Baltimore Colts Johnny Unitas, 1958.
There was a time not too long ago, when I could barely think of NFL football without experiencing pangs of remorse and anger. I had been a fan of the Colts since their relocation to Baltimore in 1953. Along with the Washington Redskins, the Colts were the first NFL team to create a fight song, a band to play it and cheerleaders to hustle it. My girlfriend, now my wife, and I greeted the teams return to Baltimore in 1958 after they had defeated the NY Giants in the Greatest Game Ever Played. In 1984, Bob Irsay, the Colts alcoholic owner, moved the team to Indianapolis – a cowardly act perpetrated in an early morning raid on the Colts administrative offices. As the moving vans headed for Indiana, he locked all the doors behind him. The Colts staff arrived for work, and found themselves locked out. Irsay permanently broke the hearts of Colts fans. Another profiteering scrooge did the same to Brooklyn Dodgers fans. We martyrs cannot say Indianapolis Colts or Los Angeles Dodgers without gagging.
That’s all in the past and now only persistent but ever diminishing aches remain to remind me of those glorious, sinister days. I’ve gradually learn to live with the Baltimore Ravens, if only because Edgar Allen Poe died and is buried in Baltimore. So, screw Bob Irsay. As Mark Twain said, “Never say anything bad about anyone until they’re dead”. Quoth the Raven, nevermore.
Another thing that helps alleviate the pain of losing my beloved Colts is the success of the Ravens and their defensive style of football. After all, they won a Super Bowl and this year my hopes soared when they not only made playoffs, but in the first game they handed Baltimore’s perennial rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers and their silly towel waving fans, a humiliating defeat. They lost the next game to the New England Patriots, but the defeat of Pittsburgh kind of made the season. Then I resumed watching my next best game, college football.
The college game is fun because it’s mostly played by youngsters and bizarre plays rarely seen in the professional game are created by college coaches and flukes. Then there’s the cheer leaders, the bands and the fans. All of these things contribute to a carnival atmosphere. But a creeping professionalisim is threatening the college game.
Monday, 14 January 2015, launched the first contest to determine the “real” collegiate national champion, the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship. The Oregon Ducks was pitted against the Ohio Nuts, or Buckeyes if you will. The buckeye tree is the state tree of Ohio and it produces a nut called Buckeye. The Ohio State football team mascot is Brutus Buckeye. The Oregon mascot is, wait for it, a duck. It looks something like a Disney duck or a Sesame Street reject.
The Ducks regular season uniform is almost Day-Glo green with yellow numbers. Ohio’s red uniform was designed back in the 60s by their coach, the legendary Woody Hays. However, for this night in North Texas, both schools broke with tradition. their uniforms were designed by Nike, the shoe company whose logo is already on all NCAA players uniforms and coaches clothing. For Oscar night in the AT&T Stadium, the Ducks became swans, all white with black numbers and pale grey feathers on their helmets and pullovers. Both teams sat on orange colored benches courtesy of Gatorade.
I was pretty sure the Ducks were going to win. They play a hurry-up offense which unsettles their adversaries by not giving them enough time to prepare defenses. Their quarterback was the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner.
Football players for large schools seem to get bigger every year, as big as the pros. The defensive line of the Ducks had two players weighing in at 290 pounds, one of them 6′ 8″ tall the other 6′ 9″. Both looked slim. I don’t recall Gene Lipscomb’s measurements or weight, but I do believe the big time college guys, particularly the linemen, are apt to be bigger than Big Daddy was. The Baltimore Colts practiced in Westminster, Maryland where I attended high school. One day after school I visited their practice field and stood next to Big Daddy. Those were the days when player’s salaries were counted in thousands rather than millions of dollars and there were no security guards looking out for terrorists. He appeared to be a giant of a man but I don’t think he was 6′ 9″ tall, though he may have weighed 290 pounds.
The Nut’s quarterback Cardale Jones, weighed in it 250 pounds! What made him unique in the annals of collegiate playoff was the fact that he was playing in only his third college football game. He ran the Nuts like a professional and made the Duck’s Heisman Trophy winner look absolutely pathetic. After the season opened, Ohio was ranked 18th in the nation – at game time Oregon was favoured by 7 points. The final score was Nuts 42, Ducks 20. Take that, Daffy!
Backing up its wunderkind QB, was Nuts running back Zeke Elliott and an offensive line that tore holes in the Ducks defense, allowing Zeke to run for record yardage and four touchdowns. The Ohio defense was just as impressive. Adjusting to the Ducks hurry up offense, after the first quarter, Ohio pretty well shut down the Ducks running and the passing game of their Heisman winner. All in all, Ohio proved to be the dominant college team in the United States.
Ohio’s coach, Urban Meyer has now won three national championships coaching two different schools. The University of Ohio pays him $4.5 million a year. The coach of the Ducks makes 2.5 million. No wonder the Ducks lost.
I do believe the popularity of the sport is such that it has surpassed baseball to become the national game. A college might field 50 to 100 players, a coaching staff of 15, three or four of them in a booth above the stadium floor, and the games generate untold millions of dollars for their schools, advertisers and television.
And so I watch because I love what these kids do on the playing field. They make goofy plays, brilliant plays and stupid mistakes, but they’re excited about the game and make me excited as well. And every once in a while a guy like Ohio’s quarterback Cardale Jones comes along. He was brought up in squalor in East Cleveland and had the guts to call a children’s aid worker and say, “Come and get me. I can’t live like this anymore”. He went to Ohio State as a regular student, only later becoming third quarterback. By an incredible chain of events, accidents to the first and second string quarterbacks, he quarterbacked and led the Nuts in its last three games of the season, defeating three of the strongest teams in America including the perennial and once again favourite for the national title, Alabama. Thus did the Nuts become the first “real” collegiate national champion.
In an attempt to escape a large Duck lineman intent on doing him bodily harm, Cardale lost his grip on the football and the Ducks pounced on it. When Cardale reached the sidelines, an irate coach Meyers asked him, “What happened”. Cardale answered, “The ball came out of my hand”. What’s not to like about that!
http://www.sportingnews.com/photos/4631521-college-football-playoff-national-championship-nike-uniforms-oregon-and-ohio-state-photos/slide/291482
Robin Engelman 
NEXUS WORLD TOUR – 1984 – A DIARY, Part 7. Silk, Instruments, driving at night.
Shanghai, May 11, 7:45 AM
I am awakened at 7:15 AM by the knock at my door of a man who wishes to change the water thermos in my room. Breakfast is at 8AM. John, Jean, Bob, Joanne, Guy and I stayed up until 1 AM drinking scotch (Johnny Walker Black label), whiskey ( Suntory) and beer (Tsa Tao and Sapporo). No doubt about sleeping tonight. Shanghai has an entirely different feel. Lots of activity. We go for a long walk in search of the silk store mentioned in Joanne’s guidebook. After blocks, we discover the silk store exists on another section of the street we been walking and it is a long way from where we are.
We stopped to look at the map and an old gentleman in Mao cap and jacket asked if we need help. Soon there are 20 or 30 people crowding around, curious. He acts as our companion for a number of blocks until some decided to return to the hotel. I buy some silk for Eleanor and discover three books with the most beautiful reproductions of Chinese art. Russ is going to get all three. I am hesitant. They are about $150 which is reasonable, very reasonable. To send them by boat is another $20 or $30 and I’m not sure I should spend the money. Tomorrow we are visiting the music factory – about a 2 hour drive and I may want to spend some money there. An alternative is to buy one of the books and carry it with me. I want to find something for Dorothy Anne and I don’t want to rush things. The temptation is there but so is the time.
Our two concerts are sold out and we have agreed to play two concerts on Sunday.
10:30 PM
We all were given passes to a performance of the Shanghai Dramatic Ballet Troupe, What about a cross between silent film, emotional representation, Barnum and Bailey, Zeigfield Follies, and the soaps? The musical score was newly written with a trombone, two French horns, cello, bass, electric organ, traditional flute, oboe and string instruments, glockenspiel and Chinese percussion. The sounds were terrific. The show was interesting. The legend was about the simple farm girl who dresses as a soldier so she can take the place of her father who has been conscripted into the Emperor’s army. She becomes a hero, loses the man to whom she is in love, is offered the Emperor’s daughter in marriage, shows yourself to be a woman and, renounces all rewards and returns to her loom on the farm. One scene, the death of her lover, is done with strobe lights.
We returned to the hotel bar where Guy tells us the Quasimodo joke. He doesn’t understand why we are laughing so hard as soon as he begins and we have to explain how bizarre it is for us to hear this joke in Shanghai, told by a French Canadian consul. Tomorrow we travel to the instrument factory number three, (Drums) and one of the oldest cities in China. A two hour bus trip.
May 12, 6:15 AM
Last night went to bed at 11:45. Still woke up at 6 o’clock. Every day since coming to China has been 18 hours. The biological clock must be strong. Guy told a story about a fellow diplomat in Zaire who was badly hurt in a car accident. So badly he could not be flown to Europe for transfusions and operation. He was given blood in Zaire and very besides his wounds from the accident contracted hepatitis, malaria, and gonorrhea. Besides having all our affairs, Guy has other duties as well. A Chinese Canadian citizen is in jail here in Shanghai. One night he didn’t show up for supper and the friends made inquiries but could not get any information. The friends returned to Hong Kong and there his wife contacted the Embassy. It took a couple weeks for the Chinese to admit they had him. Guy is negotiating for him for his release. Even though he is a citizen of Canada, he iis considered to be Chinese by this government.
We are having continuous negotiations with the Chinese about our instruments leading China on time for Korea and the cost of sending them the complications seem to be enormous.
We take off for Suzhou a two-hour trip by bus that turns into three hours. When we arrive we are met by a couple of men from the factory and we drive to a hotel for a 20 minute rest. We get back on the bus and are taken to lunch at what is supposed to be a restaurant, very famous dating from the MIng period. Everything seems to date from the Ming period. Most of the dishes here are new to us – very good. Suzhou is an interesting city. Narrow streets, whitewashed walls, many plants. We take a few wrong turns but arrive at the factory in early afternoon. We are taken to the fourth and top floor where we are served tea in the factory showroom. Some interesting and beautiful sounding instruments. All the good stuff is very expensive. Bill has the feeling we can get the stuff cheaper in the States. And anyway I don’t see anything I really need and Bill and I buy nothing.
Russ buys only a large bender gong. It turns out a good thing. Finding the prices, selecting the instruments and negotiating down payments and shipping takes a very long time. Those of us not buying wander off and inspect the factory. All the drums, except for the traditional tom-toms are molded fiberglass. I ask if it is possible to hear one of the oboes. An amateur musician is sent for and he plays atraditional solo:” Crane in the Morning”. He and I go off into a separate room and he shows me some of the techniques. Flutter tonguing is difficult for me although it begins to come. Joanne takes a picture of us working together and asked to try the oboe. She flutter tongues immediately and buys the oboe.
Ensemble and Instruments in Suzhou.
Everyone who has made a purchase has to go to another building in town to draw up the contract and pay. It is the office of the local craft shop and was formerly a temple. Some of us wander around and negotiations get tense. There are problems with how many cases will be made up. Bob has to borrow 100 yuan from me in order to pay his final charges. By now we are way behind schedule and when the guys come out we are relieved. Their appearance is not signify the end. They have to get their traveler checks cashed and when they finally come back there are more details to be worked out. Our bus driver is really getting pissed.
We finally “Shawn lay Bah” at 6:30 PM and, fortunately rush hour is over. Our driver goes like hell and we bottom out more than once in potholes. When darkness overtakes us an interesting driving practice becomes frighteningly apparent. The road is narrow – many people in black or dark blue clothes walk the roads and we are driving without lights. When it gets totally dark our driver turns on his lights but turns them off when another truck or bus approaches. They flash each other off and on until they pass each other. People in the beam disappear when the lights go off. When they turn their lights on it’s high beam all the way – very little slackening in speed. We make the return trip in two hours and just as we disembark a heavy rain begins to fall. Another five hour bus day. I actually considered not going but one is always afraid of missing something. Dave Campion bought two large tam-tams. Bob bought some beautiful button gongs and John bought some flat gongs. The tom-tom quality is not as good as I had hoped. Their cymbals were not very good either. A great selection of bender gongs but I’m not very interested in owning them.
Tomorrow we start at 11 AM and play two concerts 2 PM and 7:15 PM. Monday we are scheduled to meet the Conservatory students and play a concert at night
Posted by robinengelman on January 23, 2015 in Commentaries & Critiques, History