Too bad those other appliance names never caught on.
Mike “the Blender” Spaviiki
Calvin “the Rice Steamer” Blanc
Billy Bob “the Electrick Knife” Scranton
Kevin “the Hot Plate” Smith
Help me, please. Kill me now.
I read an article in The Memphis Commercial Appeal which discussed the linemen of football, and being an ex-high school lineman it really touched me. I still have it if anyone wants to read it, the guy won national recognition for it.
He talks about how Linemen are the Warrior-poets of football, they tend to be the quiet guys - they don’t need the spotlight.
The author does a GREAT job exploring different linemen personalities and exploring some of the aspects of their life.
I’ve always explained to people Linemen ARE the game, what would football be without them? How would a game work without them? The QBs learn to respect us for our job because without us, he goes home broken and twisted.
Troy Aikman used to take his ENTIRE O-line out to a steak dinner every week to show his appreciation for the guys.
I think I remember some QB had his starting O-line as the best men at his wedding, I don’t remember who.
In any case, why would you be on the line? It is one of the most exhilerating things you’ll ever experience when you see two guys trying to get past you and your only thought is of the job you have to do - protect the QB. If you let these two get by the QB is most likely going to get a hit, even if he gets the ball away - every hit he takes hurts the team because the QB is usually caught unaware. So, your body charges with the adrenaline, your muscles pump and you throw your entire body and muscle into moving this MASS of flesh.
Let me tell you another thing, you form bonds on the line. All the linemen know what they go through, and I swear I saw one fight take place which involved one of our linemen, our center in fact… lol - I feel sorry for the other guy because before he knew it the left guard and right tackle (me) were in it.
Oh those were the days, I wish I still played but I didn’t have the ferocity necessary for the big leagues. I couldn’t turn on the rage others could, so I quit my senior year. Something I still regret.
The Steelers especially rely on their centers as team leaders and the anchors of the offensive line.
Consider these names:
Jeff Hartings
Dermonti Dawson (future Hall of Famer)
“Iron Mike” Webster (Hall of Famer - RIP)
Ray Mansfield
These are all of the Steeler starting centers going back to 1964!
This is a bit of a hijack, but as long as we’re talking about centers…
This is just my opinion, of course, based on nothing but superficial perceptions. I have no hard data to support this. But after decades watching football, I’ve found that, if you want to find the most intelligent men on a football team, you should look to the offensive line.
That’s a bit counterintuitive, isn’t it? People EXPECT the quarterback, the “field general,” to be the smartest guy on the team, but that doesn’t seem to be true. The BEST quarterbacks seem to operate on instinct, rather than intellect. With a few exceptions (Pat Haden, for instance), most quarterbacks aren’t all that cerebral.
On the other hand, people EXPECT offensive linemen to be big, muscular and dumb. But (again, based purely on superficial observation), the smartest guys on a football team seem to be those huge guys throwing their weight around on the offensive line.
Anyone agree? Disagree?