Saturday, June 26, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Sam Bam, thank you man
Sam "Bam" Cunningham will join the likes of Steve Grogan, Ben Coates, and Gino Cappelletti in the Patriots Hall of Fame. The team announced today that Cunningham was the winner of the online poll by the fans. A deserving choice.
Sam Bam was the workhorse for the college champion USC Trojans when he was drafted in the first round in 1973. He became the plow horse for the Patriots offense just as I started watching football. He was a fullback and me along with every other Patriot fa
n of that time loved watching him pound through would-be tacklers to become the team's all-time leading rusher.
Cunningham's style of play is largely responsible for my love of fullbacks. Kevin Turner. Mosi Tatupu. Heath Evans. Marc Edwards. Keith Byars. Sam Gash. Oh. Sam Gash. And they are just some of my favorite Patriots fullbacks. Some of my favorite NFL players are also fullbacks. Alstott. Bleier. Csonka. Love fullbacks. The Pats haven't won a Super Bowl since they decided they didn't really need one. And that with an NFL historian like Belichick as coach. He of all people should know you don't play NFL football without a fullback.
Sam Bam was not your typical fullback, bringing a combination of power and speed rarely seen. He finished his career in 1982 with 5,543 yards rushing, still a team record. Cunningham was part of the 1978 Patriots team that totalled 3,165 yards rushing. That is still the single season NFL record. Watching defenses trying to stop the '78 Patriots was like watching a bunch of children trying to stop a locomotive. It couldn't be done. I still can't believe that team didn't win a Super Bowl. They had been building towards it since 1973 with Grogan, Hannah, Morgan, Nelson, Clayborn, Haynes, and of course, Sam Bam. But that's a heartbreaking story for another day.
Cunningham was one of three first round picks the Patriots had in '73. The first one was John Hannah. The greatest offensive lineman to play the game. The last one was Darryl Stingley. The greatest tragedy the game has ever seen. In the middle of those picks the Pats took Sam Cunningham. In my book, the greatest fullback the NFL has even seen.
Sam Bam was the workhorse for the college champion USC Trojans when he was drafted in the first round in 1973. He became the plow horse for the Patriots offense just as I started watching football. He was a fullback and me along with every other Patriot fa
n of that time loved watching him pound through would-be tacklers to become the team's all-time leading rusher.Cunningham's style of play is largely responsible for my love of fullbacks. Kevin Turner. Mosi Tatupu. Heath Evans. Marc Edwards. Keith Byars. Sam Gash. Oh. Sam Gash. And they are just some of my favorite Patriots fullbacks. Some of my favorite NFL players are also fullbacks. Alstott. Bleier. Csonka. Love fullbacks. The Pats haven't won a Super Bowl since they decided they didn't really need one. And that with an NFL historian like Belichick as coach. He of all people should know you don't play NFL football without a fullback.
Sam Bam was not your typical fullback, bringing a combination of power and speed rarely seen. He finished his career in 1982 with 5,543 yards rushing, still a team record. Cunningham was part of the 1978 Patriots team that totalled 3,165 yards rushing. That is still the single season NFL record. Watching defenses trying to stop the '78 Patriots was like watching a bunch of children trying to stop a locomotive. It couldn't be done. I still can't believe that team didn't win a Super Bowl. They had been building towards it since 1973 with Grogan, Hannah, Morgan, Nelson, Clayborn, Haynes, and of course, Sam Bam. But that's a heartbreaking story for another day.
Cunningham was one of three first round picks the Patriots had in '73. The first one was John Hannah. The greatest offensive lineman to play the game. The last one was Darryl Stingley. The greatest tragedy the game has ever seen. In the middle of those picks the Pats took Sam Cunningham. In my book, the greatest fullback the NFL has even seen.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Sight for sore eyes ... and knees
The Pats held some OTAs (that's organized team activity) in the past few days. It was good to see most of the players in uniform together for the first time since the season ended. Brady was present and I enjoyed watching video of him throwing to Moss, Holt, Edelman, Welker... Welker?
There was #83 cutting across the middle of the field -- his office -- and hauling in Brady passes. Then, more importantly, there was #83 turning on his surgically-repaired knee and picking up some yards-after-catch. It's only the first week of June and Welker, wearing a knee brace, is way ahead of schedule. When he went down in the last game of the regular season I figured he would miss most if not all of 2010. A year recovery is the norm for a major knee blow out. Wes Welker has proven he is not the norm.
If Welker is able to return for the start of the season -- and last the whole year -- the Pats' offense goes from good to great. A healthy Welker added to Moss, Holt, Edelman, Faulk, and the rookie tight ends gives Brady lots of options in the passing game. The Jets will need more than Darrelle Revis to shut down all of those weapons.
Welker is the spiritual leader of the Pats. You could see it when he got hurt. Brady looked just like Moss looked back in the first week of '08. Like his girlfriend had just broke his heart. And you could see it a week later against the Ravens in the playoffs. Sure, Welker's absence wasn't the reason the Pats got pounded. But not having his gritty style of leadership sure made it worse.
I didn't expect to get to see #83 cutting across the middle of the field for a key catch on third down this year. Looks like I will. When's the home opener?
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Ride on, Dennis
Dennis Hopper was usually one of the last things I saw before I went to sleep each night when I was about 8 years old. It was 1970 and "Easy Rider," the seminal road film that Hopper co-wrote, co-starred in, and directed a year earlier, had left an impression on many people about to enter or already in college, including my 17-year-old brother Richard.
It also left an impression on me. I shared a room with him and my other older brother Jim. On the wall next to the shelf with the 8-track player was a long hor
izontal poster of Hopper and Peter Fonda gliding along the highway on their choppers with the Southwest landscape behind them. Fonda with his American Flag custom paint job, no helmet, hair in the wind. Hopper with his mustache, bushman hat, and buckskin pants and tassle-covered coat. I would lie in bed listening to the Stones, Doors or Jefferson Airplane coming from Richard's or Jim's headphones and stare at the poster. Fonda and Hopper. Both wearing sunglasses, leaning back, on the road. They were the picture of cool. I often fell asleep imagining where they were riding to. I could almost hear the engines.
It was several years until I actually got to see the movie. There were no R-rated DVDs for kids to watch when their parents were at work when I was 8. No On Demand. You either snuck into the theater or waited -- for years. I was a little too young for sneaking. But just looking at that poster every night slowly made me part of the "Easy Rider" faithful.
When I finally did watch it, Hopper's Billy was like no other character I had seen. Hopper was like no other actor. I would see many characters like Billy again from those who Hopper inspired to do their acting over the edge. Jack Nicholson was one of those actors. His drunken ACLU lawyer George attracted most of the attention (and Oscar nomination) and sparked a legendary career. But it was Hopper's Billy that I remembered after leaving the theater. The actor's most famous lines come from his roles in "Apocalypse Now" and "Blue Velvet,'' but it was Billy's line in the scene with George in the darkness of night -- only a campfire reflecting on their faces -- that I think of first.
Nicholson's George tells Billy the establishment is afraid of what he and his friends represent. Billy says "Hey man. All we represent to them, man, is just somebody who needs haircuts.'' Oh no, man, George tells him. What they represent to them is freedom. Billy answers with one of my favorite movie lines and one that captures the late '60s/early '70s as well as any lyric or line from that time.
"What the hell's wrong with freedom, man? That's what it's all about."
Hopper's death the other day had me watching bits of "Apocalypse Now" and "Heart of Darkness" for some of his best moments. It also had me watching another classic clip of his that many have probably not seen -- or at least don't remember seeing. And here is where this post fits in on a tailgating blog.
Hopper's career suffered at the hands of his over-the-edge style. He took his visions -- even the non-drug induced ones -- too far and became too big of a hassle to deal with. He was in exile most of the '70s. He returned in the '80s with "Rumblefish" and "Blue Velvet" and "Hoosiers" and then became the movie villain of the '90s starting with his role in "Speed." It was at this time that the NFL brought him in to do little promo videos for Monday Night Football and other big games. Some of them rank among the best in TV shorts. My favorite (attached below) is the one he did before the Patriots home opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers in September of 2002. That was quite a night. One of the all-time greats in Foxborough: http://tjtailgatetales.blogspot.com/2009/11/we-are-champions.html The Pats were defending their first Super Bowl on a Thursday night in their new stadium. The banner was raised. The Steelers destroyed. I got home late that night and, as I often do, popped open a beer and popped in the video tape of the game.
I fast-forwarded through the pre-game talk till I saw a blurry Dennis Hopper going by. I stopped and hit rewind. Then play. I still laugh when I watch it. It captures just how amazing it was that the Patriots really won the Super Bowl. And note the very end. Hopper predicts the Patriots dynasty. "Every year, man! Every year!"
izontal poster of Hopper and Peter Fonda gliding along the highway on their choppers with the Southwest landscape behind them. Fonda with his American Flag custom paint job, no helmet, hair in the wind. Hopper with his mustache, bushman hat, and buckskin pants and tassle-covered coat. I would lie in bed listening to the Stones, Doors or Jefferson Airplane coming from Richard's or Jim's headphones and stare at the poster. Fonda and Hopper. Both wearing sunglasses, leaning back, on the road. They were the picture of cool. I often fell asleep imagining where they were riding to. I could almost hear the engines.It was several years until I actually got to see the movie. There were no R-rated DVDs for kids to watch when their parents were at work when I was 8. No On Demand. You either snuck into the theater or waited -- for years. I was a little too young for sneaking. But just looking at that poster every night slowly made me part of the "Easy Rider" faithful.
When I finally did watch it, Hopper's Billy was like no other character I had seen. Hopper was like no other actor. I would see many characters like Billy again from those who Hopper inspired to do their acting over the edge. Jack Nicholson was one of those actors. His drunken ACLU lawyer George attracted most of the attention (and Oscar nomination) and sparked a legendary career. But it was Hopper's Billy that I remembered after leaving the theater. The actor's most famous lines come from his roles in "Apocalypse Now" and "Blue Velvet,'' but it was Billy's line in the scene with George in the darkness of night -- only a campfire reflecting on their faces -- that I think of first.
Nicholson's George tells Billy the establishment is afraid of what he and his friends represent. Billy says "Hey man. All we represent to them, man, is just somebody who needs haircuts.'' Oh no, man, George tells him. What they represent to them is freedom. Billy answers with one of my favorite movie lines and one that captures the late '60s/early '70s as well as any lyric or line from that time.
"What the hell's wrong with freedom, man? That's what it's all about."
Hopper's death the other day had me watching bits of "Apocalypse Now" and "Heart of Darkness" for some of his best moments. It also had me watching another classic clip of his that many have probably not seen -- or at least don't remember seeing. And here is where this post fits in on a tailgating blog.
Hopper's career suffered at the hands of his over-the-edge style. He took his visions -- even the non-drug induced ones -- too far and became too big of a hassle to deal with. He was in exile most of the '70s. He returned in the '80s with "Rumblefish" and "Blue Velvet" and "Hoosiers" and then became the movie villain of the '90s starting with his role in "Speed." It was at this time that the NFL brought him in to do little promo videos for Monday Night Football and other big games. Some of them rank among the best in TV shorts. My favorite (attached below) is the one he did before the Patriots home opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers in September of 2002. That was quite a night. One of the all-time greats in Foxborough: http://tjtailgatetales.blogspot.com/2009/11/we-are-champions.html The Pats were defending their first Super Bowl on a Thursday night in their new stadium. The banner was raised. The Steelers destroyed. I got home late that night and, as I often do, popped open a beer and popped in the video tape of the game.
I fast-forwarded through the pre-game talk till I saw a blurry Dennis Hopper going by. I stopped and hit rewind. Then play. I still laugh when I watch it. It captures just how amazing it was that the Patriots really won the Super Bowl. And note the very end. Hopper predicts the Patriots dynasty. "Every year, man! Every year!"
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