Missing MVPs

cynshep:

In other words: where was Terry Bradshaw? ... He isn't mentioned ... It's like he's been written out of history? What exactly hell is this about, huh?

As Ficus notes, Bradshaw wasn't the only missing MVP. Also missing were Joe Montana, Jake Scott and Harvey Martin. Here's a Newsday story reporting that Bradshaw decided he'd rather stay home with his family, Scott was traveling in Australia and Montana declined to appear because the NFL couldn't guarantee a six-figure appearance fee. Martin is deceased.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/ny-spmvps054614898feb05,0,4885382.story?coll=ny-football-headlines

Oh, that was just so classy, such a demonstration of sportmanship, the way the Steelers fans loudly booed every Dallas and 49ers MVP as they were presented -- including all time greats like Roger Staubach and Joe Montana. As though any person on either team in XL had anyone of this caliber.

Maybe you mean Steve Young and not Montana. I didn't hear boos for anyone except Tom Brady, who was booed every time his name was announced, and who smiled every time. I don't think it's bad sportsmanship as much as good-natured fandom, and Brady's reaction would lead me to believe I'm not the only one who thinks that.

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cgeiger23:

Was it just me, or did anybody else think that watching those old MVPs "run" onto the field was a painful thing to watch?

Not just you. I was thinking the same thing, and then my wife commented on it too. And it's not just that NFL players tend to die young, especially the heaviest of them, according to that recent study. It's that they're almost all in terrible physical shape in their middle and later years. Sports Illustrated did a great cover story on this a few years ago, with Johnny Unitas on the cover. Unitas and others described a hideous quality of life.

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TheSunGod:

Yeah but King, you're taking one individual play and applying a rigorous examination of the rules to that one play-- you're not looking at the play in the context of the rest of the game.

I don't think so. Yeah, there's some pushing and shoving when both players are running together, or when they're both leaping. I think that should be called more than it is, but I understand it's not. But when two players are standing flat-footed, in open space, and one PUSHES OFF the other, who actually takes a hop step in the opposite direction of the ball as a result of the push, then I don't see how you can not call that. That particular play, in the NFL, will get called approximately 100 out of 100 times.

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DavidWilliam:

We'll never know if Rothliesberger really scored on that play but what makes it frustrating is that the official appeared to change his call when he saw Ben reach over after he was down.

I agree. The ultimate call looked correct to me, but I wonder what it was that made him change his mind halfway between the sideline and the pile. I think he ran a little instant replay in his head, which is a terrible idea. That's what gave Ohio State that bogus interference call against Miami a few years ago in the college title game.

Having said the call looked correct -- I think he made it in -- I don't think the evidence was conclusive. If he'd called it fourth down, I don't think the replay would have contained evidence to overturn the call.

Also DavidWilliam I'm glad you brought up the Hasselbeck penalty. That was the one really egregious call of the night. I'm surprised Seattle fans aren't whining more about that.

The record for the longest TD pass by a wide receiver was broken too.

I wouldn't say Papa John's necessarily lucked out. They have insurance for these things, and the publicity would have been dynamite, not to mention the potential to win new customers if people actually liked those pizzas, or thought the driver was cute, or whatever.

Maybe someone in the marketing biz can correct me, but I don't think companies who run promotions like the pizza giveaway are crossing their fingers that the goal won't be met.

Even if Reebok was hoping that the QBs in the bogus "challenge" would reach the goal, what was so offensive about that was that Reebok was dangling money in front of charities that were never going to get it, and also that it was trying to polish its charitable reputation without actually doing anything charitable.

I don't think Papa John's promotion had any of that element of dishonesty or cynicism. It was a simple publicity stunt.