Sports Then and Now

Earl Morrall spent 21 seasons in the NFL and helped lead the Miami Dolphins to a perfect record in 1972.

One inevitable component of the end of the year is reflecting on those who we lost during the previous year. As always, we said goodbye to many sports greats during 2014.

Below are brief remembrances of just a few of those who passed away in 2014. Click here to check out a more comprehensive list.

Jean Beliveau – Hockey Hall of Famer – 83 years old
A member of the Montreal Canadiens for 20 years and a member of the NHL Hall of Fame, Jean Beliveau helped lead his team to 10 Stanley Cup Championships and is considered by many as one of the 10 greatest players in NHL history.

Rob Bironas – NFL Kicker – 36 years old
After bouncing around the Arena Football League and several NFL tryouts, Rob Bironas finally got his shot with the Tennessee Titans in 2005 and was their kicker for nine seasons before being released prior to the 2014 season. He developed into a Pro Bowl kicker and scored 1,032 points while converting 85.7% of his field goal attempts.

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter – Professional Boxer – 76 years old
Best known by many for the feature film “The Hurricane” in which Denzel Washington chronicled his life as a professional boxer and 20 years in prison, Rubin Carter had a career record of 27-12-1 as a middleweight and lost to Joey Giardello in his only championship bought. He was twice convicted of a triple murder, but the conviction was eventually overturned and Carter became a champion for those wrongly accused of crimes. Read the rest of this entry →

Abebe Bikila was known for running marathons barefoot, including his victory in the 1960 Olympics.

Of all the sports and exercises in the history of the world, the most fundamental and common is undoubtedly running. The prizes in the very first footraces were the largest. In the first footraces ever it was a race to elude predators. It is easy to visualize early man going into a sprint to reach the safety of a cave or fire while pursued by a sabre tooth tiger or equally ferocious animal. While hard to call it a sport with those stakes, it is none the less undoubtedly the origin of the sport of running.

As the centuries went past the first Marathon was thought to be run around 500 BC and the survival skill of running evolved into a sport. Since those earliest days the question of what is the best footgear to run in has been asked, answered, and refined hundreds of times. The sandals laced up around the ankles protected the feet from rough terrain but the earliest Olympiads foreswore those often times for bare feet to save those few ounces in weight. That is not dissimilar to the last 100 years where shedding of weight while preserving protection and support has become a billion dollar industry highlighted by the likes of Nike, Adidas, and New Balance among many others.

The technology and science has gone from the basics of protecting the soles of feet and proving traction, to increasing cushioning and comfort, to literally having loaded springs that artificially increase stride and speed.  Throughout all this advancement in technology, there were still famous runners like Abebe Bikila that won a gold medal in the 1960 Olympic Games while running the marathon barefooted. Read the rest of this entry →

U.S. Gold Medalists & members of the USWNT, Alex Morgan and Sydney LeRoux paid HOMAGE to their fellow Olympians for Halloween.

Morgan & LeRoux Are NOT Impressed

Alex Morgan did her best McKayla Morgan “Not Impressed” smirk. Teammate Sydney Leroux also took her shot at the famous U.S. gymnast frown.

Makes you miss the Summer Olympics doesn’t it?

H/T Goes To Die Hard Sport.

Jim McKay kept the world abreast on the tragic events of the 1972 Munich Olympics.

It was 40 years ago, September 5, 1972, when sports and politics merged in a tragic manner with the killing of 11 Israeli hostages during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany.

One of the things that made this tragedy so engaging was that it was broadcast live across the country and world through the reporting of ABC News and Sports. While today having cameras covering live-action events is standard practice, this was ground breaking real-time access in 1972 and gave viewers a far different perspective of what was happening than ever before.

Anchoring the coverage for ABC was renowned sports broadcaster Jim McKay. In addition, Chris Schenkel in the studio and  Howard Cosell and Peter Jennings posted on the grounds added unique perspective and insight.

Now 40 years later re-watching the coverage it looks a little primitive and dated compared to modern high-definition video, but for the times it was amazing that they were able to get such close-up footage of the terrorists, police and negotiators.

While there is little doubt that the negotiations and rescue mission associated with the tragedy were badly managed and plagued by confusion and ineptitude by the Germany police, the broadcast by ABC was handled with amazing professionalism and grace.

The final announcement by Jim McKay that they were “all gone” was done with amazing humility, sadness and grace and stand as one of the most memorable live broadcasts in television history.

It is quite sad that 40 years later the Olympic leaders refused to recognize this tragic event with a moment of silence. The tragic occurrences of Munich transcend politics and political views and should be remembered as a sad moment where innocent athletes had their dreams and lives snatched away. Acknowledging and remembering these athletes is not a political statement, but a statement about the importance of human life and the mission of the Olympics to bring together people from different nations around a common purpose.

In remembrance of the 40th anniversary, here are some clips from the amazing ABC coverage as well as documentaries that look back at the tragic events.

Read the rest of this entry →

The USA women's archery team will be heading to London for the 2012 Olympics after surviving the recent qualifier.

The USA Archery Team will aiming to defy the betting odds and win a medal at London 2012, after the women’s team successfully qualified by beating Mexico at the recent Archery World Cup competition at the Golden Spikes Event Centre in Ogden.

It was a close call as to who would eventually be on the plane to London, as both teams had regulation scores of 213, and then in the shoot-off, they each posted identical scores of 127.

Up stepped Jennifer Nichols, whose arrow went closest to the dead-center of the bull’s-eye to knock the Mexicans out and ensure that the USA women’s team would return to the Olympic Games, having missed out in Beijing.

For Nichols herself, it will be a third visit to the Games, and she will be joined by the exciting 19-year-old Miranda Leek who is already ranked number one in the USA and 9th in the world. Read the rest of this entry →