Depending on their ages, ebullient Manchester City fans agree that new home kit from Umbro is smexy, boss, gear, cool beans - great new video shows it flying high over Manchester. Meanwhile, Dolphins fans are justifiably nervous at what owner Stephen Ross may do to uniforms and classic logo next year.

Manchester City Football Club video: NEW CITY KIT: Umbro "Show Your City" July 6, 2012. http://youtu.be/O8hqPd4m1RM  

Depending on their ages, ebullient Manchester City fans agree that new home kit from Umbro is smexy, boss, gear, cool beans - great new video shows it flying high over Manchester. Meanwhile, Dolphins fans are justifiably nervous at what owner Stephen Ross may do to uniforms and classic logo next year. 

Here's some photos from the Umbro blog of Man City's new maroon-colored away kit as worn by one of Man City's most famous fans, singer Noel Gallagher, and the captain of the Premier League champions, Vincent Kompany
http://www.umbro.com/en-us/blog/city-smart-noel-and-kompany-reveal-manchester-city-away-jersey-2012/
See also: http://www.umbro.com/en-gb/


My last (video-filled) entry on Man City was my May 1st post titled, Jubilant! Liam Gallagher's best day of the year! Watches his Man. City beat Man. United, take over top of Premier League in global telecast seen by 650 million, tweets about meeting Maradona, and then crashes press conference
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/jubilant-liam-gallaghers-best-day-of.html


I can't even conceive of the Miami Dolphins, as presently constituted under Stephen Ross and Mike Dee, ever doing a video this clever, since up 'til now, subtlety has not proven their strong suit. But a fan video featuring the Dolphins logo/helmet and a camera flying high above South Florida and the shoreline and then winding its way towards the stadium, showing how insignificant the Orange Carpet really is, from near or far, would be most appreciated, especially if they finished by using that ridiculous carpet as the landing strip, like a Space Shuttle landing, well, that I'd like to see.

Under no circumstances should the Dolphins' logo or uniforms be drastically changed.

What's scarier, what they might look like if Ross changes them based on his unproven track record and intuition, or, what some Dolfans might do to Ross if he messed with them?

It's a tie, but just so everyone outside of the south Florida area knows in advance, IF bumbling Dolphins owner Stephen Ross drastically messes with them, I honestly don't think there's enough law enforcement in Florida to protect him from the wrath of angry fans.

The Miami Dolphins logo of my youth, the look of champions, not cellar-dwellers.


The reader forums here tell the story -if there are to be any uniform changes, fans want it to be a return to the mid-1970's or early '80's: aqua, NOT teal! 
No orange jerseys!

ROOKIES ON THE RISE  Dan Marino: Miami's Hot Quarterback, November 14, 1983

The Business & Pleasure of Sports blog
South Florida Sun-Sentinel 
Miami Dolphins consider altering logo, look for 2013
By Craig Davis, April 4, 2012 11:00 AM
http://blogs.trb.com/sports/custom/business/blog/2012/04/miami_dolphins_consider_alteri.html

The Phinsider blog
Miami Dolphins Considering Logo Change for 2013?
by Kevin Nogle on Apr 5, 2012 2:00 PM EDT

http://www.thephinsider.com/2012/4/5/2925824/miami-dolphins-considering-logo-change-for-2013

The 1972 17-0, Undefeated Miami Dolphins, a team for the ages and my first year as a Dolphins season-ticket holder, where I missed not a minute of any home game: preseason, regular season or playoff at the Orange Bowl.
For over six years I had a copy of this photo resting in a simple black frame on top of my bedroom dresser at my home in North Miami Beach, south of the 163rd Street Shopping Center. There it stayed 'till that fateful day in August of 1979, when I began packing for my new life and the cream and crimson of Indiana University in Bloomington. 


The photo made the trip to Bloomington intact, where it remained on my desk in Briscoe Quad 427-A for two very eventful years at IU, the latter, '80-'81, the latter being the year we beat North Carolina for the NCAA title. I placed it right below my 8' x 11' b&w glossies of the Miami Herald's All-County Boys and Girls Gymnastics team. 
That was a tremendously-talented team that featured many friends of mine from all around Dade County, as well as my own friends and classmates at North Miami Beach Senior High School, home of the Chargers in case you forgot.
-----
http://www.mcfc.co.uk


http://shop.mcfc.co.uk/

http://www.twitter.com/mcfc


http://www.youtube.com/user/mcfcofficial 

http://twitter.com/#!/liamgallagher 

7 Days for the Miami Dolphins to end or add to their reputation for terrible NFL Draft selections. A last chance for sanity and common sense for long-suffering Dol-fans? We want Quinton Coples, DE from North Carolina

DE Quinton Coples on ESPN Sport Science with John Brenkus, April 8, 2012.
http://youtu.be/n6JO299HD4w

7 Days for the Miami Dolphins to end or add to their reputation for terrible NFL Draft selections. A last chance for sanity and common sense for long-suffering Dol-fans? We want Quinton Coples, DE from North Carolina.

Knowing that "only victory would suffice they produced a performance short on ambition, low on energy and looked and acted like a team that knew the game was up." 


And he's NOT describing the Miami Dolphins of the past dozen years!


No, BBC Sports chief football writer Phil McNulty was actually describing the flat tire on the road that has been City -Manchester City- of late.

But admit it, his spare and unwavering description reads like the true story of almost every upsetting Dolphins loss of the 21st Century, doesn't it?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philmcnulty/2012/04/citys_horse_bolts_as_balotelli.html

(I subscribe to Phil's blog about the Premier League and all thing England National Team, et al.)


Rhetorical question of the week:

Q: Dave, will you be mocking the majority of the 2012 NFL Mock Drafts that have the Dolphins "overdrafting" and drafting Aggies QB Ryan Tannehill? 

A: Wish I could, but sadly, I DO think the Dolphins will likely screw this up, too -if only out of habit!


Bleacher Report
Ryan Tannehill and Overdrafting Quarterbacks: An NFL Epidemic
By Dan Hope, April 14, 2012

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1145779-ryan-tannehill-and-overdrafting-quarterbacks-an-nfl-epidemic


Here's what longtime Dolphin fans know from first-hand experience, year-after-year.

Continuing the pattern that has seemingly existed since Joe Thomas left the Dolphins for the Baltimore Colts in the mid-1970's and drafted Bert Jones, Roger Carr, Lydell Mitchell and a host of very talented and exciting players to watch, thereby depriving Don Shula of a savvy partner in planning the Dolphins' future, this year's NFL Draft -starting at 8 p.m. on Thursday April 26th- will likely feature at least 8-10 players who are drafted AFTER the Dolphins first-round selection at #8 who will have more to do with their respective teams winning in 2012 than whomever the Dolphins select with the pick.

That is, unless they inexplicably wind-up with a chance to get their hands on future All-Pro RB Trent Richardson or the player we want.

To me, that particular scenario is likely unless the Browns beat the Dolphins to the overdraft punch and select Texas A& M QB Ryan Tannehill with their pick at #4, in which case they will also probably try to move up via a trade with a team with their #22 first-round pick for the 5th-7th selection, so they can get whatever WR St. Louis doesn't draft, either Oklahoma State's Justin Blackmon or Notre Dame's Michael Floyd, so that Browns QB Colt McCoy will have a game-breaker to thrown to.

The Dolphins have floundered on the field and off for the past decade, and like Los Angeles  Dodger fans and their genuine, deep-seated animosity towards soon-to-be-former owner Frank McCourt, which explains why they are NOT using the parking lots that he still owns and a "record number of Dodger fans took public transportation" on Opening Day, to their dismay, Dolphin fans wake-up each morning with a buffoonish villain of an owner of their own in billionaire Stephen Ross,.


As has been written elsewhere in South Florida a million times the past few years, Ross
STILL seems far too fixated on extraneous matters fans don't care about, even if female Miami-area TV reporters do.
Frankly, most troubling of all, despite his recent PR moves to reach out to Dolphin season ticket holders, Ross seems genuinely unable to learn from his own past mistakes.


Yes, the very same upsetting personality trait that I complain about with great specificity on this blog with respect to how the City of Hallandale Beach, Broward County and the Sunshine State are, seemingly, regularly mis-managed in a world where serious decisions with lasting ramifications need to be made by serious, hard-working people who are focused on both the short-term and long-term.
We don't expect perfection, really, we don't.


But we don't think it's unreasonable to keep the financial and policy screw-ups to a bare minimum, to not actually be the rule rather than the exception, and not keep stepping into the same pot-hole over-and-over, like it was just put there.


Except here, at the city, county and state level, people in charge seem to studiously avoid solutions with a demonstrated track record of working in other multiple cities, counties or states, and instead, lamely insist that there's a unique quality here -too warm, too poor, too Hispanic, too car-loving, too many Homeless, too-something- that rules out using  those solutions here, so instead, elected leaders form task forces where they appoint friends and cronies, many of whom have serious self-evident conflict-of-interests, and we end up re-inventing the wheel.
It's so f-ing frustrating!


Watching Dolphins owner Ross is the same thing, exasperating in the extreme, and unlike many of what is now an army of critics, I actually want Ross to improve as an owner, not just keep screwing-up because it's such a great conversation starter around South Florida that instantly produces shaking heads in people.


Dolphin season ticket sales are at the lowest point they've been in in roughly thirty years, and with what can only be described as an ugly home schedule in an area where something being an "event" is not only well known but common knowledge, even among kids, I believe only the Jets and Patriots home games are likely to sell-out.


Consider this home slate and you'll see why I'm right:

NFL Week 2, Sept. 16: vs. Oakland, 1 p.m.

Week 3, Sept. 23: vs. New York Jets, 1 p.m.

Week 6, Oct. 14: vs. St. Louis, 1 p.m.

Week 9, Nov. 4: at Indianapolis, 1 p.m.

Week 10, Nov. 11: vs. Tennessee, 1 p.m.

Week 12, Nov. 25: vs. Seattle, 1 p.m.

Week 13, Dec. 2: vs. New England, 1 p.m.

Week 15, Dec. 16: vs. Jacksonville, 1 p.m.

Week 16, Dec. 23: vs. Buffalo, 1 p.m.

That means it's probably even-money that six games will NOT be televised in South Florida, this season, which perhaps helps the Hurricanes sell some game tickets to folks who believe Al Golden is selling.


The fact that all Dolphin home games are at 1 p.m., when the South Florida sun will bake you just as soon as look at you, will not help the Dolphins and Ross one bit.


In my opinion, the Dolphins should draft someone with playmaker ability who will play a lot in his first year and could blossom opposite Cameron Wake -UNC DE Quinton Coples, #90, who is 6' 6", 291 pounds, was First Team All-ACC, 24 sacks in 4 years. 

For those of you who question his desire, seems that I recall that Dan Marino's senior year wasn't so great, either, but unlike Marino's final year, the Tar Heels' head coach, Butch Davis, was fired just a few weeks before the season started, a lot of starting players were suspended for multiple games, so, the season was essentially over before it ever started.

DE Quinton Coples NFL Pro Day Highlights
http://youtu.be/QQmysrkRd3o

http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/thedailydolphin/2012/04/19/si-draft-expert-tony-pauline-defends-quinton-coples-against-his-critics/

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1146309-todd-mcshay-2012-nfl-mock-draft-analysis-for-each-pick/

Palm Beach Post

Brian Billick, Mike Golic agree: Miami Dolphins shouldn’t draft Ryan Tannehill just for the sake of taking a QB

by Ben Volin, April 12, 2012

http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/thedailydolphin/2012/04/12/brian-billick-mike-golic-agree-miami-dolphins-shouldnt-draft-ryan-tannehill-just-for-the-sake-of-taking-a-qb/

As regular readers of the blog know, I was at the Dolphins HQ in Davie in 2007 when they passed on selecting Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn at pick #9, after he had already been ignored by his hometown Browns with the #3 pick, and instead drafted Ohio State WR Ted Ginn, Jr., now with the 49ers, which caused the huge crowd of fans in the 'bubble' to explode in anger.

Above, the surprised look says it all. Brady Quinn at the 2007 NFL Draft HQ in NYC when Ted Ginn, Jr.'s name was formally announced. This is prior to Quinn dating U.S. Olympic gymnast captain Alicia Sacramone, whose moxie and spirit have long made her a personal favorite of yours truly. Screenshot by Mario J. Bermudez.

I was actually standing less than 15 feet from Dolphin broadcasters Jimmy Cefalo and the late Jim Mandich and their WQAM producers while they were doing their LIVE coverage of the NFL Draft, and when that announcement was made -and listening to them via my Walkman- when the cascade of boos reached a crescendo, it literally drowned-out what I was listening to.

The public's mood did not improve when then-Dolphins first-year head coach Cam Cameron came out and addressed the public on why the organization had chosen to make that decision.

As always, to quote myself in my last sentence of my 2011 pre-NFL Draft post of April 28th, 2011, where I called on the Dolphins to draft Arkansas QB Ryan Mallette, 

That's not a chill, that's a Draft: With Dolphin fans at emotional nadir, will team continue frustrating at NFL Draft? Pick Mallett!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/thats-not-chill-thats-draft-with.html
"The past is prologue."


Just saying, that's NOT good news for long-suffering Dolphin fans.


Ever since the Super Bowl ended, surprisingly from my p.o.v. with a Giants win over the Patriots, I've had a Google Alert for 2012 NFL mock drafts.
As you might imagine, though it started off with a trickle, for weeks it's been a veritable torrent, and I've looked at most of the citations.


Of all of these, though, as far as a Dolphins-related mock draft, the best I've seen thus far is the one done by the Palm Beach Post, and mostly Ben Volin and Brian Biggane, and not just because they agree with me on drafting Quinton Coples.


http://www.nfl.com/videos/auto/09000d5d8280330b/On-the-Beat-Dolphins-No-8


http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/thedailydolphin/2012/04/10/the-palm-beach-posts-2012-nfl-mock-draft/


Tannehill definitely makes more sense for Kansas City at #11, backing-up Matt Cassell and Brady Quinn.

Kansas City Star Video Star NFL correspondent Adam Teicher on Chiefs draft choices. 

http://videos.kansascity.com/vmix_hosted_apps/p/media?id=undefined

-----

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2012

http://bleacherreport.com/2012-nfl-draft

http://www.youtube.com/user/usnikefootball

http://www.miamidolphins.com/

Dolphins' new Nike merchandise is here: 

http://shop.dolphins.com/Miami-Dolphins-Nike-NFL-Gear-Merchandise-_-848882224_PG.html?sourceid=906x75nfllaunch04112

Three weeks before 2012 NFL Draft, NFL & Nike host marketing bonanza for release of Nike's Elite 51 line of football uniforms, sportswear & training apparel

Wall Street Journal Digital Network video: NFL and Nike Unveil New Team Jerseys at Brooklyn Navy Yard. April 3, 2012.

Three weeks before 2012 NFL Draft, NFL & Nike host marketing bonanza for release of Nike's Elite 51 line of football uniforms, sportswear & training apparel.

Above, MarketWatch correspondent Andria Cheng reports from the NFL marketing bonanza that fans have been buzzing about for months as the NFL's contract shifts from Reebok to Nike.

She speaks to Brian Orakpo of the Redskins and Alex Smith of the 49ers about the new line of official uniforms, shoes and gloves, and speaks to Nike Brand president Charlie Denson about the new line of NFL-themed consumer sportswear and training line of apparel. 

Costs for near-replica of lighter, non-water-absorbent Elite 51 line of NFL game jerseys are approximately $250, with the intermediate line of fitted shirts, with centered team logo, going for about $100 a piece, $15 more than the current price point of Reebok's. 

Denson expects most of the merchandise to be on retail store shelves by NFL Draft of April 26th. Projected wholesale sales of $750 million? We'll see. 

http://youtu.be/G9qwUwF0sE8

FYI: New Era has the field hat contract.

USNikeFootball video: How we work: Nike + the Seattle Seahawks. April 3, 2012

Nike Football Design Director Todd Van Horne and Seattle Seahawks Equipment Manager Eric Kennedy discuss the collaboration between Nike and Seahawk players and staff to get the most innovative products on the players. Seahawk strong safety Kam Chancellor wants the lightest uniform possible given how he's expected to keep up with the opponent's fastest players on the field.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlCWM4bCCP8&feature=colike

See also:

Bloomberg TV video: Mark Crumpton of Bloomberg TV's "Bottom Line" tal;ks to Denson and . NFL Uniforms, Tebow Merchandise. April 3, 2012.

http://youtu.be/-0Pckgv_XL4

NFL, Nike roll out new uniforms for all 32 teams

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8280d110/article/nfl-nike-roll-out-new-uniforms-for-all-32-teams

NFL.com's photo gallery of new uniforms: 

http://www.nfl.com/photos/09000d5d8280d850?module=HP11_hot_topics#id:09000d5d8280d924

Dolphins' Karlos Dansbv wearing new uniform: http://www.nfl.com/photos/09000d5d8280d850?module=HP11_hot_topics#id:09000d5d8280d8db

Dolphins' new Nike merchandise is here: 

http://shop.dolphins.com/Miami-Dolphins-Nike-NFL-Gear-Merchandise-_-848882224_PG.html?sourceid=906x75nfllaunch04112

----

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2012

http://www.youtube.com/user/usnikefootball

http://www.seahawks.com/team/roster/Kam-Chancellor/d8609aa5-f05a-4353-87d9-794d9cf8abbf

http://www.miamidolphins.com/

It only SEEMS like forever! 38 very long & wistful years since Super Bowl success for Dolphins. What's next for beleaguered Dolfans?

Vince Lombardi Championship Trophies from Dolphin victories in Super Bowl VII and VIII.

April 2007 photo by Mario J. Bermudez taken at Miami Dolphins Headquarters, Davie, Florida.

Sports Illustrated January 21, 1974

Zonk! Miami Massacres Minnesota

Larry Csonka

It's why you play the game.

For more on this longstanding wistfulness, see my Super Bowl blog post from last year, February 6, 2011,
"Lombardi. A certain magic still lingers in the very name. It speaks of duels in the snow and cold November mud..."; Packers will win by at least 8!

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/lombardi-certain-magic-still-lingers-in.html

Giving credit where credit is due: diabolical genius! Deadspin asks, "What Time Does The Super Bowl Start, He Wrote As A Headline To Game The Google Results"

NY Giants defensive players have to resort to faking injuries in order to keep St. Louis Rams no-huddle offense from steamrolling them. Sept. 20, 2011. http://youtu.be/eY26rgd4aps

It's not officially a Super Bowl until Alyssa Milano comes to Indy. 
NOW it's on!


Above, Alyssa wearing her signature Touch by Alyssa Milano New England Patriots Sweater Mix Jacket, the sort of thing you may've seen at the NFL Experience if you were in Indy while she was there schmoozing with fans and doing some promotional work for her popular line of NFL-themed women's clothing.
(I went to the one in D.C. held on the National Mall when the NFL started doing that to start off the season and held it in the NFL city hosting the first Monday Night Football game; if I remember correctly, they later had a mini-concert there by Journey, which I missed, since I rushed home to watch the game on TV.) 
But while I have chosen to show Alyssa wearing Patriots gear above because I'm picking them to beat the Giants by at least ten points tonight, as you can see from the photos of her at her always amusing posterous photo blog, which as I've mentioned here previously, I've subscribed to for a while now, she's actually pulling for the NY Football Giants. 
http://alyssamilano.posterous.com/date-night-in-indy


-----
Giving credit where credit is due: diabolical genius! 
Deadspin: "What Time Does The Super Bowl Start, He Wrote As A Headline To Game The Google Results"

The post was sinister and dumb and ruthless and brilliant, and a good indicator of why the HuffPo's traffic numbers are so insane.

http://deadspin.com/5881720/what-time-does-the-super-bowl-start-he-wrote-as-a-headline-to-game-the-google-results


http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/46/what-time-is-the-superbowl

http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/46

Or, if you are not near any of the tens of millions of Americans TVs that have the game on,  watch it online at: http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/46/live/sunday

Beet TV video:  NFL, NBC Sports and Verizon Wireless Ready the First Mobile Super Bowl
By Andy Plesser
February 3, 2012
http://www.beet.tv/2012/02/superbowl.html  



Rasmussen Reports
Super Bowl Viewers Don’t Think Madonna’s Good Choice For Halftime Show
February 3, 2012 http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/sports/january_2012/super_bowl_viewers_don_t_think_madonna_s_good_choice_for_halftime_show

Yes, 57% of likely Super Bowl viewers say no to Madonna as halftime entertainment, and I'm with them. For about the 20th year in a row I won't watch the halftime, but instead mute the TV and listen to what they're saying on the radio broadcast, in case someone stumbles accidentally into telling the the truth.


By the way, the 57% opposed to Madonna is a higher percentage of American than have voted for any winning presidential candidate since November of 1984.
(President Reagan was re-elected with 58.8% of the vote to former Vice President Walter Mondale's 40.6%.)


Two months after that election was the last Super Bowl the Dolphins played in, a 38-16 loss to the 49ers.
To give you some perspective, no woman now or recently appearing in Playboy was alive when the Dolphins last played in the Super Bowl. 
Just saying... epic mediocrity spans decades.


Here's some more perspective on those 27 years:

1985: The last time the Dolphins made it to the Super Bowl.

Story: Jake Cline, Sun Sentinel, Photo gallery: Melina I. De Rose, Sun Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/pictures/sfl-super-bowl-1985-lifestyle,0,1759537.photogallery

Below, an excellent historical analysis of Super Sunday from John Maxham, an advertising executive at Seattle's Cole & Weber United.
He "gets it."

Apart from being an effective and fun marketing gimmick, the use of Roman numerals in the Super Bowl may offer a deeper insight into our national psyche

mediabistro's AgencySpy blog
Op-Ed: ‘Svper Bowl Svnday’ – Our Invented Ancient Tradition
By Kiran Aditham on February 3, 2012 11:03 AM
http://www.mediabistro.com/agencyspy/op-ed-svper-bowl-svnday-our-invented-ancient-tradition_b29030


-----
Two last things: If Tom Coughlan and Eli Manning were with the Seattle Seahawks, and had the same back story and stats, and were now in the Super Bowl, nobody-but-nobody would be talking the nonsense I've heard so much of this past week, on ESPN and elsewhere, about how IF they win against the Patriots, they're locks to get into Canton.
Who decided that?


It's because they're with the New York Giants. 
Period.


Again, I like the Patriots by at least ten points.

Finally at the weekend when the NFL really means NOT FOR LONG; 1970's NFL intros for ABC, CBC and NBC broadcasts

1973 NBC Sports NFL broadcast theme

http://youtu.be/nv-datkQYUU

Yes, those were the days...

In those dark teen years of the early-to-mid Seventies, many years before consumer VCRs existed and became commonplace -and were soon taken for granted in no time by kids who grew-up thinking that you'd always been able to see something from television a second time, on your own schedule- I can recall that the Monday after the first NFL weekend of the year, my friends and I at J.F.K. Junior High in North Miami Beach spent time trying to properly identify the order of the identifiable NFL players during this quick-cutting video montage of NBC's.


And frankly, wonder whether or not ABC would be updating their intro -yet again- that night for Monday Night Football, which, in retrospect, they actually changed less than they did the 'third man' in the booth after popular Don Meredith left to pursue entertainment options in Hollywood. 



1984 ad for Safeway's Super Store -They've got a sale on VCRs, only $369; I guess the savings gets passed on to you! -LOL!
http://youtu.be/T6mD2bZc9w8

The VCR format fight: VHS vs. Beta TV commercial for NEC, 1984
http://youtu.be/FnaL50cwh-Q


The three American TV network's football themes gripped my friends and I from the start, and quickly became embedded in our young brains, which perhaps best explains why when you see them again on YouTube, you're struck by the fact that not just for my friends and I, but for millions of other sports fans alive then who watched them, they still remain preferable to anything on the air now, esp on ESPN or Fox-TV.
And they say as much in the YouTube comments, too.


When my friends and I at JFK got together at lunch, P.E. or after school, and it turned out that someone hadn't been paying close attention to the fact that the first establishing shot of the NBC intro was one from the the defending NFL champion Dolphins locker room... well, you suddenly weren't such an NFL expert after all.

Yes, we did not grade our friends' NFL prowess on a Bell Curve.
It was always sink-or-swim.


How many players in the three videos I've posted can you name?
(And how many of what would now be considered illegal hits?)


To name but a few: Danny Abramowicz -fades from his gold-colored Saints pants to the gold of the NBC text- Larry Little, Larry Csonka, Joe Namath, Essex Johnson, Ken Stabler, Cliff Branch, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Tommy Casanova, Walter Payton, Craig Morton, Willie Brown... 


And the player who is seen the longest in the NBC intro at the top is Dolphins All-Pro guard Bob Kuechenberg, who hits his own helmet at the end to show that he's strapped up and ready to play.

CBS Sports "NFL Today" intro from the 1970's
http://youtu.be/tUUMMlGPeMA

1971 ABC Monday Night Football intro for Baltimore Colts at Minnesota Vikings, with a Johnny Unitas pre-game interview  with Howard Cosell. 

http://youtu.be/Kr_fa-hR3zY

For those of you too young to know or remember, the Baltimore Colts were the defending NFL champs in 1971, having won Super Bowl V nine months before in Miami, beating the Dallas Cowboys 16-13 on the last play of the game. The very talented Minnesota Vikings had lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the previous Super Bowl, which is why Howard Cosell is so clearly animated about the match-up in what was then the second year of ABC's Monday Night Football.

This is one of the best quality videos of 1970's NFL football that I've seen in years, and includes TV commercials.

On 40th anniversary, NFL Network revisits "NFL's Longest Game" in a special tonight at 6 p.m. on Dolphins-Chiefs classic for the ages

SUDDEN DEATH AT KANSAS CITY

Above, capturing THE moment of one of the most amazing NFL games ever played, the moment the Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 in double-overtime at Municipal Stadium, December 25, 1971, as "Miami's Garo Yepremian Ends the Longest Game"; the placekick holder is Karl Noonan. 
Sports Illustrated of January 3, 1972.
And only one of the most joyous days of my life!


Must-see TV! 
Today on the 40th Anniversary of NFL's "Longest Game" between the Dolphins and Chiefs, a divisional playoff game I remember like it was yesterday, the NFL Network will air a special commemorative program at 6 pm tonight, with old NBC-TV footage from the ballgame, and, apparently, sideline conversations, which I can only imagine will be augmented by NFL Films footage.


Teaser alert: watch out for Marv Fleming, #80, in the end zone on this next play. 
Just saying...


As of today, Sunday morning at 1 a.m., according to DirecTV's on-screen schedule, there is no scheduled encore of this program scheduled, so make sure you have your DVR/VCR's at the ready.
But if you know how many times they will run a special program over-and-over, they'll do it -eventually.


Two short sneak peeks of the one-hour program are here; sorry, no embedding possible because that's how the NFL rolls. 
You have to go to their sites so that way you have to see the advertising of their partners.
Sort of makes you wonder if they've never heard of blogs, since they can load the ads into the video if they want.  

(Code Red head's-up to Google and Blogger: Blogger is NOT one of the NFL Network's listed "SHARE" partners. Why?) 


http://www.nfl.com/videos/auto/09000d5d82558093/Remembering-The-Longest-Game-Ever 


http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-videos/09000d5d825454f4/The-Longest-Game-Ever-sneak-peek 


In that afternoon game on Christmas Day 40-years ago today -the Christmas where my family finally got into the 20th Century and bought more than just a half-way decent stereo system- the pressure from the game got to be so much for my father.
He had to walk out of our apt. in North Miami Beach and pace out in the hallway, refusing to watch with me and my mother and two sisters as Garo attempted his winning 37-yard field-goal.


Less than an hour after the game, my family and I and tens of thousands of other Dolfans from all over South Florida had driven out to Miami International Airport to greet the team on their Eastern Airlines charter.
We had lived in South Florida for three years by then and I heard South Florida yell that day like I'd never heard it before.

One of the most joyous times of my life!!!



Chiefs running back and return man Ed Podolak's performance that day was one of the greatest individual football performances that I ever saw in my life, ranking at the top with there with watching a very sick Bob Griese go from Mercy Hospital to throwing some long bombs to Paul Warfield, in-person at the Orange Bowl, in a 1971 MNF comeback win against Pittsburgh; watching O.J. Simpson make one amazing move after another against the Dolphins, in-person at the Orange Bowl in the mid-'70's; Bert Jones, Roger Carr and the Baltimore Colts throttle a good Dolphins team at the Orange Bowl, showing amazing athletic ability and speed at the ballgame in 1975 where the stadium was used as footage for the film, Black Sunday that had a story-line involving Middle East terrorism and the Goodyear blimp possibly crashing into a stadium during the Super Bowl; and finally, in 1981 up in Bloomington at Memorial Stadium, seeing Marcus Allen personally destroy IU with 274 yards rushing, the year he won -and earned!- the Heisman Trophy.


As one of the many Dolphin fans who purchased the record albums that WIOD put out after the 1971 season and the 1972 Perfect Season, I have listened to that call by Rick Weaver about a thousand times.
"Noonan to hold..."


They were stolen from my apt. while I was attending IU, along with my high school ring,  my beautiful blue satin NMB Soccer Florida State Champs jacket, my NMB letterman patch for gymnastics for being the manager of the Women's team that won the 1979 State championships at a meet I ran and coordinated at NMB, easily one of the lowest days in my life, to say nothing of the money that got stolen.
It was like I was having my identity stolen before it was the thing to do on the Internet...  


And who would steal THOSE two Dolphin albums?
That's what made me think it was personal -the items stolen versus what was left behind.


By the way, I still have all my Dolphin PRO game programs, starting from the first game I went to in December of 1970 against Buffalo, a 45-3 win that clinched a playoff spot, their first ever, to the last Dolphin game I saw before leaving for college at IU in August of 1979.
Plus, I also have the various pro football annuals like Street & Smith and Athlon, great for reading on car trips to North Carolina seven months after this ballgame, still smarting from the Super Bowl loss to the Cowboys and seeing Roger Staubach on the face of every guide cover.
I probably have about 100 of the programs and guides in total.


And to think, about 25-years ago, I almost sold them -my precious memories!
Thank goodness I didn't!

After watching this, I'm convinced: singing & dancing flash mob across the U.S.A. during Super Bowl's halftime would be more fun than watching Madonna

Madcon - Glow - 2009 Eurovision Song Contest Flashmob Dance Finale (HD), Oslo, Norway. May 2009. http://youtu.be/32lpdFS7rPM

It starts a little slow, I'll grant you, but at 2:19, as the cameras leave the arena, then, serendipity...

After watching this, I'm convinced that a televised singing and dancing flash mob across the U.S.A., during the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show, would be MUCH MORE FUN to see than simply watching Madonna perform a medley of her well-known songs in Indy at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Or, perhaps more interesting than even that, would be to have it televised from the two cities which have teams playing, as people sing and dance wearing their -quite likely- Green Bay Packer cheeseheads and Baltimore Ravens purple jerseys and gear.

Me, I never watch the Super Bowl pre-game programming anymore, as there are far too many 'human interest' stories with female reporters trying to look empathetic as they interview some special-team player's sister's husband's barber with cancer, or the like.
I usually mute the TV during Super Bowl halftime anyway, and flip on the radio telecast to hear their analysis, so this would actually be more fun and amusing to watch and see how each city tries to top the other somehow.
And it would be easy to find a commercial sponsor, too!

Whatever happened to all the genuinely dangerous flash mobs, anyway?
Like the ones that terrorized Chicagoland and Philadelphia this spring and summer, which I wrote about here, along with some startling videos?
They seem to have stopped in their tracks once 'Occupy Wall Street' came on the scene.
Hmm-m...

Then again, maybe it's just a spring and summer phenomena...

-----

In case you forgot why the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest -above- was being held in the Oslo area in the first place, it was because Norway's Alexander Rybak had won the 2009 competition in Moscow with "Fairytale", and the next competition is always hosted by the winner's home country.



EUROVISION 2009 WINNER -NORWAY, ALEXANDER RYBAK, FAIRYTALE -HQ STEREO
http://youtu.be/uiH4BFTELME

-----
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlexanderRybakVideo/


http://www.alexanderrybak.com/

Halfway thru 2011 NFL season, TV's East Coast bias in scheduling Sunday & Monday Night Football games, esp for Cowboys, Jets & Giants, is clear to see

clevelandthundercat video: A Browns Fan's Reaction To Today's Game Against Houston

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRBDMMVctu8&feature=colike

Brilliant!

Within my lengthy post Tuesday about Peter Schweizer's hot new book titled "Throw Them All Out," about insider trading and crony capitalism on Capitol Hill,

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/insight-into-world-of-insider-trading.html

I included a pithy and accurate secondary comment regarding what I called the "NFL/Madison Avenue nexus."

That is to say, the guiding hand at NFL HQ that causes the schedule-makers to force Cowboy, Jet and Giant football games down the country's throat before the holidays, in order to maximize the TV network's ratings, even if those particular games are crummy match-ups by the time they roll around -or worse- are of little general interest outside of certain East Coast area codes in and around the island of Manhattan.

Well, perhaps as a testament to how much some of you recall from what I right -or my ability to mention something here that's of interest to me that you find yourself in agreement with- I've received quite a few short emails from readers and NFL fans around the world who seconded my motion -and then some.

The general consensus for the past forty years among serious NFL fans I know and columnists I trust is that for the TV networks, the best scenario has always seemed to be having the Cowboys as a good team and playing at home or on the road against an East Coast city, regardless of how good the Cowboys actually are that year, since New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Atlanta are large markets.

(Obviously, you already know that they are all NFC and Fox-TV markets.)

In fact, more than any other team, it's been noticeable to even the most novice fan that even when the Cowboys are mediocre to average, as usual, the NFL has scheduled them for late season national games at times on Saturdays or Sundays that more-deserving teams should be paying at, almost as if the NFL marketing folks are closet Cowboy fans with their thumb on the scales.

Most NFL fans I believe could tolerate the schedule-makers giving the benefit of the doubt to the Steelers or the Patriots, as nobody ever thinks both teams will be bad in the very same year, but last I checked, the Cowboys haven't played in the NFC Championship since 1995, 16 years ago, yet they are forever the fair-haired favorites at NFL HQ.

That appearance and the simple facts that one can deduce from simply examining the schedule in even a cursory fashion, hardly seems to matter to the NFL, since the schedule this year once again seems to be set-up with the NFL's firmly hoping for the Cowboys to be good down the stretch.

But when has that hope become a reality the past few years?

For the Cowboys, December has been the month of giving -giving away ballgames they should've won.

The proof of that isn't just what we have already observed this year, but the fact that once again, the Cowboys are scheduled to host one of three late afternoon post-4 p.m. games on Christmas Eve Day, against... yes, an East Coast team, the Eagles.

For the record, the other two games are San Diego at Detroit and San Francisco at Seattle.

Seriously, which game do you think will be on local TV where you live that Saturday afternoon?

Now as we all know, there are supposedly limits on how often NFL teams can appear on Sunday or Monday Night Football, but for most fans, it rarely seems that way in practice, does it?

No, it seems that Mark Sanchez, Tony Romo and Eli Manning & Company are shoved down our throats at every single opportunity, and are always featured as pre-game or halftime interviews, despite the fact that we all have seen enough to know that they are not exactly sparkling conversationalists.

And, not surprisingly, given the common sense of most of you readers, some of those emails I received suggested that I print the entire NBC Sunday Night/ESPN Monday Night football lineup, plus the Thursday NFL Network schedule -which starts tonight with a Jets game!- so you can see for yourself whether or not it shows that East Coast bias, coupled with the Cowboy/Jet/Giant bias we've all come to expect from the NFL and the NY-based TV networks; with table scraps thrown to the rest of the country.

This year, for example, is a perfect example of what I was saying about the NFL schedule-makers loading-up for TV ratings sake.

It was a good month -four weeks- before there was a single Sunday night or Monday night football game that DIDN'T include either the Cowboys, Jets or Giants, who as of today, Thursday morning, have a combined record of 16-11.

Thru the first 12 weeks of the NFL season, there is NEVER more than ONE WEEK going by without an appearance on a Sunday, Monday or Thursday night game of the Cowboys, Giants or Jets.

How do you reconcile that?

In fact, if you look at the schedule for the first twelve weeks of NBC's Sunday night game, the farthest west they go is Kansas City, which will be two Sundays from now.

Not exactly a cross-country tour of America's love affair with the NFL.

Below, I'm going to highlight these three teams nationally-televised games on Saturdays, Sunday night, Monday night and Thursday night, and let you see whatever you want to see. Perhaps it'll be a pattern.

That's what I see.

Week 1

Sunday, Sept. 11th Dallas 24 @ NYJ 27

Monday Sept. 12th New England 38 @ Miami 24, Oakland 23 @ Denver 20

Week 2

Sunday Sept. 18th Philadelphia 31 @ Atlanta 35

Monday Sept. 19th, St. Louis 16 @ NY Giants 28

Week 3

Sunday Sept. 25th Pittsburgh 23 @ Indianapolis 20

Monday Sept. 26th Washington 16 @ Dallas 18

Week 4

Sunday Oct. 2nd NY Jets 17 @ Baltimore 34

Monday Oct. 3rd Indianapolis 17 @ Tampa Bay 24

Week 5

Sunday Oct. 9th Green Bay 25 @ Atlanta 14

Monday Oct. 10th Chicago 13 @ Detroit 24

Week 6

Sunday Oct. 16th Minnesota 10 @ Chicago 39

Monday Oct. 17th Miami 6 @ NY Jets 24

Week 7

Sunday Oct. 23rd Indianapolis 7 @ New Orleans 62

Monday Oct. 24th Baltimore 7 @ Jacksonville 12

Week 8

Sunday Oct 30th Dallas 7 @ Philadelphia 34

Monday Oct. 31st San Diego 20 @ Kansas City 23

Week 9

Sunday Nov. 6th Baltimore 23 @ Pittsburgh 20

Monday Nov. 7th Chicago 30 @ Philadelphia 24

Week 10

Sunday Nov. 13th New England 37 @ NY Jets 16

Monday Nov. 14th Minnesota 7 @ Green Bay 45

Week 11

Thursday Nov. 17th NY Jets @ Denver 8:20 PM

Sunday Nov 20th Philadelphia @ NY Giants 8:20 PM

Monday Nov. 21st Kansas City @ New England

Week 12

Thursday Nov. 24th Thanksgiving Day

Green Bay @ Detroit

Miami @ Dallas

San Francisco @ Baltimore, the Harbaugh Bowl

Sunday Nov. 27th Pittsburgh @ Kansas City 8:20 PM

Monday Nov. 28th NY Giants @ New Orleans 8:30 PM

Week 13 is when it gets interesting since though the NFL says that weeks 10-15 and 17 are when the "flexible schedule" kicks in for moving one Sunday afternoon game to Sunday night for NBC's telecast, they weren't/aren't about to abandon the Jets for Week 10 and the Giants for Week 14, were they?

http://www.nfl.com/schedules/tv/flexible

http://www.nfl.com/schedules

Thursday Dec. 1st Philadelphia @ Seattle 8:20 PM

Sunday Dec. 4th

The two games most likely to be moved are Detroit @ New Orleans tentatively listed for a 1p.m. kickoff and Green Bay at, yes, the NY Giants slated for 4:15 p.m.

Monday Dec. 5th San Diego @ Jacksonville 8:30 PM

Week 14

Thursday Dec. 8th Cleveland @ Pittsburgh 8:20 PM

Sunday, Dec. 11th

What do you know, NBC has tentatively listed the NY Giants at Dallas for Sunday night, though by then, the Cowboys may already be eliminated from playoff contention.

What are the odds that NBC tosses this game?

We know the answer to that, don't we -ZERO chance!

Mon, Dec. 12th St. Louis @ Seattle

Week 15

Thursday Dec. 15th Jacksonville @ Atlanta

Saturday, Dec. 17th Dallas at Tampa Bay 8:20 PM

Sun, Dec. 18th

Tentatively scheduled for Sunday night is Baltimore @ San Diego, but they could drop that if Chargers are out of playoff contention by then -quite likely- and go with Seattle at Chicago, Detroit at Oakland or NY Jets at Philadelphia. Hmm-m...

Monday Dec. 19th Pittsburgh at San Francisco

Week 16, Dec. 22nd-25th, has a condition that weeks 10-17 didn't have -a guarantee.

The NFL guaranteed Chicago at Green Bay on Christmas night to NBC, and there are no night games on Christmas Eve.

See, the NFL really does care about its fans. LOL!

At first glance, the only surprising thing is that the Giants at Jets game was scheduled for 1 p.m. and not 4:15 pm, but then you noodle it thru and you see what the NFL has done for Fox-TV.

It has given them all three teams we've discussed in this blog post on what will likely be a huge viewing day on a day that American families will be, theoretically, together, with the Philadelphia at Dallas game following the battle of the two New Jersey teams.

No chance they were going to have two west coast teams playing in the second game, right?

It would be a real shame if the Giants eliminated the Jets right before Christmas, wouldn't it?

Thursday Dec. 22nd Houston @ Indianapolis 8:20 PM

Sunday, Dec. 25th Chicago @ Green Bay 8:20 PM

Monday Dec. 26th Atlanta @ New Orleans

Week 17

Sunday Jan. 1st

This week, the last regular season weekend, the two games most likely to be moved are the 1 p.m. Baltimore at Cincinnati and Detroit at Green Bay games.

But playing Devil's Advocate, guess who also plays at 1 p.m.?

Yes, Dallas at the NY Giants.

The TV networks would't bypass two possibly crucial games with playoff positions at risk for another collective FU to the rest of the country would they, just to get more NY eyeballs?

You bet they would!

http://www.nfl.com/schedules