The 100 Greatest Players in Professional Football History: 10-1 (The Full List is Here)

20-11 is here.

I'll edit in the NFL Network list once they air the episode.  Here's how we got to the top 10. My list is first, then NFL Net list.  If all you want is the top ten - scroll to the bottom.

100. Larry Allen (Joe Namath)

99. Tom Mack (Michael Strahan)

98. Ozzie Newsome (Lee Roy Selmon)

97. Steve Van Buren (Derrick Brooks)

96. Michael Strahan (Mel Hein)

95. Norm Van Brocklin (Larry Allen)

94. Donovan McNabb (Lenny Moore)

93. Lance Alworth (Sam Huff)

92. OJ Simpson (Michael Irvin)

91. Lou Groza (Fran Tarkenton)

90. Jack Youngblood (Kurt Warner)

89. Sam Huff (Ernie Nevers)

88. Paul Krause (Ed Reed)

87. Cris Carter (Crazylegs Hirsch)

86. Chris Doleman (Willie Davis)

85. Sammy Baugh (Marcus Allen)

84. Alex Karras (Joe Schmidt)

83. Tony Dorsett (Norm Van Brocklin)

82. Don Maynard (Ted Hendricks)

81. John Brodie (Steve Young)

80. Bobby Layne (Troy Aikman)

79. Gene Hickerson (Emlen Tunnell)

78. Chuck Howley (Bruce Matthews)

77. Michael Irvin (Tony Dorsett)

76. Too Tall Jones (Art Shell)

75. Roger Staubach (Darrell Green)

74. Willie Wood (Marion Motley)

73. Will Shields (Ozzie Newsome)

72. Carl Eller (Jonathan Ogden)

71. Ladainian Tomlinson (Paul Warfield)

70. Curtis Martin (Marshall Faulk)

69. Terrell Owens (Bobby Bell)

68. Len Dawson (Mike Webster)

67. Tom Brady (Kellen Winslow)

66. Mike Haynes (Willie Brown)

65. Ken Houston (Randy Moss)

64. Rickey Jackson (Herb Adderly)

63. Darrell Green (Jim Otto)

62. Mike Webster (Randy White)

61. Forrest Gregg (Ladainian Tomlinson)

60. Harold Jackson (Jack Ham)

59. Tim Brown (Mike Ditka)

58. Night Train Lane (Steve Van Buren)

57. Ken Anderson (Mike Singletary)

56. YA Tittle (Gene Upshaw)

55. Alan Page (Earl Campbell)

54. Thurman Thomas (Forrest Gregg)

53. Howie Long (Willie Lanier)

52. Jack Lambert (Eric Dickerson)

51. Randy Moss (Bart Starr)

50. Joe Perry (Terry Bradshaw)

49. Herb Adderly (Mike Haynes)

48. James Lofton (Red Grange)

47. Bruce Matthews (Ray Nitschke)

46. Derrick Brooks (Roger Staubach)

45. Tony Gonzalez (Tony Gonzalez)

44. Marshall Faulk (Mel Blount)

43. Steve Young (Alan Page)

42. Marcus Allen (John Mackey)

41. Marvin Harrison (Rod Woodson)

40. Eric Dickerson (OJ Simpson)

39. Ted Hendricks (Gino Marchetti)

38. Jackie Slater (Lance Alworth)

37. Randall McDaniel (Jim Thorpe)

36. Randy White (Raymond Berry)

35. Bob Lilly (Chuck Bednarik)

34. Merlin Olsen (Deion Sanders)

33. Mike Singletary (Sid Luckman)

32. Willie Brown (Jim Parker)

31. Steve Largent (Bruce Smith)


30. Jim Otto (Night Train Lane)


29. Otto Graham (Jack Lambert)


28. John Hannah (Emmitt Smith)


27. Jack Ham (Merlin Olsen)


26. Mel Blount (Bob Lilly)


25. Ronnie Lott (Dan Marino)


24. Deacon Jones (John Hannah)


23. Joe Greene (John Elway)


22. Ray Lewis (Gale Sayers)


21. Gene Upshaw (Tom Brady)


20. Fran Tarkenton (Brett Favre)


19. Rod Woodson (Bronko Nagurski)


18. Don Hutson (Ray Lewis)


17. Junior Seau (Barry Sanders)


16. Bruce Smith (Otto Graham)


15. Anthony Munoz (Deacon Jones)


14. Johnny Unitas (Sammy Baugh)


13. John Elway (Joe Greene)


12. Peyton Manning (Anthony Munoz)


11. Barry Sanders (Ronnie Lott)

10.Deion Sanders DB 89-05 Falcons/Cowboys

-53 career picks, 9 returned for TD, returned 9 kicks for TD.  Could control a game from the DB position in a way no other player ever could.  (NFL chose Dick Butkus, not on my list - more myth than man, short career, no team success, it doesn't make him bad, obviously, just overrated.)

9.Emmitt Smith RB 90-04 Cowboys

-was 6^th on the all time TD list after only 6 seasons in the league, finished with 18,000+ yards rushing and a total of 175 tds.  (Don Hutson - appeared in my previous ten)

8.Walter Payton RB 75-87 Bears

-16,000+ yards rush, 110 TDs rush, 4.4 y/c, another 4500+ receiving yards and 15 TDs.  Payton as pass catcher plus the era in which he played edges him past Emmitt by the narrowest margin to be the second best back of all time. (Peyton Manning - appeared in my previous ten)

7.Brett Favre QB 91-   Packers

-holds all of the counting stat records for QBs, in 2010 he’ll hit both 70,000 yards and 500 TD passes.  Two  QB still remain.  (Reggie White - still to come.)

6.Lawrence Taylor LB 81-93 Giants

-first defensive player to be voted unanimous MVP.  132 sacks, 11 recovered fumbles.  His productive career fewer games than you'd think and that slips him outside the top 5. (Johnny Unitas - appeared in my previous ten)

5.Jim Brown RB 57-65 Browns

-averaged 5.2 y/c, 104 yds rushed per game.  Short career keeps him lower on my list than he’ll be on the NFL list where he’ll either be 1 or 2.  (Walter Payton - just appeared.)

4.   Dan Marino QB 83-99 Dolphins

-61,000+ yards, 420 TDs, 7.3 yards per attempt.  Most of his career before the big offensive enhancement changes in the mid 90s. (Joe Montana - still to come.  I forecasted this correctly, incidentally.  If you were to ask who my favorite all time athlete is, the only reason I wouldn't automatically say Joe is he's bigger than the competition.  I'm a 40 year old life long San Francisco sports fan; as deeply as my respect and affection go for others - there's Joe and then there's the field.)

1.                         3.   Reggie White DL 85-00 Eagles/Packers

-7 Pro Bowls, 124 sacks, 11 fumbles recovered - before he got to Green Bay. The greatest defensive player in the history of football. (Lawrence Taylor.  Just appeared.)

1.      2.  Joe Montana QB 79-94 Niners

-4 Super Bowls. 83 of 122, 1142 yds, 11 TD, 0 Int (and 17 rushes for 101 yards and two TDs). 4 Wins.  O Losses. When you find someone who matches it, get back to me.  (Jim Brown.  That means they got it right.)  

1.       1. Jerry Rice WR 85-04 Niners

-Jerry Rice’s career: 499 catches. 6518 yards. 43 touchdowns.  That’s his career…after he turned 35.  He’s first in catches – by 400+, first in yards – by 7,000+, first in receiving TDs, by 50.  There’s Jordan, there’s Bonds, there’s Gretzky, there’s Rice.  Overarching, near mystical dominance.    If there is a way to reasonably compare eras and positions - if such a list like this has any type of credibility - then there is only one choice to be named Greatest Football Player of All Time.  And that's Jerry Rice. (Jerry Rice.  Amen.)

This was fun.  I've got my revised, really revised, as I changed out half the methodology, 200 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time ready to go - I think I'll keep this schedule, posting ten a week all the way until thhe next season starts.

The World Champion San Francisco Giants

Who I'd like to tell is 8 year old me.

8 year old me is lonely and awkward and lives entirely in his head.  He spends hours playing with his baseball cards and spends Saturday mornings at the San Jose public library reading those doublethick compilation books of the Peanuts strips.  Charlie Brown had an inner life; I didn't relate to men of action - to superheroes or cops; Charlie Brown was an observer in his own life as much as a participant.  He was not a winner.  But he was sincere. It made sense to me.

Baseball was good because it was inside my head.  I liked football and basketball.  They were exciting and explosive - but baseball...I could spend an entire day reading box scores, an entire summer reading the Baseball Encyclopedia.  It was infinite - the nifty jargon "what is SLG?  how do you figure out SLG?" the middle names - William Howard Mays.  Stephen Patrick Garvey. Wilver Darnell Stargell. A hundred years of baseball.  A world inside my head.

And I was a San Francisco Giants fan.   My first ever present was a ball signed by the 1970 team, the year I was born there's Gaylord.  And McCovey.  And Jim Ray Hart.  That's my name.  When I was 8, my grandfather took me to Candlestick; and while I can still feel the rush of seeing the green of the grass for the first time my most enduring memory is the middle aged black man in the Cincinnati cap (I say middle aged; he might have been 22) in the concourse shouting out "The Reds are runnin'!" as we looked to find our seats in the top of the first.  It was the moment when I knew the world was real.  In my head, no one ever cheered against the Giants.

I didn't know what it would mean when I was 8.  Didn't understand that baseball breaks your heart.

But I learned.

We lost almost every game I went to.  And when we moved to Ohio in the 80s and went to go see the Giants once a year in Cincinnati - we lost almost every time then too.

In 1986, after the two worst seasons in SFG history, we were in the pennant race into deep September. And were eliminated from contention when Mike Scott no-hit us.  On my birthday.

In 1987 we had a 3-2 NLCS lead.  And lost.

We won the pennant in 1989.  And then came the earthquake and a four game sweep.

The very best Giants team I ever saw was 1993.  We won a hundred three games and had a double digit second half division lead.  And didn't make the playoffs.

I moved back to the Bay Area in 1995 and was able to go to a couple dozen Giants games in '95 and '96.

We lost almost every one of them.

I moved to south Florida in 1997.  We lost two 1 run NLDS games to the Marlins.  I was at both.  If you've never been a fat 27 year old in a Barry Bonds jersey taunted by 40,000 Marlins fans as you exit a stadium in October, there are better experiences.

We were the best team in baseball in 2000.  Lost in the NLDS.

We were up 3 games to 2 in the 2002 World Series.  8 outs away with a 5 run lead.  And lost.

In 2003, we lost 2 more 1 run NLDS games to the Marlins.  I was at both. 

I started blogging regularly in 2006; one of my very first posts began with the following line:

                      I'm a San Francisco Giants fan. We're never going to win the World Series. 

I don't recall specifically when it was that I first learned that Charles Schulz was a Giants fan; that part of what went into Charlie Brown's always getting the football pulled away, or always losing the baseball game, or Linus believing every single October that the Great Pumpkin - an orange fantasy - would choose him as the most sincere boy only to be heartbroken - that part of that was Schulz being a Giants fan.  He knew what I would learn.  That in the end you always lose.  Every time.

I'm 40 now.  More days than not, the experience of being me has felt like it did when I was 8.  When I have to leave my head I am uneasy at best and frightened at worst.  I'm not entirely who I want to be.  But I mean well.  I try hard. 

I don't know that I have room for this in my head right now.  I started crying during the pregame last night - because it was just clear - you know?  They couldn't beat us.  They weren't good enough to beat us.  And I almost didn't want to watch as Renteria hit the home run - because they weren't going to score 4 runs; they weren't going to score 4 runs and that made it real. 

And it's just more than fits right now.  Too much is different in my head than I can do right now.  I can't accommodate both the magic and the loss of this past year at the same time.  And the loss of my dad is bigger than the magic, so there's just no room.  I wish there was room.  I'd like to be happy.  You spend your whole life waiting for the Great Pumpkin, you want to appreciate it when it comes. 

But I can't.  It doesn't fit right now. 

But who would appreciate it is 8 year old me.  Because he's not a loser.  He and Charlie Brown just won the World Series.

The headlines are here.

The Images. November 2, 2010

Words to come.  For now, this.

Here's What's Up.

Game 4

My Lady Type Friend made this from scratch last night.  She's also crazy gorgeous.

I've outkicked my coverage a little bit.

So, the World Series is about Game 4.  A short series is hard to forecast with any level of certainty; something I say in this space over and over again is if you're investing in sports, the value is in the season long win totals - an individual game or a short series has variables outside of your ability to compute.  That said - my prediction post has been pretty good thusfar; and with that as evidence, let me suggest, the World Series is about Game 4.

I picked the Series from the inside out.  As I wrote, the matter about which I had the most confidence was Matt Cain's pitching well, and I gave us Game 2.  I was almost as confident about Colby Lewis pitching well, and more to the point, Texas having a solid advantage in Lewis/Sanchez, so I gave them Game 3.  Lincecum/Lee is largely a toss up - I liked our matchup with Lee more than did most (not 11 runs worth, or 7, I guess, that were charged to him - but I wasn't surprised we got good swings) but not enough that you'd say we beat him twice.  So I gave us Game 1 - and them Game 5.

If there was a Game 6 - Cain.  I picked it to go 6 and Cain to win the MVP.

If there's a Game 7 - look, I don't love the look of a Game 7.  I do not like this team against Colby Lewis; the game last night - that was what I expected to see.  Sanchez is not where you'd like him to be right now.  And as you could have read in my History of the San Francisco Giants in the World Series, Game 7 is not our friend.

Which is why, as I looked at the Series - the game I saw was tonight.  Tonight's the World Series.

I expect Bumgarner to be solid.  Solid enough that the debate, should we still be playing Thursday, is if he should come back on short rest to start instead of Sanchez. Bumgarner had a pronounced reverse home/road split this year; his road ERA was under 2.00.  I expect Hunter to be solid; I don't think it's a game where he can't find the plate and we're into their pen in the 4th inning.  I expect, as did I before the Series, that if there was one game that went 11 and finished like 5-4 and just made you want to kill yourself, that it would be tonight.

I hope Burrell, really, really scuffling, sits for the next couple of days.  It gives us a chance to get more left handed tonight - I'd really be in favor of seeing both Ishikawa and Schierholtz in the lineup.  Nate in right, Travis at first.  Huff DH's.  It seems like a lot of move to make when you're up 2-1 in the Series - but if there's one grievance I have with Bochy (who is getting a lot of credit for making moves in the postseason) its that he's a little shy about taking a platoon advantage.  We're a better lineup tonight (and significantly - just hugely better defensively) with Ishikawa/Schierholtz - and if they're both playing, I think you should look at that as indicative that maybe we're the team who squeaks through in Game 4.

I'm going to my mom's for the game.  I've been over for 3 postseason games this year - we've won them all.  This is the only WS game I'll be able to see with her - unless we're still playing Thursday.

Let's not play Thursday.  Okay?  I don't so much have a Game 7 in me this year.

edit - sort of like that.