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RIP Dr. Z

Reed83HOF

By Reed83HOF
in The Stadium Wall Archives

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Reed83HOF All Pro

Reed83HOF

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The old timers here will know who he is...

 

We have lost a legend. Football writer/raconteur Paul Zimmerman, 86, died this afternoon. There’s only one Dr. Z. He’ll be missed.

 

 

Richard Deitsch‏Verified account @richarddeitsch 18m18 minutes ago
As a young reporter, I got to fact check Paul Zimmerman on some stories he did for SI's commemoratives (when a team wins a championship or a single-issue devoted to something that was separate from the weekly magazine. I have but one fun story.
Richard Deitsch‏Verified account @richarddeitsch 16m16 minutes ago
I was checking a fact that involved John Elway. Zimmerman had written how many seconds it took Elway to throw one snap when he was a quarterback at Stanford. It wasn't exactly verifiable without the game film -- which we were not getting as fact-checkers.
 
Richard Deitsch‏Verified account @richarddeitsch 14m14 minutes ago
One of the editors -- I shall leave his name anonymous -- asked me to ask Z how he knew this stat. SI editors left notes in the stories for fact-checkers and we had to follow them the way North Koreans follow the Kim family.
 
Richard Deitsch‏Verified account @richarddeitsch 14m14 minutes ago
So I called Z to tell him an editor wanted to know how he knew this. This was an editor who had changed Z's copy before. In Z parlance, and the parlance of most writers, he had ***** with the copy. Z asked who the editor was. I told him.
Richard Deitsch‏Verified account @richarddeitsch 12m12 minutes ago
That led to a fantastic series of f-bombs and mother f-bombs. I then calmly asked what I should put in the story notes. He told me I should put in, "From Z: Go ***** yourself." So I did. One of the greatest fact-checking notes I ever had. And the stat stayed. Rest in peace, Z.
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Boatdrinks Hall of Famer

Boatdrinks

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Always enjoyed Dr Z, he had a lot of praise for the Bills in the ‘90s. His articles were interesting, and I liked reading his takes. Pre internet was more exciting in a way. I couldn’t wait to see the next issue of SI, pro football weekly etc. The buildup in between games kept things interesting. I think Dr.Z was live with ESPN during the great ‘83 draft. One of the best football writers out there...RIP

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billsbackto81 Veteran

billsbackto81

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11 minutes ago, Boatdrinks said:

Always enjoyed Dr Z, he had a lot of praise for the Bills in the ‘90s. His articles were interesting, and I liked reading his takes. Pre internet was more exciting in a way. I couldn’t wait to see the next issue of SI, pro football weekly etc. The buildup in between games kept things interesting. I think Dr.Z was live with ESPN during the great ‘83 draft. One of the best football writers out there...RIP

https://www.sicovers.com/thurman-thomas-of-the-bills-1992-january-20

 

Wish he was right on this prediction.

 

RIP Z....

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atlbillsfan1975 All Pro

atlbillsfan1975

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Great great writer. Loved reading his articles in SI during the glory years. Seemed he loved picking the Bills almost as much as Chris Berman. 

You lived a full life my friend . Thank you for helping a teenage kid enjoy his team.

I  think we got one more guy in a special place pulling for the Bills. 

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Kwai San Veteran

Kwai San

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RIP Z.....man Peter King just lost his best friend.  Back when Simmons was in his prime and he cared about the NFL he could crank out some good stuff...not Z stuff but good stuff.....like another has already said - before the internet he was the man.

 

RIP....

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Thurman#1 Hall of Famer

Thurman#1

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He was maybe my favorite football writer.

 

A very sad day.

 

 

"Super Bowl XXVIII will go down in history as a blowout, because that's what a 30–13 score looks like when you read it in the record book five or 10 years later. But the score won't come close to telling the story. The Buffalo Bills, short-enders for the fourth straight year, had the Dallas Cowboys on the ropes on Sunday at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, and they let them escape.

 

"The Bills have now lost two Super Bowls that they should have won, the first and fourth in this series of consecutive defeats, and have lost the other two most convincingly. Sunday's defeat was the most disheartening because the Cowboys were a struggling team in the first half; Dallas was ready to be put away. The Cowboys' quarterback, Troy Aikman, seven days removed from a severe concussion, was having difficulties. Emmitt Smith's favorite running play, the lead draw, was getting stuffed. Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly was picking Dallas apart with his short, meticulous passes, and the Cowboy defense was on the field far too long—41 snaps in the first half—against the Bills' no-huddle offense, which literally takes your breath away."

 

https://www.si.com/vault/1994/02/07/130416/the-fumble-dallas-bashed-buffalo-in-their-super-bowl-rematch-as-miscues-made-the-bills-four-time-losers

Edited by Thurman#1
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oldmanfan All Pro

oldmanfan

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Sad day.  For the younger folks here who never had a chance to read his stuff, go to si.com today and read some of his articles.   Z was the best.  Such a unique writing style and his analysis was based on exhaustive work watching film.  Regards and sympathies to The Flaming Redhead.

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Ned Flanders Veteran

Ned Flanders

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5 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

He was maybe my favorite football writer.

 

A very sad day.

 

 

"Super Bowl XXVIII will go down in history as a blowout, because that's what a 30–13 score looks like when you read it in the record book five or 10 years later. But the score won't come close to telling the story. The Buffalo Bills, short-enders for the fourth straight year, had the Dallas Cowboys on the ropes on Sunday at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, and they let them escape.

 

"The Bills have now lost two Super Bowls that they should have won, the first and fourth in this series of consecutive defeats, and have lost the other two most convincingly. Sunday's defeat was the most disheartening because the Cowboys were a struggling team in the first half; Dallas was ready to be put away. The Cowboys' quarterback, Troy Aikman, seven days removed from a severe concussion, was having difficulties. Emmitt Smith's favorite running play, the lead draw, was getting stuffed. Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly was picking Dallas apart with his short, meticulous passes, and the Cowboy defense was on the field far too long—41 snaps in the first half—against the Bills' no-huddle offense, which literally takes your breath away."

 

https://www.si.com/vault/1994/02/07/130416/the-fumble-dallas-bashed-buffalo-in-their-super-bowl-rematch-as-miscues-made-the-bills-four-time-losers

 

Yup, the Bills Super Bowl era can pretty much be summed up in those two paragraphs...sadly...

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thebandit27 Hall of Famer

thebandit27

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Ever the mercurial wordsmith, Z had an unmatched talent for getting the reaction that he wanted from his readers while teaching them something that they didn't know 

 

I consider it one of the great crimes of irony that he spent his last decade on this earth unable to read or write the stories that made him one of the all-time greats

 

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dave mcbride Hall of Famer

dave mcbride

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Dr. Z and Joel Buchsbaum were the best. What separates them from the good ones today is that it wasn't easy at all to get all of that film, and it required a ton of VHS taping (once VCRs came on the scene) and cajoling friends in other regions of the country to tape and send them games. They didn't have instant info via the internet at their hands. They did it the hard way.

5 hours ago, Doc Brown said:

One of the first mock drafts before the number format we're used to seeing.

 

https://www.si.com/vault/1980/04/28/824610/man-here-feeling-the-draft-sifting-stats--and-tea-leaves--intrepid-dr-z-predicts-where-the-blue-chips-will-fall-in-the-nfls-name-game-next-week

He called Jim Ritcher!

Edited by dave mcbride
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RyanC883 All Pro

RyanC883

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I believe he also predicted the Giants over the Pats in 2007.   When I saw that, it gave me hope.  Turns out he was spot-on.   Wondered where he went.  Figured he retired.  Unfortunately he was forced into retirement by a very difficult situation that he battled for 10 years.  RIP Dr. Z. 

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Lurker All Pro

Lurker

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32 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

They did it the hard way.

 

Another common element--both guys put a lot of thought into their analyses.   No hot takes.   No telling us what we already know.   No "look at me!"    

 

They would have been failures today, but were giants back when those qualities were genuinely valued (and valuable)...

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blacklabel Veteran

blacklabel

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9 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

He was maybe my favorite football writer.

 

A very sad day.

 

 

"Super Bowl XXVIII will go down in history as a blowout, because that's what a 30–13 score looks like when you read it in the record book five or 10 years later. But the score won't come close to telling the story. The Buffalo Bills, short-enders for the fourth straight year, had the Dallas Cowboys on the ropes on Sunday at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, and they let them escape.

 

"The Bills have now lost two Super Bowls that they should have won, the first and fourth in this series of consecutive defeats, and have lost the other two most convincingly. Sunday's defeat was the most disheartening because the Cowboys were a struggling team in the first half; Dallas was ready to be put away. The Cowboys' quarterback, Troy Aikman, seven days removed from a severe concussion, was having difficulties. Emmitt Smith's favorite running play, the lead draw, was getting stuffed. Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly was picking Dallas apart with his short, meticulous passes, and the Cowboy defense was on the field far too long—41 snaps in the first half—against the Bills' no-huddle offense, which literally takes your breath away."

 

https://www.si.com/vault/1994/02/07/130416/the-fumble-dallas-bashed-buffalo-in-their-super-bowl-rematch-as-miscues-made-the-bills-four-time-losers

 

Man, that is painful to read. I was just a kid but I remember that game very clearly. Bills played great football in the first half. They come out in the second half, Thurm drops the rock and I think that one mistake just demoralized the entire team. They got in their own heads with the "here we go again" and just couldn't finish. 

 

And RIP to Dr. Z, definitely one of the best of all-time.

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bbb Hall of Famer

bbb

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Just now, blacklabel said:

 

Man, that is painful to read. I was just a kid but I remember that game very clearly. Bills played great football in the first half. They come out in the second half, Thurm drops the rock and I think that one mistake just demoralized the entire team. They got in their own heads with the "here we go again" and just couldn't finish. 

 

 

And, I kept thinking about it as everybody was talking about Thurman's competitive spirit this whole weekend, etc.  I've never seen a player and then a team quit like that.  The game was friggin tied! 

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