Card: 1979 Topps Football Card #390

Team/Position: Houston Oilers / Runningback

Cost: $2.80

I knew this deal was too good to be true, I knew it.  I purchased this Earl Campbell with a Dan Fouts Rookie Card because the seller agreed to ship it via standard airmail.

Rant Ensues, Feel Free To Skip

I didn’t feel like spending 11 dollars on shipping for 5 dollars worth of cards and she agreed, yet every time that I requested an invoice she sent it back with shipping of 11 dollars.  In her messages, she said she was going to ship it via the two dollar option, but her invoices said differently.

I eventually just paid the 11 dollar option and politely asked for a refund of the difference if she decided to ship it via the $2.00 option.  Of course that was the wrong decision as she shipped it via the two dollar option before ignoring my refund requests for 3 weeks.

I eventually won the dispute because she didn’t bother responding to eBay either.  I like to reward people that ship to Canada, even if they don’t get it postmarked until 10 days after payment, but this is just a piss-off.

Rant Ends, Earl Campbell Worship Begins

Some folks enjoy watching highlights of Barry Sanders or Gale Sayers, but in my opinion, neither could hold a candle to Earl Campbell.

In ’77 Campbell won the Heisman with the Texas Longhorns after leading the nation in rushing.

Sanders and Sayers would make your jaw drop, but Earl Campbell would make you grimace.

The Houston Oilers selected Campbell with the first overall selection in the 1978 Draft.  Campbell won the Offensive Rookie Of The Year Award in 1978 and followed it up with an MVP award in ’79.

As you see on the front of the card, Campbell was awarded the first of his three-consecutive All-Pro selections in his rookie year.  Campbell also has a “RECORD BREAKER” rookie card in the ’79 set, but it’s far less valuable.

Time For Another Video

Campebll went onto five Pro Bowls over the course of his eight year career.  Unfortunately, Campbell’s career was cut far too short by his bruising running style.

After his epic 1980 season (373 Attempts, 1934 Yards, 13 TD, 5.2YPC,) it was essentially down-hill for Campbell.  While he received a full workload in 1981, Campbell failed to average four yards per carry.

Card: 1971 Topps Football Card #113

Team/Position: Houston Oilers, Washington Redskins / Safety, DB.

Cost: $2.00

Ken Houston doesn’t get much love outside of Washington, it seems.  I actually ended up with a couple of his rookie cards; If you’d like a free one, leave a comment with your email address and I’ll get it out to you.

Houston was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986, a tough achievement for a defensive back.  With the enshrinement of Rod Woodson, there are now 20 defensive backs in the Hall of Fame.  Modern linebackers trail behind with only 18 enshrined, but only two linebackers regularly played until the mid-50′s.

Considering that defensive backs were generally the best athletes on the field, it’s blasphemy that more aren’t recognized for their efforts.

Houston was born in Lufkin, Texas: A city of 32,000 people as of 2000.  Lufkin’s a city that knows how to churn out pro-football players, though.  A kid by the name of Dez Bryant called Lufkin home and was widely considered the best receiver in NCAA football (before the Dieon Sanders incident).  A total of thirteen other NFL players once played their high-school football in the city of Lufkin.

The Oilers drafted Houston in the ninth round of the 1967 AFL Draft out of Prarie State College — Guh? — where Houston was a football and track and field star.

After winning the starting gig just games into his rookie season, Houston’s skills were put on full display.  In 1971, Ken Houston set a then-record with 5 return touchdowns (4 INT, 1 FUM).

Houston’s athletic ability could probably still stand up to this day:  At 6’3″ and 197lbs, Houston was fast and rangy but could deliver punishing hits.

After six years with the Oilers, Houston was shipped off to the Washington Redskins for five veteran players.  Houston kept up his All-World play and was eventually named one of the 70 greatest Redskins of all time.

When all was said and done, Houston  intercepted 49 passes and scored 9 touchdowns which lead to 12 CONSECUTIVE PROBOWLS.

If you’re unfamiliar with Houston, just think of a player in the mold of Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu or Adrian Wilson.

Card: 1985 Topps Football Card #251

Team/Position: Houston Oilers / Quarterback

Cost: $4.00

Topps 1985 football endeavor was a masterpiece, at least in my books. I love the dark black borders and horizontal layout: the cards are quite sharp.  It’s not in the same league as the Godfather of black bordered cards, 1962 Topps, but it’s still a damn good card.

Unfortunately, 1985 was one of the absolute worst years for Football Rookie Cards.  Baseball was fine; it had Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Kirby Puckett and Brett Saberhagen.  Football, on the other hand, got the shaft.  Contrast the  ’83 Draft spitting out 6 Hall of Famers (Dickerson, Elway, Kelly, Marino, Green, and Matthews,) with the ’84 Draft and you’ve got a 6-to-0 shutout.

Other than Moon, 1985 gives us three men that knew Dan Marino intimately:  Irving Fryar, Mark Clayton and Bills’ LB, Darryl Talley.  Jim Jeffcoat also came out of the ’85 set, but I’m just mentioning him to plug the 8-and-1 Houston Cougars, for whom he’s a defensive line coach.  Houston snuck by Tulsa 46-45 yesterday and I doubt they’ll improve on their #13 Ranking — We’ll see though.

The Canadian Football League’s regular season wraps up today, so there’s no better time to discuss Warren Moon.  Moon had all of the tools to be a HOF NFL Quarterback, but the colour of his skin made his journey harder than it ever should’ve been.

After posting great numbers in High School, Moon’s desire to remain a quarterback initially cost him a scholarship from a big-time program.  After playing a season in Junior College, only the Washington Huskies believed enough in Moon as a quarterback to offer him.  The Huskies were eventually rewarded with one of the biggest wins in school history, a Rose Bowl victory over the Michigan Wolverines.

After College, the cycle once again repeated itself:  Moon conveyed a strong desire to play QB, but NFL Scouts saw him as a Tight End.  Moon refused to budge which set the stage for one of the greatest professional football careers ever.  Warren Moon was off to the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos, where he proceeded to win five consecutive Grey Cups from 1978 to 1982.  In just six years, Moon threw for over twenty-one thousand yards and 144 TDs with the Eskimos.

When Moon announced he heading South for greener, less snow-covered pastures, a bidding war ensued.  Houston ended up with Warren Moon, who eventually found his way with the Run-and-Shoot Offense. Rather than talk about the passing records that Moon set, or the big-fat juicy contract extension that made him the highest paid player, I’ll talk about something much more important:

TECMO BOWL!

There’s a great thread over at VirtualSportsNetwork, which I’ll borrow some images from.

Houston Oilers Run And Shoot Playbook

There’s all sorts of great screen captures from Tecmo Bowl, and I’d recommend giving them a look-see (I can only assume that you cannot copyright a screen-capture).

History

Warren Moon was the first and to this day, the only, black Quarterback inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.  It was a pleasure to watch Moon prove the entire NFL wrong after dominating the CFL as a quarterback.  I’m not going to say that Moon opened the door for black quarterbacks, but he definitely reinforced that skin color has very little to do with the ability to play quarterback.

Card: 1954 Bowman Card #23

Team/Position: Chicago, Houston, Oakland / Quarterback & Kicker

Cost: $35

The NFL has taken it upon itself to Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the AFL in 2009 with AFL rivalry games featuring some of the gaudiest jerseys known to man.  I’s clear that Joe Namath reigns supreme as the most recognizable ambassador that the AFL had, but without a doubt, George Blanda is Top-5.

Namath and Blanda represented the AFL in vastly different ways.  The AFL wanted itself to be seen as Namath, who had signed with the Jets for more money after they’d selected him first overall in 1965. Namath was a brash playboy with a youthful energy that seemed to be contagious, exactly what the AFL wanted.

The NFL wanted the AFL to be seen as George Blanda, though. Originally Blanda came off as an NFL washout, no longer good enough to play for the Chicago Bears of their prestigious league.  Blanda kept playing though…and playing…and playing…and playing, before eventually ending his career after 26 seasons in Professional Football.  Blanda is too often defined by the length of his career which indirectly reduces the significance of many of his other accomplishments.

Blanda’s Accomplishments

In 1949, Bears’ owner, George Halas, signed George Blanda for $600, thus beginning the start of a great career.  Almost none of that career occurred with Blanda’s original team though.  Blanda was the starting quarterback for the Bears in ’53, but an injury in ’54 sentenced Blanda to the role of full-time kicker, back-up quarterback.  Blanda retired after the 1958 season, knowing that he was a capable quarterback and not just a kicker and thus began the career of George Blanda.

When I acquired the 1954 version of Blanda’s rookie card, I was terribly tempted to grab the 1960 version of Blanda as a member of the Houston Oilers.  Blanda’s career started when he dawned an AFL jersey and Fleer’s 1960 card of George Blanda wearing the Oilers’ blue can be had for around twenty dollars.

Blanda lead the Oilers to the first AFL Championship in 1960 before going off in, what’s generally considered his best professional season, 1961.  Blanda once again took home the AFL Championship, but this time it came with AFL Player of the Year honors.   Blanda led the AFL in passing yards (3,330) and passing touchdowns (36) that year.  Blanda was a passing machine, leading the league in both attempts and completions from 1963 through 1965.

By 1967, Blanda’s time had run out with the Houston Oilers but he was quickly snapped up by the Oakland Riaders.  After a terrific career with the Oilers, Blanda was now comfortable operating in the role that the Bears had seen him in so long ago. Blanda, who was still a straight ahead kicker, repeatedly came up in the clutch for the Raiders.

In 1970, Blanda was released by the Raiders only to, you guessed it, resign with them before leading one of the craziest five game stretches in the history of football.

Game 1 vs. Steelers: Lamonica gets hurt, Blanda throws three touchdowns to win ‘er.

Game 2 vs. Kansas City: Blanda kicks a field-goal with 3 seconds left to tie ‘er up.

Game 3 vs. Cleveland: Off the bench, Again!  Blanda throws a TD with under two minutes to play to tie the game up before booting a ridiculous 52-yard field-goal to win ‘er.

Game 4 vs. Denver: Blanda gets the call in the 4th quarter only to throw the winning touchdown with two minutes left.

Game 5 vs. San Diego: Blanda knocks in a chip-shot field goal in the closing seconds to beat the Chargers and end one of the greatest streaks of balls-to-the-wall football in the history of the game.

Eventually, the 1970 season ended with Blanda becoming the oldest quarterback (age 43) to start a Championship Game.

Blanda’s Records (straight from wikiland)

• Passing TDs in a game: 7 (Tied with 4 others)
• Most seasons played: 26
• Only player to play in four different decades; (40s, 50s, 60s, 70s)
• Most PATs made (943) and attempted (959)
• Most interceptions thrown, single season: 42 (1962)
• Held record of most pass attempts in a single game: 68 until 1994, when Drew Bledsoe had 70
• Oldest person to play in an NFL game: 48 years, 109 days
• First player ever to score over 2,000 points
• Oldest quarterback to start a title game
• Most total points accounted for (including TD passes) in a career: 3,418

Blanda is no longer the proud owner of the Most Career Interceptions which now belongs to Brett Favre.

The Card

I absolutely love the look of this card; it’s simple, classic and it shows us that George Blanda used to be one very good looking dude.  It’s refreshing to see this shot of Blanda, rather than the grey haired man hunched on the Raiders sideline.

I’m still torn on whether or not I made the right call.  The Fleer card doesn’t look quite as classic and it’s not quite as old, but it’s Blanda as a member of the AFL.

1960 Fleer Blanda, Courtesy of Footballcardgallery.com

Card: 1989 Topps Card #91

Team/Position: Houston Oilers / Center-Guard

Cost: 25-delicious-cents

Bruce Matthews played a long, long, time.  When it comes to playing well past your physical prime, you basically get a choice between Quarterback or Offensive Center.  Both positions emphasize superior intellect over raw-physical ability — It takes a different breed of man to play Center, though.

Matthews was selected ninth overall in the 1983 NFL Draft, but as far as I can tell, 1989 was the first year that Bruce had a card  (There was a 1986 McDonalds Oilers card).

Bruce had already played 6 years before getting his first card and I’m sure his 1988 Pro-Bowl selection contributed to him getting his first card in ’89.

Unfortunately for Bruce, he’s getting the shaft in my collection.  So many great players debuted in 1989 and most of their true rookie cards come from the Score brand.  The Topps Traded versions of Aikmen, Deion Sanders and Barry Sanders are nice, but they hardly compare to the ballin’ ass 1989 Score. So, as is always the case, the offensive linemen gets the shaft.

Matthews eventually played 19 years in the NFL, all for the same franchise.  When Matthews retired, no position player had played more games than Matthews’ 296 and only Merlin Olsen had played in as many Pro Bowls as Matthews (14).  Jerry Rice eventually snuck past Matthews for games played in 2004 with 303 games played.

What Made Matthews Special

Matthews managed to sustain a high-level of play for his entire career.  It’s somewhat jaw-dropping to learn that Jeff Fisher, a teammate of Matthews’ at USC, eventually went on to coach the Titans before Matthews retired.

Matthews was a first ballot Hall of Famer in 2007, joining Elway, Marino, Kelly, Dickerson, and Darrell Green as HOFers from the 1983 draft.

That Family Tree

(photo gallery available here)

Clay Matthews Sr. played for San Francisco in the 1950′s.

Senior had two children that followed in the family business:  Bruce Matthews and Clay Matthews Jr. (who played in 4 Pro Bowls, himself)

Clay Matthews Junior’s son, Clay Matthews III, was recently drafted by the Green Bay Packers out of USC.

Bruce’s two youngest, Mikey and Jake, play for Elkin H.S.  Jake’s currently the 11th ranked Senior Tackle in the Nation by Rivals.com.  Bruce’s eldest, Kevin, is currently the starting Center for Texas A & M.

Finally, Clay Matthews Jr’s son and Clay Matthews III’s brother, Casey Matthews, is currently the starting MLB for the Oregon Ducks.  Kyle Matthews, Clay’s and Casey’s older brother, also played for USC during their 2003 Championship year.

That’s a lot of football for one family.

1989 Score Bruce Matthews

Matthews '89 Score

Two great lookin’ cards, but I believe the latter is his True Rookie Card.  I didn’t collect in ’89, so I tend to get confused.  Either way, Bruce Matthews autographs are surprising hard to come by nowadays. The only one that I could find on the ‘Bay was a 2000 Topps Finest autograph celebrating Bruce’s games played record:
This is actually an incredible card, but I’m sure back in 2000 whoever pulled it was pissed the hell off.  Matthews is one of the many incredible offensive linemen that’ll appear on my list.  I think I have a soft-spot for the men in the trenches.

I mean, just look at that Blue ’89 Score!  Matthews appears to be long-snapping and the Bills are literally inches away from his noggin’.  Half the defensive line is offside!  Great Photography like that deserves to be recognized and while I’m not exactly showcasing Bruce’s Score Rookie, I will add it to my collection.