Take Down: Rethinking First Take
The Cleveland Browns fans have to be in shock because of the double barreled shot gun fired by the kings of sports blather at the rabid fans of the forlorn Cleveland Browns. First came a so called list of all time great quarterbacks proffered by the twins of twitter that did not include arguably the best player in football history: Otto Graham.
Skip Bayless argues that the quarterback position is the most important in football. This is a sound argument, undoubtedly and unfortunately proved by the greatest living football player, Jim Brown. Though Brown shined through nine seasons and totally dominated the league, the Browns won the championship only once. Otto Graham on the other hand in the ten seasons from 1946-1955 played in the championship game all ten times and he won seven of those games. That record compares only to the Bill Russell era in Basketball. Had Otto known how good Jim Brown was going to be, Otto might have played another five or ten years and added several more championships to his legacy. He and Brown together would have been virtually unstoppable. Otto Graham’s last game was a masterpiece. He still had his legs and many good years ahead of him if he had wanted to play on.
Not only does Graham own seven of the coveted championship rings, he still has sole ownership of at least two NFL passing records. Graham still holds the record for yards gained per pass (nine) despite the wide open offenses and overall increased emphasis on the passing game today. He also has the highest winning percentage it total games among quarterbacks, winning nearly 82% of the time. His record in playoffs at 9-3 puts him at the top of the list for quarterbacks with more than 10 playoff appearances.
This gross over-site by the kings of blather will not be forgiven by Browns fans and woe unto them should they ever bring their show to the banks of Lake Erie.
The second attack was some kind of criticism of the great Bernie Kosar by Stephen A. Smith. I could not really follow what he was complaining about but evidently the coach of the Rams got bent out of shape about something. I watched the game afterwards and missed the kerfuffle. It was totally uninteresting. However, Bernie is one of the few color announcers to actually add something to the game. Bill Walsh was also insightful but a little dour. Bernie sees the play coming and explains the defense, tells you what the quarterback should see and do. Name one other announcer who does this. Madden was entertaining but insightful?…I don’t think so. Bernie is both.
So Skip and Stephen ease off on Bernie, check out the Brown’s broadcasts, and watch some black and whites of Otto Graham. You might learn something.
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