College football trivia (and a story)

          Want to win a bet? Here are some college football trivia questions that you can used to stump your pals. Given the proper setting, you might even pay off a bar tab.

          The questions appear first, followed by a hysterical football story. Then come the trivia answers.

 

The questions

Name the first man to both coach and play in the Rose Bowl game.

 

Who was the first head coach to lead the University of Alabama to a victory over Notre Dame?

 

Before he became professional football’s first truly great wide receiver as a star for the Green Bay Packers, Don Hutson played his college football at Alabama. The other end for the Crimson Tide when Hutson was there never played pro football, but he later became famous anyway. Who was he?

 

How many BCS bowl games has Notre Dame won?

 

The funny story

          Several decades ago, around 1969 or 1970, a young woman sat in the stands as the Chicago Bears began a game. I do not remember now who the opponent was. The young woman in question turned to the man next to her and predicted the Bears’ first play from scrimmage. She was correct and the man was impressed.

          The young woman then predicted the next play and, good naturedly, the man disagreed, predicting a different play. The woman was right again.

          Now, the gentleman knew his football and he proposed a small wager with the young woman about the next play. The young woman, with an equal dose of good nature, agreed and, again, she was right.

          This went on for most of the first quarter with the gentleman losing on every play. Finally, the young woman extended her hand to the gentleman and introduced herself.

          She was the Bears’ quarterback’s wife and she helped him memorize the first 15 plays of the game plan every week. The way I heard the story, the young woman did not collect on the wagers.

 

The answers

Wallace Wade played in the Rose Bowl as a guard at Brown and coached Alabama in the game years later.

 

Ray Perkins led the Crimson Tide to a victory over Notre Dame in 1986, the first time Alabama ever beat the Fighting Irish. Bear Bryant never beat Notre Dame.

 

Bear Bryant was Hutson’s teammate, the other end, at Alabama.

 

The Fighting Irish have not won a BCS bowl game.

 

          Thanks for reading.

 

There are rules, there are laws and then there is the NFL

          We do not live in a consistent world. Consider the following:

          Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Rich Incognito, according to reports from a teammate, fellow lineman Jonathan Martin, has bullied Martin since the start of the 2013 pro football season.

          You’ve seen the reports. Text messages and other types of communications from the veteran Incognito have surfaced with unacceptable wording. Incognito was rude (at best) at times to the younger Martin and, if you believe all the reports that have surfaced as the case has evolved, was clearly boorish at other times.

          Martin has had enough of the bad treatment and has left the team. Incognito has been suspended. The players union says it is investigating. The Dolphins are investigating. The media is investigating. Everybody is investigating.

          That’s case one.

          Case two involves the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs. Dwayne Bowe, a wide receiver, was stopped for a routine traffic violation by police (he was driving in excess of the posted speed limit) and marijuana was discovered in the vehicle. Bowe was arrested because, whether you like it or not, marijuana is a controlled substance. Bowe was in violation of the law.

 

          Still, Bowe will start for the Chiefs when Kansas City plays the Denver Broncos this weekend. There is no league investigation, no probe into the situation by the Chiefs. The media has largely ignored the case.

          If the reports we have seen about Incognito’s language and behavior are accurate, then his conduct was reprehensible, even if condoned within the tight-knit world of a team’s locker room. But reprehensible or not, his language is largely protected by the Constitution of the United States.

 

          Incognito, who violated no laws (except the ones about using common sense) is suspended.

          It appears that the Constitution’s reach does not extend into the realm of the court of Political Correctness and it does not protect offensive linemen. Read it once more: Incognito has been suspended.

          Bowe, however, is a star receiver. He is protected by something much stronger than the Constitution. He is protected by the National Football League Players Association’s Collective Bargaining Agreement with the National Football League.

          Andy Reid, the Chiefs’ head coach, said the team is powerless to punish Bowe for violating the law because of the CBA. Since Bowe can’t be fined or suspended, he’ll be in the starting lineup against Denver.

          After all, it is a really big game.

          Thanks for reading.

 

Side notes

So, you see, it’s like this:

          First, you travel to the Far West. California, to be exact. You spend a week in the nice warm weather.

          The truth is the ambient temperature (that’s a fancy way of saying the air temperature) was a little too warm. It was nearly hot. In fact, the self-defense act of using sun screen left you feeling downright uncomfortable.

          You feel righteous, to be sure, but still uncomfortable.

          You spend the weekend walking around, soaking up the heat (while reflecting the harmful rays with your righteous sun screen) and enjoying the air conditioning when you duck inside to get out of the heat.

          Side note: You generally don’t need sun screen inside a building, but you leave it on anyway. Then you slop more on yourself when you go outside again.

          You walk from spot to spot wearing a short sleeve shirt and you are comfortable, except for the feel of the sun screen.

          Then you fly home to Ohio.

          Side note: You don’t need much sunscreen when wearing 15 layers of clothing.

          You arrive at your car in the airport parking lot as the rain starts. You drive home as the rain slowly increases strength. You buy dinner in a pouring rain, and then escape into your garage. You are happy to be home.

          Dinner complete, the dog insists that it is walking time. You dig out your winter walking boots, hitch up the pooch and step out into a snow storm. It is dark by now and the wind is blowing snow straight into your face. You close your eyes and hope the dog doesn’t lead you anywhere stupid.

          Side note: The application of sunscreen will not help you stay warm in a blowing snowstorm.

          Convinced the communists are out to get you and that your dog might be one of them, you plunge into the night’s weather. You meet up with a neighbor walking a poodle that is so small and white that it will be difficult to see in the snow.

          The four of you mush ahead into the snow. You are so bundled up that you can’t hear a word your neighbor says. Every time there seems to be a pause, you grunt some sort of neutral agreement, just to be polite.

          Side note: Snow is the same color as sunscreen.

          You arrive home and you wipe the snow off the dog so she will not track mud in with her wet paws.

          Now you get to the business of unpacking your suitcase and the first thing you find in your hand is your bottle of sun screen. It is the second batch you bought in the last two weeks. The previous batch ended up in the trash at an airport when you stupidly left it in your carry on backpack. Determined not to lose the current bottle, you search your house for a safe place to leave it to wait until the spring. The search is pointless, you realize. That bottle of sunscreen is gone, history, lost forever. It is a casualty of winter.

          Unpacking complete, you sit down to watch a football game between two teams from Florida. It is a night game. There are no players wearing sunscreen, but one team does throw a screen pass.

          Finally, your wife mentions some important news: The corner convenience store is selling regular grade gasoline for $2.97 a gallon. This means gasoline costs less, by volume, than sun screen.

          You feel better about the whole dumb thing.

         
          Thanks for reading.

This just in: The Great Depression

          From out of the blue, a random thought about history:

          The last time the United States faced an economic challenge as threatening as the one we are trying to fight our way out of now was during The Great Depression of the 1930s.

You might have heard about it. If you’re old enough to remember (which your loyal blogger is not), The Great Depression was in all the newspapers. It is mentioned in many history books now. It was a key era in the development of the type of society we enjoy today.

It would take more space than we have here to recap all the events which led to The Great Depression, but suffice is to say many of the causes of the financial failures way back then closely resemble the causes of the mess we are dealing with now.

In other words, we haven’t learned anything since then.

The difference between then and now, in terms of finding a way out of trouble, is largely the circumstance and attitudes of the workforce society currently offers to businesses and corporations.

Franklin D. Roosevelt inherited a faltering business climate when he went into office for his first term as President of the United States. Roosevelt used the federal government to generate jobs through infrastructure improvement. The Federal government created the Tennessee Valley Authority and other similar organizations that provided work.

Americans, mostly American men, rushed to join the crews building whatever project they could get to. These men figured they would learn on the job what they needed to know about the task at hand.

When the Second World War suddenly yanked the United States into the conflict, many, many Americans still were not working. A huge workforce of technically competent, emotionally willing men were ready and able to go to work in factories that suddenly became productive parts of the war effort.

And the same broken economy made joining the military more attractive. While Your Loyal Blogger readily grants the point that most of the American military was raised through the draft, never has government-provided clothing, shoes and food been more attractive.

It has been written many times that the war brought America out of The Great Depression, but the greater truth is that The Great Depression probably made it possible for America to lead the effort to fight off the tyrannical nations with dreams of world dominance.

Today’s America is populated by a different mindset. We expect the Federal government to provide us with everything we need now. From Unemployment Insurance to Welfare, Americans have several ways to put food on the table without actually working for it. Many will refuse to work at jobs they feel are below the level they should accept, based upon their former stations in business. Somehow not working is better than working.

It isn’t likely today that a former executive would be willing to travel across the country in search of work on infrastructure-improvement projects.

Do you remember the old Jerry Reed song When You’re Hot, You’re Hot? At the end, the lyrics ask the judge, who has just jailed the singer to 90 days in jail, “Who’s gonna collect my Welfare? Pay for my Cadillac?” the song goes.

The song was written decades ago, but it holds true today and that might make a statement about why this country has struggled to work its way out of the worst economic situation since The Great Depression.

Maybe the problem is that we just don’t want to work.

Thanks for reading.

Iverson's retirement: This is not a practice

          The basketball world got the news today this week that Allen Iverson has retired from professional basketball.

          Iverson was among the most electrifying offensive players in the game during his prime years and he loved to play. Iverson will probably miss the games but, looking on the bright side, at least he won’t have to practice any more.

          Click on the link below to see Iverson’s feelings about practicing.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI

 

          The best story I ever heard about practice, in any sport, involved Magic Johnson during his short stint as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers won a few games after Johnson took over as head coach with 10 or 12 games to go in the season, but they went on a losing streak after that.

          Johnson reportedly felt the players were not buying into his ideas, which included working hard in practice. I believe it was the final practice before the final game of the season when Johnson decided it was time to make a point.

          Johnson laced up his sneakers and picked an assistant coach who had played with him and one or two others, then played against the Lakers starters in a series of three games to 15 points.

          The old guys destroyed the starters in all three games.

          When it comes to practice, you can listen to Iverson (the link is still above) or you can look at Magic Johnson’s hands. You know, the hands with all those championship rings.

 

          Hey, if you’re reading this, it is because your elementary school teachers made you practice your reading skills. Thanks to them and thanks to you for reading.

The Amazing John Force

          Your loyal blogger is uncertain whether motor racing fans fully appreciate what we are witnessing from drag racing icon John Force.

          He clinched his 16^th National Hot Rod Association Funny Car championship this week with one race still to go on the 2013 schedule. But the championships and race wins, while tremendous, are not the story.

          The story is one of ageless enthusiasm, of dogged determination and of family. Force’s massive popularity stems, it says here, from his old fashioned, heart-on-the-sleeve love of drag racing.

          Force has never met a fan he didn’t like and has never stiffed a request for an autograph. He’s posed for more photographs than any 20 beauty contestants you can name and his smile is more genuine.

          Media? Sure, he has time for them. John Force has done more interviews than most US presidents and he is more popular than any president you can name. Come to think of it, Force has accomplished more than most presidents, too. This guy so earnest in his desire to spread the gospel of drag racing that he is believable.

Who doesn’t believe John Force?

 Heck, who doesn’t believe in John Force? He has more championships than NASCAR legends Richard Petty and Dale Earnhart, combined. He has more major race wins than anyone I can think of, except Petty. And, at 64, Force has just won another title.

Most team owners are younger than Force but he’s still beating the young drivers.

Three of Force’s daughters, Ashley Force-Hood, Brittany Force and Courtney Force, are racers. Ashley is not racing now, having started a family. But Ashley and Courtney have beaten their Dad in a final round race and it is pretty obvious that the talent apple did not fall far from the Christmas tree, if you catch the drift.

Brittney does not compete directly with John and Courtney, as Brittney drives a Top Fuel car.

Force’s son-in-law, Robert Hight, also drives a Force Funny Car.

John Force is the kind of racer we may not see the likes of again. I suggest we take a step back and appreciate everything he does while he is still doing it.

          Thanks for reading.

Recommended reading

     Your loyal blogger suggests you follow the link below to a story about life, family and courage. The story details the life of Anthony Calvillo, the Canadian Football League quarterback this blog has featured in the past. It appears Calvillo is every bit as good a man as he has been a quarterback.

     I wish I'd written this. It is very well done.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/football-thursday--anthony-calvillo--greatest-qb-you-have-never-seen--didn-t-need-steelers-to-validate-career-041617509.html