Coaches With Ties To The USC Trojans

Coaches come and go… sometimes quite often. There are three NFL head coaches that all played collegiate football at the University of Southern California. Three doesn’t sound like a great many, but when you think about it, that is roughly 10% of the head coaches in the NFL.

Jeff Fisher – Tennessee Titans Head Coach – Played Cornerback for the Trojans
Jack Del Rio – Jacksonville Jaguars Head Coach – Was a standout linebacker at USC
Mike Holmgren – Seattle Seahawks Head Coach – Was on the USC roster as a Quarterback.

Football Team Names - Not As Consistent As You May Believe

In this modern age we are constantly hit with the idea of brand loyalty. How will customers, or fans, be able to make that connection with a company or team without continuity in a name? While Green Bay has always been the Packers, not every team has always played under the name they have today.

The Chicago Bears started out as the Decatur Staleys. The Decatur Staleys? Try picturing fans nowadays cheering for the mighty Decatur Staleys.

When the AFL came about in 1960 the New York team was the New York Titans. After two unproductive seasons, the new ownership changed the name to the New York Jets. Years later, Titans would resurface in the NFL when Tennessee changed its name from Oilers to Titans after moving from Houston to Nashville (with a brief stay in Memphis as the Tennessee Oilers).

The Kansas City Chiefs have some of the most vocal and loyal fans in the NFL, few of them were there to cheer the team when they were first known as the Dallas Texans. The NFL would again bring back a previously used AFL name when the expansion Houston franchise took the name of Texans in 2002.

The name game is also prevalent in the Canadian Football League. The most extreme CFL example would be the Montreal Alouettes. The Alouettes played in the CFL from 1946 until the team ceased to exist in 1981. In 1982 a new Montreal football team joined the CFL, the Montreal Concordes. Two years later the Concordes renamed themselves the Alouettes before going out of business themselves not long after. The saga of the Alouettes doesn’t end there. The CFL had a short lived franchise in the American city of Baltimore which debuted as the Baltimore Colts, and then due to litigation changed its name to the Baltimore CFL Colts and the Baltimore CFLers, before finally settling on the Baltimore Stallions. When the NFL announced the Cleveland Browns would be relocating to Baltimore and becoming the Ravens, the ownership of the Baltimore Stallions moved the team to Montreal and became the latest incarnation of the Montreal Alouettes.

The Arizona Cardinals, back in the time they played in Chicago, were known early on as the Racine Normals.

Originally playing football as the Portsmouth Spartans, the Detroit Lions would go on to become one of the oldest NFL franchises.

Playing their first games as the Boston Patriots, the team changed its geographic name to New England without even moving. Not unheard of, the Phoenix Cardinals similarly became the Arizona Cardinals without moving.

Because of World War II and the shortage of players, the Eagles and Steelers merged for a year forming the Phil-Pitt Steagles.

The Rams have been the Cleveland Rams and Los Angeles Rams before settling in St. Louis as the St. Louis Rams in 1995.

Though Seattle has always been the Seahawks, there was a prior Seahawks in professional football. In 1946, the AAFC had a team called the Miami Seahawks. That year Miami was horrible on and off the field and ended up folding and going out of business.

The World Football League of the 1970s had a team known as the Memphis Southmen, the franchise had originally been planned to be in Toronto and have the nickname of the Toronto Northmen.

Even the National Football League itself was originally named the American Professional Football Association, or the APFA.

So, really… what’s in a name?

Marshall Faulk’s Amazing Second Collegiate Game Ever

The saying goes that you only get one chance to make a first impression, well Marshall Faulk made quite a first impression during the second football game of his freshman season at San Diego State University.

When the day was done, the Aztecs had not only won the game but Marshall Faulk had left no doubt that he would make an impact as a football player. Marshall Faulk scored seven touchdowns and a two-point conversion, accounting for 44 points in the victory. He had also rushed the ball for 386 yards.

Marshall Faulk had announced his presence with authority that day.

Okay, I know this area is usually meant for football posts, but I had to make an exception today. The Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles earlier today by a score of 30-3. You’ve got to hand it to that Ranger defense, holding the Orioles to only a field goal.

30-3? Wow. Just plain wow.

That’s a worse score than those playground games back in elementary school were. If you’re the Orioles, how can you sleep? How do you tell yourself that “it wasn’t as bad as it looked”?

Unbelievable.

The amazing thing to me is that the Rangers scored 30 runs, but because of their 11 strikeouts they also left 19 runners on base… the Orioles are lucky, it could’ve been worse.