quirkyresearch.bsky.social
Football (and other) marginalia.
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What about the takeaway pencil?
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California determines ballot position via "randomized alphabet drawing"; graduations could do the same. www.sos.ca.gov/administrati...
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The NFL reinterpreted the definition of a catch before the 1981 season; 1981-1985 (replay came in in 1986) are filled with these catches.
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The football-playing Rick Gervais (who could have used a little more product in his hair) broke his neck during the 1983 season and was forced to retire.
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I can't find video (the game is stuck in the post-VCR/pre-substantive YouTube internet football video dead zone).
All the field goals were too exciting for North Texas's coach.
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One thing scorers in the late 70s belatedly realized was that the Broncos had two defensive starters surnamed Jackson, and they frequently forgot to distinguish between them in the PBP itself.
The Colts scorer went the extra mile and got one of their surnames wrong too.
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They could only come up with $2,000 of the required $15,000.
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He started the year in the majors and was sent down to KC in mid-July after slumping. He came back up a month later.
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Great moments in NFL schedule (non-)releases, 1951.
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Great moments in NFL schedule releases, November 1982.
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Missed NCAA field goal attempts before 1978 were treated like punts (the play after the miss started wherever the kick wound up rather than the previous line of scrimmage), so there was less downside to attempting doomed ones.
The CFL record book used to have an asterisk for kicks like these.
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There are 43 possible 5-player combinations that cover all 32 current NFL franchises; 41 of them include Shayne Graham.
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Unofficially, it's not even the record number of turnovers for a team playing Georgia Tech - Cumberland threw 6 interceptions and lost 9 fumbles in the 222-0 game.
(Official NCAA records begin in 1937.)
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Tom Glassic played for the wrong AFC West team.
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I also got the jellyfish quote into The Year in Quotes.
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From the 1987 Year in Quotes:
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Patrons, McNamara's Bar, 1981.
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The late-season 1988 Colts liked to run a wishbone offense with recently-signed backup QB Ricky Turner, so all those QB runs were probably designed.
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This is also the game where a disgruntled Packer fan released a turkey onto the field. Video of the full game does exist. www.youtube.com/watch?v=amT2...
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The previous version apparently "looked more like Mickey Mouse than like a Wildcat."
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When they broke the record in 1995, they dated the streak from the Arlington game, so I'm not sure why they would have changed it.
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The Bengals upgraded to the standard SuperStat™️ scoring software in 1991, but for some reason went back to their old typewritten/handwritten scoring for the Seahawks game that year.
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For whatever reason, Wisconsin's "fat little mascot" did not travel to their October 13 game and was replaced by "a man of tremendous height and little weight."
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Boston College tied the record four years later, but for some reason it's missing from the NCAA record book.
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I think the last Final that started before 9 was North Carolina-Georgetown in 1982.
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8 AAFC games were rescheduled ...
- 4 games were postponed by rain.
- The flailing Chicago Rockets swapped home dates so that Soldier Field could be used for a high school game.
- The Miami Seahawks moved a game up to Friday the 13th. It was the last game in franchise history.
refs.ws/y2
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17 safeties were scored in the AAFC ...
- 7 were against passer/punter Glenn Dobbs, making him the second-most safetied player ever (Jeff George).
- 3 safeties were Orlovskys.
- Per the league's rules at the time, none of the safeties were credited to individual defensive players.
refs.ws/z7