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[JT2]

If you are old enough you were jazzed about D3 college, Joe Dudek a running back/defensive back out of    Plymouth State in 1985, that came in 9th is Heisman Trophy ballots. This was the Bo Jackson year, who won the trophy.

What the reporter leaves out... (link below) was that he played very well both sides of the ball... that he did really well at both was why he made Heisman conversation. He made the cover of SI.

He reminded me of John Cappelletti, a Heisman winner, out of Penn State. Same style. You have to watch Caps Heisman speech, he dedicated it to his brother who was dying from leukemia. I'm sure there are clips on youtube... there a docudrama that was produced... it might also be on youtube... make sure you have some tissues... it got to my salty vet Father to shed a few tears.

Dudek was a freeagent and signed by the Broncos. You could see he belonged. During the players strike of 1987... Dudek crossed the picket line. This was an opportunity he couldn't he couldn't pass up .. I believe he was the starting RB and played very well... Howie Long crossed. Howie called Dudek a headache.

Broncos traded for Tony Dorsett, and Dudek was eventually released. He tried catching on with Jets but was released.

Hindsight... he'd have been a very good Wes Welker or Edelman, but in the era he played, they didn't do the slot stuff they do now. . If Dudek got past the 1st level, he could make people miss. It was wild watching when the whole country started paying attention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8qssNSPpTo

[Patrick Coleman]

He made the cover of SI, which is why he made the Heisman conversation. SI and that Rick Reilly piece made the Heisman conversation that year, literally.

I really enjoyed Jeff Pearlman's piece on Joe Dudek.

[JT2]

Update: Freddie and his boys are flying home on Nov 8th. So no Cortaca for them.

I don't know how many on these boards know who Freddie is... he was a rockstar on X (twitter) and Instagram. He and his mates were here for the World Cup. They are from Germany. They traveled around the US, eating, going places other than the game getting into to country music... they got really into Ella Langley. She found out, and got them front row ticket and VIP backstage. They went to Buc ee's, Waffle House, historical places.

Media scares and lies to people that are thinking of traveling here. Without fault, so many short videos of Cup fans just soaking up America... singing Sweet Caroline at a Red Sox game. They realized we great hosts, and not how we are often portrayed.

Anyway long story short... Freddie and his mates are here going to American football games. Before their trip he asked what are the games he must catch. There's so many good trophy games in D3... but if you have to pick just one... it's Cortaca. I slid into his DM's and told him Cortaca at Yankee Stadium. Gave him history/rivalry info and why he should go. He's primarily doing D1 games, but you never know. I'm gonna slide in his DM's a few more times. If you want to tweet him, and do the same... you should.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddy_(soccer_fan)

[JT2]

He made the cover of SI, which is why he made the Heisman conversation. SI and that Rick Reilly piece made the Heisman conversation that year, literally.

I really enjoyed Jeff Pearlman's piece on Joe Dudek.

Without SI, he doesn't get votes. I don't believe the Heisman should be exclusive to D1 players... but no one was beating Bo... he is the best athlete I've ever seen. He easily could have been HOF in two sports, if he didn't get that basically career ending injury. He needed to get a little better batting avg, and I believed he could get there. He used to jack balls into the upper deck at batting practice left handed, just for fun, I saw him do it at Yankee Stadium. He remains a great interview... I catch him on podcasts, and he's never bitter. Great guy.

[Patrick Coleman]

He made the cover of SI, which is why he made the Heisman conversation. SI and that Rick Reilly piece made the Heisman conversation that year, literally.

I really enjoyed Jeff Pearlman's piece on Joe Dudek.

Without SI, he doesn't get votes. I don't believe the Heisman should be exclusive to D1 players... but no one was beating Bo... he is the best athlete I've ever seen. He easily could have been HOF in two sports, if he didn't get that basically career ending injury. He needed to get a little better batting avg, and I believed he could get there. He used to jack balls into the upper deck at batting practice left handed, just for fun, I saw him do it at Yankee Stadium. He remains a great interview... I catch him on podcasts, and he's never bitter. Great guy.

I have Jeff Pearlman's book on Bo Jackson. It's a good read.

[IC798891]

He easily could have been HOF in two sports, if he didn't get that basically career ending injury

Jackson was never going to the Hall of Fame as a running back.

The main reason is that he was going to retire anyway

But even if we ignore that, it's like people didn't actually understand how his career was unfolding. Because there were three universal truths:

1. Jackson was going to miss 5-6 games, every year, no matter what, because he was playing baseball.

2. Because he was going to be unavailable to play for 5-6 weeks, any team that had him *had* to not only have two other decent RBs on the roster, and one of them had to be a starting caliber back. In the Raiders' case, it was Marcus Allen.

3. Because the Raiders had to construct the roster to function around his absence, even when Jackson came back, he was forced to share carries -- and it didn't help that he was essentially useless as a pass catcher.

Because of the compounding effect of these three facts -- that were never going to change, mind you -- Jackson simply didn't get the ball very often. He only averaged 13.5 carries in games he did play, and only had 20 carries five times in his 38 career games.

In 1990, his last season on the Raiders, Jackson had 125 carries in his 10 games. In that same 10 game stretch, Marcus Allen had 106, and Steve Smith had 45, meaning that even when he was playing, Bo's share of the carries was just 45%.

Those things weren't going to improve as he aged.

Of all the eye popping Jackson things we watched him do, here's the stat that blew my mind. Jackson's three longest rushes accounted for almost 10% of his career yards.

Had he focused entirely on football? Sure. But he wasn't going to do that. And he wasn't going to ride 700-yard, five-touchdoen seasons into the Hall of Fame.

Jackson the HOF baseball player is way more interesting. Pre-steroid era, home runs mattered a lot, and it's very possible he just could have slugged 500 of them and gotten in on that alone. But, fellow two-sport athlete Brian Jordan was a much better baseball player than Jackson.