Archive for October, 2008
Limbo Teams: The Dallas Texans
By Stephen Turk
Naming a team can be a tough endeavor. Previous posts here have dealt with the various processes that take place in giving a team an identity. Some names, however, just don’t seem to work out, as if the name itself dooms the team to failure. It seems kind of silly, but it isn’t totally without merit, those in the sports world are a superstitious bunch. The Texans seems to be one such name.
There is a current team, the Houston Texans, who entered the NFL in a recent expansion. They have struggled in their years of existence, and I can only hope for Houston fans that these current Texans fare better than the Texans of old. › Continue reading
AFL Follow-up
by Stephen Turk
Recently, I wrote on the interesting situation surrounding the merger of the AFL and the NFL, which gave us, of course, the modern NFL as we know it. My primary source for all this was the great and extremely detailed and informative book Remember the AFL by Dave Steidel. Well, I’ve had the opportunity to communicate with Dave, and he has generously fielded a few specific questions. So here is some additional information from the expert:
Q: In watching today’s NFL, what reminds you of the AFL?
A: The names on jerseys, the two point conversion, side line reporters, the game clock being the official time were all started in the AFL. Also in the beginning the AFL offenses were very creative and wide open. Some people suggest that the West Coast offense started in the AFL with San Diego’s Sid Gillman in the early sixties. The type of game played by the NFL today is more like the old AFL then the old NFL. › Continue reading
Limbo Teams: The Baltimore Colts, Part II
By Stephen Turk
In the ring of honor at the Baltimore Ravens stadium, are the names of all hall of fame Baltimore Colts. Having never played in Indianapolis or for the Ravens franchise, they are in team limbo, and belong to no one but the fans who loved them.
After 1954, firmly rooted in Baltimore, the Colts began their ascent toward greatness. The Baltimore Colts got good the way any team does. They had some smart drafting, some good trades, and a measure of luck. The team had a couple of solid holdovers from the Dallas Texans days, including future hall of famers Art Donovan and Gino Marchetti. In 1956 Lenny Moore, another future hall of famer, was drafted in the first round. A solid team was being built, but clearly the greatest move of all was acquiring Johnny Unitas.
Unitas had been cut by his native Pittsburgh after being picked in the ninth round, and was relegated to playing semi-pro ball before going to a tryout for the Baltimore Colts in 1956. He was signed, and played in the fourth game of the season when the starter went down. He was terrible. › Continue reading
Limbo Teams: The Baltimore Colts, Part I
By Stephen Turk
What is a team in limbo? When a team goes defunct, either through moving or folding entirely, the former team is gone for all intents and purposes. But when considering the historical value of a defunct team, there is a whole story there. There are front office decisions for a team that doesn’t exist any more, there are records set and statistics recorded for a nonexistent entity, there are photos of a team that doesn’t play anymore. It’s in this way that a team becomes a limbo team; a team that exists in memories and stats, but not in the present day. › Continue reading
Fun with Money: Part II
By Stephen Turk
Curt Flood reintroduced the argument for free-agency to baseball, but was ultimately denied. Two years later, in 1974, Catfish Hunter would become the first free-agent due to a unique situation and a contract dispute. Hunter was prolific with the Oakland A’s, but owner Charlie Finley failed to make a payment. Hunter’s contract was deemed void and with no reserve clause to keep him, he was the first major league ball player on the open market, free to go wherever he pleased.
A bidding war ensued, reaching offers as high as five years, $4.5 million. Hunter took a deal with the Yankees, five years at $3.5 million with incentives. The nightmare scenario that Bouton talked about in Ball Four had happened, players knew how much they were worth. If a great pitcher could get that money, then other great pitchers should be getting it. And if that was the case then great position players and hitters should make comparable amounts, if not more for their everyday play. And if that was to be the going rate for great players, then certainly the pay gap between great players and good players should be smaller. But perhaps the greatest new feature going on here was the fact that this was a multi-year deal. That meant guaranteed money, that meant stability and wealth that ball players had never experienced and were quick to welcome. › Continue reading
Fun with Money: Part I
As a fan, I have no problem extolling the importance of the fan in sports. It is the most important role. The fan is the heralder, the bookkeeper, the archivist, and the backbone to the whole system. But in today’s world of sports, with huge contracts, expensive tickets and merchandise, and greed all around, there is much talk about the average fan being priced out of their pastime.
So let’s look at the institution of free-agency in baseball, arguably a big piece of the inflating contracts bubble. › Continue reading
A Unique Pairing: Part II
By Stephen Turk
After the 1965, only five years into the AFL’s existence, the NFL realized that they had a competent competitor in the AFL. The animosity amongst the leagues centered around some fairly simple concepts, talent and money.
With nary a friendly agreement between the leagues, rosters were often raided. The AFL at this time 
was be headed up by bullish Raiders owner Al Davis (a man still making headlines today), and there really was nothing off limits.
The AFL was able to establish itself rather quickly. Player contracts weren’t at the level they are today, so owners could compete in drafting college talent, the AFL had a television deal, so people were watching, and the interest in football around the country was only growing. Dave Steidel chronicles in his Remember the AFL that it all started when the Giants signed away kicker Pete Gogolak from the Bills. Al Davis responded by promising big money to NFL players coming up on the ends of their contracts.
A Unique Pairing: Part I
By Stephen Turk
I recently picked up Remember the AFL by Dave Steidel, and I haveto say it’s pretty fascinating. The idea that an upstart league could not only survive in the same waters as the powerhouse, but take only six years to force a merger, is something that’s as impressive to me as it is foreign. I’ve seen expansions in the major sports, but I’ve never seen a merger.
But yet, what is wholly unimaginable to me happened in 1966 with the AFL and NFL merged. To put it in perspective, that would
be like if the NFL joined up with the ill-fated XFL, something which certainly did not happen. In fact, I don’t believe that a merger like the one between the NFL and AFL could ever happen again; the circumstances were just too singular. › Continue reading
Sports Games: Bubble Hockey
I’ve waited long enough. So here goes, my favorite sports game of them all, bubble hockey.
The game was the very first coin operated foray of Innovative Concepts in Entertainment, and they named it “Chexx.” Logistically speaking, bubble hockey (also known as dome hockey, or the greatest game ever) is very similar to foosball. Players are controlled via bars and the object is to score goals. There are some key differences; as opposed to foosball, where a bar controls a line of players, bubble hockey guys are controlled individually and move about and spin in a slot cut into the “ice.” While this removes the possibility of an exciting hockey fight, it also removes the more pesky penalties such as off-sides and icing. It also allows you to pull of some pretty complex and thrilling moves, what with the ability to rotate your players 360 degrees.
An iconic feature of the game is the large plastic dome that covers the game. This serves several purposes. One is that it provides a structure for the nifty electronic scoreboard to hang from, and the other is that it prevents cheating and the loss or theft of the puck and players. You see, a big factor of the game was its pointed approach. Whereas foosball has a parlor and garage game legacy, bubble hockey was aimed squarely for the arcades, where no one wanted to take any chances with what kids might to an unprotected machine. › Continue reading
What’s in a Name?
By Stephen Turk
As the baseball playoffs go on, it’s got me thinking about the names of the team s involved. We have the Boston Red Sox, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers, Red Sox, and Phillies have all been around for a long time, and as such their team names came about in different ways than teams that came about later. The Rays, of course, are one of these later teams, and looking at the stories behind the names, yields some interesting stories, as well as tracks some of the changes that have occurred in sports.
Let’s look at the three old time teams first. When pro baseball started up, there weren’t official team names for many of them. They would be the baseball club from Hyannisport or wherever. Nicknames often came about from sportswriters making an alliteration of the coaches name, relating them to a popular trend, or merely pointing out a common element of their play or uniform detail. › Continue reading