RevWarRifleman

Yeh, maybe that's why they're the 'Outsiders'.

I always loved that lyric. Perfect.

Trade Fred? No. Why should we create more holes in our line up? That's what this franchise has done year after year for the past 12 years! End result? A dozen years of poor to mediocre won-lose records, and no playoff appearances.

Ditto. And it's consistant w/ Bellicheat's character too.

The Pro Bowl is a concept that has WAY out-lived its time. Yeh, a skills competition or something along those lines, AFC vs NFC that would make the players really want to be comptitive so it would ramp up fan interest.

Amen brother.

Agree. Vote him in.

Yup,Joe was a pioneer in a pioneering league. Gotta say thanks to all the people that posted on this topic. Irregardless of where you stand on Joe Namath the player, the human being, whatever. I enjoyed the shared knowledge, insights, stories, and memories. Especially the memories. The 1960's were a GREAT decade for sports. Our Bills, and the AFL & people like Joe added a LOT of excitement to a decade that was JAMMED PACT with excitement. The stories must live on, and they must never be forgotten. RWR

Good Luck to Andre Reed this Saturday. I hope he makes it! Hope Tasker makes it soon, too.

Thank you, Simon for posting this. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I didn't know the list was anywhere NEAR this extensive. What do you suppose it is?

Tony Hunter, ha. How about Mark Bramer?

For whatever it may be worth, my original intent in posting this topic was not som much about Joe, but how that little region in one state, out of all 50 of our states, has been the home territory of SO MANY great NFL players. No other region in the country can claim that!!!! That's fascinating to me. That's phenominal to me. But it turned into this grand debate about Namath deserving or not, to be in the HOF. I was hoping to get comments, and insights, stories of possibly why that region is so unique. The original post was more about the region, not so much about Joe & the HOF.

Rock & Roll HOF is pretty awesome, too. I'll be going back to that place at least 12 to 2 more times too. Both HOF places, you have to plasn on being there for several hours because there's so much great stuff. Thanks for posting the Google pic, Buftex. Go Bills!

FYI, Namath's knee brace is in a glass case in the HOF. Looks like a medical device from the Civil War! It had to be brutal just to wear that thing let alone play w/ it on. Been to the HOF twice. First in '85 to see OJ get inducted, but along with him, ironically, Joe, as well as Staubach. Enjoyed the ceremonies & the Hall very much. (They also have Y.A. Title's broken Giant's helmet from the 1963 Championship game.) That gear back then was NOT high tech. Second time I was at the HOF was in 2002 to see Marv get enshrined. Swan & Jack Yougblood went in the Hall that year as well. Remember Youngblood? Played an NFC championship game with a broken leg. Now there's a true AFL'er. If you love pro football & haven't visited the HOF, put it on your MUST DO bucket list! You'll be glad you did. I'll probably be going back yet again at least one other time before my time is done.

Exactly Section 237!! It's about perspective. If you lived during the time, then you remember the back-drop from whence the events took place. That's what you nailed when U put "Everything needs context." Spot on. And that's when memories do "Kinda come flooding back." You remember so much else, and the emotions are there as well. I tried putting that in, the back drop of that era in football, in earlier posts on the topic. People that didn't live during the Namath era, have a different view of him, even if they do like & appreciate the guy, because they weren't around to remember when he was playing & what pro football was like, they go to other things they think puts things accurately....stats.

K-9, somewhere in the heavens, you know Jack Kemp is smiling down on guys like you & I and others. Go Bills is right

Bmore, there's way more to Joe Namath than SB III. He changed the football landscape in America. Before SB III, he was the first QB to throw for 4,000 yards - on a 12 game regular season schedule!! The Jets under Namath showed that you could use the pass to set up the run. No teams in the NFL, including the '69 Colts were doing that. All of those teams were following in lock-step the Lombardy Packers,"we're gonna run the ball in the ALLY". If you were watching the Jets, and other AFL teams in the 60's, it was like watching the Saints today. It was fast-break football & Namath was instumental in that phenominon. Now swith the chanel in the 1960's & watch the NFL, doesn't matter the match up: Bears vs Lions, Packers v 49'ers, Giants v Eagles.....it was like watching paint dry. Namath was a cult hero that permanantly changed the sports landscape, not just the football landscape in America. He desrves to be in the HOF. He earned it!!!

Ha!! Great stuff! Well, crapping nails will come in handy with all those outdoor projects I got lined up this spring. Let the "experiment" begin.

Well put, K-9. He was tough too. Basically played his whole pro career on one leg. Team guy, skilled, and tough. On a side note,I think you're on to something. Yes, steel shavings in the Iron City beer. I should have caught that. Could it be the cause.....? I'm going out and buying some Iron City to "experiment" in my lab.

Ah someone from Pa., great. Perhaps you can shed some scientific information about what is, in my mind, clearly a sport phenominon. What IS IT about this northwest region of Pa that has produced such great NFL players??? And yes, its amazing the number of HOF quarterbacks from that region. Is it possibly iron ore flakes in the water? How about the food, 'Buffaloed in Pa'? Just like various regions in the U.S. has its noted dish, Buffalo wings & beef on weck, Balitmore, crab cakes, Maine, lobster, on and on and on? How about, instead of crosses in the local churches in western Pa., they have footballs? Any of these theories close 'Buffaloed'? God I hope not because w/ all of these I've obviously been very facitious.

Buftex, you're welcome. Back in the late 80's - early 90's HBO did a documentary on the AFL called "Rebels With a Cause: The Story of the AFL" I think you might like. It told how the AFL got started & its early years of existance, which was the bulk of the story, I believe, and progressed it through the years, to its merging w/ the NFL. They used old news clips, comments from former players, coaches, and owners of how things were in those early years. The things they remember and told about, gives you a better sense & appreciation for what they did and, the AFC today. They had Nick Bounoconti when he was a Boston Patriot, telling about the conditions of Buffalo's War Memorial Stadium (I watched Namath play there) & saying "it looked like something that was built during the Dark Ages." LOL Ya can't beat that! I don't know if you could get a copy of that documentary, thru Amazon?, or Google it?, Wikipedia??? I don't know. But I think you'd enjoy it. Well put.

SJBF, you're one of the several posters that I like reading on the message board, good, intelligent, insightful posts on a LOT of different Bills topics. Ain't trying to butter up with that, either. But I've got to take exception w/ you a bit on this one. I wasn't trying to compare the football careers of the two, just the fact that they were two, of the many, HOF-ers that grew up in that region from similar towns & environments.I got the impression from your post that you were more into their stats on the field. And therefore, there's little comparison to Kelly. Well, sure, in that sense alone, yes. Don't know how old you are, but if you are old enough to remember pro football from the middle 60's on, Joe Namath was an Icon even before that Super Bowl (III). In '65 the HUGE (for those days) contract he got helped to put the AFL on the map. The guy had literally a large national following from coast to coast. Anything Joe did, on or off the field drew national attention- especially if it was off the field. This was further enhanced because he played, on and off the field in the Big Apple. NYC had way more lustre then than I think it does today. The guy was clearly the first Rock Star football player. His helping the Jets to win the AFL's first Super Bowl cemented his career and paved the way to his HOF enshrinement. Great football stats? No. But Namath had a huge impact on shaping the American sports culture.

My wife and I watched HBO's profile of Namath's career last night. Was one of the more interesting stories about him. Well done. Another great football player from from western Pa. Beaver Falls, East Brady, there all the same, blue collar towns where sports was the big thing. I'd like to see HBO, or some other network, do a similar documentary on Jim. I think it would be interesting. Any thoughts/comments?

The team wasn't ready to be successful??? Then why did they bother to strap on their helmets & take the field? Where's the hunger? Where's the drive? That's basically saying, "well we went through the motions during the week in preparing, but we really don't think we're going to win when we take the field." Thanks a lot!

The title in the post was using a current game from this past Sunday, and linking it to Jauron. It had nothing to do with linking the play of the Bills in the last 10 years. Even if the Bills go 13-3 in 2012, there's always going to be SOMETHING that somebody can take, and link it to a Bill, or one of the Bill's coaches in the past. Look, I was never a Jauron fan from get-go. But taking a piece of a non-Bills game today, and still crying about one of our coaches in the past is carrying it too far. Forget about Jauron. The past is in the past.