Why is Doug Flutie Treated Like A God?

[Steely Dan]

WTF

 

"The only argument Doug and I have had in 10-plus years was when we said the statue would be 5-10," said BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo. "Doug wanted it to be six-feet tall."

 

______________________________________

 

The statue is expected to be unveiled in early November at one of the Eagles' home games. "It's a testament to Doug's accomplishments," said DeFilippo. The statue will be located between the Yawkey Center and Gate D.

 

Sorry, I just don't understand the hero worship of this guy.

[Andrew in CA]

WTF

 

"The only argument Doug and I have had in 10-plus years was when we said the statue would be 5-10," said BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo. "Doug wanted it to be six-feet tall."

 

______________________________________

 

The statue is expected to be unveiled in early November at one of the Eagles' home games. "It's a testament to Doug's accomplishments," said DeFilippo. The statue will be located between the Yawkey Center and Gate D.

 

Sorry, I just don't understand the hero worship of this guy.

 

Only Heisman Trophy winner to come out of BC, put BC football on the map, gave BC a highlight that will go down in history, a local boy that beat the odds when people thought he was too small, he is still an active figure on campus, he has a foundation to support families affected by autism...

[Ramius]

Flutie's a honest to goodness ass hole. But it figures that the little dwarf would want the statue to be 6 feet tall. The guy's a walking Napoleonic complex.

[Steely Dan]

Only Heisman Trophy winner to come out of BC, put BC football on the map, gave BC a highlight that will go down in history, a local boy that beat the odds when people thought he was too small, he is still an active figure on campus, he has a foundation to support families affected by autism...

 

Big deal. Kelly has Hunter's hope and there are a lot of NFL guys with charities. I don't think Flutie scratches the surface of guys like Tasker, Kelly and a lot of other Bills and NFL players.

 

I get the BC thing but I just get sick of the worship that people give this guy when he was a disruptive force in Buffalo. I guess BC has a reason to do that for him but it just sticks in my craw.

[Steely Dan]

Flutie's a honest to goodness ass hole. But it figures that the little dwarf would want the statue to be 6 feet tall. The guy's a walking Napoleonic complex.

 

He's lucky to get 5'9". According to some reporters who've seen him he is about 5'7".

[Andrew in CA]

Big deal. Kelly has Hunter's hope and there are a lot of NFL guys with charities. I don't think Flutie scratches the surface of guys like Tasker, Kelly and a lot of other Bills and NFL players.

 

I get the BC thing but I just get sick of the worship that people give this guy when he was a disruptive force in Buffalo. I guess BC has a reason to do that for him but it just sticks in my craw.

 

I'm just saying that Flutie means a lot to BC. The statue is a little much, seeing as how the only other statue on campus is of St. Ignatius, but the dude is a god at BC to this day. No one cares what he did after, although I still have my Bills Flutie jersey from when I was 15. And he is a short man- I'm 5'10' and he is probably 2 inches shorter than me. He's always been cool when I've talked to him (twice), even when I brought up the Bills.

[Tux of Borg]

Sorry, I just don't understand the hero worship of this guy.

 

"The Pass" was one of the defining moments in college football history.

 

[el Tigre]

It's always interesting to me to see the strong reactions people have whenever Fluties name comes up. What exactly has he done that make some dislike him so much? I think he was a great college player who never was really given a fair shot in the NFL due to his size. I like listening to him on ESPN,he always has some good insights on the college game. He doesn't come across as an a-hole. I have a buddy who's a Titans fan and he loves to remind me to thank Wade for starting RJ in that playoff game. I do think the Bills were a better team with Flutie at QB.

[Gordio]

WTF

 

"The only argument Doug and I have had in 10-plus years was when we said the statue would be 5-10," said BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo. "Doug wanted it to be six-feet tall."

 

______________________________________

 

The statue is expected to be unveiled in early November at one of the Eagles' home games. "It's a testament to Doug's accomplishments," said DeFilippo. The statue will be located between the Yawkey Center and Gate D.

 

Sorry, I just don't understand the hero worship of this guy.

 

 

What do you care anyways? Are you a Boston College alum. The guy did alot for the school & not only that he was a local kid which made what he did even more dramatic. Anyways, this really should not bother you either way unless you went to BC. If you did go to BC my apologies. You have every right to be annoyed.

[Gordio]

It's always interesting to me to see the strong reactions people have whenever Fluties name comes up. What exactly has he done that make some dislike him so much? I think he was a great college player who never was really given a fair shot in the NFL due to his size. I like listening to him on ESPN,he always has some good insights on the college game. I have a buddy who's a Titans fan and he loves to remind me thank Wade for starting RJ in that playoff game. I do think the Bills were a better team with Flutie at QB.

 

 

I agree. The guy had a 22-11 career record as a starter with the bills. I think Rojo's record with the bills in that same time period was 7-10. I never was a huge flutie fan(in fact at the time I wanted Rojo to start). Over the years I have come to appreciate him more & more as the only winning QB this franchise has enjoyed since Jim Kelly. Yeah, he was a backstabber in the lockerroom & was insecure about his height/position on the team, but you know what, can you blame him? He was constantly getting screwed by NFL GMS that thought they knew everything. No matter what side you were on(& like I said before i was a ROJO guy) what the bills brass did to him in that playoff game against Tenn was wrong. You dont bench your starting qb just because the backup plays lights out in one meaningless game at the end of the season. That is not right & in the end the franchise probably got what it deserved, a mind numbing loss that IMO the franchise still has not fully recovered from 10yrs later.

[Ramius]

Perhaps flutie got benched because he was a self-serving egomaniac on top of the fact that he simply wasnt very good. With the dwarf, it was always, "*I* did this great play, but *WE* made a bad play." He was a decent "reliever" but once teams had a handful of games to look at, shutting down flutie was easy as pie. Everyone blows him for '99, when in fact the offense sucked ass that year, in large part to flutie. The D carried to the playoffs in '99, NOT flutie.

[Gordio]

Perhaps flutie got benched because he was a self-serving egomaniac on top of the fact that he simply wasnt very good. With the dwarf, it was always, "*I* did this great play, but *WE* made a bad play." He was a decent "reliever" but once teams had a handful of games to look at, shutting down flutie was easy as pie. Everyone blows him for '99, when in fact the offense sucked ass that year, in large part to flutie. The D carried to the playoffs in '99, NOT flutie.

 

 

Your preaching to the choir here. Totally agree. That was a true top 3 defense we had that year. But.... with that being said, in a one game playoff where the loser goes home & the winner advances & as bad as Flutie played all year I would pick him as my starting qb over Rob Johnson any day of the week & twice on sunday every time.

[Cynical]

"The Pass" was one of the defining moments in college football history.

 

 

Which is interesting because Flutie needs to acknowledge the WR who caught the ball. All Flutie did on that play is throw the hail mary jump ball, and he gets all the credit. The WR who caught the ball - a trivia question.

[Cynical]

It's always interesting to me to see the strong reactions people have whenever Fluties name comes up. What exactly has he done that make some dislike him so much? I think he was a great college player who never was really given a fair shot in the NFL due to his size. I like listening to him on ESPN,he always has some good insights on the college game. He doesn't come across as an a-hole. I have a buddy who's a Titans fan and he loves to remind me to thank Wade for starting RJ in that playoff game. I do think the Bills were a better team with Flutie at QB.

 

 

People really need to get over this concept. He has been given plenty of shots, on 4 different teams. His problem was he was never good enough to keep it.

[Steely Dan]

Which is interesting because Flutie needs to acknowledge the WR who caught the ball. All Flutie did on that play is throw the hail mary jump ball, and he gets all the credit. The WR who caught the ball - a trivia question.

 

True. Anyone with a strong arm could throw it down the field. A receiver that can move into position to catch it, while while over 10 guys jockey for the ball, is the much better player on that play.

[Steely Dan]

 

Who is more responsible for that play? As I said any strong armed QB could have made the throw.

[Bmwolf21]

True. Anyone with a strong arm could throw it down the field. A receiver that can move into position to catch it, while while over 10 guys jockey for the ball, is the much better player on that play.

So a 5'8"-ish QB throwing the ball ~65 yards in the air is not as good as the WR who simply runs down the field and catches the ball? Flutie sure as hell wasn't your average strong-armed QB - it probably took every fiber of his being to make that throw, especially after throwing 45 passes earlier in that game.

 

Any player who could catch a ball could have caught that pass. That WR didn't do anything special on that play -- he was behind the Miami DB's and waited for the ball to drop into his arms. He didn't jockey for position, didn't out-leap anyone, didn't catch it off a deflection -- all he did was catch the ball.

[Cynical]

So a 5'8"-ish QB throwing the ball ~65 yards in the air is not as good as the WR who simply runs down the field and catches the ball? Flutie sure as hell wasn't your average strong-armed QB - it probably took every fiber of his being to make that throw, especially after throwing 45 passes earlier in that game.

 

Here's a great example of why this "spectacular" play by Flutie is overhyped:

 

Question: What does Flutie being 5'8"-ish have anything to do with this play?

Answer: Nothing. Zip. Zilch. But unfortunately, that is what people focus in on, the midget throwing the ball.

 

You want to know why it is a height issue? How many other QBs, collegiate or professional, threw game winning hail marys? Of those that did, you honestly think they all had "strong arms"? How come you never hear about those ones? Just a wild guess on my part, it may have something to do with their "height" not being an issue.

 

Any player who could catch a ball could have caught that pass. That WR didn't do anything special on that play -- he was behind the Miami DB's and waited for the ball to drop into his arms. He didn't jockey for position, didn't out-leap anyone, didn't catch it off a deflection -- all he did was catch the ball.

 

Exactly. Flutie did nothing special with the ball. This was not a pinpoint pass, thrown like it was on a frozen rope, into triple coverage, that hit the WR in stride.

 

He threw the damn thing to an area on the field, with nothing more than a hope and a prayer a BC player catches the ball.

 

You are right about the WR. He didn't jockey for it, or out leap anybody, he just did the one important thing those others players did NOT do.

 

He caught the fugging ball.

 

Which just happens to be the most important aspect of that particular play.

And if you do not think that was not the most important aspect, consider this:

Instead of being caught, the ball hits the ground or is intercepted. Would anybody be talking about that play 20+ years later?

[KD in CA]

"The Pass" was one of the defining moments in college football history.

Yup. If you had to pick a "Bobby Thompson" moment for college football, that would probably be it. And I'll always love him for breaking the hearts of Thug U. He's right there with Frank Reich and Pat Terrell.

 

 

Who is more responsible for that play? As I said any strong armed QB could have made the throw.

So what? You can't diminish his accomplishment because there are other people alive who "could have" made the throw. Fact is, HE made the throw. And if you remember the game, you'd know that it wasn't a single play. Flutie played out of his mind the entire game.

[Bmwolf21]

Yup. If you had to pick a "Bobby Thompson" moment for college football, that would probably be it. And I'll always love him for breaking the hearts of Thug U. He's right there with Frank Reich and Pat Terrell.

 

 

 

So what? You can't diminish his accomplishment because there are other people alive who "could have" made the throw. Fact is, HE made the throw. And if you remember the game, you'd know that it wasn't a single play. Flutie played out of his mind the entire game.

 

I agree with Steely that the statue is a bit much. But let's not use that as cause to denigrate all his accomplishments or one of college football's defining plays.

 

And for the record, I couldn't stand Flutie when he was here. When it became apparent what a douche he was I wanted him gone.

[el Tigre]

People really need to get over this concept. He has been given plenty of shots, on 4 different teams. His problem was he was never good enough to keep it.

Flutie was the better QB when he was in Buffalo. RJ was aquired and given the starting job based on a few good games in Jacksonville and his measurables. That was a mistake. Flutie got screwed. Just my opinion.

[Cynical]

Flutie was the better QB when he was in Buffalo. RJ was aquired and given the starting job based on a few good games in Jacksonville and his measurables. That was a mistake. Flutie got screwed. Just my opinion.

 

I agree DF got screwed out of the Titans playoff game. But that does not refute the fact DF had been unable to retain the starting job on 4 different teams.

 

Ask yourself why that kept happening. Explore the possibilities.

[el Tigre]

I agree DF got screwed out of the Titans playoff game. But that does not refute the fact DF had been unable to retain the starting job on 4 different teams.

 

Ask yourself why that kept happening. Explore the possibilities.

I think when you have the physical limitations (height,arm strength) that DF had,teams were always looking to replace him regardless of on-field results. I really don't know the details of his situations on his other teams,but I believe that was definitely the case with the Bills. Honestly though,I am somewhat biased toward him on that point being a short guy myself.

[49er Fan]

Doug Flutie is a was a Heisnman trophy-winning Boston College Eagles hero and one of the best QBs Buffalo ever had, not to mention his CFL career, where he won 6 league MVPs and 3 Grey Cup MVPs. That Rob Johnson ever started over Flutie for the Bills was laughable - you just have to look at the results.

[Guest BuffaloTom74]

Flutie was the biggest prick athlete I've ever come across. He is everything I'm going to teach my son NOT to be as he gets old enough to compete in athletics. Pure !@#$ if you ask me.