I got my tax return back a few days ago. Most of it goes into my savings account, but we do take a couple of hundred dollars just to spend on stuff we've been wanting but haven't had the extra to buy. Usually it's books or DVDs we've been wanting, or something along those lines--nothing really expensive.
This year, I bought Cody The Colts: The Complete History , and I, of course, got myself The Dallas Cowboys:The Complete History of America's Team. At the risk of sounding maudlin, it has been a wonderful trip down memory lane. The names I grew up with: Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, Drew Pearson, The Doomsday Defense, Too Tall Jones, Randy White and Harvey Martin, Charlie and Cliff--the terrible twosome, Hollywood Henderson...These are the names that bring back memories of my childhood and the glory days of football. I thought to myself that the feeling with which I remember these names, Cody will remember the names of Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, LaDanian Tomlinson, Tom Brady. But he will be missing out on something very special.
There was a flair and a flamboyancy back then that I don't see in the game today. Most of all, there was a passion that has been lost. Those guys loved the game. They would have played for nothing. They practically did. All but the highest paid players had to take on second jobs during the off season just to make ends meet and support their families. There were no multi-million dollar salaries, no seven digit signing bonuses. They played because they wanted to play football.
As much as Peyton Manning spouts on about loving the game, ask him to give back his eight million dollar 2007 signing bonus and his twelve million dollar annual salary and play for free and see how fast he retires. Football has become a business, more concerned with profits and losses than wins and losses.
And the real loser is the game itself.
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4 comments:
Hi Becky, Sorry I haven't dropped by before this . . . I've had major computer problems, a much too busy schedule and a few days of overdoing it and having to take it extra easy the next day or two because of my propensity to ignore the fact that pacing is the number one rule when my fibromyalgia acts up.
I do like the sketches you did for Scarves from the Heart. I'll email you privately with more info.
Hope you're feeling better.
But he will be missing out on something very special.
There was a flair and a flamboyancy back then that I don't see in the game today.
The flair, flamboyancy, and love of the game is in hockey today. You still see it in football on Saturdays, but rarely on Sundays. So, yeah, Cody is indeed missing a lot if you haven't introduced him to hockey yet. And you should.
just sayin'.
Roger Staubach was an amazing quarterback, but an even more impressive man. Although I think there are few men like him, I do think there are some amazing players today. Sure they get the big salaries today, but I think there are still good men doing good things for pro football. There are just so many that give the game a bad name these days. I think it is the coaches who can make the real difference for the players. Tom Landry was an awesome coach and good man. He made the Cowboys and their reputation with his leadership ability.
Buck, I've tried to watch hockey, but I just can't get into it. It bores me. I enjoy both college and pro football, but I don't really see the flair in college football any more or less than in pro.
Lou, sure there are good men doing good things in football today, just as there were 30 years ago. I think, though, that the game itself has changed. It's just different. I don't really know what it is, but it's not the same.
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