Sports Then and Now

Jack Lengyel, who served as the head coach at Marshall University from 1971-1974, was played in the film We Are Marshall by Matthew McConaughey.

As we prepare for the much anticipated start of the 2009 college football season, Sports Then and Now will spend this week getting ready for the college football season with previews of some of the top teams and conferences in the country as well as special features on greats from the past.

We kickoff coverage with an interview with a former college football coach whose tenure as head coach at Marshall University was chronicled in the 2006 movie We Are Marshall.  The movie starred Matthew McConaughey and brought renewed attention to a small town that dealt with a big tragedy in 1970.

Though Jack Lengyel is now most associated with his tenure as the coach who kept alive the football program at Marshall following the death of 75 players, coaches, staff and boosters in a plane crash on November 14, 1970, his career in college athletics actually spanned six decades.

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Joe and Natalie Niekro

It’s funny how life sometimes brings you down a path you didn’t plan to walk down. You welcome its existence and take the first step with a slight sense of trepidation.

Dear Tom Brady and the New England Patriots,

I am cheating on you with the Cleveland Browns. Our relationship started in the mid 80’s. I fell in love with Bernie Kosar, Clay Matthews, Frank Minnifield, Hanford Dixon, Webster Slaughter, and Earnest Byner. I loved their logo less helmets, their pets in the Dawg Pound, and their heartbreak.

They lost to John Elway in the1986 AFC Championship because of “The Drive”. “The Fumble” by Earnest Byner in the 1987 AFC Championship ripped all Browns fans’ hearts out and stomped them to death. However, I was still there for them and lent them my shoulder to cry on.
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Kim Clijsters

(10) Kim Clijsters

The Belgian blonde is making a comeback after a brief stint at stay-at-home motherhood.  Impatience is often the calling card for some young women when the drive to “settle down, get married and raise a family” supplants reason.

Let’s face it – women generally have fewer years than men to make their mark in athletics.  They peak younger and age faster than their male counterparts, on average.    This explains why on May 6, 2007, at age 23, after several bouts with injuries, Clijsters announced her official retirement from tennis.

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Brandon Marshall is a spoiled brat.

The Denver Broncos have suspended Pro Bowl Wide Receiver, Brandon Marshall for behavior detrimental to the team. SHOCKER!!!

Who didn’t see this coming a mile away? I knew as soon as your teammate and fellow crybaby, Jay Cutler, got traded you were going to throw a temper tantrum like a spoiled little child who can’t have ice cream. You need to grow up!

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This is the “I can’t believe it is almost September” edition. While time seems to fly, at least the fact that it is almost September means that football season is starting. So, this week I’m looking primarily at some subjects related to football and the start of the new season.

College Season Getting Ready To Start
There is a smattering of small college football games starting this weekend, but most schools will play their first game on Labor Day Weekend. Here is a great schedule that is on the ESPN site that includes all schools, from I-A through Division III. (http://espn.go.com/college-football/schedule).

There has been a lot written down here in Florida about the Labor Day evening game between Miami and Florida State and the fact that it is not yet a sellout and probably will not be.

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