Sports Then and Now

The Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins will renew their rivalry on Sunday for the 169^th time as both teams look to close out the 2018 season with a victory.

Since they first met on October 21, 1934 when the Redskins were still playing in Boston, the Eagles and Redskins have played many memorable games. As division rivals, they typically play twice a year, which has created great drama and familiarity for both the franchises and the fans. They have met one time in the playoffs, with the Redskins ending the Buddy Ryan era in Philadelphia with a 20-6 win over the Eagles during the 1990 season.

The Redskins hold the all-time series lead 85-77-6, but interestingly enough, the Eagles actually have out-scored the Redskins 3,535 points to 3,336.

I had the great pleasure of witnessing two of the most exciting games in the series, both played at the old RFK Stadium in Washington.

The first was during the 1981 season and the second was in 1989. Both games included some fantastic individual plays and exciting endings that resulted in the team that had seemingly been in control for most of the game making a fatal mistake that cost them the win.

December 6, 1981 – Week 14 – Philadelphia Eagles (9-4) at Washington Redskins (5-8)

After reaching the Super Bowl during the 1980 season, the Philadelphia Eagles started the 1981 campaign with six straight wins and seemed poised for another championship run. However, they entered the week 14 game at Washington having lost two straight games and three of their last five.

Conversely, in their first season under the leadership of Joe Gibbs, the Redskins opened the 1981 campaign with five straight losses. After climbing to 5-6 on the season with an overtime win over the New York Giants, they stumbled with consecutive losses to enter the game against the Eagles with a 5-8 record and trying to avoid a losing campaign. Read the rest of this entry →

For the first time in five years, Syracuse University is in a college football bowl game. The No. 17 ranked Orange will face No. 15 West Virginia on Friday Dec. 28 in the Camping World Bowl in Orlando, Fl. Kickoff is set for 5:15 pm and the game will be televised on ESPN.

It is the second time Syracuse has played in this bowl game as the Orange also appeared in it when it was called the Champs Sports Bowl in 2004. Georgia Tech beat Syracuse 51-14 in what was the final game for Orange head coach Paul Pasqualoni. This year’s bowl appearance is the first bowl game for Syracuse since it beat Minnesota 21-17 in the Texas Bowl following the 2013 season.

Head coach Dino Babers is restoring prominence to Syracuse football.

Behind a breakthrough 2018 season in which the Orange went 9-3 overall and 6-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, head coach Dino Babers has restored Syracuse to national prominence on the gridiron. The Orange finished second behind No. 2 Clemson in the ACC Atlantic Division. The Orange, who handed Clemson its’ only loss in 2017, gave the Tigers all they could handle this season before Clemson handed Syracuse its’ first loss of the season 27-23 on Sept. 29.

In his third year as Orange head coach, Babers lead Syracuse to a five-win improvement from 2017 that was sparked by a pair of four game win-streaks. Along the way, Syracuse defeated perennial national power Florida State 30-7 on Sept. 15 for the first time since 1966 which ended a 10-game losing streak to the Seminoles. Syracuse finished undefeated (6-0) at home in the Carrier Dome this season, its’ first undefeated home season since 2001 and only its’ fourth all time since the dome opened in 1980.

West Virginia is the fourth-most common opponent for Syracuse as the two have met 60 times on the gridiron with the Orange holding a 33-27 edge. Only Pittsburgh (74), Penn State (71), and Colgate (67) have played Syracuse more often than the Mountaineers. The Orange and Mountaineers formerly met yearly as members of The Big East Conference. The last time the two met was in 2012 when the Orange won 38-14 in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, NY to cap an 8-5 season.

Syracuse emerged this season behind the play of senior quarterback Eric Dungey. Aside from various injuries causing him to miss 10 games over his first three years, Dungey started all 12 games this season for the first time in his college career. Dungey will leave Syracuse as one of the top quarterbacks in Orange history. Dungey and Syracuse legend Donovan McNabb are the only two quarterbacks in school history with 6,000+ passing yards and 1,000+ rushing yards. Entering the 2018 season, Dungey, who is Syracuse’s career leader in rushing touchdowns by a quarterback, stands among the top 10 in school history in 10 other categories including completion percentage (2^nd, 61.7 %), passing touchdowns (5^th, 40), and passing yards (4^th, 6,472). Dungey threw for a season-high 411 yards in a 51-41 win over North Carolina State on Oct. 27 to extend his school career records to 10 300-yard passing games and three 400-yard passing games.

Dungey was healthy nearly the entire season in 2018 and was named the ACC Quarterback of the Week four times. The 6-4 226-pound signal caller was named to the All-ACC Third Team and was the recipient of Syracuse’s Bill Horr award as team MVP. Dungey pressures the defense with his dual threat capability in passing and running where he exudes toughness. In completing 60.1 percent of his passes (205-for-341) this season, Dungey has thrown for 2,565 with 17 touchdowns and only 7 interceptions. On the ground, Dungey is second on the team with 732 yards and a team-high 15 touchdowns. Read the rest of this entry →

Back in the early 2000s, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones dreamed up a new stadium that would be home to the Cowboys, as well as serving as an entertainment destination. In 2009, that vision became a reality with the opening of AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Today, the massive facility hosts college bowl games, concerts and, of course, the Dallas Cowboys.

AT&T Stadium is the largest domed stadium in the world and the biggest NFL venue. It has more than 3 million square feet of space and has a capacity of about 100,000 fans. In total, the overall site covers about 140 acres. The stadium also has more standing-room-only space than any other NFL facility, with 180,000 square feet of free space.

Budget projections initially estimated building the stadium would cost about $650 million, but the actual construction came in at $1.2 billion. That hefty price tag makes it one of the most expensive sports facilities in the world. Read the rest of this entry →

What is a Wonderlic Test?

The Wonderlic Test is an important test that has been widely used by prospective employers to assess different abilities in a candidate. It has 50 questions to be answered in 12 minutes. A score of 20 reflects average intelligence and a score of 10 points and below means that a candidate is illiterate. In NFL, the test has played an important role in assessing team making efforts in a player.

The NFL uses the test to assess the critical thinking abilities of a player. As a matter of fact, the NFL usually doesn’t consider whether a player is good in Math or understands what the meaning of certain words is. It cares about the ability of a player to solve problems within the shortest time possible.

Wonderlic Score and Success in NFL

Wonderlic Tests help to analyses the potential of an NFL player. It measures a players skills, and how the player can perform at the next level. Therefore, if you are curious about whether the score determines the overall performance of a player, the truth is that the test offers a good comparison on what to expect in the future.

Ideally, the Wonderlic Test focuses on the problem-solving skills of an NFL player in an environment that is mentally taxing. Time and again, NFL teams get standardized Wonderlic Scores or results. This is usually a solid result, and it doesn’t doom a players chances of performing exceptionally well in NFL. Read the rest of this entry →

Football is an incredibly physical sport. Those playing at the top of the game all require specific diets and workouts for their position, ensuring that they’re in peak physical condition by the beginning of the season. However, all positions require strong athleticism and benefit from specific workouts. For any aspiring athletes hoping to play at the highest levels of competition, it’s important to know the basic form of a football workout.

For a football workout, the goal is pushing each area of the body to its upper limit — focusing on those most important on the field — through targeted workouts. Here is a basic overview of effective workouts for each area.

Upper Body Workout

For expanding one’s upper body strength, nothing beats pressing. A good upper body workout should include a combination of flat bench press, military press and inclined dumbbell press. Pressing is great, as it works out the most important muscles in the upper body: your pectoral, deltoid, and triceps.

Along with presses, a good upper body regimen should include sets, which are great for lower back strength. Finally, you’ll want shrugs for your upper back and neck. Varying between these exercises will help build your entire upper body and get you powered up on the field. Read the rest of this entry →

The Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Month was perfection personified as a wide receiver during his NFL career.

Known for his fluid movement, grace and jumping ability during his 13 year NFL career, Paul Warfield was an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and key performer for the Miami Dolphins during their 17-0 campaign in 1972.

Because the role of the wide receiver has changed so much and today’s star receivers get the ball thrown to them so many more times than in the pre-1978 era, Warfield is often overlooked when discussing all-time greats.

But, think about this. Warfield averaged 20.1 yards per catch for his career (427 receptions, 8,565 yards) and 19.9% of his receptions went for touchdowns (85). By comparison, Julio Jones has averaged 15.5 yards per catch for his career and a touchdown in 6.9% of his receptions (46 TDs in 669 catches). Antonio Brown averages 13.4 ypc and a TD in 8.7% (70 of 804) of his receptions. Terrell Owens averaged 14.8 ypc and a TD in 14.2% of his receptions. Even Jerry Rice, considered the greatest receiver of all-time, averaged only 14.8 ypc and a TD in 12.7% of his catches. Read the rest of this entry →