so repugnant that I would not be opposed to the NFL permanently banning Gregg Williams (and possibly others, depending on the extent of their involvement) from coaching in the league. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has repeatedly said that he holds owners, executive and coaches to an even higher standard than players, so if that is the case then in addition to issuing long suspensions to the participating players Goodell must severely punish Williams and the other coaches or executives directly involved in the bounty program. This is not a matter of "boys will be boys" or football being an inherently violent sport; there is nothing wrong with delivering hard, clean hits or with trying to use legal physicality to break the will of your opponent but deliberately targeting opposing players for serious and possibly career-ending injuries simply cannot be tolerated.

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Postscript:

The hit that then-Indianapolis Coach Tony Dungy believes led to the neck problems that Peyton Manning is still dealing with was delivered by a Gregg Williams-coached Washington defense. Sports Illustrated's Peter King suggests that this topic should come up when Williams meets with NFL brass to discuss the extent of Williams' bounty programs.

"If I Have to Integrate Heaven, I Don't Want to Go"

I have authored several pieces that lament the sorry state of the writing business today (my most recent such offering can be found here). Some readers have requested that--in addition to providing on-point critiques of poor writing/editing--I also give examples of excellent writing/editing. The sad truth is that such examples are becoming increasingly hard to find but I agree that such praiseworthy efforts deserve recognition.

The October 12, 2009 issue of Sports Illustrated features a powerful, moving and well researched Alexander Wolff article titled The NFL's Jackie Robinson. Wolff tells the story of Kenny Washington, a college teammate of Jackie Robinson who integrated--or, to be precise, re-integrated--the NFL, a league that employed black athletes initially before a shameful 12 year period (1934-46) during which an unwritten--but strictly followed--rule turned the league lily white. Wolff's companion piece at SI.com--Three pioneers deserve to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame--is also a must-read.

Washington only played briefly in the NFL, arriving on the scene past his prime with battle-scarred knees (he had starred for several seasons in the Pacific Coast Professional Football League). Washington's teammate Bob Waterfield--a Hall of Fame quarterback who led the Rams to two NFL titles--eulogized Washington in 1971 by declaring, "If he had come into the NFL directly from UCLA, he would have been, in my opinion, the best the NFL had ever seen."

Washington's UCLA teammate Woody Strode also joined the Rams in 1946. Wolff's article cites a poignant quote from an unpublished interview that Strode did with Sports Illustrated shortly before Strode's death in 1994: "Integrating the NFL was the low point of my life. There was nothing nice about it. History doesn't know who we are. Kenny was one of the greatest backs in the history of the game and kids today have no idea who he is. If I have to integrate heaven, I don't want to go."