Perfect season--no national championship--Part 3

So here we are in 1973. In seven seasons as Penn State's head coach, Joe Paterno has a record of 63-13-1, an average of 9 wins a season. He has already gone undefeated twice in that time. The years 1971 and 1972 show records of 11-1 and 10-2 respectively. He had taken the Nittany Lions to five bowl games in those seven seasons, appearing twice in succession in the Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, and Gator Bowl. Their record in those games was 3-1-1, losing to Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, played on December 31. Back Then the Cotton, Sugar, and Orange Bowls were New Year's Day games. That may seem like no big deal until one considers that there were only four bowl games on New Year's Day in the early 1970's, the other being the Rose Bowl.

Prior to Joe Pa, Rip Engle was the coach at Penn State for 16 years. During that time their record was 104-48-1. Back then, it was a 10-game regular season and 11 if you happened to get invited to a bowl game. From 1959-62, Engle lead the Nittany Lions to four bowl games. Their only loss was in 1962 at the Gator Bowl. Ironically, they ended up ranked #9 in the country that year. They had only appeared in two bowl games prior to '59 in their history, the Cotton Bowl in '47 and the Rose Bowl in '22.

So, the Paterno era in seven short years had accomplished almost as much in terms of bowl appearances alone than all the other 78 Penn State teams combined.

IMAGE

Penn State has been an independent football team all their years up to 1973 except the one year they were a part of the Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Football Association(PIFA) which lasted only one year. They played against primarily other independent schools. These schools included Notre Dame, Florida St and Miami (FL) until 1972, the three military academies, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Boston College, and Virginia Tech among others. Perhaps the Coaches' and AP polls felt that overall, independents did not have competition equivalent to the conferences. The exception would be Notre Dame, which had built an historic football tradition.

These bits of facts are the foundation for the 1973 Penn State team that went 12-0 and yet did not earn the national championship. In fact, they were never ranked higher than 5th on the AP poll the entire season. Their schedule was reminiscent of their prior undefeated seasons. I have found a website that can help explain their position after a perfect season.

It appears that two rating systems were used--Simple Rating System (SRS) and Strength of Schedule (SOS). The SRS included strength of schedule but also used average point differntial as another factor in the equation.* It looks like just another form of what is termed today as "style points". The more points you scored over your opponent and the number of points you held your opponent to were determining statistics. Strength of schedule, by definition, means the overall records of all the opponents you faced in the regular season.

Penn State ended the regular season ranked 5th in both polls. The four teams above them were the same in both polls--Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame. The Nittany Lions were behind all four schools in both rating systems. As I mentioned above, their strength of schedule did them in. They were ranked 50th out of 129 schools in that category, seventh overall.

The two major polls, the Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI), based their rankings primarily on the SRS and SOS. In 1973, the national championship was based upon the regular season only. Bowl games were just window dressing. They were not a factor in determining a national champion in 1973.

They each chose a different national champion, though they couldn't have been relying on the systems alone. The AP chose Notre Dame as national champion. They were undefeated after a 10-0 regular season. UPI chose Alabama who were undefeated at 11-0 regular season. Their SRS and SOS rankings were both very close with Alabama ahead in both by slim margins.

All totalled, there were 6 undefeated teams in 1973. Three of them--Oklahoma, Michigan, and Ohio State had tie games, which do not exist today. Penn State had no ties. Michigan ended up being ranked 6th behind Penn State. But Oklahoma and Ohio State were ranked ahead of them. Rating systems aside, Penn State's record should have spoken for itself. Another situation where a playoff system would have determined a TRUE national champion. The Sugar Bowl hosted the co-national champions with Notre Dame winning 27-24.

* * * * * * *

I have decided not to pursue Penn State's 1994 undefeated season. I have shown the inconsistencies that do exist in selecting a Division 1-A College football national champion. I don't understand why the most popular of all college athletics cannot have a playoff system to determine their national champion. All other sports in Division 1-A have some type of playoff system in place to determine who is #1.

One thought on this is that half of all the college football analysts would be out of work with a playoff system in place. Half to three-quarters of the sports talk on ESPN and all their affiliates would disappear and talk show hosts would have to get more creative.

There is a 4-part playoff proposal covering all aspects of a playoff including how it would work and the question of the bowl games on collegefootballcafeteria.com. My blog covering bowl games is not about the playoff system but another issue I believe needs consideration. Then I will discuss the BCS in general and how, even with computer involvement, still does not account for multi-undefeated teams.



*sports-reference.com/cfs/about/glossary.html

Perfect seasons--no national championship Part 2

Today we're going to look at Penn State's next two undefeated seasons and still no national championship.

1969-Penn State started out in the AP preseason poll ranked #3 behind Ohio State, 1968 National Champion and Arkansas who ended the 1968 season (after bowls) ranked 6th. Their regular season schedule sported seven teams from the 1968 schedule, only three of which had winning records--West Virginia (7-3); Syracuse (6-4); and Boston College (6-3).  This year sees Colorado (4-6), Ohio(10-1), and North Carolina State(6-4) in the mix. In 1968, Ohio University averaged 37.6 ppg while allowing only 17.9 ppg. They were ranked in the Top 20 AP poll the last 6 weeks of the 1968 regular season, coming from the MAC Conference.

Penn State took care of them and the rest of their schedule going 11-0. The Nittany Lions averaged over 31 ppg while only giving up only 8.7 ppg with two shutouts against West Virginia and Maryland. Two out of the three new teams they added (Colorado and Ohio) were above .500. Only West Virgina, Kansas State, and Colorado were ever ranked in the Top 20 poll, with only West Virginia and Colorado remaining in the final poll.

Texas ended up national champions in '69. This is a bit of a puzzlement. The Southwest Conference that existed in 1969 only had 2 winning teams other than Texas. Their only two games of significance in the regular season were against Oklahoma and Arkansas Strength of schedule would have to favor Penn State as their opponents won 49 games that year as opposed to Texas' 39. They did have a common opponent in Navy and neither one had any trouble with them.

The final stat that I wonder about is why #1 ranked Texas did not play #2 Penn State in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day. The winner would have been the national champion outright. I allege that pitting Notre Dame, who had already lost one game and was ranked below Penn State all year, against Texas in the Cotton Bowl avoided that obvious matchup. Penn State won the Orange Bowl against #6 Missouri, Texas beats Notre Dame, #1 and #2 remain undefeating and Texas wins in a popularity contest.

Tomorrow: I know I promised 1973 in this blog, but unable to complete. 1973 undefeated Penn State.

Perfect Seasons and National Championships are not the same thing

TCU's win over the powerful Big Ten opponent Wisconsin should have showed the world that they belonged in the group with what many commentators refer to as "the big boys". But their final ranking of #2 with a perfect season is not an uncommon occurrence. I am going to take just one school with one coach who has had 5 perfect seasons, with only 2 national championships to show for it. Considering that one championship was NOT a perfect season, examining those non-championship perfect seasons may reveal how things have changed and how they've remained the same.

JOE PATERNO

Joe Pa has lived through both ways of determining national champions, the old opinion polls and the current BCS system. If anyone could be consulted who could give a more objective view of what the best way to determine a national champion is, he could.

His Penn State Nittany Lion teams have had 5 undefeated seasons. Yet, he has only 2 national championships. Oddly enough, one of those national championship teams (1982) did not go undefeated. They ended up the season 11-1. Their only loss came at the expense of the mighty Alabama Crimson Tide 42-21 in the fourth game of the season.

Another team that year,Nebraska, finished 12-1, their only loss coming at the Nittany Lions' expense, 27-24. It seems the pollsters felt Penn State should be #1 because they beat the Huskers in the 3rd game of the season. That game saw Nebraska ahead with 1:18 to play 24-21. Penn State scored with 4 seconds on the clock to win it. Perhaps the down-to-the-wire finish caused their letdown to the Crimson Tide the following week.

I want to go back to Joe Pa's 3rd year of head coaching, his first perfect season. He went undefeated with an 11-0 record. One would think that this may have qualified them for the national championship. They were an independent then. Let's look at a big factor involved in the polls 40 years back--strength of schedule and how it kept Penn State from winning the national title.

1968-Penn State was ranked 8 in the pre-season AP poll. Their strength of schedule was probably why they never reached #1. Of their 11 victories, only 3 teams were ever in the Top 20--UCLA, Miami, FL, and Kansas. UCLA dropped out of the poll the week of October 5th and ended up 3-7. Miami rose to #9 but dropped out the week of October 26th, losing 4 of their next 5, finishing 5-5. Kansas was the only team that remained, rising as high as #5 and finishing 9-1. Only 5 of Penn State's victories were against teams who finished above .500. The best team was Kansas, who lost only to Penn State in the Orange Bowl and was the only ranked team after the bowl season. The next best records were both 7-3, West Virginia and Army. There were 3 teams with fewer than 4 wins amongst the rest.

National Champion Ohio State played one less game than Penn State. They had 6 victories against teams .500 or better when you consider a 5-5 record a winning season. At the end of the bowl season, Penn State had only beaten one ranked team, Ohio State had beaten four, Michigan, Purdue, Southern Methodist and Southern Cal.

It should be noted that Southern Cal was undefeated going into the Rose Bowl before losing to Ohio State. Their record was 9-0-1, the tie coming against Notre Dame. If a BCS-type championship had existed back then, one would hope it would have pitted Ohio State and Penn State. Their records had no ties in them. Southern Cal's one tie would have exempted them in my opinion.

NOTE: I will examine Penn State's 2nd undefeated season which happened to be the following 1969 season in which they also were 11-0 in my next blog. I will then examine the 1973 season when they went 12-0. Let's see if strength of schedule changed any during those five years.

Friendship and stuff

Before I get to my thoughts on friendship, I'd like to talk about some "stuff". One thing in particular is a brief explanation of the name of my blog "deafeningdave". There are times when I can be a bit verbose. When talking about a subject to someone I am comfortable with I can ramble on and on and get off on tangents. Same thing goes for writing, though I have found ways to be more concise with my written words, so I do not ramble as much. Sometimes my voice raises when I discuss something I have a passion for, like my favorite sports. I have been reminded more about this weakness than anything else.

So calling myself "deafening" is self-deprecating and very descriptive. It does not make me think any less of myself. I have accepted it and realize that, at times, I can tune people out without realizing it. My hope is, however, that I will NOT tune out those who read this.

FRIENDSHIP

Those of us who have good friends consider them as part of the family because we feel a closeness to them akin to those who are family. Most of us would describe them in many ways, but the one adjective we might use most is the term "priceless". We use this term because the feelings we share with them are so strong and powerful that we cannot quantify their value to our lives.

I want to share two of my dearest friends with you, Bill and Ed. Ed and I go back to elementary school days, over 50 years ago now. We went to the same schools and had a lot of the same teachers and friends. We only lived a mile apart from each other until life took us different directions. We did share some special time when we got together in Japan. I was in active duty Air Force at Misawa AB. He was serving his two year active duty as part of the Naval Reserves. He called me from Yokusuka Naval Base south of Tokyo. That was special. But over the years we lost touch.

It was not until about three years ago that we got back in touch with each other. I had gone through some serious depression. I had rediscover who I really was. I felt one way to do this was to see if I could get in touch with some of my old friends. Through doing a little research online, I found Ed's address and wrote to him, asking if he would want to renew contact with me. He very readily accepted that and we have stayed in touch ever since.

At the same time I thought about Ed, I also thought about Bill. I had been thinking about him for awhile already, but now I put forth a more earnest effort. I discovered him clear across the country in Virginia.

He baptized me into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (also known as Mormons). There is no doubt in my mind that in doing this, he saved my life, temporally and eternally. There will be other times to go into that.

Anyway, his response was akin to Ed's. This really was a boost for me. I feel that the times we have been on the phone with each other and the time we spent at reunion in 2009 have really been a Godsend for me. They both have been catalysts in helping restore myself and rediscovering the real David.

These things will suffice. I think I have portrayed their pricelessness. They are part of a foundation I am using right now to rebuild my life into what God intended for me when he sent me to Earth. I am grateful for all my friends and especially grateful for my family who provide much strength to that foundation of my soul.

BYU Football-Part 2

IN FLUX

Since I looked at the BYU schedule for 2011 three days ago, it has changed. Louisiana Tech is no longer there, at least for now. There are still 2 open dates BYU can use to put them in, November 5th and the 26th. They scheduled a game with TCU on Friday, October 28th. Louisiana Tech's only open date as of right now is October 15th. If they want to play BYU, they're going to need to shuffle their games around. Doesn't really look like it right now.

So, this new info changes the whole picture. The addition of TCU makes their schedule more BCS worthy. They have proven they can play with the "big boys" in a bowl game with not only national prominence, but great tradition, the Rose Bowl. They beat a Wisconsin team that averaged over 43 points a game and scored under 30 points only twice in the 2nd and 3rd weeks of their season. So the Horned Frogs definitely add strength to BYU's schedule.

Maybe now there won't be as many "boo-hooers" as their were before Tuesday. All of their games against the current BCS leagues are on the road. Though TCU is scheduled at a neutral site (Cowboys Stadium), that's another game on the road. They have a formidable schedule as it now stands. With the current slate of games, I predict BYU going 6-6. There are too many factors involved with this independent status for me to think any different. Being a fan, I hope they do better.

SIDE NOTES

I am getting a bit tired of hearing about Tiger Woods as if golf's success hinges upon his success or failure. Tiger has proven himself to be one of the greats, not the greatest. He was on the road to being the greatest, but then he made some very stupid mistakes in his personal life and it has affected his professional life. Those errors in judgment have cost him much. I bet today on all the sports bantering shows that come on this time of day he will be the topic of discussion. Why? He's not going to make the cut. The PGA Championship, being one of the big majors, should be about those who are at or near the top of the leaderboard, not about Tiger Woods.

BYU Football

I have been meaning to write about BYU football for about the last week. Other priorities have kept me from doing so, until today. I just decided to make them a priority.

I have followed BYU football since I came to Utah in 1981. It was exciting to see such an open offense move and down the field. I like that kind of football. It doesn't matter how they do it--running or passing--either one will do. Both can bring you out of your seat. That's the important thing.

I remember something that happened when I was overseas in the Air Force that perked my interest in BYU football, aside from the fact that I am a member of the Church. If I remember right, it was 1978 football season. I heard on Armed Forces Radio that BYU's starting quarterback got injured and his backup would take over the offense in Saturday's game. I didn't think a lot about it. Backup quarterbacks in most colleges need a week or two to get in rhythm with their offense since they don't get many reps in practice. But then I heard that BYU had won the game. That's only half the story though. Their quarterback threw for 500+ yards that day. My first thought was, "Gee, I'd like to have a backup to come in and throw for 500 yards" It wasn't until I moved  to Utah that I discovered who it was. The original starting quarterback who was injured was Gifford Nielsen. The backup who threw for over 500 yards was Marc Wilson.

When I first started listening to the games, Jim McMahon was the quarterback. Then there was the very athletic and versatile Steve Young. I took a strong liking to him. I think more of a quarterback who is multitalented. Steve could throw well (an essential for any BYU quarterback), but he could also run well. That puts an extra strain on the defense. Defensive lineman and linebackers can't just pin their ears back and rush the quarterback. They need to account for the running ability which, in Steve's case, was very good. In fact, in Steve's last year when he was a Heisman Trophy candidate, I felt he should have won it. Don't worry. The Heisman voting, the BCS, and the Bowl system are all future topics of discussion.

THIS YEAR

There is excitement on the BYU campus this year. They looked upon the win in the New Mexico Bowl as a good start for this season. That's how a lot of teams treat a win in a bowl game. They want to go out on a positive note as a precursor to the next season. It is both a psychological and emotional boost.

They had to win 4 of their last 5 to become bowl eligible in 2010. They did that, but it's bit misleading. Their wins included Wyoming (3-9, 1-7), UNLV (2-11, 2-6), Colorado State (3-9, 2-7), and New Mexico (1-11, 1-7). Their win in the New Mexico Bowl was practically just another conference game since they played there ever other year anyway.

This year is their first year as an independent. When their schedule was released, many have chosen to boo-hoo it. I understand where they are coming from. Their first three games are Mississippi, Texas, and Utah, respectively. Both Mississippi and Texas are road games. That's a pretty tough way to start out as an independent with two teams from the SEC and Big 12. It seems to me that when you make a change in anything, you want to do it around your own house where there are familiar surroundings. After Utah, they play Central Florida, who went 11-3 last year.

Another factor that needs consideration is the type of schedule. BYU is accustomed to the same slate of conference games each year. There is familiarity with coaches, systems the teams play under, the travel, the stadiums, the crowds, etc. The factors most vital are the way opposing coaches coach and the systems they employ. How well they adapt to teams they are not familiar with may be a big question that will have to wait to be answered.

The other things can become factors, especially the crowds on road trips. It's easy to say that you can filter out the crowd, but I don't think BYU has traditionally faced teams where crowd noise is a factor as much as it is in the SEC and the Big 12. I could not find anything on the average attendance records for Mississippi, but they stadium has a capacity of over 60,000. Even if they only sell 55,000, that's still almost 2 times the average attendance of the Mountain West for 2009 and 2010. For Mississippi, they are on the low end of SEC attendance where in 2010, an SEC game averaged over 76,000 per game.

It doesn't let up when you get to Texas. Last season, the Longhorns averaged 100,000 in attendance at their home games. That's with a 5-7 team. While the Cougars are used to playing at home to over 60,000, these first two games on the road have the opposing factor of home crowd to overcome. Clearly, the Cougars face some new challenges.

Tomorrow, more on the Cougar schedule.

The Past is in the Past, but..........

THE PAST IS IN THE PAST, BUT.............

I had something happen today that brought me back to my younger days. I won't tell you how far back. You'll probably be able to guess after reading for a few moments. This was something totally unexpected, but since it happened has made me stop and think about nostalgia, its purpose in our lives and how it affects us today.

I was sitting waiting to go to a doctor's appointment at the VA medical center. You know, you find magazines to read to pass  the time. These magazines are contributed by veterans cleaning out their homes and apartments of old stuff. Usually the name and address on the magazine has been torn out to protect their privacy.

Anyway, I picked up a Sports Illustrated from the table and started to read. I try to find the date before I start reading just to get an idea of the age of the information. It wasn't too far back, May 2011. I didn't see anything attractive in the contents so I just started going through it in hopes of finding something to occupy my attention.

Sure enough, I found it. It was an article about a show I had forgotten about--ABC's Wide World of Sports. The article was celebrating its creation 50 years ago. As I read it, I noted the corniness of its author. When someone writes an article with a lot of that, I know he didn't really get it. And the content of the article proved it. Oh, it was written well. But he did not capture the feeling of what that show did for all of us then. That's another story for another day.

I grew up in the Los Angeles area. An earmark event that I feel affected me was when we moved to Gardena, north of Wilmington where I lived my very early years. I remember that because I started being affected by professional sports. The Los Angeles Rams had already been there since 1946. The then Brooklyn Dodgers moved to LA in 1958 and then the Minneapolis Lakers came in 1960. As a young boy of 9 that's all I knew. I grew to love listening the the Dodgers and Lakers on radio.

But then Wide World came on the scene. I believe it was a 90-minute show displaying competition in other than "The Big 3" I've already mentioned. I saw figure skating, ski jumping, downhill skiing, bobsledding, luging, ice hockey, etc. I saw the daredevil antics of Evel Knevel, the brash boasting loud mouthed Cassius Clay (Muhammed Ali)  was on a number of times, etc. I learned about the Olympics from Wide World and looked forward to seeing that competition every four years. I learned that other countries of the world had different sports from what I knew and that their citzenry were as passionate about these sports as we in America were passionate about baseball. That sport was king in the late 50's, and the '60's.

I look back on all of this with fond memories. But I do not live there. That world looks like ancient history compared with our world of today. However, it serves a purpose. All of these things I experienced back then make me who I am today. Yesterday I expressed my love for college football; today, it's baseball. Those two things drive me some days. I am passionate about both of them. I live in an area where baseball fans are not as passionate. I find myself looking for someone I can talk to about the game. I found one who is a representative of an online university when I was considering my future educational goals. We talked more about baseball than about education. Then there's my brother. After being apart for so many years, we are bonding again. Our love for each other is increasing. The bonding agent that is making this happen is baseball.

The past has formed us into who we are today. Oh, things do change and we change with them. But there is still that core deep within us that will always be there as our life's foundation. No matter what other may things will happen around us, that core will give us strength to endure and seek for the happiness and joy they provide. The past does have its purpose.

See ya

Correction to original

As I was doing something else, I realized I was not totally correct in my blog. I said the "Pac-10". Until Arizona and Arizona State were added, they were know as the Pac-8. Humble apologies.

College football

I intend to make this blog a newsletter for all those who love college football. I love college football. It came into my life as a boy of 9 or 10 when I saw it on television. I won't claim to have seen the first game ever telecasted then, but I do remember watching commentators like the late, great Chris Schenkel and probably one of the first color analysts, Bud Wilkinson, former head coach at Oklahoma doing games on Saturday afternoons. I lived in Southern California growing up so I was quite familiar with the grandaddy of all bowls, the Rose Bowl and one of the biggest rivalries in college football--USC vs UCLA. In fact, we touched most of the Bowl games on New Year's Day. Back in the '60's, there was just four that I remember--the Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and the Orange Bowl. It was THE big day for college football.

The day I  was hooked I remember well. It was New Year's Day 1966. My dad and I were watching the Rose Parade in the living room at about 9:30-10:00am when the phone rang.  My brother was asleep from being out most of the night on a cot in the rec room just below where the phone was. It was his boss. He had two tickets to the Rose Bowl game that afternoon and offered them to my brother. My brother woke up enough to say "yes". He came out to the living room to announce this and asked which one of us wanted to go. My dad told me to go. I asked him if he was sure. He said yes.

We picked up the tickets and went to the game. This was a first for me and I was excited, naturally. What made it even more exciting was that the team representing the PAC-10 was none other than the UCLA Bruins. They were playing Michigan State from the Big Ten Conference. The only drawback to being there (although nothing really significant) was that the seats were in a primarily Michigan State section. (I think we were on the north end) My brother and I did not care. We got two UCLA Bruin pennants and waved them proudly.

As you know, UCLA won the game 14-12. We had an idea of attaching one of the pennants to the antenna on the car and we did. It rippled loudly and proudly as we drove home on the freeways home. When we pulled up into the driveway and got out, the pennant's tip was shredded. We did not care. Our team had won and that's all that mattered.

In future blogs, I will comment upon subjects related to college football today. There are two primary ones that I will spend time on--the BCS and the bowl system. I have developed a liking for a few college teams I will also write about during this season.

THEY CALL HIM COACH (FOR A REASON)

I saw on the Podcast directory on ESPN that both Around The Horn and Jim Rome Is Burning make comments about Joe Paterno. Before I listen to them I want to make known some things I feel about this man.

My interest in college football peaked after that Rose Bowl game I mentioned earlier. There has been only one coach who is still here and still coaching 45 years later-Coach Joe Paterno.

He IS the coach of coaches. Yes, there have been great coaches before him and during his tenure as the coach of Penn State. No doubt about it. Won't argue about it. But this is a man with more than just sheer determination. There is more to him than that. I believe, for him, it is a love affair he has with both the game and his players.

I was on a flight one day to visit my children. It started off in Salt Lake City. When I arrived, there was a whole group of big guys waiting to get on the same plane I was. I found out that I was flying to Denver with the entire Utah State Aggies. I cannot remember the team they were playing. What I do remember is that I ended up sitting next to their AD. I cannot remember all we talked about, but when Coach Paterno became a topic of discussion, the AD directed me to a young man sitting in front of me. He had played at Penn State under Coach Paterno. He was a graduate student at Utah State as a coach at some position. Defensive backs comes to mind here.

Anyway, the AD told me that and I asked him if this young man would mind if I asked him a question about Coach. The AD encouraged me to do so. So I got his attention and asked him about "Coach Pa".

"What kind of man is Coach Paterno?", I asked. He didn't tell me he was driven. He didn't tell me about coach's football knowledge or his decision making. Nothing related to football.

His countenance visibly changed. It became soft. He then said, "He is a very special man". When a coach affects a football player, who is accustomed to hitting people and being tough out there on the field play after play after play, there is no question in my mind that Coach Joe Paterno not only loves the game of football, but he loves his players and equally as important, they love him. They love him enough to go out there and play their best on every play, not only because coach wants that, not only by a sheer act of will and determination, but by the motivation of knowing that coach is interested in them as a person just as much(or maybe even more) than as a player trying to win the game.

Sure, other coaches do that today. But they are simply copying the man who started it all. 

So now you know that what I have written was not affected by any commentator at ESPN. He is still alive, still coaching, and still is a positive influence on young men--at 85. GO JOE!!!!!!!!!!