A moment of silence, please, for Pat Tillman, the former Arizona Cardinals safety, who was killed in action Thursday in Afghanistan.
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I’m reminded of the much quoted commencement address by Jimmy Conzelman, the Hall of Fame Cardinals coach, at the University of Dayton in 1942. Conzelman talked about the importance of football — never particularly popular among mommies — in a time of war.
“Democracy makes us a pacific people,” he said. “The young man [who goes off to battle] must be toughened not only physically, but mentally. He must become accustomed to violence. Football is the No.1 medium for attuning a man to body-contact and physical shock. It teaches us that after all there isn’t anything so terrifying about a punch in the puss.”
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My guess is that no one will ever wear No.40 for the Cardinals again. Talk about a cursed franchise. Tillman’s would be the third number (out of five) the team has retired after a player died prematurely. The first was Stan Mauldin (77), whose heart gave out in the locker room after the 1948 season opener. Then there’s J.V. Cain (88), who suffered a similar death during the 1979 training camp.
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The Redskins drafting of Sean Taylor shows, among other things, how much the safety position has changed since Joe Gibbs’ first term. In the 1980s and early 1990s, most safeties, particularly free safeties, were stay-at-home types. Richie Petitbon almost never blitzed Mark Murphy or Brad Edwards. But now clubs are looking for guys who can put pressure on the passer; they’re looking for another Rodney Harrison, another Roy Williams. Taylor definitely has the physical attributes to be in that category.
“There are very few defenses just sitting back and reading [nowadays],” Gibbs said. “It’s all gap — go hard, hit the gap, bring four guys on one side, drop defensive ends [into pass coverage]. … Much more aggressive.”
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With all due respect to the Redskins’ No.1 pick, can we please declare a moratorium on the Taylor-Ronnie Lott comparisons? Lott played safety at Southern Cal, but he came into the league as a cornerback — and made the Pro Bowl at that position (before moving to safety and making the Pro Bowl there, too). Taylor is described by defensive boss Gregg Williams as a “protypical” free safety. Yes, he has the speed to cover slot receivers, if need be, but “you wouldn’t want him to make a living doing that,” said Williams, “because that’s not how he fits into our defense.”
Taylor, in my mind, is much more like Kenny Easley.
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It’s hard not to notice: Joe Gibbs is just loving being able to talk about something besides carburetors.
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News item: A day after a federal appeals court prevents him from being in the NFL Draft, Maurice Clarett files an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court.
Comment: Clarett would have done it sooner, but he only runs a 4.6.
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A story in this section the other day said Oregon defensive tackle Igor Olshansky would be “the first NFL player born in the former Soviet Union.” That’s technically correct, I suppose, but Olshansky wouldn’t be the first NFL player born in Russia. Ace Gutowsky, the star fullback for the Lions in the 1930s, was born in Komolty, Russia, in 1909 (pre-USSR days). Gutowsky finished second in the league in rushing in 1936 with 827 yards (behind George Washington U. grad Tuffy Leemans, who had 830 for the Giants). Indeed, when his career ended in 1939, Ace was thought to be the NFL’s all-time rushing leader, but that turned out to be a miscalculation. The real rushing leader, it was discovered later, was former Redskin Cliff Battles (with 3,511 yards to Ace’s 3,279).
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A book out on Chick Hearn, the dearly departed Los Angeles Lakers play-by-play man, has a funny story about Jack Kent Cooke, who owned the team back in the good old days. It seems Cooke summoned Hearn to his office one morning after a loss to the Cincinnati Royals — Oscar Robertson’s club — and had Chick listen to a tape of his broadcast. While it was playing, Cooke scribbled notes.
“At the end of the period,” writes Mike Penner of the L.A. Times, “Cooke shut off the machine and told Hearn, ’You said 15 times — 15 times, Mr. Hearn — how great Cincinnati was. Twice, you mentioned that the Lakers played well.’
“Hearn nodded and said, ’That’s right.’
“Cooke: ’How do you account for that?’
“Hearn: ’What was the score at the end of the quarter?’
“Cooke: ’I don’t know what the score was.’
“Hearn: ’Well, I’ll tell you. The score was 43-10 in favor of Cincinnati. Do you want me to make a fool of myself? And of you?’”
Cooke had to admit he had a point.
The name of the book, by the way, is “Chick: His Unpublished Memoirs and the Memories of Those Who Knew Him,” by Hearn and L.A. Times sportswriter Steve Springer (Triumph Books, $27.95). It comes with a CD of Hearns’ more memorable calls.
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As you’re well aware, the Sunday Column likes to check out the athletic claims of the rich and famous — just to make sure they’re on the up and up. This week we sought to verify that the father of Jim Caviezel, the actor currently starring in “The Passion of the Christ” (and in the upcoming “Bobby Jones, Strokes of Genius”) “played at UCLA under John Wooden,” according to Sports Illustrated.
An inquiry to the UCLA sports information department yielded this response from associate SID Bill Bennett: “Looked into this not too long ago. It’s kind of correct. Jim Caviezel [the actor’s dad] was on the Bruins freshman team of 1959-60. His coach was Jerry Norman, who was an assistant under Wooden. He played in 19 games [the frosh were 20-3 that year], averaged 2.8 points and 3.0 rebounds. Word is he hurt his knee at some point following that season and was unable to play college ball. He is not on the UCLA varsity roster for 1960-61 or 1961-62.”
His bio in the 1959-60 men’s basketball guide says he was a 6-3, 190-pound forward from Sumner, Wash., who was “All-America and All-State.” He’s described as “a heady player with a good shooting eye.” Jersey number: 55 (the same number, if I’m not mistaken, later worn by Kiki Vandeweghe).
“Like I said,” Bennett writes, “it’s fairly accurate. At some point, I’m sure Coach Wooden probably helped him with that headiness and shooting eye.”
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Too bad Caviezel’s father didn’t make it to the 1961-62 season. That was Wooden’s first Final Four team (it lost 72-70 in the semis to eventual champ Cincinnati). The UCLA roster included two future Bruins coaches, Gary Cunningham and Walt Hazzard.
An item in the Seattle Times last month offered this postscript: “When injuries ended [Caviezel’s] college career, he transferred to Palmer College in Davenport, Iowa, to study chiropractic medicine and there met his future wife, Maggie, who was appearing in a play. That may explain Jim’s acting genes.”
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Jim Caviezel’s brother Tim is also a pretty fair basketballer. He played two seasons at the University of Washington, another at Long Beach State and was on a touring team with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In one game for a Finnish professional club in the mid-1990s, he scored 73 points, according to the Skagit Valley (Wash.) Herald.
As for Jim himself, he played two seasons of JUCO ball at Bellevue (Wash.) Community College.
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Speaking of Vandeweghe, I’d completely forgotten — until it popped up on a Google search — that he was the Eli Manning of his time. Vandeweghe was the first player ever drafted by the Dallas Mavericks, in 1980, but refused to play for the expansion club. After a lengthy holdout that extended a month into the season, he was traded to the Denver Nuggets for draft picks.
One of the picks was used to select Rolando Blackman, who became the team’s all-time leading scorer. So there’s hope for the San Diego Chargers yet.
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Number of the Week: 0.5. (The local television rating drawn by the Boston Celtics for Game1 of their series against the Indiana Pacers.)
Huffed Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe: “That translates into approximately 10,000 homes in Greater Boston, and an audience of 25,000 people. You want a frame of reference? The Revolution drew a 0.8 for their game [that same] night against the San Jose Earthquakes.”
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I’m tellin’ ya, New England is becoming a football area. Did you see the “Sports in America” section on New Hampshire in the most recent SI? According to a Harris poll, the favorite pro team of New Hampshirites is the Patriots (40 percent, compared to 26 for the Red Sox).
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And finally …
A bunch of clubs turned to the Capitals for help around the trading deadline, but most of those deals didn’t work out too well. The Rangers (Jaromir Jagr), Kings (Anson Carter) and Sabres (Mike Grier) failed to even qualify for the postseason, and the Bruins (Sergei Gonchar, Michael Nylander) and Senators (Peter Bondra) got bounced in the first round. That leaves the Red Wings (Robert Lang), who lost at home to Calgary in the opener of their second-round series.
“I guess on the bright side it looks like Bondra should be back in D.C. for the 2004 season — or whenever they play again,” my friend Robert e-mails. “I can’t believe Ottawa would pick up his option after his playoff performance (0 goals, 0 assists in seven games vs. Toronto) and with all the other big salaries on that team.”
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