Ron Martirano - Football: Great Records, Weird Happenings, Odd Facts, Amazing Moments & Other Cool Stuff

Allen, George,

American Football League (AFL),

Anderson, Gary,

Army-Navy Game,

Arnold, Tom,

Atkins, Doug,

Baltimore Colts,

Baltimore Ravens,

Barber, Mike,

Bawel, Ray,

Bettis, Jerome,

Boston College Eagles,

Buffalo Bills,

Burress, Plaxico,

Burt, Jim,

Bush, George W.,

Butkus, Dick,

Calgary Stampeders,

Canadian Football League (CFL),

Carpets,

Carter, Cris,

Chandler, Don,

Chicago Bears,

Cleveland, Grover,

Csonka, Larry,

Dallas Cowboys,

Dallas Texans,

Davis, Al,

Davis, Jeff,

Detroit Lions,

Dierdorf, Dan,

Ditka, Mike,

Dobler, Conrad,

Edwards, Herm,

Edwards, Turk,

Ewbank, Weeb,

Fifth Down Game,

Flutie, Doug,

Ford, Gerald,

Frerotte, Gus,

George, Phyllis,

Green Bay Packers,

Grey Cup,

Halas, George,

Hamilton Tiger-Cats,

Horn, Joe,

Hufzar, John,

Humphrey, David,

Hunt, Lamar,

Johnson, Chad,

Johnson, Dwayne The Rock,

Johnson, Jimmy,

Lett, Leon,

Levy, Marv,

Lott, Ronnie,

Luckett, Phil,

Lynch, John,

Manning, Eli,

Manning, Peyton,

Marino, Dan,

Marshall, George,

Marshall, Jim,

Maxwell, Robert Tiny,

McCaffrey, Ed,

McMahon, Jim,

McNabb, Donovan,

McNally, Johnny Blood,

Miami Dolphins,

Minnesota Vikings,

Montana, Joe,

Nagurski, Bronko,

Namath, Joe,

New England Patriots,

New Orleans Saints,

New York Giants,

New York Jets,

Nixon, Richard,

OConnor, Sandra Day,

Oakland Raiders,

Obama, Barack,

Ocho Cinco, (see Johnson, Chad)

Olivo, Frank,

Owens, Terrell,

Philadelphia Eagles,

Pittsburgh Steelers,

Porter, Joey,

Portis, Clinton,

Powlus, Ron,

Ravenstahl, Luke,

Rice, Jerry,

Riegels, Roy Wrong Way, 90

Riggins, John,

Rockne, Knute,

Roosevelt, Teddy,

Rossovich, Tim,

Rotkiewicz, Stan,

Rozelle, Pete,

San Francisco 49ers,

Santa Claus,

Sapp, Warren,

Schachter, Norm,

Schembechler, Bo,

Shula, Don,

Singletary, Mike,

St. Louis Cardinals,

Steagles,

Strahan, Michael,

Super Bowl (origin),

Taylor, Lawrence,

Tennessee Titans,

Testaverde, Vinny,

Theismann, Joe,

Tyree, David,

University of Colorado Buffalos,

University of Miami Hurricanes,

University of Michigan Wolverines,

University of Missouri Tigers,

University of Texas Longhorns,

USFL,

Washington Redskins,

Winnipeg Blue Bombers,

Other Books in This Series

To my stepfather Ron, my uncle Frank, and every Sunday dinner cooked by my grandmother that was interrupted by the Giants game

Text and art copyright 2010 by Imagine Publishing, Inc.
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ISBN: 978-1-62354-054-8
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Like the moment after a running back commits himself to a potential hole in the defensive line, football brings together opposing forces to create unforeseeable results. It is a strategic game orchestrated with tough guys in helmets by tougher guys holding clipboards, and it is as cerebral as it is physical. Week after week, tactics and violence come together to produce the incredible, and every now and then, they hit hard enough to force out a laugh as well. There should be nothing funny about a quarterback whose leg is broken on an endless slow-motion loop replayed for the country to squirm through over and overuntil years later when the linebacker who broke it suggests that he should be thanked by the QB for all the mileage he got out of the story.

Like all sports, it is the stories left behind that give context to the stats in the record books. So many of the games stories exist only as punch lines (the quarterback who gave himself a concussion celebrating a touchdown, the wide receiver who shot himself in the leg), that part of the fun in writing this book was connecting those one-liners back to the games. Yes, Eagles fans once booed Santa Claus, and yes, a defensive end once recovered a fumble and ran the wrong way. Sadly, not all game-time interactions and off-the-field hijinks are verifiable. Somewhere out there are stories I couldnt nail down, like the pass off the fingertips of its intended receiver or a Green Bay kicker who dared defy Vince Lombardi by faking a field goal to set up a touchdown and was then afraid to come off the field and face the iconic coach. Fortunately, so much of the games history has been detailed and catalogued that many of the myths, legends, and tall tales I grew up with (as well as those I saw unfold as a fan) could be matched to the plays that made them possible. Hopefully, the result returns a small, fun history of the game back to the Sunday afternoons (or Monday nights) when they were first experienced.

While the truth behind my mystery kicker unfortunately remained out of reach (if the story actually happened, it was most likely Don Chandler), the stories in the pages that follow not only capture the elements of the game but also lift those elements beyond the Xs, Os, and yellow Telestrator lines on your television set. Youll find no discourse of strategy or postgame analysis: Only moments that have lived on, including some of those whose principles would just assume they were forgotten. Victory and defeat are a given, but politics, history, business, oddballs, thugs, and stupidity all find their way inside the huddlenot to mention an endless supply of football puns. So, in the tradition of fall and winter Sunday family gatherings in which mealtime conversations were punctuated (and occasionally hijacked) by the play-by-play calls of a nearby television set accidentally left on, I invite you to take a seat and thumb through an album of seasons past.

Its the sport of kings, better than diamond rings football. LL Cool J

Ladies may love Cool James, and while he might just have easily rapped about football as the sport of presidents, the unfortunate follow-up rhyme would have been much less flashy (played by each states residents?).

That said, many of those who have taken Americas highest office have embraced the sport and its place in our culture above and beyond the nuclear football carried by their nearest military aide. Commissioner Pete Rozelles decision to resume the football schedule within a week of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (whose games of touch football on the White House lawn were a regular feature in Camelot) is for some, the gridiron equivalent of FDRs letter requesting that baseball be played during World War IIelevating the sport to a form of national escape and signifier of normalcy during difficult times.

While no one expects the President to throw out the first pass of the season, as football has taken its place atop the American sports culture, it comes as no surprise that many of the men of the people are fans of the game.