Football Returns, But How Is Texas in the Top 25?

No matter what your thermometer may say, today is an important day for football fans.

For one thing, the NFL's Hall of Fame game is being played tonight between the Dallas Cowboys and the Arizona Cardinals. The game means nothing in the standings, and few starters — if any — will play tonight, but its importance is more symbolic than anything else.

It tells football fans — who have suffered through basketball, baseball, hockey, tennis and golf since February's Super Bowl to get to this point — that football is back.

For another, USA Today released its preseason college football poll today.

And that always has a few eyebrow–raising items.

Like, for example, the fact that the University of Texas, 5–7 last year (including a loss to lowly Kansas), is ranked No. 23.

Considering their records last year, I suppose the rest of the Top 25 deserved to be there — at least, most of them did.

But I can't justify the Longhorns being in the Top 25. Admittedly, Sports Illustrated reports that UT is doing better at recruiting than it has in awhile, and that definitely will be a factor in the future. But it won't have an impact on this season — and it may not have much of an impact on the 2018 season, either.

If Texas is ranked in the Associated Press poll, which will come out shortly before the season begins, my guess is it will be short lived. The Longhorns play at Southern Cal (No. 4 in the USA Today poll) on Sept. 16 and host Kansas State (No. 19 in the poll) on Oct. 7 before the annual battle with Oklahoma (No. 8 in the poll) on Oct. 14 — followed by a home game against Oklahoma State (No. 11 in the poll) and a trip to Baylor.

A Drive for the Ages

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Super Bowl XXIII is remembered for one thing — the magnificent game–winning touchdown drive engineered by quarterback Joe Montana in the closing minutes — even though it was noteworthy for other things, too.

San Francisco trailed Cincinnati by a field goal with a little more than three minutes to play. The 49ers had the ball at their own 8–yard line; Montana led the offense down the field and threw the winning touchdown pass to John Taylor with 34 seconds to play.

They called him "Joe Cool" during his playing career, and that really described his demeanor as he directed the 49ers on that game–winning drive.

Repeatedly that day, the Bengals' defenders made the plays they needed to make, but the 49ers won, anyway, 20–16, possibly securing Montana's induction into pro football's Hall of Fame. He entered the game already having won two Super Bowls. Four quarterbacks with at least two Super Bowl victories — Bart Starr, Bob Griese, Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach — had been chosen for the Hall of Fame, and other two–time winners would follow.

Nearly every quarterback who has started for at least two Super Bowl winners has wound up in the Hall of Fame (although Jim Plunkett has never been selected for induction in spite of being a two–time winner). A pretty convincing case can be made that Montana would be in the Hall of Fame, regardless of what happened 25 years ago today.

There was every reason to believe that Montana, who had been MVP in his first two Super Bowls along with being a five–time Pro Bowler, would be inducted, too. And he was, in his first year of eligibility. The stirring game–winning drive simply added to his remarkable resume.

Super Bowl XXIII had a little something for everyone. For Montana, it was a third Super Bowl victory as starting quarterback — and the only one of the four Super Bowls in which he played that he was not named the MVP. For Taylor, it was a game–winning reception.

And for future Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, it was the Most Valuable Player award. He caught 11 passes for a record 215 yards against the Bengals.

The game itself was a rematch of Super Bowl XVI, the third such rematch in Super Bowl history. The score was 3–3 at halftime, the first time a Super Bowl was tied at intermission.

San Francisco coach Bill Walsh retired after the game. So far, he is the only man to end his pro football coaching career with a Super Bowl victory.

But "The Drive" is what fans remember 25 years later.

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On that final drive, Montana completed eight of nine pass attempts. He was calm and cool as he completed three to Rice for 51 yards, but he covered the last 10 on a pass to Taylor.

That last play was probably the most astonishing play of the drive. As I say, Rice caught 11 passes in that game, three of them on the final drive (a fourth pass was thrown his way on that drive as well). Mere words aren't sufficient to describe the brilliance of his performance. He was clearly the game's most valuable player.

With the ball resting on the Cincinnati 10, everyone in the stadium probably expected Montana to throw to Rice. I was watching the game on TV with my parents, and I know the three of us expected Montana to look for Rice.

But, instead, he threw to Taylor for only the fourth time in the game. And Taylor, who nearly fumbled away a punt earlier in the quarter, made his only reception of the day.

It was a brilliant piece of strategy from the mind of a truly brilliant strategist, Bill Walsh, and it was executed flawlessly by his field general, Joe Montana.

Rice was the logical target. Taylor had been a non–factor all day, but "Joe Cool," calmly and confidently, threw the ball to Taylor and joined the exclusive club of football players who have won more than two Super Bowls.

The Montana legend was really born 25 years ago tonight. He was already regarded as one of the NFL's elite quarterbacks; "The Drive" made it official.

Eli's Coming

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When I was a boy, Three Dog Night was one of the most popular bands around, and one of its earliest hits was a tune called "Eli's Coming."

That song wasn't related in any way to football, but, nevertheless, the title sprang to mind as I watched, for the second time in the last five years, Eli Manning lead his New York Giants to a come–from–behind victory over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

On Saturday, I observed that it was the fifth anniversary of Eli's brother's one and only Super Bowl triumph — and I also noted that, with another win over the Patriots, Eli would notch his second title "and, in the process, probably secur[e] his spot in the NFL's Hall of Fame."

That's how it tends to be with multiple Super Bowl–winning quarterbacks, I wrote, and, in the aftermath of Sunday's game, I see I'm not alone.

Don Banks of Sports Illustrated wrote of the "pretty select club" Eli joined with his victory.

"Quarterbacks with multiple Super Bowl wins have a cache all their own in NFL history," Banks wrote, "and we best start wrapping our minds around the reality that Peyton Manning's little brother is in the fraternity, and the Colts' long–time great isn't. That last shall be first stuff really does come to pass sometimes."

Banks reeled off the names of the multiple winners and observed that nearly all of them are enshrined in the Hall of Fame. That certainly improves the odds that Eli will wind up in Canton as well.

Lord knows he wouldn't get in on the strength of his regular–season numbers. For that matter, his numbers on Sunday were good but not great. He completed 30 of 40 passes for just under 300 yards and one touchdown.

Good enough to get the job done, but not eye popping.

Of course, unlike his older brother, Eli's life is hardly at a crossroads. He's a hot property, having won not only his second Super Bowl but his second Super Bowl MVP award as well. And that makes up for a lot of things.

Success is fleeting in the NFL — just ask the last three quarterbacks who won the Super Bowl — and someone else may well be on the mountaintop in the space of another year.

But today it is Eli who stands astride that mountaintop, surveying the NFL's terrain below and basking in the praise that comes his way for his achievements.

That praise is certainly deserved, but I can't help thinking of how slender the gap between winning and losing a Super Bowl can be. After Manning's Giants opened the game with an impressive and workmanlike — but ultimately futile — possession, they had to punt and succeeded in pinning the Patriots deep in their own territory.

On the first play from scrimmage, Brady threw a pass that went 45 or 50 yards in the air easily — but the officials ruled that no eligible receivers were in the vicinity of the pass, which is the definition of intentional grounding, and threw a flag.

Ordinarily, the penalty for intentional grounding is loss of both yardage and down. Since Brady was in the end zone when he threw the pass, it resulted in a safety and a 2–0 Giants lead.

It has been my experience that some people believe that, for intentional grounding to have occurred, a quarterback must be in the grasp of a defender — and clearly in danger of being tackled for a loss — and throws the ball away to avoid the lost yardage and/or to preserve time on the clock.

But it is not essential for the quarterback to be under duress. It is only necessary for no eligible receiver to be in the vicinity of the pass — whether that pass is short or long.

An old friend (a colleague from my sports desk days) observed on Facebook that it was "the longest intentional grounding play I've ever seen," and I had to agree.

It also seemed to me that, given the fact that Brady's pass covered about half the length of the football field, it was unreasonable for anyone to expect him to be precise about his target — or whether the receiver would stay in the vicinity of the pass in the time it took for the ball to reach its destination.

But that is how the rule is written — currently. I think it would be wise to revisit that rule during the offseason.

Anyway, the game proceeded with the usual scoring — touchdowns and field goals — until late in the game, when the Patriots led, 17–15, and the Giants scored what proved to be the winning touchdown. They went for two on the conversion and came up short, making the final score 21–17.

Now, imagine if the Patriots had not been penalized for intentional grounding but failed to put together a scoring drive on their first possession and wound up punting.

And everything else unfolded as it did (which you really can't assume because everything that happened after the penalty was predicated, to some degree, on the fact that it did, in fact, happen).

That would have made the score 17–13 when the Giants began their game–winning drive.

As it was, the Giants were under no pressure to score a touchdown. All that was needed to take the lead was a field goal, and perhaps that made a difference in the way they played in those final minutes.

But, in the alternate scenario, a touchdown would have been necessary. Under the additional pressure, would the Giants have crumbled? Would they have called different plays? Would the Patriots have followed a different strategy on defense? We'll never know.

If we assume, however, that the Giants would have scored the touchdown, as, of course, they did, it would have made the score 19–17, and my guess is the Giants would have settled for one point on the conversion instead of going for two.

Extra–point kicks are almost always successful, and this one would have given the Giants a 20–17 lead — nearly the actual final score but with a crucial difference. That one–point variation could have made all the difference for New England.

The Patriots' strategy would have been to get within field goal range and try to force the game into overtime, not to get into the end zone, and their play calling would have reflected that.

But the game turned out the way it did — and that first–quarter safety made it possible for the Giants to gamble on a two–point conversion. Whether it was successful or not, they knew the Patriots would have to score a touchdown, they didn't have much time and they were almost out of timeouts.

Eli Manning certainly contributed to the victory, but so did everyone on the team — and, indirectly, Brady did, too. I'm not sure if he deserved to be named MVP.

But he got his second title, and that may be what matters most. Eli is in his prime and could still win another title or two before time catches up to him as it has his brother. He might not, though. You never know.

Eli's coming? He's here. But he might not be back.

Time will tell.

Bubba Smith Dies

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Hearing the news today that Bubba Smith is dead brought back a childhood memory.

And it isn't a memory of his role in the "Police Academy" movies — which, actually, came along after I graduated from college.

The Associated Press quoted authorities as saying the death did not appear to be suspicious, but the cause is not yet known. Smith was 66.

When I was a child, Smith may have been the most feared defensive player in football. At 6'7" and 265 pounds, he was often the example that was cited whenever someone wanted to make the most extreme comparison someone could make regarding size (i.e., "He's as big as Bubba Smith").

Those are impressive numbers today, but even a casual football fan could probably name, off the top of his head, several current players who are both taller and heavier. Size and talent do not always go hand in hand, and not all of them would be All–Pro players, but Smith was.

Don't get me wrong. Size has always been important in football, but before Smith came along, teams actively sought more of a balance between athleticism and size in their linemen.

Smith played in something of a transitional period. He was a blend of immovable object and irresistible force when more and more linemen — on both sides of the ball — were content simply to be immovable objects.

My childhood memory is of something of an offhand joke that my father made when I was in my football card collector period. One afternoon, I had purchased a couple of packs of football cards (I guess I would have been about 9 or 10).

I opened them in the car on the way home, and a card of Bubba Smith was in one of them. I told my father.

"I got Bubba Smith!" I exclaimed (or something similar).

"Do you get two cards for him?" my father asked and chuckled at his own joke.

You had to be crafty to play the line in those days. You couldn't just get away with being big. You had to be clever. And you had to have a lot of confidence in yourself.

I was reminded today of a great story about Smith from back in the days when the college all–stars played the defending Super Bowl champs in the game that kicked off the NFL's preseason schedule.

As an All–American at Michigan State, Smith played against Bart Starr and the Green Bay Packers in that exhibition game on Aug. 4, 1967. Early in the game, he burst through the line and tackled Starr in the backfield (I'm not sure if they were calling that a "sack" yet).

When the play was over, Smith said to Starr, "All night long, old man, all night long. Big Bubba's gonna be right here on top of you all night long."

Actually, Green Bay offensive lineman Jerry Kramer recalled in his account of the 1967 NFL season, Smith never got to Starr again. Kramer wrote that he was impressed with Smith's quickness but said he had trouble using his hands and, once Kramer adjusted, Smith posed no problems for him.

Smith was just a college player at the time, though, and it wasn't long before, as a member of an astonishingly talented Baltimore Colts team, he played in the Super Bowl himself, losing to Joe Namath and the New York Jets.

Two years later, he was a member of the Colts' only Super Bowl–winning team in the 20th century, but he refused to wear the ring he received for participating in Super Bowl V. The game was so sloppy (nearly a dozen turnovers) that he felt embarrassed to wear it.

(It is ironic, I suppose, that, on the 40th anniversary of that game last January, I wondered on this blog if Smith's survivors would put the ring on his finger before he was buried. Maybe the only way we will know is if the ring surfaces on Ebay or something like that.)

Smith is enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame, but he is not in Pro Football's Hall of Fame. Perhaps one day he will be.

One of his teammates on those Baltimore Colts teams, tight end John Mackey, was inducted into the Hall of Fame nearly 20 years ago and, ironically, died just last month.

There aren't many tight ends in the Hall of Fame, but one, Shannon Sharpe, will be inducted this weekend.

In all, seven individuals will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Some of them, like Sharpe, will be quite familiar to modern fans; others (Les Richter and Chris Hanburger) are remembered by few. At least one (filmmaker Ed Sabol) never played the game.

Bubba Smith will not be one of the inductees — but, if there is any justice, one day (perhaps one day soon) he will be.

He just won't be around to see it.

John Mackey Dies

If you go to the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, you will see more than 250 players, coaches and owners who are enshrined there.

But only eight of those individuals were tight ends.

In fact, it was a quarter of a century after the Hall of Fame opened its doors that the first tight end was inducted.

John Mackey, who died yesterday at the age of 69, was the second tight end to be inducted — in 1992, 30 years after the Hall of Fame's inaugural class.

His playing days were mostly in the 1960s — from 1963 to 1972 — and most of them were spent with the Colts, back when they were based in Baltimore.

Nearly half of the tight ends in the Hall of Fame never played in a Super Bowl, but Mackey did. He played in two of the first five Super Bowls, winning one and losing one.

The legendary Don Shula, who coached Mackey from 1963 to 1969, said he revolutionized the role of a tight end, and it is hard to argue with that. He played in five Pro Bowls, and he was named to the All–Decade team for the 1960s. Only two of his Baltimore teammates — quarterback Johnny Unitas and cornerback Bobby Boyd — were also named to the team.

There were many things that made John Mackey unique.

For one thing, in Super Bowl V, he set a record for the longest reception for anyone, not just tight ends, in a Super Bowl — his 75–yard TD reception.

(Unfortunately, that game is probably remembered more for other things — like the sloppy play [nearly a dozen turnovers by the two teams combined] and the, in hindsight, rather ordinary field goal that won the game in its closing seconds.)

For another, he missed only one game in a 10–year pro career. Few players at any position can say that.

Ironically, injuries probably forced him to retire earlier than he would have chosen — and injuries, perhaps unrecognized at the time, may have played a role in his death. Mackey suffered from dementia and was forced to move to an assisted–living facility four years ago.

An NFL Players Association president after his playing days were over, Mackey's most important contribution to pro football may well have been the one he made in his last years.

At first, the NFLPA wasn't going to pay disability income because a link between brain injury and pro football had not been proven, but, thanks to the efforts of Mackey and his wife, the policy was changed (emerging medical evidence probably played something of a role in that, too). The NFL and the NFLPA came up with the "88 plan," which provides up to $88,000 annually for nursing home care and $50,000 annually for adult day care.

The figure of 88 originated from the jersey number that Mackey wore. Hopefully, it will be a lasting tribute to a special man.

The Case for Anderson's Induction

Kerry Byrne makes the case in Sports Illustrated that, when his career numbers are stacked up against the quarterbacks who are already in the NFL's Hall of Fame, retired Cincinnati Bengals signal caller Ken Anderson belongs in Canton, Ohio.

It's a compelling argument, and it will undoubtedly be persuasive for folks who remember the playing days of the legends who are enshrined in the Hall. That's probably a good thing for Anderson since he has been passed over so many times that he is now, 25 years after his retirement, eligible to be considered for enshrinement by the senior committee — which might be a little more sympathetic to his cause.

Byrne's case is so good that it looks like a no–brainer for the senior committee. I mean, I'm sure the committee often must consider players who are truly borderline, but that isn't the problem with Anderson. His numbers are worthy of the Hall.

The only knock on him would be the fact that he never won a Super Bowl.

(He did play in one — but he had the misfortune of facing Joe Montana.)

However, to make it more meaningful to younger fans, I thought it might be interesting to compare Anderson's achievements to a few modern quarterbacks — guys who are still playing or who haven't been retired long enough to be eligible, but they all seem likely to make serious bids for Hall of Fame induction. In particular, I'm thinking of Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Kurt Warner, Michael Vick and Donovan McNabb.

Let's take a look at Byrne's statistical case.

• Anderson twice led the NFL in passing yards.
  
  Brees has done that, too — in 2008 and 2010. So did Favre (1995 and 1998). Ditto Brady (2005 and 2007) and Manning (2000 and 2003).
  
  It isn't as rare an achievement as Byrne's column would suggest. But that doesn't lessen it.


• Anderson twice led the NFL in passing yards per attempt.
  
  Byrne likes this category because "it measures how well somebody passed, not just how often somebody passed."
  
  San Diego's Philip Rivers has led the NFL in this category for the last three years. He's never even been in a Super Bowl. The window is closing on his career and, if he doesn't win a Super Bowl soon, he may wind up on the outside of the Hall of Fame looking in — like Anderson. And his fate may wind up in the hands of the senior committee a quarter of a century from now.
  
  Warner led the league in that category three straight years as well. No one else on my list of recent QBs has led the NFL in it twice, and only a couple (Brady and Manning) have topped the league once.


• The deadly accurate Anderson led the NFL in completion percentage three times.
  
  That's nothing to sneeze at, but Warner matched the achievement, and he did it in three straight years (1999, 2000, 2001). Anderson did it in two consecutive years (1982 and 1983), but the first of those seasons was shortened by a strike. He also led the league in 1974 — in the midst of what Byrne acknowledges was the NFL's "dead ball era."
  
  The ball has been livelier in recent years, but no quarterback on my list (other than Warner, of course) has led the league in it more than once.
  
  (Actually, I wonder if Byrne gives that particular statistic more credibility than he should. After all, Chad Pennington has led the NFL in that category twice since 2002. Pennington is also the NFL's career leader in completion percentage among quarterbacks who have attempted at least 1,500 passes — but Pennington, whose future in the NFL is currently in doubt, has never played in a Super Bowl.)
  
  Brees has led the league in that category the last two years, and Brady, Favre and Manning all did it once.


• The coldly efficient Anderson led the NFL in passer rating an incredible four times.
  
  That really is incredible.
  
  Manning came close, leading the league three straight years (2004, 2005, 2006). Anderson did it back to back twice (1974–75 and 1981–82). Brady led the league twice (2007 and 2010). So did Warner (1999 and 2001). Brees did it once (2009).
  
  Steve Young was the absolute best in that category, though. He topped the NFL six years out of seven (1991–94 and 1996–97). I doubt that anyone will match that accomplishment.

"Anderson was one of the most efficient passers in the history of football," Byrne writes, "especially given the context of his time."

I can't argue with that. Some of the more modern quarterbacks matched Anderson in some of the categories. But no one surpassed him in all of them.

And, even if somebody had surpassed him in all of them, that would be one quarterback — out of how many hundred who have played the game?

There is, however, that little matter of Super Bowl appearances and wins. Practically no quarterback who played all or most of his career since the introduction of the Super Bowl and failed to at least appear in one has been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Anderson, as I say, did appear in a Super Bowl. But he didn't win it.

Of those seven recent/current quarterbacks I mentioned earlier, six have played in at least one Super Bowl and five have won at least one.

Is it absolutely necessary for a quarterback to have played in a Super Bowl — and, preferably, to have won one — to have a prayer of being inducted into the Hall of Fame?

Well, no. Dan Fouts never played in a Super Bowl, but he is in the Hall, anyway.

There is hope for Anderson. He beat Fouts in an AFC Championship game.

The Game He Didn't Play

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NFL Hall of Famer Ollie Matson died yesterday and, as John Crumpacker of the San Francisco Chronicle observes, he may have been "as well known for one game he did not play as for those he did."

Mind you, the games he did play between 1952 and 1966 were spectacular enough — or so I've heard. I was a mere child when he retired. I hadn't even begun collecting football cards yet (that was something I probably started doing in the third or fourth grade).

He won a couple of medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, then he embarked on a pro football career that included six Pro Bowl selections, seven All–Pro selections and being named to the 1950s All–Decade Team by the voters of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

So what about that game he did not play?

Well, in 1951, Matson was part of the University of San Francisco's football team. It was a good team. Some say it was the best ever. But San Francisco, as Crumpacker writes, "was snubbed by postseason bowls, apparently because two of its players — Mr. Matson and Burl Toler — were black."

If that sounds improbable to 21st century ears, it should be noted that this was in the middle of the 20th century. Integration was happening slowly in professional sports — and even more slowly in collegiate athletics. Most of the postseason bowls at that time were played in the American South, and most Southern colleges and universities would not start fielding black athletes for a couple of decades.

Heck, most of those schools had no black students at that time — let alone student–athletes.

Any of the bowls would have been happy to invite San Francisco to come and play. Any of the nearby hotels would have been pleased to accommodate the members of the team and their coaches. Any of the restaurants in the area would have been thrilled to serve breakfast, lunch and/or supper to anyone on the team.

As long as the two black players didn't come along.

The rest of the San Francisco football team wasn't going to go along with that.

Attitudes were decidedly different, but things really started to change in the 1950s — just not fast enough for Matson and Toler to enjoy a reward for their achievements on the college gridiron in 1951.

They say Matson suffered from dementia for several years before his death yesterday.

You could say that the bowls suffered from society–induced dementia half a century ago.

Fortunately, the bowls got better.

A Day of Fame

Today is the anniversary of two similar events in two separate sports separated by more than two dozen years.

On Jan. 29, 1936, the first inductees into Baseball's Hall of Fame were announced. Those inductees were:

• Ty Cobb


• Babe Ruth


• Honus Wagner


• Christy Mathewson


• Walter Johnson

In nearly three–quarters of a century, almost 300 people, of whom more than 200 were players (although managers, umpires, executives and Negro Leaguers are enshrined), have been inducted. Next summer, one former player — Andre Dawson — will be inducted, along with an umpire and a manager.

Twenty–seven years later, to the day, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced its first group of inductees. A total of 17 people were named on that day:

• Sammy Baugh


• Bert Bell


• Joseph Carr


• Dutch Clark


• Red Grange


• George Halas


• Mel Hein


• Pete Henry


• Cal Hubbard


• Don Hutson


• Curly Lambeau


• Tim Mara


• George Preston Marshall


• Blood McNally


• Bronko Nagurski


• Ernie Nevers


• Jim Thorpe

More than 250 people are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This year's class has not yet been announced.

Perhaps it was a coincidence that both sports announced their charter classes on January 29. Or maybe the NFL manipulated things — but why?

Does anyone know?

Hall of Fame, ESPN Mark Milestones

On this day in 1963, pro football's Hall of Fame opened its doors in Canton, Ohio.

There were 17 charter inductees. All of them are dead now. The last survivor, Sammy Baugh, died at the age of 94 last December.

According to the Hall of Fame's website, there are 253 members of the Hall of Fame. And the living Hall of Famer who has been a member the longest is Steve Van Buren (class of 1965). A halfback who played his college ball at LSU and then played his pro ball for the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1940s, Van Buren is now in his late 80s.

It was probably coincidental, but on this day in 1979, ESPN (an acronym for the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) was launched.

Over the years, ESPN has evolved considerably. These days, it carries live broadcasts of popular mainstream sports. Today, in fact, ESPN will broadcast a couple of college football games — Cincinnati at Rutgers (3 p.m. Central) and Miami at Florida State (7 p.m. Central). The network also televises pro football, baseball and basketball games.

Initially, though, ESPN aired a lot of stuff that wasn't part of mainstream programming — like Australian Rules Football, Davis Cup tennis, pro wrestling, boxing and some college football and basketball games. And it didn't show exclusively sports programming.

But things changed in the late 1980s. ESPN gradually added NFL and college football and major league baseball to its lineup. Today, it provides live coverage of such mainstream sports on nearly a daily basis.

One thing that hasn't changed is "SportsCenter," the network's flagship program. It aired once a day originally — now it is shown as many as a dozen times in a single day. A noteworthy exception was Sept. 11, 2001, when it interrupted its regular schedule to show coverage of the terrorist attacks.

The network considered not airing "SportsCenter" that day, but eventually it did air that evening, reporting the cancellations of sports events that had been announced up to that time.

Most, if not all, of the inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the last decade or so appeared on ESPN at least once. They would probably tell you their lives would have been different — to a certain extent — if ESPN had not existed.

Most of the non–athletes of the world would probably say the same thing.