Sports Then and Now

After being eligible for nine years, Richard Dent finally was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

For the last two years I have been a very vocal critic of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee. I have articulated in numerous articles that I think for much of the last decade they have been inconsistent in their selections often picking small classes when there were plenty of deserving candidates and then when they do select players for the Hall of Fame often choosing borderline candidates when more deserving people were waiting in the wings.

We will see in the coming years if it is a seed change or a one-time blind squirrel kind of thing, but I must give the voters credit for doing a tremendous job in selecting the Hall of Fame class of 2011.

In an article I wrote last night, I outlined the six people I thought deserved to be inducted in 2011. Shockingly, all six were inducted with veteran’s committee choice Les Richter making the seventh member of the class.

With the exception of Deion Sanders and Shannon Sharpe, the class of 2011 doesn’t include any players on the short list for best ever at their position, but all seven were solid NFL veterans who are deserving selections for the Hall of Fame.

While there are still a number of tremendous candidates who have been waiting for far too long like Jerry Kramer, Ray Guy, Roger Craig, Chuck Howley and Cliff Branch, at least the class of 2011 doesn’t include some of the head scratching choices of recent years. Read the rest of this entry →

Black and gold versus green and gold. Legacies like the “Steel Curtain” and the “Frozen Tundra.” Past history like The “Immaculate Reception” and the Ice Bowl.

Great moments like the grace of Lynn Swann’s acrobatic catch in Super Bowl X against Dallas and the one-yard plunge by Bart Starr off a key block by guard Jerry Kramer and center Ken Bowman to beat the Cowboys in the famous Ice Bowl. Pittsburgh versus Green Bay. Super Bowl XLV.

Sunday’s Super Bowl matches two of the National Football League’s storied franchises. A past filled with premier players, many who are today’s hall of famers. Steeler icons such as Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Rocky Bleier, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, and Mike Webster on offense.

One of the best ever catches in Super Bowl history came from Lynn Swann against the Cowboys in Super Bowl X as shown by this diving catch.

“Mean Joe” Greene and L.C. Greenwood combined with the late Dwight White and the late Ernie Holmes in the trenches to form the vaunted “Steel Curtain” defense. Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, Mel Blount, and Donnie Shell teamed with that foursome to create one of the best defenses ever. Super Bowl winning coaches like Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher, both who coached Rod Woodson, a hall of fame defensive back and kick returner who played most of his career for Pittsburgh.

The prestigious heritage for the Packers on offense lies in the names of Starr, Jim Taylor, Forrest Gregg, Fuzzy Thurston, Jerry Kramer, Jim Ringo, Don Hutson, James Lofton, and more recently Brett Favre. Green Bay’s defensive history lies behind the likes of Ray Nitschke, Willie Davis, Ted Hendricks, Willie Wood, and the late Reggie White, who was known as the “Minister of Defense.” White shares the Super Bowl record for most sacks in a game with three which he recorded in the Packers’ 35-21 win over New England in Super Bowl XXXI, Green Bay’s first Super Bowl win in 29 years. Coaches like Earl Louis “Curly” Lambeau, Vince Lombardi, and Mike Holmgren.

While the permanent status of today’s Steelers and Packers are still to be determined, each team boasts some of the game’s top players.

Ever since the Ice Bowl game in December of 1967, Lambeau Field has been called the Frozen Tundra.

Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is already 2-0 in Super Bowls and a win Sunday would make him 3-0 before he turns age 30. The Steelers’ all-time leading receiver, Hines Ward is a crafty veteran and was the most valuable player of Super Bowl XL.

Second-year wide receiver Mike Wallace is perhaps the fastest player in the league and lead Pittsburgh in receiving with 60 catches for 1,257 yards and 10 touchdowns, giving him a 21 yards per catch average. Third-year running back Rashard Mendenhall scored a team-high 13 touchdowns and lead the team in rushing with 1,273 yards on 324 carrries.

Although he has a ways to go to equal Webster, rookie center Maurkice Pouncey had an excellent first season. However his status as to whether or not he will play Sunday is unclear as he suffered an ankle injury in the loss to the Jets in the AFC Championship game on Jan. 23. Second-year center Doug Legursky is Pouncey’s backup.

Although he was considered to be on the downside of his career after 12 inconsistent seasons in Dallas, offensive tackle Flozell Adams has helped solidify the Steelers’ line. Tight end Heath Miller has emerged as a quality receiver and blocker to help give Pittsburgh options on offense. Miller caught 42 passes for 512 yards this season and scored a pair of touchdowns. 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 →

All eyes will be on Ben Roethlisberger during Super Bowl XLV.

The quarterback is the heartbeat of any team. All possessions go through him, and he makes the decisions on the field, albeit with the advice of his coaches. Win the Super Bowl, and the QB is a good bet to be named MVP (Most Valuable Player). Lose, and the same guy often takes a large shame of the blame.

Benjamin Todd ‘Ben’ Roethlisberger, nicknamed Big Ben, is the man tasked with leading the underdog Pittsburgh Steelers to victory against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. At 6 foot 5 and 241 pounds, Roethlisberger is certainly not small. He will however need to be at his best in what the Super Bowl odds suggest should be a really tight game.

Fortunately for Pittsburgh fans, being at his best is what Ben does, well, best, at least most of the time. He has a 63% pass completion percentage and averages 8 yards per completion, which puts him near the top of the field. In layman’s terms, he is super-efficient. When he picks out a man, he usually finds him, for a significant gain. Read the rest of this entry →

Steve Young's performance in Super Bowl XXIX was masterful.

Welcome to the fifth and final installment of the 50 Greatest Individual Performances in Super Bowl History.

This is the best of the best, the top ten Super Bowl performances of all time:

10. Terrell Davis-Running Back, Denver Broncos, XXXII
Davis put the Broncos on his back and led his team as well as quarterback John Elway to their first Super Bowl title.

Davis carried the ball 30 times and gained 157 yards as he scored three touchdowns, including the game-winning touchdown with 1:45 left as Denver shocked the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers 31-24.

Davis was chosen as the game’s MVP despite missing the entire second quarter with a migraine headache.

9. Joe Montana-Quarterback, San Francisco 49ers, XIX
In a much-hyped showdown with Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino, it was Montana who stole the show.

The 49ers quarterback completed 24 of 35 passes for 331 yards, a Super Bowl record at the time, and threw three touchdown passes, to comply a 127.2 quarterback rating.

Montana also ran for 59 yards on five carries, a Super Bowl record for most rushing yards by a quarterback until Steve McNair in XXXIV, and ran for one touchdown.

In all, Montana totaled 390 yards of total offense and four touchdowns to win his second Super Bowl MVP in San Francisco’s 38-16 win over the Miami Dolphins.

Read the rest of this entry →

Despite not having a Hall of Fame caliber quarterback, the Washington Redskins clearly ranked as the best of the 44 Super Bowl Champions.

Since the first Super Bowl was held in January 1967, 44 teams have hoisted the Vince Lombardi Championship Trophy. But which of these championship teams was really the greatest of the greats?

In part two of our countdown of the Super Bowl Champions, we count down to the number one champion in Super Bowl history. For more details about the categories used to rank the teams, check out part one.

20. 1977 Dallas Cowboys – Record: 15-2 (32 points); Average loss by 11 points (9 points); Average win by 14.6 points (23 points); Opponent winning percentage: .485 (29 points); Wins over +.500 teams: 4 (25 points); Total Points: 118
Arguably the best of Tom Landry’s 29 Dallas Cowboy squads, the 1977 Cowboys combined an explosive offense led by Roger Staubach, Drew Pearson and rookie Tony Dorsett with a dominating defense led by linemen Randy White and Harvey Martin. Dallas finished 12-2 during the regular season with their two losses coming back-to-back after winning their first eight games. In the Playoffs, Dallas out-scored the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings by a combined score of 60-13 to reach the Super Bowl. Facing the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII, the Cowboys were dominant in a 27-10 victory.

19. 1990 New York Giants – Record: 16-3 (26 points); Average loss by 8.7 points (20 points); Average win by 11.4 points (9 points); Opponent winning percentage: .500 (36 points); Wins over +.500 teams: 4 (28 points); Total Points: 119
Because the 1990 New York Giants narrowly won the NFC Championship Game over the San Francisco 49ers and then had to withstand a last second missed field goal to win Super Bowl XXV, the Giants are often overlooked when the best championship teams are discussed. However, the second of Bill Parcell’s Super Bowl teams was a solid team led by a defense that allowed the fewest points in the NFL. After starting quarterback Phil Simms was lost for the season in the 14th week, backup Jeff Hostetler stepped in and did not throw an interception in three playoff wins. Read the rest of this entry →