Thursday, September 25, 2014

Instant Replay-The Unedited Edition



We had a tough practice today because the “Golden Boy” is back and the Coach is running him ragged. He ran that same off tackle play about a hundred times.  You see the league just let him back in after he was suspended for a year for gambling. Hornung was betting on the games. We just hoped he was betting on us to win.

The league suspended him and Alex Karras for a year. Coach Lombardi called Commissioner Rozelle every day. Three times a day. He kept busting his chops until he let Hornung back on the team. I mean it wasn’t like he did anything serious like using the “n” word or doing a war dance or slapping around his maid. I mean he just bet on football when he could shave points and affect the outcome of the game. I am sure he never made us lose. He just shaved it a little.

Just like he used to do to his ball sack. It was quite unpleasant actually. He wouldn’t do it. He would have one of the rookies do it as a rite of passage. At least that’s what he said. He was all about the rookie’s passage.

Coach Lombardi didn’t care about that. He didn’t care about what laws were broken. If you shaved points or even threw a game here or there. You see if you were a star player he would do what he had to do to get you on the field.

Winning isn’t everything. Winning is the only thing.

(Instant Replay- The Unedited Edition, Jerry Kramer & Dick Schaap Random House 1968)

6 comments:

Chip S. said...

Speaking of sports, in honor of Derek Jeter's final home game, here's a tribute that I can totally get behind.

ndspinelli said...

LOL!

Chip S. said...

Ball-busting aside, I'm happy for die-hard fans like Trooper that Jeter's last home game ended so well for them.

I'm getting kind of sad myself, as I think about all the ground balls to the SS's left that won't be hits against the Yankees next year.

rcocean said...

"We can't stay as strict as we are as far as the academic structure is concerned because we've got to get the black athletes. We must get the black athletes if we're going to compete"

rcocean said...

On the wall around Lambeau Field where the names of Packers' stars are commemorated, the 1963 season is omitted from Hornung's career years, showing 1957-1962 & 1964-67.

ndspinelli said...

They wheeled Fuzzy Thurston out @ halftime of the Jets game.