Sports Then and Now

Happy Birthday to two all-time greats: Michael Jordan and Jim Brown.

It isn’t everyday that you can say that two athletes who arguably were the best ever to compete in their sport are celebrating birthdays. But you can say that about February 17th as that happens to be the birthday of Hall of Fame football star Jim Brown (born in 1936) and Hall of Fame basketball star Michael Jordan (born in 1963).

Though it has been 47 years since he last played in the NFL, just about anyone who was alive to watch him play still will insist that Brown is the best player ever to put on shoulder pads. His combination of power and speed were unlike anything that had previously been seen in the NFL and his domination of the league during his nine year career with the Cleveland Browns has never truly been matched. He won eight rushing titles in nine years and averaged 104 yards rushing per game for his entire career.  His 12, 312 career rushing yards was a record that stood for 19 years and still ranks 9th in NFL history.

What is perhaps most extraordinary for Brown is that some have claimed that in addition to being the greatest football player of all-time, he may also have been one of the best lacrosse players ever. He was an All-American lacrosse player at Syracuse, scoring 43 goals in 10 games as a senior. He also was the leading scorer on the Syracuse basketball team as a sophomore and lettered in track.

Michael Jordan emerged on the scene as a basketball star at the University of North Carolina. He hit the shot that propelled UNC to the NCAA Championship during his freshman season and two years later helped lead what was likely the finest collection of amateur basketball players in history to a gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics.

In the NBA, Jordan eventually evolved into the best player of his generation and ultimately is considered by many as the best to ever play the game. He averaged more than 30 points per game for his entire 15 year career and won the scoring title 10 times.

Much like Brown, Jordan towered over the others in his era. Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles and it is likely they might have won more had he not missed nearly two years pursuing a career in major league baseball.

Unlike Brown, Jordan will never be considered as the best-ever in a sport other than basketball, but even today there is a general perception that Jordan was the greatest to ever play in the NBA.

In celebration of the birthdays of these two sports legends, I have assembled some youtube clips that highlight their greatness.

Happy Birthday to two all-time greats.

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Roger Federer turned 30 years of age in 2011.

Turning thirty can be traumatic for any normal human being.

Some stepping over that threshold suffer overwhelming angst, knowing that Bob Dylan once swore you could not trust anybody over thirty. Seriously—at one point in the recent past, Dylan was akin to God in certain circles, causing some recently turned thirty-somethings to weep copiously over lost youth, sensing all was lost.

On the other hand, Dylan is now over 65—so surely he has learned to trust himself despite living well beyond those prophetic 30 years.

For a tennis pro today, however, reaching thirty presents a true turning point—not simply a psychological marker. The legs grow heavier and the foot, a step slower. Unerring instinct now takes a second longer to kick into gear.

For most tennis players having played for over a decade brings steady decline if not resignation, ending in retirement. Time seemingly has expired requiring shelving or recycling for the majority.

That was not always the case in men’s professional tennis.  There were some notable exceptions from bygone days when tennis players were not millionaires and fame was hard to come by.

Think of Bill Tilden who played professional tennis well into his forties. During the 1920s we can safely attest, however, that the competition taking the court against Big Bill was hardly the same caliber as today’s players. Still, Tilden helped Americanize the game, altering its path from strenuous past time to highly competitive sport.

The great and enigmatic Pauncho Gonzalez seemed unbeatable in his thirties, playing top-notch tennis well into his forties. Consider, too, that Rod Laver won his second grand slam while age 31 in 1969—at the beginning of the Open Era in men’s tennis.

Other men have been successful, winning slams  after age 30 like Roy Emerson who won the 1967 French Open title or like John Newcombe who won the 1975 Australian Open having turned 30 years of age in 1974.  Renowned Arthur Ashe won his 1975 Wimbledon title at age 32.

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Gronk will likely be rocking the walking boot right up until Sunday.

Being that this is Super Bowl week, we thought it appropriate to do things a little differently. Our normal preview piece comes in one easily digestible chunk and highlights three key areas for the Patriots in their upcoming game. But since the Patriots are putting in extra work this week, why shouldn’t we? This is the first of five posts to come in which we’ll highlight various crucial elements of Super Bowl XLVI.

It seems appropriate to start out with what may be the Patriots’ biggest question mark heading into Sunday: the health of Rob Gronkowski’s ankle. Thanks to an overly chatty father, who is apparently unfamiliar with the “Patriot Way,” we know that Gronkowski suffered a high ankle sprain at the hands of Patriot killer Bernard Pollard. The national media made a big deal of the revelation, but while it was certainly not taken from the Bill Belichick handbook, was there ever any doubt about what kind of injury Gronkowski had suffered?

All indications are that the big man will play, but the question is how effective can he be? And if he can’t be effective at all, how will the Patriots adapt their offense? According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the Patriots used two or more TEs on 80% of their snaps, far and away the highest percentage in the league. They also lack a true backup at the position, meaning that replacing Gronkowski would entail more than a simple substitution. Who would take Gronkowski’s snaps? Julian Edelman? Tiquan Underwood? Chad Ochocinco? I’d rather not think about it.

In their first match up against the Giants the Patriots heavily utilized their three TE package. Presumably this was done to keep the Giants’ phenomenal pass rush honest and also because for all of their pass rushing acumen the Giants defensive line is a little undersized, particularly on the interior. The Patriots’ ability to use this package hinged on the health of Sebastian Vollmer, in whose absence Nate Solder is forced to slide in at RT.

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Victoria Azarenka won the 2012 Australian Open for the first time.

Evidently, Victoria Azarenka finally got tired of waiting for her moment in the sun.

The new world No. 1 decided to take matters into her own hand in Melbourne—defeating both Kim Clijsters and Maria Sharapova consecutively to take the 2012 Australian Open crown.

Both her semifinal and final opponents had previously won the title “down under.” In fact, Clijsters was the defending Australian Open champion.  Sharapova had won the title in 2008.

Azarenka’s win harkens back to the sudden rise of  Novak Djokovic starting with the 2011 Australian Open when the No. 3 ranked Serb defeated No. 2 Roger Federer in the semifinals. Djokovic advanced to the finals where he defeated world No. 4 Andy Murray, claiming his second Australian Open title.

Djokovic had won his first Aussie Open back in 2008, again dismissing Federer in the semis. But after that lone slam victory three years ago—many feared the Serb would simply be another one-slam wonder.

Following his win at the 2011 Australian Open, Djokovic, of course, went on to win his next 43 matches, eventually losing in the semifinals of the 2012 French Open to Roger Federer. It took Djokovic until Wimbledon to overtake Rafael Nadal for the No. 1 ranking.

The Serb’s ascension marked the beginning of the Djokovic Era in men’s tennis and many predict the same sort of fortune for the newly crowned world No. 1 in women’s tennis.

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The 1984 San Francisco 49ers are considered one of the greatest teams of the Super Bowl era as they went 18-1 and won the second of four Super Bowl titles in the 1980s.

But the 49ers’ chances of immortality of joining the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only undefeated Super Bowl champions were shattered in the seventh game of the season when they were stunned by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The 49ers were still led by head coach Bill Walsh and quarterback Joe Montana and their famous West Coast Offense, but it was the San Francisco defense that had been the major reason for their 6-0 start.

After allowing a combined 78 points in their first three games, the 49ers defense allowed only one offensive touchdown in the next three games and forced eleven turnovers.

While the 49ers entered their game with the Steelers riding high, Pittsburgh were coming off a humiliating 31-7 loss to the Miami Dolphins at home.
Pittsburgh was 3-3 under head coach Chuck Noll, who was in his 16th season as the Steelers’ head coach.

While they still had veterans John Stallworth, Jack Lambert, Donnie Shell, and Mike Webster, from the team’s glory days of the 1970s, the Steelers were no longer the dominant team in the NFL as they had not won a playoff game since their win in Super Bowl XIV against the Los Angeles Rams.

The Steelers traveled to San Francisco where they were double-digit underdogs and had backup quarterback Mark Malone in the starter role, filling in for David Woodley who was out with a concussion.

Needing to get off to a fast start, the Steelers received the opening kickoff and used their running game to put together a 12-play, 68-yard drive that ended with a two-yard touchdown run by Rich Erenberg that gave Pittsburgh the early lead at 7-0 midway through the opening quarter. Read the rest of this entry →

On a cold Monday night in November of 1987, the Chicago Bears traveled to Denver to face off with the Denver Broncos in a game that featured two teams that had appeared in the previous two Super Bowls.

Entering the game with the league’s best record at 7-1, the Bears seemed poised for a second Super Bowl title in three seasons.

Chicago was still under the leadership of head coach Mike Ditka, but finally had a healthy Jim McMahon at quarterback and running back Walter Payton, who had announced he would retire at the end of the season.

While the Bears were establishing themselves as a Super Bowl favorite, the Broncos were having tough time defending their AFC championship as they entered the Monday night showdown with Chicago with a 4-3-1 record and in third place in the AFC West.

Despite their inconsistency, the Broncos still felt confident about their chances of a second straight Super Bowl as they still had quarterback John Elway at the helm.

But if the Broncos were to make that second straight trip to the Super Bowl, they could not afford to lose against the Bears.

The Bears got the ball to start the game and drove from their 10-yard-line to the 49-yard-line, where they faced a 3rd-and-2.

That is where McMahon faked a handoff to Payton, and fired a pass to Willie Gault, who made the catch at the Denver 40-yard-line, made a spin move, and outraced several Bronco defenders for a 51-yard touchdown that put Chicago ahead 7-0 just over three minutes into the game.

After forcing the Broncos to punt on their opening possession, the Bears got the ball back at their 14-yard-line where it took them eight plays to get back into the end zone, a 6-yard pass from McMahon to tight end Cap Boso to increase the Bears lead to 14-0 with 5:26 left in the opening period.

Following the Bears’ second touchdown, Elway finally got the Denver offense on track as he led them on an eight-play, 84-yard drive, culminating with a bizarre touchdown that brought the Broncos back into the game.

From the Bears’ 22-yard-line, Elway rolled out to the right and fired a pass intended for Steve Sewell, who was in front of the goal line.

However, the ball was tipped by Bears safety Todd Bell, only to be caught by Vance Johnson for the touchdown to make it 14-7 early in the second quarter.

The Bears responded to the touchdown with another long drive, as McMahon completed six of nine passes on a drive that covered 89 yards from the Chicago 10-yard-line to the Broncos’ one-yard line where Chicago faced a third-and-goal.

For the third-and-one, Ditka sent in defensive tackle William “The Refrigerator” Perry, who ran in for two touchdowns during his rookie season in 1985, including one in the Super Bowl.

This time, Perry was sent in as a blocker, but McMahon called an audible on the line of scrimmage, and handed the ball off to “The Fridge”, who had not carried the ball all season, only to have Perry be stripped of the ball by defensive back Mike Harden, short of the goal line. Read the rest of this entry →