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What, is that supposed to be some kind of joke??
Bill...@#$%ing...RUSSELL.
Ever heard'f'm??
Russell's accomplishments DWARF those of Jordan.
They are not even in the same CLASS.
THANK you.
How soon,they forget,Eh Grid?..........Russell was the GOAT......Sam Jones was the best pure shooter,I ever saw........and don't forget Elgin Baylor.
Gretzsky in hockey?........pleeeze,child........Bobby friggin' Orr,all-day,everyday........My buds and I drank a Stoli toast to Valery Kharlomov,on the day he died........What a superstar,a true legend,imo:rocker:
Well played, sir.
Boston can claim the G.O.A.T. in all 4 sports:
Basketball - Russell (Bird in the top 5)
Hockey - Orr
Baseball - Ruth (shared with Yankees)
Football - Brady (Best at the #1 position, also G.O.A.T. at his position in Hannah)
i second that. i love overachievers and players that never quit.
I think that the hesitation there was a misunderstanding of the situation more than anything. Common football protocol in that situation is to question why the coach didn't play the senior QB. But, the situation was unique in that Drew Henson remains the most talented QB I've ever been around. It was an "intangibles" v. "hyper talent" situation. Playing Brady and giving him the edge in the 2 QB system was probably the more unpopular opinion at the time. It was Tommy's knowledge of the game and his just unbelievable leadership that pulled him away in the end from Drew. Many other coaches would've just gone with Henson (and in fact, many would've started him off the bat as a true frosh and never given Brady the chance in 1998, let alone 1999).
A better question of Coach Carr would be in 1997. Brady basically beat out Brian Griese, but Griese got the nod as a 5th year senior to Brady's 3rd year sophomore status. We went on to win the national title, so the decision paid off, but I wonder if the offense would've been a bit better with Brady.
If Drew committed to football, he would've been the #1 pick and likely won the 2001 Heisman. Disappointing how Steinbrenner played him with the Reds situation.
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Jordan: 6-0 in NBA championships and repeat 3 peats, no one can touch that
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You're gilding the lily there, I think, and trying to turn a bad decision into at least a "not so bad," if not an outright "legitimate" decision. In other words, I think Maize and Blue glasses are coloring your perspective.
Brady had shown that he knew how to win, but he didn't look the part (scrawny) or play the role (head down and "aw shucks"). As a result Carr jettisoned his own principle of starting, as he did in the case of Brian Griese, the senior, in what he viewed (or at least said he viewed) as a very close call ("ask me at game time"). Henson was like a guy out of central casting; he came to the set with the image and hype, which overwhelmed actual accomplishment, at the time, on the field.
Great coaches don't fall for that. Carr, a very good coach, did. One thing I do admire in Carr, though, is the fact that he admits that he was afraid that Henson would walk if he didn't start him over the future HOF'er. Great leaders take that chance, but at least he's honest enough to admit this factor in his decision.
As far as what Henson "might" have won or not won and where his team "might" or "might not" have ended up in the Naitonal Polls, well, life is full of "woulda-coulda-shoulda" stories. Even more pertinently, the Index of former NFL players is full of those with "hyper talent" who never made it; in the end a player is what he shows himself to be, or at least he is everywhere but in the land of wishful thinking.
And, you've also made the classic apologist's error of finding an extraneous villain in George Steinbrenner; Steinbrenner played a lot of players and also won multiple championships with them. I live in NYC and detest the Yankees and am no fan of Steinbrenner, but let's not dredge up more excuses for Henson.
Don't get me wrong. As I raise my young children, I'm going to use the Henson case as a life example. I truly admire and empathize with the guy. But, life doesn't give most of us more than one shot and we spend our lives living with that, one way or the other.
Disagree. I had a front row seat to that competition throughout camp. It's been said many times before on here that I was firmly in the Brady camp and didn't agree with the decision, but the rationale was at least more logical than the draft doubters give it credit for.
It's difficult for those of us who just view this through the eyes of a fan and the lens of the media to debate with someone who has or claims to have inside information. All I have is Belichick's oft-repeated statement that Carr's not picking Brady over Henson made him "wonder." That seems to put BB among the "draft doubters." I think I'll stand by my statement.
Disagree to an extent, because Henson pushed Brady very hard in 1998 and Carr played Brady exclusively because of the seniority issue. By 99, the gap had closed and both QBs were playing at an elite level (we also had Jason Kapsner on the roster, who was a top 5 QB and caught a class in between Tommy and Drew). Coming into 1999, Tommy's accomplishments were somewhat small in context. We lost the first two games he started in 1998 (primarily because the D was grossly underprepared for the ND and Cuse option offenses) and he rallied back to win a BigTen title and a Citrus Bowl victory, but there was a loss to Ohio in there. The 99 team was loaded and Drew's play in camp warranted a shot.
Once again, you're basing your claims on inside information. I have no reason to doubt that this is your perception, but, as someone who's been fortunate to have inside access in some high profile arenas, I also know that there are two views even "inside the bubble." So, I can't refute what you say other than to refer to the perception of Bill Belichick, a reasonably astute observer of football talent.
It wasn't quite as personal as that. Drew wasn't going anywhere, but QB recruiting had tailed off and Coach Carr certainly had to consider that. (Ironically, it bit us when Drew left for the Yankees in 2001 and we had no legit backup plan.)
Once again, all I have to go on is what is stated as a fact by others inside that particular "bubble;" Michigan didn't want Henson to walk and decided to risk Brady's walking, which he clearly was not in as strong a position to do.
[Note: in the grand scheme of things, I disagree with Carr's handling of the QB situation. His pulling Brady in the MSU game cost us a national championship.]
OK, I guess a lot of folks agree with that.
Agreed. But again, based on what I saw day in day out, I'm convinced of that. Certainly it's never a "can't miss" thing, but I felt more comfortable with Drew going to the league as the #1 pick than say a Matt Stafford or Andrew Luck. I would've loved to see that come to fruition.
Since here we are both in the position of having to speculate, there's really nothing to which to respond in that statement; either one of us might be right.
I have a unique perspective here, having been around Drew when he was traded from the Yankees to Cincy, then re-acquired. Thing is, Drew didn't want to be a MLB player over an NFLer, but he wanted to be a Yankee above all. He played in Tampa in the summers our freshman and sophomore year but going into our junior year didn't want to do that again. So they traded him. And he was devastated. He didn't play minor league ball for the Cincy affiliate that year.
That's all very believable, even without inside access. Makes sense humanly.
The following spring, headed into his senior year when he was a Heisman frontrunner and we were projected as a top 5 team, the Yankees re-acquired him. Steinbrenner basically gave him an ultimatum "come now or don't be a Yankee." It could've been posturing, and that's likely (Drew was a top prospect at that point and certainly had some leverage) but he was afraid and bolted. The gobs of cash thrown at him didn't hurt, either.
As we all say too often out here, professional sports is a business. It seems almost quaint today to hear someone say that they didn't want to just play ball, but wanted to be a Yankee; sounds like Jeter (but even Jeter lets it be known through his agent that he'll walk). And, you're right to acknowledge the "gobs of cash," actually $17 million over six years (I don't know how much was guaranteed, etc.). It wasn't like Steinbrenner gave him a choice of flipping burgers at Micky D's (and, again, as a fan, I did not like Steinbrenner...in fact, Steinbrenner even managed to tick me off post mortem with his larger than life statue at Yankee Stadium, dwarfing the memorials to greats like Ruth and Gehrig and DiMaggio, but that's another subject) .
I don't buy the Michigan consipiracy theories of Steinbrenner being a Buckeye and weakening Michigan by luring Henson away--that's silly. And I don't fault Drew for making the toughest decision of his life. But Steinbrenner certainly was the catalyst in that decision. It isn't an excuse for Henson, either. Drew could have thrived at baseball, but he struggled to hit the curve and never panned out. That's on him.
Those conspiracy theories are real inside baseball (or football/baseball in this case). It almost seems again like there's a refreshing simplicity to the story. My dad had an offer to play ball for the Boston Red Sox many years ago (same summer that they brought up the Kid from San Diego) but couldn't take the offer for a complex set of family reasons. His one regret? He said that he never found out if he could have hit a Big League curve ball (but that, too, is another story).
Drew doesn't have any regrets. He's living a great life (neighbors with Jerry Jones, actually) and doing some very good stuff. He played MLB for the New York Yankees and started a Thanksgiving Day game for the Dallas Cowboys. That's pretty impressive.
I'm happy to hear that, as that's not the way he comes across in that piece. He comes across as a very classy guy, but as...searching for the right word here...wistful or remorseful or, not quite sad, but almost.
And yes, he got to stride across the big stage in two arenas, even if Parcells pulled him after a half on Thanksgiving. I can relate to that as well because my time in Massachusetts gave me the privilege of knowing two of its three citizens who have run and lost for President in the last 25 years; I have no time for criticism of either of them...like Drew, they accomplished something to which many aspire and which few achieve.
You guys are embarrassing yourselves dissing Jordan like that. Russell not in the same class as Jordan???!...That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen on this board.
While Russell is the king of the rings, I hate to break it to you, Russell will be looked at as a guy who won a bunch of rings when the NBA had no competition. Wilt Chamberlain scored a 100 points against a bunch of stiffs. Jordan won athlete of the century for a reason. Russell didn't even break top 15. SportsCentury - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia J
Jordan is the GOAT and he transcended sports the way no other athlete could.