Sports Then and Now

John Henry Johnson is one of three Hall of Fame running backs to pass away so far in 2011.

The death on Friday of John Henry Johnson marks the third Hall of Fame running back from the 1950s to pass away so far in 2011. In addition to Johnson, Ollie Matson died on February 19th and Joe Perry passed away on April 25th.

As some of the first African American superstars in the NFL, these three future Hall of Famers were among a group of runners that brought excitement and versatility to the NFL in the 1950s.

Here is a brief look at the careers of these three all-time greats:

Ollie Matson – A decade before Bob Hayes went from Olympic sprinter to NFL superstar, Ollie Matson won silver and bronze medals as a sprinter at the 1952 Olympics and then earned All-Pro honors and co-Rookie of the Year honors as an NFL rookie.

A multiple threat as a running back, receiver and returner, Matson twice led the NFL in all-purpose yards and was a first team All-Pro during each of his first five seasons with the Chicago Cardinals.

Following the 1958 season, he was the centerpiece of one of the first blockbuster trades in NFL history as the Los Angeles Rams traded nine players to acquire Matson. He rushed for 863 yards and had 1,421 yards from scrimmage during his first season in Los Angeles, but the Rams won only 11 games during his four seasons in Los Angeles. Read the rest of this entry →

Was Ray Lewis talking about players or fans when he said that the crime rate would rise if there is no NFL this fall?

“Watch how much evil — which we call it crime — watch how much crime picks up if you take away our game.” – Ray Lewis

When you first heard these words what image came to mind?  Ray Lewis, 16 year NFL Veteran, 12 time Pro-Bowler, 2 time Defensive player of the year, Super Bowl XXXV MVP,  future Hall of Famer and unarguably spiritual and emotional leader of the Baltimore Ravens.  Or Ray Lewis, accused murderer in an orange jumpsuit standing in an Atlanta, Georgia courtroom.  If your view of Mr. Lewis is that of the latter, that’s okay.  It’s your opinion and the above statement is nothing more than that.  An opinion.

What if it were more than that?

After all this is an opinion of a guy who has been in the league for 16 years, (providing the NFL plays another season in our existence).  A guy who has experienced training camps, OTA’s, playoffs, a Super Bowl, contract negotiations, player mentoring, community projects & philanthropy, new business development and a double homicide trial.  This is nothing more than an opinion from a guy who has played in 210 regular season games, 15 playoffs games and doesn’t get his NFL news from ESPN SportsCenter highlights or NFL RedZone.  How could he have an opinion that is so far fetched from what fans or NFL “experts” would have?  Let’s find out how out of touch Ray is, are you ready?

NFL Players arrested since beginning of Lockout- 17
NFL Players arrested during same time in 2010- 13

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Clarke Hinkle played in an era before players wore facemasks and other protective padding.

If he were still alive today, you can bet that former NFL running back and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Clarke Hinkle would have some pretty terse things to say to both the players and owners in the current labor mess. Though Hinkle, who would have celebrated his 99th birthday on April 10th, passed away in 1988, words he wrote to me several years prior to his death are a great reminder of how different the NFL of today is from when he helped make the game popular in the 1930s.

As a teenager in the early 1980s, I sent letters to many former professional athletes expressing how much I thought of what they had done and asking for an autograph. Because this was in the days before autographs became such a big and lucrative business, I actually received many cards, pictures and letters back from former greats ranging from Otto Graham, Doak Walker and Bart Starr to Johnny Bench, Sparky Anderson and Happy Chandler.

In each letter I typically included a couple paragraphs talking about their career or something else that I thought was interesting.

In writing to Clarke Hinkle, I mentioned how I thought it was interesting that he had once been the NFL’s all-time rushing leader with 3,850 career yards. In fact, he held that honor from the time he retired in 1941 until being passed by Steve Van Buren in 1949. At the time I was writing to him, the record was held by Jim Brown with 12,312 yards and Walter Payton and Franco Harris were in competition to eclipse that total.

Usually what I received back from the athletes was a signed picture and occasionally a brief note or some other personal memorabilia (like a post card).

To my surprise, from Hinkle in addition to an autographed card I received a two page hand written letter in which he spent most of the time talking about how easy pro football players of the current era have it compared to players from his day. He said that the rushing records would be much less if those players had to play both ways (Hinkle played tailback and linebacker) and deal with players like Bronko Nagurski. Read the rest of this entry →

I don’t get it. How could there not be a NFL season this year? Last time there was a strike the league used replacement players and a handful of scabs. Why can’t they do that again?

There is something appealing about the use of replacement players every so many years. For once, no one knows how to handicap any of the teams. The whole standings are pretty much up for grabs. Any team can beat any other team. Worst to first is a definite possibility.

Oh, wait! Any team can beat any other team when the regular players play. Worst to first is a definite possibility then, and has happened frequently in recent years. But even more so, I suppose, with a whole roster of no-names.

On the other hand, none of the players would be under contract so what’s to stop them from organizing their own new league? Wouldn’t that be interesting? The NFL with its replacements would suddenly be the minors, while the new PFL (Players Football League) would be the real thing.

Or what’s to stop the UFL or CFL from signing a bunch of the NFL’s best and suddenly become the gold standard, again relegating the NFL to minor league status.

But here’s my proposal. Let every city field a team in a new league to be formed. Call it the Cities Football League or the Peoples Football League. Teams would be owned by the cities they represent in a stock arrangement like Green Bay, so no franchise would ever be bought out and moved, and all the profits would go back into team and league operations, including player salaries. Read the rest of this entry →

The announcement Thursday that the NFL and its Players Association have agreed to mediation is a sign of hope, but unless there is a major breakthrough in the next two weeks, it still looks like the NFL is headed for its first major labor disruption in 24 years. Given that residents across the United States are still feeling the pinch from the most pronounced economic recession since the Great Depression, don’t expect either group to receive much sympathy as they struggle to split more than $9 billion in annual revenue.

With the revenue and popularity of the NFL at an all-time high, it seems like a strange time for a labor dispute, but both sides seem more interested in annihilating the other side than reaching a compromise that would benefit all parties.

The owners, who opted out of the previous collective bargaining agreement two years early, are focused on receiving additional money off the top to cover expenses that they say are critical to growing the league and generating new revenue. Currently, the first billion dollars of revenue goes directly to the owners with the players then receiving roughly 60 percent of all remaining revenue.

In 2010 the result of this split was that the owners received $4.75 billion with the players earning $4.65 billion. All in all seems like a pretty good return for both sides. However, since the owners have never been forthcoming about their total expenses, it is difficult to tell if the owners are making a great profit or barely breaking even.

The owners have proposed taking an additional billion dollars off the top before any revenue splitting occurs. Conversely, the players are proposing that all revenue be split 50-50.

There is no question that escalating costs for stadiums, promotions and other elements of operating the business have increased over the last decade. Though revenues have continued to increase during the economic recession, the cost to generate these revenues has also increased.

In most businesses, he who takes the greatest risk typically receives the greatest rewards. However, professional football is somewhat different than the norm because while the owners are the ones taking the financial risks, it is the players who are taking the physical risks every Sunday.

With an average career length of barely four years and the very real risk of suffering injuries that will have an impact for years to follow, NFL players are very much focused on keeping as much revenue as possible.

Unlike the players in baseball, basketball and hockey, NFL players do not have guaranteed contracts, so their contracts often include large up-front signing bonuses. The owners would like to make it easier to recoup this bonus money when players break the law or violate the personal conduct policy, but the players are hesitant because up-front dollars are the only guaranteed money a player receives. Read the rest of this entry →

"Prime Time" should be an easy pick for the Hall of Fame voters.

Predicting which team will win the Super Bowl on Sunday is an iffy proposition, but one sure bet this weekend is that the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee will do something surprising when making their picks for the 2011 Hall of Fame Class.

There are many wonderful things about the NFL, but the selection process for the Pro Football Hall of Fame is not one of them.

Over the last two years I have written several articles outlining how I think the voters have missed the boat in many of their choices, or non-choices, and now have created a back-log of qualified candidates who are not in the Hall of Fame and probably will not gain entry for years to come, if ever.

You can read my list from last summer of the 25 players I think are most deserving of Hall of Fame selection. This list does not include first-year eligible players, but seven of the 17 Hall of Fame finalists for this year are included on my top 25.

When the committee meets tomorrow, if they do nothing else I hope they select at least six members to the 2011 Hall of Fame class and I’m okay if they make it seven.

Last year marked the first time since 2001 that the Hall of Fame voters selected the maximum number of seven inductees. Part of the reason for the glut of deserving players is that the voters selected only four players in both 2004 and 2005. Considering that 13 players and coaches who have entered the Hall of Fame in subsequent years were eligible during those years, it doesn’t make any sense to me why those classes were so small. Read the rest of this entry →