on the news or, I'm surprised on this board, of the passing of one of the men that made pro football a sport that couldn't begin to compete with major league baseball when I was a kid but now so dominates major league baseball in popularity that it is not even close.

That man is George Blanda.

Rest in Peace and thanks for the memories.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2010 08:02AM by montequi.

I never saw him play QB but, towards the end of his career I watched a few games where he was still kicking field goals and extra points. What an athlete!!

Chyren, you actually got to see him play as a rookie, huh!?


LOL...just joking

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"When you suck long enough, you get a Hickey"

Blanda was a Raider but I respected the old guy. Could never root for him as a player but I gotta hand it to someone who can stay in the league that long.

I saw a little footage of him on NFL network.

You've got that just backwards. Davis created the logo (a pre-Bucs pirate) and picked the silver and black colors long before the gangs got ahold of them. Can't blame him.

Rick

I read not too long ago that the Dodgers have overtaken the Raiders as the gang-sports-team in California. Because of the blue color is the same as the crips, and because LA on the logo also stands for Latin Aspects.

Don't know if it's true, but I saw that not too long ago.

That's right JC. And when you consider ALL the gangs, EVERY SPORTS franchise is used by SOME GANG OR ANOTHER. In the case I'm working on now, the Crips from Hoover Boulevard use the Houston Astros because of the fact that the H is the same letter.

They used Steelers, Celtics, whatever.

Of course, you are pretty stupid if you think that back in the early 60's when the Raiders were formed that there was a gang problem in LA. Those gangs formed in the late 70's when Tookie Williams formed the Crips. Of course, there were always small groups of teenagers who stuck together and called them a gang but to say that Al Davis copied a gang symbol, that's ludicrous.

The logo is from a pirate which a raider is.....duhhhhhhhhhh..

Thanks Bob..

I think that Davis enjoys, relishes, and cashes in on the fact that the Raiders merchandise is a favorite of the gangs (even if they're only #2 these days), even if he didn't invent the association.

As for Blanda and the team, in the 70s and 80s I think I hated them just as much as I did the Jests. But I think I respected many of the Raiders' players more than I did the Jests--such as Blanda, Ray Guy, Cliff Branch and Biletnikoff who had about 3 cubic feet of stick-em stored on each sock (it was legal back then).

The point is that while we can intensely hate Tom Brady and Randy Moss as rivals today, you have got to respect and mourn the passing of people like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and the greats that made the game you love the game you love. Hey, as a kid I was a St. Louis Cardinals fan and my hero was Stan the Man Musial but when it comes to human things like death, you cannot be so small minded that you let those sports rivalries color your take.

Now when it comes to characters who have spoiled the sports with their off field behavior, that is something else.