Doug Flutie : A Football Life

on now on NFLN. Really cool.

I enjoyed the documentary.

Likewise One of the best ones they've done. Guy was a hell of a team player and a great person to boot. I remember when Raymond Berry was coach and the Patriots were down in a game in either 88 or 89. The fans were chanting "FLUTIE! FLUTIE! FLUTIE! And Berry flatly refused to yank Tony Eason ( Grogan was hurt, I believe). Berry turned to the fans in the stands and gave them the finger or something like that and refused to put in Flutie. Shortly after that, Victor Kiam told Berry his servies were no longer needed.

That one game got me really pissed off for quite awhile, and it also led to Flutie heading north to Canada where he'd make an excellent mark for himself. To this day I'll never forgive Raymond Berry for refusing to put Flutie into the lineup. We had nothing to lose and everything to gain then.

Yeah, Berry really pissed me off with the way he refused to use Flutie and when he did play him, he'd call lots of running plays keeping him on a short leash. Finally in the 4th Qtr all seemingly lost he'd unleash the midget and Flutie would find a way to win. Believe me winning a regular season game was a precious thing to Pats fans since inception. Trust me.
The guy never lost a game in Foxboro.
My favorite Flutie winn was after we'd been routed by the Bears McMann & Co, they came to Foxboro. Opening play after the kickoff Flutie tossed an 80 yard TD bomb to Irving Fryar. The rout was on, Pats win 35 to something not close.

The show was a nice trip down memory lane. The Miami game took place when I was playing high school football in MA, so it was hard not to like him. I saw Flutie as a gritty competitor, and saw Eason as the opposite (pure talent but no heart, especially after the Super Bowl - others apparently saw him the same way, including his HOF guard). Like Brady, Flutie played with a chip on his shoulder and earned everything he won.

Hated to see him go, especially in the lean years when wins didn't come every week, and loved the fact he returned to finish his career with the Pats.

One of my favorite memories of Flutie was from his college days. BC was playing Clemson (I think) and they had a huge DLineman that came after Flutie long after Flutie released a pass. Flutie was moving out of the pocket to the right a little, and when he noticed that fatso was going to hit him anyway, Flutie sidestepped him to the right, grabbed his jersey in the middle of his chest with his left hand, and then spun around like an Olympic hammer thrower and flung fatso to the ground face first.

I'll have to check out that show. I wanted to watch it last night but the little woman had other ideas. Luckily, DVR works fine.

I don't usually get around to watching these, but I watched this one. I didn't mature into Patriots fandom until around 1992-1993, given that I was a kid, but I remember my father shaking his head at the scores on TV (we lived in Virginia and rarely got games), wondering why they wouldn't play Flutie. What a journey for the guy, and someone I knew more for his resurgence in Buffalo and for his drop kick.

Watched this last night as well... Raymond Berry was a douche.

Also, God rest his soul, Ralph Wilson, of all people. Making Phillips pull Flutie for that playoff game...

Bottom line: you gotta respect how Flutie took everything he got in life (from his ability, to his height, to his tribulations with different teams, to his personal life with his autistic son) and squeezed the absolute maximum out of it. God bless you, Doug. You are an inspiration.

Drew Brees ‏@drewbrees 9h9 hours ago
Just watched Doug Flutie Football Life. Blessed to have played 4 years w him. I learned so much. In my opinion, he is one of the greatest!

oldrover said:

Watched this last night as well... Raymond Berry was a douche.

Also, God rest his soul, Ralph Wilson, of all people. Making Phillips pull Flutie for that playoff game...

Bottom line: you gotta respect how Flutie took everything he got in life (from his ability, to his height, to his tribulations with different teams, to his personal life with his autistic son) and squeezed the absolute maximum out of it. God bless you, Doug. You are an inspiration.

Click to expand...

The military refers to it as "Leadership by Example". I couldn't agree more with your assessment.

B.C. vs. Alabama was the first game I wen't to in Foxborough in 1983, the Eagles won 20-13 and it rained in buckets the entire game.

Although the Pats had been in New England for 20+ years, Flutie led B.C. to be being ranked in the top 10 and beating national powerhouses. There was an awakening about football for a lot of people throughout New England, similar to when Bobby Orr came to Boston and hockey rinks began being built everywhere around the area in the 70's. Flutie helped make football more of a mainstream sport for many people in New England.

Flutie was incredible. I was 10 years old for the miracle in Miami and no one could beleive that play or the fact the went down to s Florida and won vs a team full of future top draft picks. Needless to say every kid in MA was in his backyard, rolling to his right and heaving a bomb to his friends after that day after thanksgiving.
I have vivid memories of eddie andelman on the sports huddle on sunday nights hammering ray berry on flutie...

I live in Vancouver and have been a Pats fan since I was 12 (liked the red uni's!). Back then there was no NFL ticket so I would only get to see the Pats a few times a year. I remember watching the Indy game where Flutie bootlegged for the winning TD in the final seconds.

A few years later Flutie comes to Vancouver's CFL team the BC Lions. I believe it was around '91 and I was just graduated from High School. Ends up Flutie was doing some promotional thing at a bar so me and a buddy went down to see him ( even though we still weren't of legal age to be in a bar), and I had my Patriot Flutie football cards to sign. It was a weeknight so the place wasn't busy at all. Doug was sitting there by himself so me and my buddy went up to meet him. Ends up he is a great guy. He sat with us for about 20 minutes talking about the Pats and the Bears. I remember he didn't have kind words for Jim McMahon. The evening was also very memorable as my buddy and I went to a strip bar and witnessed our first lesbian duo having full on sex on stage with each other. Some nights you never forget.

Our High School football coach had connections to the BC Lions so we ended up with season tickets for very cheap. Even though I'm not much of a CFL fan that year was fun. Flutie was pure magic. I wish he could have stayed in Vancouver longer then he did.

PatsWickedPissah said:

Yeah, Berry really pissed me off with the way he refused to use Flutie and when he did play him, he'd call lots of running plays keeping him on a short leash. Finally in the 4th Qtr all seemingly lost he'd unleash the midget and Flutie would find a way to win. Believe me winning a regular season game was a precious thing to Pats fans since inception. Trust me.
The guy never lost a game in Foxboro.
My favorite Flutie winn was after we'd been routed by the Bears McMann & Co, they came to Foxboro. Opening play after the kickoff Flutie tossed an 80 yard TD bomb to Irving Fryar. The rout was on, Pats win 35 to something not close.

Click to expand...

It was 1988, I was at that game. Fryar beat the deep safety down the middle of the field in single coverage. McMahon got knocked out early. Flutie completed 6 of 18 passes, FOUR of them for touchdowns.

Tunescribe said:

It was 1988, I was at that game. Fryar beat the deep safety down the middle of the field in single coverage. McMahon got knocked out early. Flutie completed 6 of 18 passes, FOUR of them for touchdowns.

Click to expand...

I was at that game. In those days I could be working in my yard in Sudbury on a Sunday morning and decide to go to a game. Drove thru beautiful New England back routes to Foxboro, parked for free in the woods across Route 1 and bought a seat in what these days would be the 100s el primo seat around the 20 yd line at face value in the parking lot to watch Fryar coming at me on the 1st play from scrimmage.

I will say that as of right now I am kinda wicked pissed at Flutie. I made the mistake of mentioning the Football Life show to my wife. She watches it and then goes all kinds of crazy over Flutie's 6-pack abs as he's surfing. My life is now hell.

Enjoyed the posts!
Thanks.

I remember watching The Game on TV. I'm downloading the documentary as we speak.

PatsWickedPissah said:

I was at that game. In those days I could be working in my yard in Sudbury on a Sunday morning and decide to go to a game. Drove thru beautiful New England back routes to Foxboro, parked for free in the woods across Route 1 and bought a seat in what these days would be the 100s el primo seat around the 20 yd line at face value in the parking lot to watch Fryar coming at me on the 1st play from scrimmage.

I will say that as of right now I am kinda wicked pissed at Flutie. I made the mistake of mentioning the Football Life show to my wife. She watches it and then goes all kinds of crazy over Flutie's 6-pack abs as he's surfing. My life is now hell.

Click to expand...

I was wondering where the hell he surfs at 6 a.m. around here? Then I checked Wikipedia, which says he winters in Florida. You do as well, right?

Yeah I'm in FL over the winter, west coast.
Tuna said today on SIRIUS that he & BB live in the same complex in Jupiter FL.

Years ago I was in Martinique at a Club Med. Formed a hoops team that smoked the NY team all week. Guys on my team were Firepersons from Flutie's town Natick. MA. They told me that Flutie was a much better Bball player than I.

The show has Flutie's height at 5-foot-9 3/4. I wonder about that. It wouldn't surprise me if he never was a centimeter above 5-foot-8.