12/21/24
January 06, 2020
SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Ontario-based entrepreneurs buy the Montreal Alouettes
posted by tommybiden at 05:48 PM on January 06, 2020
'He didn't even take a bite': Young Toronto Maple Leafs fan disappointed by birthday cake mishap
posted by tommybiden at 05:52 PM on January 06, 2020
posted by tommybiden at 05:58 PM on January 06, 2020
Canada's World Junior Gold a product of resiliency
posted by tommybiden at 06:17 PM on January 06, 2020
The front page of Jerry Jones hiring Jimmy Johnson brings back memories. That photo is iconic. A Dallas Morning News intern was sent to get it. When it was taken the news had not broken that Jones was buying the team, firing Tom Landry and hiring Johnson. An era had ended and we didn't know it yet.
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The owner of Mia's Restaurant, where the photo was taken, was a huge Cowboys fan who had served Landry and his wife. He was crushed by the firing and never went to another game.
Growing up in Dallas with Landry as coach and Tex Schramm as GM, I thought winning was the team's birthright. Every loss was a shock and a playoff loss in particular was practically unimaginable. But when the JJs came in and won so quickly I became, to my lasting regret, a "Landry who?" fan. We were ready to jettison Landry after a 7-9, 7-8 and 3-13 season despite 20 years before that in which the Cowboys made the playoffs in 18, reached five Super Bowls and won two.
Jones was such an asshole he didn't honor his deal with Landry to give his family a suite. The Landrys switched their allegiance back to the N.Y. Giants.
For our sins, Dallas is nearing 25 years without another Super Bowl trip.
posted by rcade at 09:32 PM on January 06, 2020
Oh Canada!
Two guys fighting with hockey sticks seems appropriately Canadian, but also seems fairly digestible to a former Floridian.
As a young adult, I was driving from Lake Worth to Boynton Beach and saw two guys faced off in the middle of US1 on the double yellow lines, shirtless and screaming at each other. Each one had a speargun locked and loaded. It was like a Jimmy Buffet version of the Hamilton - Burr duel.
There were no cell phones, so someone would have had to call 911 from a gas station pay phone. All you could do was wait to see if they said anything about it on the 11 o clock news.
Florida Man is a long standing, time honored tradition that predates the Batista regime.
posted by beaverboard at 10:24 PM on January 06, 2020
Jones was such an asshole he didn't honor his deal with Landry to give his family a suite. The Landrys switched their allegiance back to the N.Y. Giants.
Huh. I did not know about this. Yeah, that's pretty shitty. However, if that's what it took for the Cowboys to *eventually* stop winning Super Bowls, what the hell did the Ford family do to never make a Super Bowl?
posted by NoMich at 11:07 PM on January 06, 2020
The 1971-1976 Pinto
posted by beaverboard at 12:37 AM on January 07, 2020
Had to be something before 1966. Wasn't Henry Ford a Nazi or something?
posted by NoMich at 06:35 AM on January 07, 2020
NoMich have you seen Ford vs Ferrari about Le Mans 1966, I think.
There is some creative license in the movie but it may explain things.
posted by prof at 10:01 AM on January 07, 2020
Not yet. I plan to when it makes its way to the small screen
posted by NoMich at 10:15 AM on January 07, 2020
We were ready to jettison Landry after a 7-9, 7-8 and 3-13 season despite 20 years before that in which the Cowboys made the playoffs in 18, reached five Super Bowls and won two.
Landry remains one of the all time great coaches. The Cowboy's records during those seasons were personnel related and the team performed far worse under JJ until 4 HOFers fell into his lap.
posted by cixelsyd at 01:00 PM on January 07, 2020
Dan Shaughnessy was once on a commercial flight. He is one of those travelers who believes that if a famous person is on his flight, nothing bad will happen to the aircraft.
As soon as he boarded the plane, he saw Tom Landry, who was already seated. His immediate impression was: "Well, now I'm SURE that nothing bad is going to happen to this airplane".
My thought was that if I was on a flight with Tom Landry, I'd question whether the plane would ever return to earth.
posted by beaverboard at 01:30 PM on January 07, 2020
... the team performed far worse under JJ until 4 HOFers fell into his lap.
Michael Irvin was there before the JJs, but they drafted Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith and traded for Charles Haley.
Regarding the Aikman first overall pick, Gil Brandt said some team execs wanted to select Tony Mandarich.
posted by rcade at 07:08 PM on January 07, 2020
share links that aren't quite front-page material
The Cowboys have hired some dude with prior experience to be their new head coach.
Bonus content: a photo of the last coach to win an NFL title in Dallas. In all his regal and stately splendor.