The best quarterback you never heard of

If you are a football fan, sit back and read this little story. It’s about the way life works and, maybe, the way life doesn’t work sometimes. It’s about making lemonade out of lemons and it’s about the vague paths of chance.

Be careful. It’s also about banging your head against a wall as you ask yourself, “Why? Why? Why?”

The year was 1994. The National Football League held its annual draft of college football players, looking for the next great crop of NFL stars. The draft was limited to seven rounds and there were 222 selections made. Among those drafted very early was future Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk of (ahem) San Diego State University. Faulk was selected by the Indianapolis Colts and finished his career with the St. Louis Rams, where he was on a Super Bowl championship team.

Each year, NFL teams spend a bundle on analyzing college players. They send out scouts to watch players and the scouts look at endless hours of video. Finally, the league holds a dog and pony show named the NFL Combine each year as the top draft candidates are brought to one location (lately it’s been in Indianapolis) for scouts and coaches from every team to observe. The draft is not an exact science and sometimes players with tremendous potential slip through the cracks.

In 1994, quarterbacks slipped through some darn wide cracks. If you figure the Grand Canyon is kinda wide.

To be sure, a few quarterbacks drafted that year had very fine NFL careers. Heath Shuler, Trent Dilfer and Gus Frerotte were drafted in ’94. So were Perry Klein, Doug Nussmeier, Jim Miller, Jay Walker, Steve Mathews and Glenn Foley.

Know who wasn’t drafted that year? Kurt Warner, a future NFL MVP and Super Bowl champ with Faulk and the Rams. Another really outstanding future NFL quarterback who got less credit than he deserved, Jeff Garcia, was not drafted. Also among the quarterbacks not drafted by an NFL team in 1994 was one Anthony Calvillo of Utah State.

So who is Anthony Calvillo? Well, let me tell you, they know the guy up in Canada. As of this writing, Calvillo has become the all-time leader in touchdown passes in the Canadian Football League with 396. Now in his 18^th season, Calvillo has thrown 10 scoring passes and completed passes for 1,129 yards in the first four games of this season. He does not appear to be slowing down much. He is on pace to become the CFL’s all time leader in passing yards this year. He has played on Grey Cup winners (the CFL title game is the Grey Cup) and, generally, has had a heckuva career. Make that a great career.

There is a Canadian football hall of fame and he’ll be in it someday. He should be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, but the HoF voters there sometimes skip over a guy like Calvillo.

That is what the scouts did in 1994. They missed Calvillo. How did the scouts miss Calvillo all those years ago? Who knows? He stands an inch over six feet in height, so the scouts might have judged him to be too short. He played junior college ball here in California before playing at Utah State, but his numbers as a college junior and senior should have gotten him some notice. He played in a minor bowl game as a senior, so the scouts had a chance to see him. Utah State did not get much attention back in the 90s, but neither did Idaho and that’s where Nussmeier played.

The scouts worked overtime that year, as they always do. They didn’t miss Howard’s Walker or C.W. Post’s Klein, that’s for sure. Foley, of Boston College, was the 208^th player selected by NFL teams in 1994. All told, nine quarterbacks were drafted by NFL clubs in 1994, all judged to be better prospects than Anthony Calvillo, Kurt Warner or Jeff Garcia.

Garcia made the move to the CFL where he played well enough to earn a chance with the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers. He eventually played for several NFL teams. Warner was in some NFL pre-season camps, played in the Arena league and then in NFL Europe before he finally got a chance with the Rams.

Calvillo has outlasted every quarterback drafted by NFL teams in ’94, not to mention Garcia and Warner. Calvillo will pretty much own the passing pages of the CFL record book when he finally quits playing. He’s probably the best quarterback you’ve never heard of. But don’t feel bad. After all, he wasn’t even drafted.

Thanks for reading.

Puffball The Terrible

We have a cat, a savage attack cat, named Puffball. Darn cat should be working for the Red Cross because he generates plenty of blood, most of it from my legs or arms. He doesn’t drink the blood he spills, so he’s no vampire. This cat just loves to puncture skin.

I’ve saved this cat’s life four times in the 16 years we’ve had him. I’ll get into that in a moment but it is important to note that the individuals who initially begged us to keep this cat, our kids, no longer live here. Thus my wife and I are stuck with a feline terrorist, while the cat’s sponsors are free to gallivant around the country without concerns.

Funny how things turn out.

Look into the eyes of a skin-shredder.

I was working away from home for a few months back in 1993 when I was notified that my wife and kids had found a kitten in or near our backyard. They took it in, cleaned it with anti-flea soap and began nursing it toward good health. I got hit with the traditional, “Can we keep it,” barrage and, feeling guilty about being so far from home for extended periods, I weakened and said, “Okay.” We already had pets, but somehow we ended up keeping another one. We registered the cat with the city, took him to the vet and generally treated him very well. This was his life-saving experience #1.

My long-distance working situation ended about five months later and I came home to discover the new cat had a game it liked to play. He’d sit on the hidden side of a doorway at the end of a hall and suddenly attack the lower extremity of any human passing through the portal into the middle room of the house. He'd bite and scratch until said human found a way to detach himself or herself from the attacking beast. This frequently resulted in spilled blood, torn stockings, ruined socks and ripped pants. A few times I attempted to clear my path by throwing a cat toy through the door, hoping for a distraction that would clear the way for a safe passage. No chance. This cat was after human flesh.

I wanted to get rid of the cat. My scars never had time to heal before the next attack by our so-called domesticated pet. I was concerned about extended loss of blood. I was afraid to go to the beach for fear of attracting every shark within thousands of miles, whether I went in the water or not. Every moment spent ambulating from one spot to another in the house was an invitation to a new vicious attack and another bloodletting.

I confronted my wife with the need to rid ourselves of this criminally insane cat. “My socks and pants have blood stains,” I gripped. My wife is a loving wife. She cares for me when I am sick. Heck, I was on crutches when we started dating. When our children were growing up, she mothered with extraordinary love and wisdom. So, when I firmly explained that Puffball The Terrible had to go, my wife sweetly said, “Go ahead if you want to. But you have to tell the kids.”

This was life-saving experience #2 for the cat.

Time passed and blood flowed. Our son graduated from high school in 2000 and bolted for the comparative safety of life in the United States Air Force. A little more than a year later, our nation was at war. Sean spent five years on active duty and three more in the Air Force National Guard. He spent time in Korea and Iraq and never got a scratch. I wish I could say the same.

Finally, the bleeding reached the point where my wife and daughter agreed something had to be done and the cat became an outside cat. We put him in the garage at night to protect the general public. Our wounds began to heal and this decision was life-saving experience #3 for Puffball.

We rented the same house for a dozen years before the homeowner decided to sell the place. That meant we had to move. The new landlord would not allow cats in the house, which I took to be my salvation from the reign of terror I’d lived with all those years. Even as an outdoor cat, Puffball could inflict damage. Walking to the car had become a challenge.

Unfortunately, Puffball still had Amy and Regan in his corner. He lives in the garage today, usually sleeping on top of my beloved Mustang convertible. This was life-saving experience #4 for Puffball.

We discovered the house we moved to had rats in the walls and we hoped Puffball might catch a few in the garage, given his tendency toward ambush. No such luck. Puffball will happily attack any passing human, but has no hard feeling toward rats. Or gophers.

So there it is. I’ve saved that cat’s life four times now and here’s what really bothers me: In all that time, Puffball has never once thanked me.

But I’ll thank you: Thanks for reading.

Sports photography

I said in an earlier blog that I would write about sports photography and the time is now.

I’ve been fortunate to be able to combine my life-long passion for sports with both my profession and my hobbies. I’ve been able to gain access to events that might be otherwise difficult to photograph because I’ve been in and around the sports business for my entire adult life. The beginning sports photog needs to understand that the first order of business is to learn the photographic process, then worry about press passes.

So let’s get to it. You’ll need a single lens reflex (SLR) camera and a telephoto lens. It’s pretty easy to find a 70-200 millimeter or 80-200 mm lens in the used section of your local camera store and that’s a good place to start. You’ll want to find a lens with aperture 2.8 capability, making this a ‘fast’ lens that works better in lower light situations than lenses with bigger aperture numbers (such as 3.5).

You’ll need to match your budget to the equipment you start with and there is no need to rush out and buy every expensive piece of equipment out there. Pick up what you need as you learn how to use what you already have. Then you know better what you need to buy next. For example, you’ll have to buy a monopod sooner or later. But hold off on the expense until you know the time has come.

Because of the size of the field, softball and little league baseball match well with the camera and lens combo I mentioned above. Other outside sports, shot in daytime conditions, are also possible. Youth sports offer excellent opportunities, once you have permission to shoot the event. Indoor sports are a very different matter. There are situations where flash photography is not allowed and they are where the fast lenses mentioned above are important.

I don’t want to delve too deeply into the technical area here because every camera and lens combination requires a slightly different approach. Suffice is to say that there is no substitute for going out and using your camera. Get an understanding of what settings you need to get the best performance from your equipment.

Minor league football is all over the country and the game
offers opportunities for photographers. By the way, I
named this one, 'No holding called.'

There are many, many ways to shoot the various sports. As you assemble more equipment, you’ll look for new ways to use said equipment. Below are a few ideas I think will work for the beginner with the equipment suggested above.

Football: First thing you must do is speak briefly with the referees on your side of the field before the game. Let them know you understand about the three-foot rule along the sideline and that you will not be in their way. The rule establishes that you cannot stand within three feet of the sideline, as that is where the referee runs. It’s a safety thing, both for you and the refs. Usually, you are restricted to be outside the team zone along the sideline, meaning you have to be between the 25 yard line and the goal line. You are usually allowed to circle behind the team area to change positions when the ball moves toward the allowable area on the other end of the field. If you are covering the game itself and not a specific team, I’d recommend positioning yourself 3-4 yards ahead of the line of scrimmage and discipline yourself not to squeeze the trigger on any play moving the far side of the field. Running plays to your side, especially off tackle plays or sweeps, are in your wheel house. Short passes to your side are also within range. For goal line plays, try to get behind the end zone and try to lineup directly in front of the center. Idea: Go on line and try to find a minor league team in your area and contact them about photographing their games. Don’t forget that most high schools have junior varsity teams and might be willing to have you out there.

This shot made the cover of a
municipal recreation department's
magazine.

Softball: Make sure you have the proper permissions before you try to work a softball game. Be aware of foul balls. Understand the game before you think about stepping out there. Having said that, I always spend the first inning, the entire first inning, behind the fence that is behind the plate. I want lots of images of the starting pitchers because you never know when someone might throw a no-hitter or a perfect game. Even if all the starting pitcher does is get credit as the winning pitcher, you’ll have an image you might be able to pedal to a local newspaper or website. After that, your positioning depends upon what the umpire determines that photographer area to be. From the right side of the infield, watch for the third baseman, shortstop or second baseball to field a ground ball. Your 200 mm lens should have enough reach to capture an image of the infielder fielding and throwing the ball. You’ll probably be working slightly down the baseline from third or first base and outfield plays should be reachable as well. Watch the sun! Choose your side of the field according to where the sun is closest to your back. Safety: DO NOT stand directly behind first or third base unless you are behind a fence.

Baseball: Much the same as softball, but if you have the equipment suggested above, you really do not have enough lens to properly shoot baseball, as the field is so much larger than a softball field. Having said that, if the backstop is not too far behind home plate, you might be able to photograph the pitchers and plays at home plate. From up the baseline, you should be able to get runners coming to first or third base.

Junior college basketball, using the
bounce-off-the-floor flash technique.

Basketball: In most cases, you’ll need a flash to shoot basketball. The lighting systems in most high school and junior college gymnasiums do not typically have enough candle power to allow a photog to capture nice images without a flash. As basketball is such a vertical game, I typically turn my camera sideways and then twist my flash to point at a 45-degree angle toward the floor. This creates a bounce flash that illuminates the players in the shot without blasting in their eyes. For this sport, you’ll want to shoot from behind the basket and you might favor one side of the floor slightly. I once spent two seasons shooting a team whose best player typically shot from the corner to my left of the basket or drove along the baseline from that direction. For that reason, I edged a bit to my left during those games. Your 200 mm is fine for this sport, but the 2.8 aperture is very important, even with a flash. Idea: Is the crowd small? Go to the corner of the grandstand near the baseline and climb until your camera is even with the plane of the basket cylinder, then focus on the rim. You should get some nice rebounding images.

Always focus on the middle of the bar in the jumping
events. The jumpers aim for the center because they expect
it to be the lowest spot.

Track and field: The field events are a great deal of fun to shoot. Watch your sun and be aware of where the discus, javelin, shot put and hammer throw landing areas are. Running events are fun to shoot as well, but I really enjoy the high jump and pole vault events.

Gymnastics: Most of the time, these gyms are poorly lit and there are strict rules against the use of a flash. This is a great sport to shoot and the only work arounds I have found are: A) Get yourself a camera and lens that perform well in low light conditions or B) arrange to shoot the athlete during practice, with permission from the coach and the athlete, when everyone knows you’ll be using the flash. The bounce flash technique from the basketball section above might work well here.

Soccer: Tough sport to shoot. Huge playing field. Stand on the sideline, hope they come toward you with the ball. I’ve tried photographing this sport and performed poorly. Good luck.

Boxing: I’ve photographed one boxing match in my life, a world championship fight in an open air arena in Mexicali, Mexico about 25 years ago. Shot it with film. I didn’t realize my settings were all wrong until late in the fight. Luckily, there was a knockdown right after I changed the settings and I got the downed fighter as he tried to get off the mat. The Associated Press paid me $50 for that shot and it went around the world. Thus, I am a world-renowned boxing photographer and you’ll get none of my secrets here.

Good luck and thanks for reading.

And now, under center...

I’ve seen lots of quarterbacks, more than I’ll ever remember. But, for a long time now, I have been sure that the best professional quarterback I’ve seen was Denver’s John Elway.

More than any quarterback, Elway had the ability to pick up a team and carry it down the field late in a game. He could pass you down the field from the pocket, pass you down the field on the run or he could run the dumb ball himself to get a drive-sustaining first down.

We could argue about statistics all we want. Some passers have more yards or more scoring passes than Elway and several won more championships.

But Elway had that ability to do whatever was needed to get the late score to win the game. Joe Montana and John Unitas were sensational in this regard as well, but Elway is my pick. Here are my reasons.

First, Elway spent much of his career playing on teams with mediocre players in the offensive skill positions. In contrast to Montana, who had hall of famers catching his passes, Elway's receiver’s seldom rated All Pro recognition.

Until his final two seasons, Elway’s Denver teams seldom had a truly effective ground attack. Once his passing was augmented by a strong running game, Elway won two Super Bowls.

Montana played for Bill Walsh, whose brilliantly coached offenses fit perfectly with Montana’s strengths. Elway did not play for a truly offensive-minded head coach until Mike Shanahan came along near the end of Elway’s career.

Had Elway played for Walsh and Montana played for the Broncos, Elway would have achieved everything Montana did, if not more. Montana, whom I would rate a close second to Elway on my list of the best quarterbacks of all time, would not have been as effective in Denver as Elway was.

My personal list of the top 10 professional quarterbacks of all time is below. It should be noted that I deliberately have not included active players.

John Elway

Joe Montana

John Unitas

Otto Graham

Joe Namath

Sammy Baugh

Warren Moon (special recognition for his Canadian Football League years)

Terry Bradshaw

Norm Van Brocklin

Kurt Warner

I’ve talked about Montana already. He was frustratingly efficient in the late going of close games. Ask the Cincinnati Bengals how good Montana was in the Super Bowl. Unitas, of course, is the man credited by many as the greatest of all time. I have no argument against Unitas but I put Elway and Montana ahead of him.

Graham won more professional championships than any quarterback. He won titles in two leagues, the All American Football Conference and the National Football League, advancing to the championship game in every one of his 10 professional seasons. Quarterbacks are frequently measured by championships and he has the most including one which most fans forget about. Graham played one season of professional basketball and was a member of the 1945-46 NBA champion Rochester Royals.

Namath is best known for one game, but that game is enough for me. That and all the yards and touchdown passes he completed. He had one of the two quickest releases I’ve seen (Dan Marino had the other one). Namath played on very few competitive teams but he remains among the best of all time.

Baugh was the best quarterback of his era and one of the best passers ever. He won in the single wing formation and in the T-formation. By the way, he was one of the best defensive backs of his era and a tremendous punter.

You’ll note that I have consistently written about professional quarterbacks rather than NFL quarterbacks. Warren Moon needs to be credited with his years of excellence in the Canadian Football League and for the purposes of this blog, he is. He is both the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame and the Pro Football HoF in the United States.

Terry Bradshaw won four Super Bowls, heading one of the best teams of all times. I was in the Rose Bowl the day his Steelers beat the Rams for the title. I haven’t forgiven him yet, but I still rank him among the best professional quarterbacks of all time.

Van Brocklin was a fiery leader, a tough guy and a great passer. He shared time with Bob Waterfield as the Rams quarterback in the early 1950s and together they directed an offense that is still considered one of the best ever. He was the starter for the Rams team that reached the championship game in 1955 (which Graham and the Browns won). Then Van Brocklin went to the Eagles and became the only quarterback ever to beat a Vince Lombardi-coached team in a championship game.

Kurt Warner quarterbacked two franchises to Super Bowl games (the Rams twice and the Cardinals), playing in the big game three times and winning one. He had his teams ahead or tied inside the final two minutes of all three games. He had a brief stay with the Giants and won games with that team as well. Warner and Dan Fouts remain the most accurate passers of the football I’ve ever seen. Warner won a title and Fouts, whom I loved to watch play, did not.

Fran Tarkington isn’t on this list. Neither is Marino or Bart Starr. You don’t see Sid Luckman. I nearly included Doug Flutie because of his brilliant years in Canada. Obviously there is room for argument. But it’s my blog and it’s my list.

You can always write your own.

In the meantime, thanks for reading.

Class dismissed

View from the Confederate side of the battlefield,
looking south. Little Round Top is visable to the
right of the white-roofed barn in the center top.

            The 2011 Civil War Institute is over and it was a tremendous experience for a newcomer. The opportunity to meet about 330 like-minded students of the era and listen to a group of recognized experts in the field was an exciting prospect and the reality lived up to expectations.

            The Institute is conducted each year at Gettysburg College. That’s right, Gettysburg College. The one in Pennsylvania.

            The subject frame for this year’s CWI was the run up to the war and the first battles of the conflict. The speakers challenged us to think. We did and, in some cases, the audience challenged the speakers during the question and answer sessions that followed each presentation. (See note below)

Memorial to Confederate general James
Longstreet along Confederate Ave.

            There were some changes to the CWI for this year. The new director, Dr. Peter Carmichael, added a morning of breakout sessions on the final day. These sessions were conducted in classrooms and gave us a chance to hear presentations in small group settings from a wide-ranging group of speakers. Carmichael, who battled a cold all week, was among the breakout presenters. These sessions were spread among various aspects of the battle of Gettysburg and the afternoon was devoted to specially crafted tours of specific areas of that battlefield.

            What could be more interesting?

            Wayne Motts, a battlefield guide and executive director of the Adams County Historical Society, led a group on a tour following the actions of the United States Sharpshooters on the second day of the Gettysburg fight, July 2, 1863. This tour centered on the south end of the battlefield and, while leading his group down a path near the Bushman farm, Motts gave a plausible reason for supposing where Confederate commander John Bell Hood was wounded.

The Bushman farm from the south and east. This area
is believed to be near where Confederate general
John Bell Hood was wounded at Gettysburg.

            Motts read from three-by-five index cards prepared for his battlefield tours. He read excerpts from letters to Hood after the war and from a report by Hood prepared well after the battle. Motts read two descriptions of the topography where Hood was wounded and then Motts explained how the letters described the location where Motts and his tour group then stood.

            What devotee of the battle of Gettysburg would want to miss that?

            It was a tremendous week for an amateur historian/photographer.

            Thanks for reading.

Wildflowers in the Wheatfield at Gettysburg. These
might be black-eyed susans.

            NOTE: This year’s CWI presenters included Chuck Teague (president of Historic Gettysburg Adams County and a Gettysburg park ranger), Peter Carmichael (director of the Institute and a professor at the college), Jason Phillips (author and associate professor at Mississippi State), Allen Guelzo (author and director of Civil War Studies at the College), Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh (author who instructs at Yale), Tim Orr (professor at Old Dominion), Mary De Credico (author and professor at the Naval Academy), Susannah Ural (author, associate professor at Southern Mississippi and senior fellow at the Southern Mississippi Center for the Study of War and Society), A. Wilson Greene (author and executive director of Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier), Ethan Rafuse (author and professor at the US Army Command General Staff College), Joseph Glatthaar (author and professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and Gary Gallagher (you already know this guy: Author and speaker frequently quoted on various television shows about the War and professor of history at the University of Virginia).