yeah, LT and Parcells are kind of an adorable pair.
ALSO, b4 ilnfl went down I was going to make an “I Love Bill Curry” thread. there’s something about the way he talks that is really captivating.
OTM. he has that great accent, but he also seems to be deeply thoughtful and almost pained about everything he says. I dunno, the NFL has become so self-congratulatory about race matters, it was really moving to hear him dissect the sources of his own racism and his discomfort with it. I thought it was a really brave interview. I luv him now.
here’s the Ryan article. it’s sad:
Each morning at 5 a.m., Buddy Ryan’s day begins in solitude, mucking out the stalls of his horses. He has 17 of them, and three mares in particular are named for milestones in his colorful and sometimes cantankerous lifetime.
There’s FortySixBlitz, named for the 46 defense that Ryan conjured as a defensive coordinator, and which the 1985 Chicago Bears executed in brutal and brilliant fashion during a championship season. There’s FiredForWinning, a reminder of how his head-coaching career with the Philadelphia Eagles came to an end in 1990 despite a 43–38–1 record and three consecutive playoff appearances.
But his favorite is Bayside Girl, named for his wife of 36 years, Joanie. Ryan met her in Queens in 1968, after Weeb Ewbank brought him to the Jets as an assistant. She was a high-strung New Yorker; he was a steel-willed Okie.
When they retired here in 1995, the Ryans embraced the simple life and tried to breed a Kentucky Derby champion. On Sundays, they watched N.F.L games, a league Buddy spent 34 years in, paying special attention to the teams coached by his twin sons, Rex and Rob, the defensive coordinators at Baltimore and Oakland.
Unlike football, life cannot always be neatly schemed. In 2003, Buddy moved Joanie to an assisted-living home after her Alzheimer’s disease, diagnosed two years earlier, finally made it impossible for him to care for her alone.
On Sunday, Ryan will watch the Bears play in the Super Bowl for the first time in 21 years, against the Indianapolis Colts, but it will not be the most important thing he will do that day. That will be attending Mass with his wife in the morning, having lunch with her and her favorite priest, and sitting with her for the afternoon.
’It’s our date,‘ said Ryan, 73. ’Sometimes, she recognizes me. Sometimes, she thinks I’m her father, which is O.K., too.‘
When Ryan eventually settles into his recliner at his home on a golf course, he will watch two teams with old friends on each sideline play a game that he loves. He will watch how the Bears’ defensive coordinator, Ron Rivera, a backup linebacker when Ryan was Chicago’s defensive coordinator, handles the Colts’ offense designed by Tom Moore, who coached with Ryan under Bud Grant in Minnesota.
’I miss the camaraderie of the locker room, and the strategy, but I got more than enough to keep me busy,‘ Ryan said. ’When I hit the pillow each night, I sleep good. I’m one of those people who need a lot of turmoil in my life so I can stay focused.‘
Ryan knows the image of him as a gentleman farmer and caring family man are at odds with the nasty public one assigned to him in the 1980s and 1990s when his Bears and Eagles defenses were smashing through the N.F.L. He acknowledged that he encouraged the latter.
The 46 defense put as many as 10 people on the line of scrimmage and blitzed mercilessly, Ryan said, so ’we could find out who the second-string quarterback was.‘ He allegedly offered bounties for injuring quarterbacks and even kickers. His most famous misdeed was captured on national television during the 1993 season, when Ryan was the defensive coordinator for the Houston Oilers. Upset with the offensive play calling of Kevin Gilbride — now the Giants’ offensive coordinator — Ryan hauled off and slugged his fellow coach.
’I remember thinking two things,‘ said Rex Ryan, 44, who was a college assistant watching on television at the time. ’That these heated moments happen more often than you think, and that Dad’s reputation for being out of control and Neanderthal was sealed. He’d never get another head-coaching job, and I’d never get a job at all in the N.F.L.‘
In 1994, however, Buddy Ryan was named the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, and he gave Rex and Rob their first N.F.L. jobs, as defensive assistants. Even though they had been ball boys on every N.F.L. team he had coached, Ryan had tried to steer them away from the profession.
When Rex and Rob turned down a management-training program in the food services industry, Buddy checked all three of them into a hotel in southwestern Oklahoma, secured an easel and over two days taught them every nuance of the 46 defense.
’Then I told them to go work their way up the college ranks so they could learn their A B C’s of coaching,‘ Ryan said.
When Arizona went 8–8 in Buddy’s first season, the Ryans looked like geniuses. When they went 4–12 the following year, the whole staff was fired. While Buddy Ryan was out of football for good, his sons were merely beginning their N.F.L. careers.
So Buddy and Joanie moved to the 176-acre farm they had bought in 1976 in nearby Lawrenceburg. When Joanie went into the assisted-living home two years ago, Ryan sold the farm, bought a home here and 80 acres 10 miles away in Bagdad, Ky.
His former players know where he is: They call frequently, and a few have even visited.
’It is remarkable how much they love Buddy,‘ said Debbie Ellis, a friend who owns the farm where Ryan boards his horses. ’You see these big, grown men giving him a hug and a kiss on the neck.‘
Among them are Gary Fencik, a safety and captain of the 1985 Bears. Ryan still calls Fencik by his number, 45, just as he calls the Hall of Famers Mike Singletary and Dan Hampton by their nicknames, Samurai and Big Rook. It was Fencik who helped write a letter to George Halas, the Bears’ owner, on behalf of the defense urging that Ryan be retained when it became clear that Coach Neill Armstrong would be fired after the 1981 season.
’He was tough, and you had to earn his respect,‘ Fencik said of Ryan in a telephone interview. ’Once you did, Buddy would do anything for you. He was consistent, too. On Mondays when we watched film, if you had a bad game, you were glad the lights were off. It didn’t matter who it was — he’d rip you.
’His genius as a coach beyond the scheming was that he trusted his players, and he’d give us enough discretion to gamble on things. It gave us ownership in the system and inspired great loyalty.‘
Halas was moved enough to make a rare appearance at practice to guarantee that Ryan and his defensive staff would remain in place. He then hired Mike Ditka as the Bears’ coach.
Ditka and Ryan were an arranged marriage. They alternately groused and ignored each other, and during the Bears’ championship season they nearly came to blows at halftime of a game against Miami — Chicago’s only loss that season. Still, after pasting New England, 46–10, in Super Bowl XX in New Orleans, Ditka and Ryan were hoisted onto the shoulders of their players and carried onto the field.
Ryan grinned mischievously when asked about Ditka.
’I don’t talk to him now,‘ Ryan said. ’I never talked to him when we coached together.‘
Instead, Ryan talks to his former players, or his boys, whenever he wants to remember the joys and pressures of coaching in the N.F.L.
He talks to Joanie Ryan about how the simple life they sought is not always so simple. About how last week, they lost a foal on the same day one of their fillies won a race at Turfway Park. About how hard it is, despite some stakes wins, to breed a Derby champion. About the $10,000 the soybean crop brought in, and how he’s now thinking of planting corn.
About how much he misses his Bayside Girl.
’I don’t know how much she understands,‘ Ryan said, ’but I tell her everything anyway.‘
thank you!!! aw man... that is a bummer :[
defensive co-ordinators at baltimore and oakland is pretty impressive!
god I need the NFL network!
The pro bowl entertained me! It was the best thing in its time slot.
everything lk said goes double for me.
I liked the part where Simms was talking about how Parcells called him over to the sideline and started screaming “YOU! SHUT THE FUCK UP!” before Simms was even anywhere near him.
(basically OTM story wtfing the Cowboys’ decision to hire WADE FUCKIN PHILLIPS)
wade phillips looks like a care bear
I’ve never seen his stomach, cannot confirm.
Also, it is quite the cause du jour regarding concussions crippling people? SI and ESPN have had several articles on this recently, I am having a hard time buying people are just coming out of the woodwork now since the Patriots thing, considering the players that have died from problems relating to concussions.
wade phillips looks like my grandmother
man, I hate Jerry Jones.
Green Bay Packers
Cap room: $24.1 million
Brett Favre is back for 2007, and it’s not out of the question he will play even longer. He had fun last year.
our brett favre thread, rip :(
I think John Clayton was replaced w/ a random text generator filled w/ football cliches and snippets from press guides.
yeah stupid JW always deleting all the brett favre databases because he thinks kate is a looney bigot!! why is he a jackass all the time
OK seriously that’s enough.
test
dammit
test
dammit
what r u doin
i was trying to embed a background image: shockeyshocked.gif
I think he’s playing a Brett Favre simulator.
[xpost]
ha
dudes you cannot do anything like that on this board I don’t think :(
i guess not : /
i thought it might be possible because of the aja/dante’d ‘ask jw’ thread on the noisebox
i think subboards allow it but they have it disabled here? perhaps jon to thread?
let’s try this
hmmm no that didn’t work either
ok maybe this
dammit
DAMN YOU SHOCKEY, STOP BEING DIFFICULT
http://scoopsnoodle.com/adam_schefter/adam_schefter.html
^^^ always remember to post this website
ok let me try this
dammit!
OH NOES I FORGOTS THE PASSWORD TO SCHEFTERBLOG ACK
fyi schefterpage is now on the #3 page on google :D
sweet! movin on up!
schefterblg:
usr: theschefter
pass: name of that ilxor who everyone always said oh, _________________ to.
LOL!
and the pic of janet jackson from the blog is on the 1st gis page now wtflol
oh dude that is terrifying
omfg lolololololololol
ok you guys, who post to this thread, are all my favorite people on the world. schefterblog and the schefter page at scoopsnoodle.com are the best things that have existed, ever. not just saying this cos i’m high out of my mind on dayquil. but because it is true.
glad you guys like it :D—note chris berman and peter king in boxcar photo
I know! It looks like Schefter is crashing the photo, actually.
peter king’s jeans are making me feel weird
like sexy weird or creepy weird
creepy, thank god—if that was sexy to me i might have to do something drastic
LOL one million times!
omfg :D
ahahahahaha!
One day, Adam Schefter really is going to google himself and just be like completely freaked out.
we should be so blessed!
;__;
omg
guys, i think this thread is even better than ilnfl now
when the day finally comes that i receive a cease and desist letter from the man himself’s lawyer, then... then i will know that i have lived my life meaningfully.
ok if i had to guess i’d say: cat and box car posts by ally, ghostface by gear and all the rest by me.
no wait ally u dont photoahop do u? someone else did the cat.
I do not have a photoshop :(
omfg SCHOTTENHEIMER’S OUT OF SAN DIEGO, CATASTROPHE!!!
omfg the giants released LAVAR ARRINGTON and LUKE PETITGOUT (and carlos emmons lol who)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!THIS IS CRAZY
jesus, that’s harsh (re schottenheimer). i mean, i know that he’s CHOKEN-HEIMER and that he & the chargers’ GM didn’t get along, but still.
way to finally wise up there chargers kudos!
i mean watching talented teams w/likable players get screwed by their coach is just depressing.
I am pretty excited about Schottenheimer getting axed. I was happy to have him back until everyone fucking decided to pick up and leave, so at least a new coach won’t have to deal with any lame duck status bullshit.
uh of course except for that one playoff game this year—that was wicked awesome
OK releasing Petitgout makes me pretty happy but Arrington?!?!
Also it’s kind of lame to wait until all head coaching vacancies are filled to fire Schottenheimer, I mean situation blah blah blah it still seems a little passive aggressive.
Also it’s kind of lame to wait until all head coaching vacancies are filled to fire Schottenheimer, I mean situation blah blah blah it still seems a little passive aggressive.
yeah, that’s what i was getting at — thanks for saying what i was thinking.
Haha I figured I’d make it very obvious, it’s my talent :D
i was also thinking, “damn, schottenheimer is out of a job — BUT TOM COUGHLIN STILL HAS HIS.”
then i remembered that the giants are a hated rival, and if they got a REAL head coach then they might be a bona fide threat again ...
on the one hand lavar did kinda suck even before the injury and who knows if he can really get his speed back after the torn achilles, otoh he is the funniest dude in the league (u herd me chad johnson!!!!!) and eats fried chicken while being interviewed on total access, RIP imo :(
chargers=fukked
marty shd go back to cleveland!
I mean, I guess I understand the whole “they had no idea their entire rest of their coaching staff would abandon ship” but still, just two weeks ago they were telling the dude they were sticking with him and now there’s nowhere for him to go.
Still, LOL @ Petitgout. Also OTM RE COUGHLIN STILL HAVING HIS JOB
Lavar Arrington fried chicken + the eastern motors (“where your job is your credit!”) car commercial = bet man who ever lived
yeah, seriously, Maras, now is the time to take a page from Spanos and passive-aggressively fire your coach!
haha and issue a press release “we thought tiki was kidding. coughlin is so fired”
hey when are all these NFL shows on? i get NFL network but right now it’s just pro bowl stuff
http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/schedule
I’m not sure when they’re next running any of the America’s Games, but they’re well worth watching. almost nothing is as boring as the Pro Bowl coverage.
since we’re on some NFC east shit right now —
an interesting story about eagles’ head coach reid and his kids
I am posting this because it is an interesting and short read,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_Films
...not realizing that all this had happened!
so i guess i’m the only one who loves the pro bowl skills challenge huh :( the game itself leaves uh a little to be desired but overall i am glad it exists.
I improved that article.
(not in a funny way tho soz)
Goddamnit the only wikipedia improving ILNFL members are allowed to do involves Adam Schefter from this point forward.
OMG SCHOTTENHEIMER LOL LOL LOL
guys i think next season could be even more awesome, if that is possible.
This past season will be hard to top in terms of being awesome, though.
i just wonder what team will hire schottenheimer to perpetuate his gollum-like quest for the ring
I’m sure the Giants will somehow figure out a way to take on Schotts. That is their thing, ie being retarded.
i wonder if romo will have the yips next season
i predict lovie smith will enter next season proclaiming rex grossman as his starter, despite all evidence pointing to his being craig krenzel with a little more arm strength.
God, Lovie needs to get off the e and realize when it is time to stop being so friendly with certain people. Did you read Rick Reilly’s piece last week totally lambasting Grossman in SI? It was hilarious.
i don’t think there’s a chance in hell grossman will be starting for that team. well, barring injuries. i think they’ll go after jeff garcia.
SCHOTTSY COME BACK TO CLEVELAND STOP ALL IS FORGIVEN STOP CANNOT HOLD OUT MUCH LONGER STOP BRING KOSAR STOP
i spent a few days cloaking myself from reading nfl stories. post-mortem and all that shit. i assume mariotti wrote something about how lovie smith should resign, only one week after writing he should get a ten year extension.