Pillars and Scapegoating

Pillars is the term we used for our book about the coaches who went on to create the top winning programs in professional football. A coach has to have all his players doing well as a team for a winning program. I know from my own modest coaching experience, as you move up in age and level of competition any weaknesses can often be exploited by your opposition. You might be able to hide a poor outfielder in right field in the early stages of Little League, but the more advanced teams will start hitting to right at every opportunity.  As a coach, you learn that the program you  put in place has to spend time focusing on improving your weakest players. 

Sometimes in the cruelest of ways, a very good player fails in a critical moment and the public comes to scapegoat him or her although other team members were certainly part of the loss. You often see a coach or group of players expound on the importance of playing as a team and teamwork.  That doesn't mean however, that everyone shares that opinion after a loss. 

We recently saw that Bill Buckner passed away. Buckner is remembered by some for his missed ground ball in the 1986 World Series between Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets. Similar to other players who have been scapegoated in Major League Baseball, there was plenty of blame to go around for the loss, but Buckner took it on the chin. Buckner was injured, and many believe he should not have been in the game at the time. Regardless, the mistake was a small footnote in a splendid career--the error has been exaggerated in its importance. With the Boston Red Sox now winning 4 World Series Championships in the 21st century, you hope to see more spirited positive coverage of Buckner's career. 

Our book, Public Bonehead, Private Hero, covered the baseball life of Fred Merkle. Merkle played in the pre-radio time when the newspapers followed baseball very closely. Merkle's mistake was not tagging second base when a player on his team lined a hit to the outfield and Merkle got off the field as many of his contemporary baserunners would have done in the same circumstance. Tagging the next base was the rule on a game winning hit with men on base, but the rule was generally ignored. Merkle was only 19 at the time, but the press was merciless and raked Merkle over the coals in the press. Fans picked up on the write ups and let Merkle have it at home and away--for DECADES. 

Preseason Reminder: NFL Approves New Rule to Allow for Reviews of Pass Interference

The NFL ownership approved a new rule in March that allows for offensive and defensive pass interference (including non-calls)  to be subject to review. According to the NFL, coaches can challenge those calls in the first 28 minutes of each half. In the final two minutes of each half, those calls will be subject to a booth review. This rule change is made on a trial basis only for the 2019 season.

The one play that was the most egregious non-call last year took place in the NFC Championship game. The Saints and Rams were tied late in the game (1:49 remaining); the Saints had the ball on third and 10. Drew Brees from just beyond the 20 yard line threw to his receiver Tommylee Lewis who was down field at about the 5 yard line. Clearly, Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman tackled Lewis and made helmet-to-helmet contact before the football arrived. Two penalties could have been called. If pass interference was called, the Saints would have had the ball roughly a yard away from the end zone. Brees could have used up more clock and scored late in the game leaving the Rams with no time or very little time. The Rams went on to win the game in overtime. 

Based on that game, Saints owner Gayle Benson wrote a letter expressing her dissapointment: “No team should ever be denied the opportunity to reach the title game (or simply win a game) based on the actions, or inactions, of those charged with creating a fair and equitable playing field. As is clear to all who watched the game, it is undeniable that our team and fans were unfairly deprived of that opportunity yesterday."

Forrest Gregg Was One of the Best

One of the greatest Packers, Forrest Gregg, passed away on April 11 at age 85. Gregg was from a small town called Birthright, Texas.  And then he moved to a tiny bit bigger place where they had enough kids to field a football team called Sulphur Springs. He was from a big poor farm family and his father needed him and the other kids in the family to help. Sometimes the father sent his kids over to another farmer to pick cotton to help make ends meet.  The Greggs worked to survive and you got a sense that was not that unusual for folks from that part of Texas.  Gregg talked about bailing hay as a young man and the fact that is paid $4 a day versus the $3 a day for cotton.

Forrest Gregg was a good athlete and he liked to play basketball and football in high school. Still his father took a little convincing that sports would somehow help the family out. Along the way, Gregg got some help and encouragement from coaches and other folks. He remembered those people throughout his life. Gregg  attended SMU and he remembered his time there fondly.  After SMU Gregg would play for 15 years in the NFL and then go on to coach in college, the NFL and the CFL. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Gregg could have been described as one of the best ever to play his position in the history of the game.

Gregg was drafted by the Packers in 1956. At about 6-foot as a junior in high school, he had filled out to 6-foot-4 and 249 pounds. Gregg was not familiar with the Packers. According to his biography, Winning in the Trenches, he was not sure what state Green Bay was in. He played in Green Bay in 1956 for Coach Lisle Blackbourn. Then was drafted into the Army.  He was back in Green Bay in 1958 playing for new coach, Ray Scooter McLean. In 1959 the whole Packer world changed with the hiring of Vince Lombardi.

Gregg would play offensive tackle although he was a little undersized for the position. He would also fill-in at guard when others were injured. Gregg's personal career would be described with the Iron Man tag.  Lombardi was one coach who could appreciate the importance of the offensive line.  He himself was one of the "Seven Blocks of Granite" at Fordham. Lombardi was big on the fundamentals and Gregg would certainly help the Packers play fundamental football. Greg would play for all of Lombardi's 1959-1967 seasons for the Packers.  He would win 5 NFL Championships. Gregg would play at Green Bay until 197o and then finish out his career with the Dallas Cowboys in their 1971 Super Bowl year. Lombardi would call Gregg the finest player he had coached.

Gregg would coach for the Browns, the Bengals, and the Packers in the NFL. He also coached for the Toronto Argonauts and the Shreveport Pirates  in the Canadian Football League.  When his alma mater SMU Aggies received the "death penalty" for various infractions Gregg came back to help revive the program.

Gregg's 1981 Bengal team lost a Super Bowl game to the San Francisco 49ers of Bill Walsh and Joe Montana. The Bengals were shut out in the first half and came roaring make. The Bengals would score 20 points, but missed a touchdown late in the third quarter that might have given them a victory.  Held back on 3 consecutive downs from a yard away, the Bengals just could not score on the series.  The 49ers ended up with a 26-21 win and Bill Walsh ended up with his first of three Super Bowl wins.  It just as well could have been the Bengals game. 

Being a member of the Packers during the Lombardi years has meant Hall of Fame Status for several players. Certainly Gregg was deserving. Gregg not only played well for a number of years, he played well against several of the best defensive lineman. And as a coach he often fought with the best of them. 

Curly Lambeau Pillar of the NFL and Packer Backer

Lambeau was the grandson of Belgian immigrants and his family put roots down in Green Bay.  The area was known for iron smelting, papermaking, lumber milling, manufacturing and to some extent meatpacking. Green Bay is a place that does the difficult.  Lambeau's grandfather was a bricklayer and his father operated a construction company.

Not unlike Lombardi, Lambeau had generations of difficult physical labor in his genes. A handsome muscular boy with "curly" hair, he played football and track at Green Bay High School.  His father encouraged college, but Curly  had little interest in it other than for the opportunity to play more football.  He attended the University of Wisconsin briefly and the University of Notre Dame for a year. At Notre Dame he played for Knute Rockne in the backfield behind the likes of George "the Gipper" Gipp.  Lambeau was a fan of the passing game as was Knute Rockne. [When he coached, he would use the single wing formation, which was used by ND.]  Towards the end of his single year to ND, he got sick and went home to recover. He never returned, but kept in touch with Rockne and would recommend local talent from time to time.  One that he recommended was  Jim Crowley, who would go on to fame as one of the Four Horseman of ND and later coach.

As a  young man, Lambeau had a reputation for athletic prowess. After his schooling, he was interested in the Wales football team in Green Bay and started playing ball with them. He joined a pal on the team, Nate Abrams, whose family owned a cattle business. The Wales were a semi pro industrial league that had an inconsistent past. In 1919, Abrams pal Frank Peck was persuaded to sponsor the team, Lambeau was taking more of a leadership role, and they got local reporter George Calhoun to tout the team. Ambitions were growing to turn the team into something more lasting and significant.

The Packers grew out of the amateur Whales with lots of help from Calhoun. In 1921, they became an official pro team by joining the American Professional Football Association the group that Halas was involved in establishing in Canton, Ohio that would change it's name to the NFL in 1922.

Lambeau had put together team with many regional players, but he had much more work to be done in order to compete with the best. There must have been times when the team was desperate to fill slots for games, and the Packers had put in college players during the season.  In the early days of professional football, many people believed that the College game was the best level for football and the professional football was where the game might get corrupted. Many were concerned about the pros encroaching into the college game and doing damage. The truth was that there was plenty of problems that would surface in the college game itself. However, the league fathers felt compelled to take away the Green Bay franchise because the team was caught with college players. Other teams had done it as well, but Green Bay was caught at a critical time.

Oddly enough, it was Lambeau himself who applied for a new franchise and was allowed to field a team in 1922. Lambeau would only own the team for one season as financial woes to operate the team were beyond his means. Local Green Bay business owners came to his defense and established a corporation and shares to bankroll the team and take ownership.

The modest Packers won the hearts of local fans. The team had its own amateur band, fans helped in volunteering efforts for various aspects of the operation. In the early days, the team would change before they came to the field to play.  Where they played home games was primitive by some standards, but Lambeau and the town kept after things and making the whole operation an excellent one within the first decade of existence.

Lambeau was not a good coach when the team started out. At times, newly recruited players from established colleges would comment on the coach's lack of understand of the game. But Lambeau was good at finding talent and Calhoun drew in the fans.  His naïve approach to coaching would change and before too long he became quite good.  In 1929-1931, his Packers won three championships in a row. The Packers won again in 1936, 1939, and 1944.

For a quarter of a century, the Corporation allowed Lambeau to manage the team as if he was the owner. Postwar changes to the Packers including a decentralization of power and a rival league competing for players left the entrepreneur free-spirited Lambeau out of his element. He resigned before the 1950 season began.

There will never be another coach in Green Bay who was born and raised in the town, and then stays on for decades.

Image: Copyright William Potter, Used in Pillars of the NFL--found in products on this website. sportingchancepress.com

Copyright Sporting Chance Press

NFL Approves New Rule to Allow for Reviews of Pass Interference

The NFL reported that last night at the annual ownership meeting a new rule was approved that allows for offensive and defensive pass interference (including non-calls)  to be subject to review. According to the NFL, coaches can challenge those calls in the first 28 minutes of each half. In the final two minutes of each half, those calls will be subject to a booth review. This rule change is made on a trial basis only for the 2019 season.

The one play that was the most egregious non-call last year took place in the NFC Championship game. The Saints and Rams were tied late in the game (1:49 remaining), the Saints had the ball on third and 10. Drew Brees from just beyond the 20 yard line threw to his receiver Tommylee Lewis who was down field at about the 5 yard line. Clearly Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman tackled Lewis and made helmet-to-helmet contact before the football arrived. Two penalties could have been called. If pass interference was called, the Saints would have had the ball roughly a yard away from the end zone. Brees could have used up more clock and scored late in the game leaving the Rams with no time or very little time. The Rams went on to win the game in overtime. 

Based on that game, Saints owner Gayle Benson wrote a letter expressing her dissapointment: “No team should ever be denied the opportunity to reach the title game (or simply win a game) based on the actions, or inactions, of those charged with creating a fair and equitable playing field. As is clear to all who watched the game, it is undeniable that our team and fans were unfairly deprived of that opportunity yesterday."

Bears Will Play Packers in First Game of 2019

The Bears and the NFL both celebrating their 100th seasons this year (the early days of the NFL are discussed in our Pillars of the NFL book). 

The NFL will begin the season with a Thursday night game on September 5th featuring the Chicago Bears versus their arch-rival Green Bay Packers. Sure to be a very popular game in Chicago and nationally with many up and coming players on the Bears and their successful coaching staff.  On the other side of the field there will be many questions marks as Packer fans will like miss several of the personalities that have made the Packers--well, the Packers. First, the fiery Packer's coach Mike McCarthy is gone. McCarthy was that fit the city by the blue-collar bay.  

Then, eight year Packer veteran wide received Randall Cobb has signed with the Dallas Cowboys. And ten year veteran Clay Matthews has signed with the Los Angeles Rams. Cobb has been one of Aaron Rodgers's most reliable targets and was there when the hobbled Rodgers led the Packers to a come from behind victory at home in the first game of the season in 2018. Likewise, Bears fans may be glad to see the often-posing Clay Matthews who has certainly been a problem for the Bears over the years.  Some believe Matthews is "over-the-hill," but let's keep in mind stat-wise that the NFL was adjusting to new rules last year that hurt some players like Matthews.  Also there should be some benefit to Matthews playing more game in a warmer climate. The Rams are also written about as a team that needs depth and certainly the former USC great can help  fill that need. 

Papa Bear and the Chicago Bears Winning Ways

A Look at Papa Bear

As we are coming up to the new football season. First the draft and then before you know it, it will be training camp. It's a great time to remind readers that we have a small book that has tremendous value for kids that we have available as an eBook on Kindle. It is called Papa Bear and the Chicago Bears’ Winning Ways by Patrick McCaskey. “Papa Bear” George Halas was the owner of the Chicago Bears and one of the founders of the National Football League. He was also the author's grandfather. This is a short book about how he successfully managed the Bears during the 20^th Century. It’s also a book that focuses on some of George Halas’s sayings or “winning ways” that may help you and your children.  

Papa Bear and the Chicago Bears Winning Ways discusses some historical events that affected George Halas and many others. When we do this, we put certain words in italics and then we explain them for the reader in the Glossary in the back of the book. It's a simple easy to read book that kids will like.