Monponsett Is the Illest

ESPN.com - NCF - Paterno: 'The black athlete has made a big difference'

   If anyone would know, it would be Joe the Boss, who has been running the Nittany Lions since before I was born. I'm pretty sure that Joe spends some time with young blacks, so it's not like when Duxbury High used to play urban schools in tournaments and we'd be like, "Wow... they're really fast." 

   Joe's probably right about the general aspect of scoring going up with the introduction of the black athlete, although that Forward Pass thingy might have something to do with it. 

    Even if there was a brief period where black WRs were introduced into the NFL and ran wild over the slower whiteys playing defense, the introduction of the black cornerback should have smoothed out the Bell Curve.

   Besides, if he only has to outrun a white free safety, a white WR looks just as fasterer as Moss does running away from Duane Starks... provided the coach is willing to call a Forward Pass play.

 

   Never underestimate technological advances or innovations... like the Forward Pass. Modern science, agriculture, medicine, and industry upped the average human life expectancy from 40 to 77 in no time at all (to a historian). Every time you see that fridge in the kitchen, give it a great big hug.

   There isn't a sport that isn't totally different than it was in 1921. I'd love to see the 1927 Yankees play the 2004 Red Sox, for reasons that have nothing to do with race. It'd be a helluva game.

   Would today's AFC All Pro Team stomp the smaller 1925 Bears like Sasquatch? Would Eddie Shore knock out all of Wayne Gretzky's teeth? Would Kobe smash his testicles into George Mikan's face while hook-dunking on him?

   The answers are yes, yes, and yes. 300 pounds moves 180 pounds backwards quickly pretty much every time, evil is evil, and I saw Kobe s*** on 6'10" Dwight Howard so hard last year, Dwight could have won a civil suit.

   Scoring is up in hockey, too. I can pretty much assure you that this fact has nothing to do with some plantation owner in 1795-era Virginia buying the biggest Angolan off the slave ship.

NFL Pioneer’s Honor: “Better Late Than Never”

    Any scoring spike would probably be tied to Knute Rockne's Forward Pass more than Fritz Pollard, who was the the NFL's first black head coach (1921).  Pollard coached the Akron Pros, and his crazy-dumb overdue inclusion to the Hall of Fame finally came earlier this year.

   Pollard- who must have been an amazing man- also led Brown from Rhode Island to their only Rose Bowl. Pollard played against George Halas in high school, if you want a better visual. George would never hire Pollard, or even schedule games against Pollard's team.

   The NFL had a very early desegregation, depending on if you consider "from the moment it was born" to be early. Pollard and Rube Marshall were the only two black dudes on teams that joined the NFL when it was formed in 1920.

   Between 1934 and 1946, blacks were not allowed to play. After Pollard in 1921, the next black head coach was Art Shell in 1989.

   He also played professional football for the Pros, Milwaukee Badgers, Gilberton Cadamounts, Hammond Pros and Providence Steamrollers. In his own way, he may have been cooler thanJackie Robinson. He was coaching a team before the Great Depression.

   The first black Quarterback to play in the NFL was the splendidly-monikered Willie Thrower (above), who would be a bad guy to walk across a bridge with. He played for Halas' 1953 Bears. His name is funny in the way that it's funny that someone named Crapper invented the toilet.

   Marlin Brisco (below) was the first black to start at QB, for the 1968 AFL Denver Broncos.

 

   The inaugural black QB drafted in the first round was Tampa's Doug Williams, who also snagged the first Soul Super Bowl in DC. The first NFL black starter was Jim Harris, of- I think- the Rams and the Bills.

   During Vietnam, sergeants on the grenade range told recruits to throw the grenade "high and hard, just like a football. You white guys, throw like Unitas... and you black guys, throw like Harris." 

ESPN.com - NFL - T.O. agrees: Eagles would be unbeaten with Favre

   Bringing it back full circle, TO wants a white quarterback?

   OK, I think TO is more concerned with things like Health and Talent than skin color, and he is not alone in his thinking. Michael Irvin recently said that Philly would be undefeated if Brett started there.

   Donovan is not a lot unlike Favre- a scrambling QB with a cannon of an arm- and it would be an interesting switch. Favre is at the end of the line, but he deserves better than what Green Bay is trotting out beside him. Donovan would be pissed, but this is TO's fantasy.. not his.

   TO rules. He's what you want on the field- a superior athlete who delivers big every Sunday... but he has this Funny Side that manifests itself in touchdown dances, crazy quotes to the media, outing gay teammates, and criticizing the guy who is literally the hand that Feeds him. He's the duck and  the sauce. 

   We all have an evil twin in us, and only rarely does he have a huge head and crazy elephantine hands.

"Stop cryin'...or I'll pop you another one!"