Trends affect many things in life and sports is no different. Most uniform design can be labeled in one of three categories: 1. Old School (think Penn State football), 2. Modern/Edgy (think Atlanta Falcons football), and 3. Ridiculous. But, what are some examples of that third category, ridiculous?

Here’s a great article on the six ugliest uniforms ever in sports. Some may say that there is a fine line between being fashionable and being unfashionable, but this article shows that the line has been crossed on numerous occasions.

Of the six they list, I actually don’t mind the second one as it has a modern look to it and I think qualifies itself as edgy. The third one listed is the old Houston Astros baseball uniforms, you know the ones with the horizontal shades of orange going across the player’s midsection. This happens to be a favorite uniform of mine, I think it might be more for nostalgic reasons, as there is part of my brain that does say “yep, that was pretty ugly”.

The remaining four ugly uniforms on this list brought to us by Cisco Athletic… I don’t think anyone can argue with… and some just have to be seen to believed.

Our vote for uniforms left off the list?

First - The original Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform:

Don’t get me wrong, there is definitely something nostalgic about that uniform, but there is equally something wrong with making large, aggressive, grown men dress up like orange creamsicles.

Second – The Orlando Thunder of the World League of American Football

Based on this uniform alone, the city of Orlando may never see professional football come to their town again.

Bert Jones, What Could’ve Been

Every now and then in any walk of life you come across someone who you wonder, if things had gone a little differently what kind of impact could they have made. Former Louisiana State University and Baltimore Colts quarterback Bert Jones is just that kind of person.

In college, Bert Jones only started two games during his junior year and then all of his senior year. After those 15 games he left LSU as the career passing leader in the school’s history and had a 12-2-1 record.

Jones was drafted by the Colts with the second overall pick in the 1973 NFL Draft and immediately made his impact on the team. The Colts won their division in 1975, 1976, and 1977; with Jones himself winning the 1976 Most Valuable Player Award. After missing most of the 1978 and 1979 seasons with injuries, Bert Jones retired from the NFL in 1982 due to an injured neck.

The 1970’s decade is loaded with great quarterbacks; Terry Bradshaw, Dan Fouts, Bob Griese, and many more. Only three quarterbacks finished the 1970’s with quarterback ratings over 100; Roger Staubach, Ken Stabler, and Bert Jones. The Colts team lived and died with Jones as when he played they finished near the top of their league and when he was hurt they’d finish at the bottom. Bert Jones had arm strength that was only rivaled by quarterbacks like John Elway and Doug Williams, with the ability to throw the football 95 yards in the air.

In 1990, at the age of 39 and having been out of pro football for eight seasons, Bert Jones participated in the NFL QB Challenge. The QB Challenge pitted quarterbacks against eachother in a series of drills measuring quickness, accuracy, and arm strength. There was a division for retired players and for current players alike. Bert Jones won the retired player division qualifying him to play in the regular competition with quarterbacks of the day. He finished third in the regular division prompting San Diego Chargers General Manager of the time Bobby Beathard to inquire if he would come out of retirement, Jones declined.

Bert Jones had an NFL career to be proud of, but if injuries hadn’t take their toll on him, some coaches claim he would’ve went down in NFL history as one of the best ever. The evidence certainly leads us to believe this is true.

Due to their amazing success, both in wins and stats, and the fact that they appear to be in their prime at roughly the same time, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning seem destined to always be tied together.

Sunday, October 28th, 2007 saw both Manning and Brady win their games becoming the first quarterbacks to beat all 31 other teams in the league during their career (the Patriots beat the Redskins while the Colts beat the Panthers). It looks as though Peyton Manning will go down in the record books as the first player to do it since the Colts’ game was played and finished earlier in the day than the Patriots’ game.

The NFL played its first regular season game outside of the United States today when the New York Giants defeated the winless Miami Dolphins in London, England. The first regular season game played outside the USA? That opens up a whole bunch of new trivia!

First team to win a regular season game outside of the USA: New York Giants

First rushing touchdown in a regular season game outside of the USA: Eli Manning

First passing touchdown in a regular season game outside of the USA: Cleo Lemon

First receiving touchdown in a regular season game outside of the USA: Ted Ginn, Jr.

First field goal in a regular season game outside of the USA: Lawrence Tynes

Those will be hard to find facts in a couple years!

One of the common stories concerning Tom Brady is that the New England Patriots were able to get this future Super Bowl MVP in the sixth round of the NFL Draft taking him with the 199th pick. While it is obvious now that the pick was a steal… what other team wouldn’t love to have Tom Brady, but passed on him, you have to also remember that it wasn’t exactly a quarterback-rich draft that year.

Only one quarterback was drafted in the first round: Chad Pennington, by the New York Jets with the 18th overall pick.

This is a far cry from the year Dan Marino was taken as the fifth quarterback in the first round, or even when Peyton Manning and (sigh) Ryan Leaf were drafted back-to-back with the first and second overall picks in the draft.

How many quarterbacks were selected ahead of Tom Brady?

Chad Pennington - 1st Round - 18th Pick - New York Jets
Giovanni Carmazzi - 3rd Round - 65th Pick - San Francisco 49ers
Chris Redman - 3rd Round - 75th Pick - Baltimore Ravens
Tee Martin - 5th Round - 163rd Pick - Pittsburgh Steelers
Marc Bulger - 6th Round - 168th Pick - New Orleans Saints
Spergon Wynn - 6th Round - 183rd Pick - Cleveland Browns

Not taking anything away from the Patriots, but as you can see from that class of quarterbacks there weren’t many gems there… only Pennington and Bulger went on to accomplish anything. Plus when you factor that the Patriots also passed on Tom Brady for the first five rounds you can see that they too didn’t entirely see the potential that he had… there is a lot of luck in drafting good players.

Players the Patriots took in the 2000 Draft before they took Tom Brady:

2nd Round - Adrian Klemm - Tackle - University of Hawaii
3rd Round - J.R. Redmond - Running Back - Arizona State University
4th Round - Greg Robinson-Randall - Tackle - Michigan State
5th Round - Dave Stachelski - Tight End - Boise State
5th Round - Jeff Marriott - Defensive Tackle - University of Missouri
6th Round - Antwan Harris - Defensive Back - University of Virginia

To a certain degree, the Patriots themselves must have thought that each of these players had more talent or would help their team more than Tom Brady would. To say that the Patriots got a steal when they drafted Tom Brady in the sixth round is an understatement and cannot be argued… to say they were smarter than anyone else by getting him there… that isn’t entirely the truth.

One of the more amazing scoring records is held by Kicker Morten Andersen. Andersen was a Kicker for the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons, among others later in his career.

Because of his success and his longevity with both teams, at the time of his retirement from the NFL he was the all-time leading scorer in New Orleans Saints history, as well as the all-time leading scorer in Atlanta Falcons history.

For one player to hold all-time scorer records for two different franchises is actually amazing when you consider the number of franchises and the number of players who play football.

With all the sudden attention and hype focused on Matt Ryan, the quarterback for the Boston College Eagles, it reminds us that there was once another Boston College quarterback who made a name for himself. Doug Flutie, that’s right… what made him famous again?

Oh, that’s right… his pass to Gerard Phelan beat the (at the time) seemingly unbeatable Miami Hurricanes. Flutie would go on to win the Heisman Trophy, win championships in the Canadian Football League, and quarterback in the NFL.

What will become of Matt Ryan?

Joe Montana, the legendary San Francisco 49ers quarterback who had led the team to four Super Bowl victories had missed the entire 1991 NFL season due to injuries. To add to this, he also missed the majority of the 1992 season with injury problems and essentially lost his starting quarterback job to teammate Steve Young.

The general consensus is that most players, especially star players, don’t lose their starting job due to an injury. But with Montana’s injury keeping him out of the game for a year and a half, and with backup Steve Young performing so well, there was quite a quarterback controversy in San Francisco.

Before the start of the 1993 season it was decided that Steve Young would be the quarterback for the 49ers future and Joe Montana was traded to Kansas City to finish his career as the starting quarterback for the Chiefs. This was to be the end of Joe Montana’s stunning NFL career, doing what aging NFL stars do, playing their last year or years in a situation where they are not expected to excel.

This is not your run-of-the-mill star player we are talking about, this is Joe Montana. In that 1993 season, Joe Montana got the Chiefs to the AFC Championship Game – one game away from the Super Bowl. He followed this up with getting the 1994 Kansas City team to the playoffs as well before retiring and eventually being elected to the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame.

We recently posted about coaches who made it to the Hall-of-Fame and were only the head coach of one team for their entire career. Are there any coaches on the landscape right now that may qualify for this?

Bill Cowher – Pittsburgh Steelers 1993-2006
If Bill Cowher stays retired and doesn’t re-enter the head coaching ranks, however likely that is, he may just join this list of one-team Hall-of-Fame coaches.

Jeff Fisher – Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans 1995-Present
While Fisher has yet to win a Super Bowl, his teams are always very competitive and prepared and his longevity is unmatched among current NFL coaches.

Most other coaches on the landscape right now either don’t appear to be headed for the Hall-of-Fame or have coached for multiple teams. Are we forgetting anyone?

Usually a professional franchise of any kind will only relocate to a new city because of a few factors. Poor stadium, lack of fan interest, better offer by a new city, are all situations in which pro teams have chose to relocate their franchise. Two NFL moves stand out in history, more for their timing regarding team performance than anything else.

The Kansas City Chiefs franchise won their first championship while members of the American Football League in 1962. At the time of the victory, the team played in Dallas and went by the name Dallas Texans. The Texans were a success; they had won a league championship in only their third year of existence. The very next year, 1963, the Texans moved to Kansas City and became the Chiefs. The move was as a result of the popularity of the relatively young NFL franchise Dallas Cowboys.

In 1945, the Rams had won the NFL Championship and were on top of the world. That following season found the Rams playing under a new name; the Los Angeles Rams. Having won the title as the Cleveland Rams, from their time spent sharing Cleveland with the Browns, many fans couldn’t watch their team try to defend their title after they had moved out to California.

A team moving to new cities does happen occasionally; the Tennessee Titans were once the Houston Oilers, the Indianapolis Colts were once the Baltimore Colts, and the Arizona Cardinals were once the St. Louis Cardinals (and the Chicago Cardinals before that), but few teams move the very next season after winning the Championship.

The 1989 Green Bay Packers Draft: What Could’ve Been

Every team has stories about the player they passed on in the NFL Draft, and the Green Bay Packers are no different.

Packer fans can’t be too upset with the last 17 years or so of the franchise’s history, but let’s take a look at what could’ve been.

In the 1989 NFL Draft, looking to upgrade a sub par offensive line and not wanting to miss out on a stud lineman, the Packers drafted Offensive Lineman Tony Mandarich. Mandarich spent just a few seasons in Green Bay and the league as a whole, retiring after injuries and poor performance. He was highly touted and it probably would’ve been impossible to live up to the reputation he had coming into the NFL. The Packers, however, could’ve selected almost anyone else that year instead, who did they pass on?

DEION SANDERS
Whether it’s as a shutdown cornerback or as an electrifying return man, the thought of Deion Sanders patrolling downfield with a green Packers jersey on makes one wonder how much faster the rebuilding of the Packers would’ve been. It wasn’t until 1993 that the Packers signed future Hall-of-Famer Reggie White in what proved to be the final move to solidify a great defense, but the combination of White rushing the passer and Sanders intercepting the passer’s throws would’ve been amazing.

DERRICK THOMAS
Another pass by the Green Bay Packers in 1989 was taken on Alabama Linebacker Derrick Thomas. Thomas, before dying prematurely in an automobile accident, would go on to pick up the mantel of Lawrence Taylor as the most dominant Linebacker in the league. Few things would be as unpleasant for an opposing Quarterback than seeing a defense coming at you with Derrick Thomas and Reggie White.

BARRY SANDERS
Brett Favre came to the Packers as a backup Quarterback in a trade with the Atlanta Falcons. The combination of Brett Favre and Barry Sanders in their primes and on the same team is pure magic. One of the best passers in the NFL with the best Running Back of his day behind him? Unbelievable. During the 1990’s the Packers won one Super Bowl and appeared in another. The duo of Barry Sanders and Brett Favre would’ve meant at least a couple more Super Bowl victories than that.

The NFL Draft is a tricky thing to project, you can get burnt taking Tony Mandarich or Ryan Leaf early or hit it big getting Howie Long or Terrell Davis late. The Packers aren’t the first, and won’t be the last, team to pass on future superstars to take a dud in the draft. But, it sure can be interesting to sit and wonder “what if” sometimes.

It is a credit to both Tom Brady and Peyton Manning that there continues to be debate over which player is better than the other. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with either player and both have enjoyed incredibly successful careers. Fans and supporters of both players are very passionate and as long as they admit that the other one is pretty darn good too, then they are reasonable and knowledgeable too.

Let’s not talk about which is better right now, but let’s talk about what type of fan thinks each one is better. For the sake of this argument we’ll not count the opinions of Colts or Patriots fans, eliminating that bias.

Tom Brady
Generally speaking, the fans that think Brady is the better of the two say that he is the more intelligent and cool-under-pressure quarterback. They liken him to Joe Montana and often speak of his ability to be almost like another coach out on the field.

Peyton Manning
Oftentimes fans that chalk up Manning as the better of the two quarterbacks speak of his ability to improvise, his stronger arm, and the amazing numbers he puts up. Manning fans mention that he is like a Dan Marino, or even a Steve Young, who can take over a game based on his athletic ability alone if need be.

Next time you see this debated on TV, pay attention to the backgrounds of the commentators debating the issue. Usually if the TV commentator is a former head coach then he prefers Tom Brady. What coach wouldn’t want to give direction to this guy? Likewise, if the commentator is a former player (and especially if he’s a former quarterback) then he tends to favor Peyton Manning. Former players admire Manning for his athletic ability, kind of a “what could I have done with that kind of talent” mind set.

Either way, a well run team is going to be successful with Tom Brady or Peyton Manning at the helm…

Who do you prefer?

Terrell Owens and Randy Moss have been two of the better wide receivers in the league since they both came in during the late 1990’s. Both have had trouble with teammates and have been considered “problems” because of both their on-field and off-field antics. Let’s examine these two great wide receivers, only using the stats…

Rushing Yards
Wide receivers don’t get to carry the ball much, usually it’s an end around, a reverse, or maybe even a double reverse. Amazingly, through the 2006 season these two wide receivers were exactly tied in rushing yards for their career with 159. Between the two, Owens is the only one who has scored a touchdown rushing the ball and he’s done it twice.

Durability
In Randy Moss’s nine year NFL career he has missed six games. Three during his last season in Minnesota and three during his last season in Oakland. Terrell Owens, on the other hand has missed a total of 18 games during his 11 year career. He has missed games in six separate seasons, meaning in more than half the years he has been in the league he has not been able to play the whole year.

1,000 Yard Seasons
Randy Moss has been in the NFL for two less seasons than Terrell Owens, but they both have the same amount of 1,000 yard seasons: seven. Surprisingly, four of Terrell Owens seven 1,000 yard seasons have come in years where he did not play in all 16 games.

Double Digit Touchdown Years
Again, these two appear to be shadowing each other as both players have accumulated six different seasons with double digit touchdown numbers.

100+ Reception Seasons
It seems that dominating receivers at some point in their career flirt with or surpass 100 receptions in a season. Randy Moss has achieved this feat twice so far in his career while Terrell Owens has achieved it once.

League Leaders
Neither Randy Moss or Terrell Owens has ever led the league in receptions or receiving yards, and both players have led the league in receiving touchdowns on three occasions.

All-Time Rankings
Both players rank among the greats of all-time in terms of receiving touchdowns. Randy Moss is ranked 5th all time while Terrell Owens is ranked 4th all time.

Playoff Record
Neither player has been on the winning side of a playoff game more than four times in their career, and neither has a winning playoff record. Randy Moss’s career playoff record is 4-4 while Terrell Owens’ career playoff record is 4-6.

Post Season Touchdowns
Terrell Owens has played in ten post season games and scored just four touchdowns while Randy Moss has only played in eight post season games and has managed to score nine touchdowns.

Randy Moss and Terrell Owens are both great producing players on the field, both came in during the late 1990’s and have put up surprisingly similar numbers. They meet today when New England travels to Dallas… should be a good one.

Many players leave the NFL and become announcers, broadcasters, restaurateurs, coaches, and businessmen. These are all standard professions that former players have gravitated to over the years. There are two former NFL football players in particular who have chosen far different post football careers.

Byron “Whizzer” White played football at the University of Colorado, graduating in 1938, and went on to a short career in the NFL with Pittsburgh and Detroit (leading the league in rushing in 1938 and 1940). White’s NFL career was cut short by World War II and when the war was over he elected to attend Yale law school instead of returning to football. White went on to serve as the deputy attorney general under Robert Kennedy before being appointed to the Supreme Court by John F. Kennedy. White served on the Supreme Court from 1962 until his retirement in 1993.

Alan Page graduated from college from Notre Dame and went on to play Defensive Tackle for the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL. Page was one of the more feared defensive linemen in the NFL, making a number of Pro Bowl teams and becoming the first defensive player to win the NFL MVP award without sharing it with an offensive player. Page finished his NFL career playing with the Chicago Bears, retiring in 1983. Though still playing full-time in the NFL, Page received his Juris Doctor degree in 1978 and was a lawyer with a private practice from 1979-1984. Page went on to be appointed a special assistant attorney general before being promoted to assistant attorney general. In 1992, Alan Page was elected as an Associate Justice for the Minnesota Supreme Court, he was subsequently re-elected in 1998 and 2004.

Many expected professions are taken up by former NFL football players after they retire, but Alan Page and Byron “Whizzer” White went a total different direction in their post-football life.