On This Day

First…

GO AWAY, BOM TRADY!

I can hear his blind devotees now: “He threw for 350 yards and 2 TDs in the playoff game. It’s not his fault his team’s defense is not good.”

In order to throw for 351 yards in last night’s playoff loss to the Cowyucks, Brady attempted 66 passes, which works out to just 5.32 yards per attempt. Despite the hold of fantasy football, which is well-named because it bears little or no resemblance to the real thing, in real NFL football the two individual passing stats that correlate the most with winning are yards per pass attempt and interceptions. 5.32 yards per attempt doesn’t win many games, just like it didn’t win last night’s. As a point of reference, historically the league average is about 7.00 yards per attempt. In the recently completed regular season, quarterbacks who threw enough passes to qualify for the passing title averaged 7.13 yards per attempt. By the way, Brady’s team, the Buccaneers, has two very good wide receivers in Chris Godwin and Mike Evans. During the regular season Brady finished 31st of 34 qualifying QBs in yards per pass attempt.

Bom Trady has been quoted as saying, “I would rather play and lose than not play.” As an outsider who doesn’t know him it seems to me that his competitiveness is pathological. NO behavioral paradigm is always appropriate.

He is supposed to be a free agent after this season, a season in which his team had a losing record and only made the playoffs because all the other teams in the division were worse. Any team that signs him to play is clueless. He will turn 46 before the next season starts.

GO AWAY, BOM TRADY!

******************

From a post on this day three years ago:

 

On this day in 1971 the Baltimore Colts defeated Satan’s Minions…uh, the Dallas Cowboys…in Super Bowl V, which is “Five” for those of you unfamiliar with Roman Numerals. I nervously watched the game by myself in the small living room of our Baltimore row house.

The Colts trailed for much of the game, in which both teams combined for 11 turnovers including 7 by the Colts. About midway through the fourth quarter, with the Colts trailing 13-6, Baltimore safety Rick Volk intercepted a Craig Morton pass and returned it 30 yards to the Dallas 3-yard line. Two plays later, Tom Nowatzke scored the touchdown and, unlike the Colts’ first TD, rookie kicker Jim O’Brien converted the extra point to tie the game.

With about a minute left a holding penalty against Dallas left them with a long second down. Morton was rushed by Colts’ defensive end Roy Hilton and threw high to intended receiver Dan Reeves (yes, the same Dan Reeves who was an NFL head coach for 23 seasons). Mike Curtis intercepted at the Dallas 41 and returned it 13 yards. The Colts ran the clock down to 9 seconds and O’Brien kicked a 32-yard field goal to give Baltimore a 16-13 lead.

In the recaps of the game it is never mentioned that the field goal was not the last play of the game and that after the kickoff Dallas had time for one more play. I had remembered that was the case, but began to be unsure given it was never mentioned. Upon discovering the play-by-play I found that what I remembered was correct, that Dallas received the kickoff and that Morton was intercepted, once again, this time by Jerry Logan to end the game.

When O’Brien lined up for what turned out to be the game-winning field goal, at first I turned away from the TV too nervous to watch. Then, just in time, I faced the TV and saw the kick. After the game ended, I screamed louder than I had ever screamed before and ran outside screaming, without wearing any shoes, into the cold Baltimore day. Our awful next-door neighbor stuck her head out of the front door and threatened to call the police if I didn’t quiet down.

The next day as was our custom, Dr. Zal and I met in front of the department store with whom I shared a last name (it was not our store) to walk to school. We did not speak during the walk, but sang the Baltimore Colts’ fight song the entire way.

******************

On this day in 1953 the Chevrolet Corvette was introduced to the public at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City as part of its Motorama exhibition. Incredibly, the car was in production, albeit only 300 units were produced that year, by June of 1953.

 

 

All 300 Corvettes were Polo White with a Red interior and were powered by a 235 cubic-inch “Blue Flame” inline 6-cylinder engine rated at 150 HP/223 LB-FT of torque. All 1953 Corvettes had the two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission.

In its first three model years Corvette production only reached four figures once–in 1954–and only 4,640 were manufactured in total. General Motors almost pulled the plug on the car, but pleading by Zora Arkus-Duntov and the success of the Ford 2-seat Thunderbird spurred GM and Chevrolet to keep building the Corvette.

In 1956 a new body style was introduced and the car finally was equipped with real roll-up windows instead of side curtains. Production increased to 3,467 from 1955’s moribund total of 700. To me, this dispels the belief that it was the introduction of the small-block Chevy V-8 in 1955, or the introduction of the fuel-injected engine and four-speed transmission in 1957, that saved the Corvette. By the mid-1950s almost no one wanted a car with no roll-up windows.

Of course, we are now in the eighth generation of the Corvette and are approaching two million in total sales/production. Sadly to me, this will almost certainly be the last generation with any type of internal combustion engine. No electric Corvettes for me.

 

#OnThisDay

#GoAwayBomTrady!

#SuperBowlV

#IntroductionOfTheCorvette

#somanyCARSjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

If you like this blog please tell your friends and share the blog URL (https://disaffectedmusings.com). Thanks.