Still crazy after all these years

Tony Dungy as DB with Steelers in 1977: Photo ESPN/Getty   … and it did not turn out very well The story that broke on Saturday, Nov. 28 was amazing, though perhaps not so much so because of the crazy 2020 Covid-19 NFL season. The Denver Broncos had four quarterbacks on their roster, but all of them were declared ineligible because they had to enter the Covid protocol on Saturday.  It was an unbelievable story, but the Denver Broncos are not a Super Bowl team in 2020. In 1977, the Pittsburgh Steelers were the winners of two Super Bowls in 1974 and 1975 and had arguably a great season in 1976 that did not lead there.  So, they had a Super Bowl pedigree, unlike the Denver Broncos who have not been a Super Bowl team since Peyton Manning retired.  Yet, the two teams did have on similarity. 1977 mistake by Chuck Noll Chuck Noll was one of the greatest coaches in NFL history, winning four Super Bowls in six years during the 1970s. However, he made a major mistake in 1977, ...

From Cal U athletics … “We took the risk” This lineman was a big guy, about 6-5, 350+ pounds, but off the field, he was a gentle giant, a guy whom everyone loved. So, when he passed away from Covid-19 in September despite the fact that his team’s season had been put off until the spring of 2021, the reaction of those who knew him was predictable, describing his smile and outsized personality as his defining characteristics. Just out of his teens, the young man has passed, and as far as most can tell, he is the only college football player to pass away from the pandemic.  And his family, coaches, and friends are devastated.  Pittsburgh Central Catholic grad A story in Sports Illustrated outlined the devastation at the time of his death when college football programs across the country were trying to determine whether or not to have a season, Jamain Stephens wore a size-19 shoe, could deadlift 635 pounds at the ripe age of 14 and could palm an iPad withe one hand...

Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell in 1977, though not at the Stokes Center Cornbread was the 12th played selected in the 1977 NBA draft, first round, and played 11 seasons with the Boston Celtics, winning two NBA titles.  While the St. Francis men’s basketball team’s win over the University of Pittsburgh on the Panthers home floor was a great win on Thanksgiving eve 2020, it was not the greatest upset in Red Flash history.  That occurred at the Maurice Stokes Center in 1977 under Coach Pete Lonergan, and it included an opponent who became a star with the Boston Celtics.  And it also included an off-the-court event that relegated that superb player to the locker room for the second half of that game.  Victory over a Final Four team The biggest upset victory, however, occurred at the Maurice Stokes Center in 1977. The victory was over North Carolina-Charlotte in 1977, 96-77, but few Red Flash fans that night in a packed facility realized the import of the victory at...

St. Francis' Maxwell Land after burying a trey against Pitt What does the first win in 30 tries say about the Red Flash?  We know what it says about the Panthers. Photo: Tribune-Review … how far the Panthers have fallen When I saw a score on Twitter that indicated that the St. Francis Red Flash were running over the University of Pittsburgh, I thought that maybe it was a women’s score.  However, the Red Flash pulled out an 80-70 victory over the Panthers at the Petersen Events Center on Thanksgiving Eve, shocking everyone from the Pitt media and fans on Twitter to the St. Francis faithful who saw their team win its first game over Pitt in 30 tries.  What makes the situation even more incongruous is that the Red Flash were picked in a preseason poll by Northeast Conference SIDs to finish sixth in the league, which is rated 28th out of 34 by Jeff Sagarin’s preseason rankings.  The Red Flash led by 13 at the half and built that to 20 in the second half before...

James Franklin: Getty Images … criminal allegations more troublesome than the worst record in 134 years Earlier this year, James Franklin appeared to be on top of the world — and then it came crashing down in spectacular fashion. The coach just signed a new six-year contract with Penn State that carried him through the 2025 season.  Franklin will earn $5.4 million this year with some bonuses that could bump that up despite his team’s 0-5 start to the 2020 season. The entire deal was worth $38.2 million. Then 48-years-of-age, Franklin appeared to be set for life.  After all, while he has yet to get the Nittany Lions to the College Football Playoff, he has demonstrated great recruiting skills that could get them there in the future.  Then the coronavirus hit and his family had to move from State College because of the health problems of one of their daughters. Then the team had to play without spectators, leading to the loss of tens of millions of dollars by the ...

The Bengals Vontaze Burfict prepares to hit Antonio Brown in January 2016 Photo: Getty Antonio Brown is back in the news for some of his aberrant behavior that took place during his eight-game suspension by the NFL. This was prior to his being signed by the Tampa Bay Bucs. However, the question about why he does things like destroying a surveillance camera and throwing a bike at a building, like he allegedly did, along with engaging in criminal behavior, has always been difficult to pinpoint. Antonio Brown has been somewhat of an enigma to me, but perhaps I underestimated the reports that perhaps he is suffering from CTE [ Chronic traumatic encephalopathy], which is a condition of the brain that results from too many hits to the head.  What I loved about A.B. was that as a sixth-round pick, he worked exceedingly hard to become a top receiver in the NFL. He became the Steelers’ to receiver and then arguably the best in the league for a number of years.  Then, somehow, he became...