What do Iowa State and Arizona State have in common? They are both fading and are pretenders. Iowa State offense came back but the defense was AWOL and Oklahoma State outlasted them 49-42 and won on a interception that Iowa State was a touchdown. Sad way to end the game. Arizona State is now at 500 once again, UCLA won 44-37, spotting a 14-0 ASU lead and chipped away and then battered the ASU Plastic Fork defense, thus proving that the victory over Washington was a fluke. And probably their bowl game. Oregon State and Arizona close out the season. A victory over OSU might get them a second tier bowl game but 2 more losses and Todd Graham might be joining Butch Davis, recently jettisoned from Tennessee, in the unemployment line.
And now Sarah Jane Underwood wants you to check out her ass. EEYAW!
(The 1974 San Francisco/Cleveland Mud Bath-Neil Liefer photo)
I don't care about the NFL anymore and since giving up TV I have not paid attention to the games. The Chargers moved to Los Angeles and still suck. In the age of field turf and modified grass stadiums, there's hardly anymore games played in the mud like they used to. However, I decided some hard to find Mud games in the archives and therefore decide to pay tribute to games played on real turf and real mud.
(NFL Archives-Mack Lee Hill slogging through the muck while Ed Budde adjusts his mask and an unknown Chiefs holds the Chargers' linebacker )
1) Double Dose Of Charger Mud In Your Eye 1964
San Diego 20 Houston 17 10/25/64 (Houston)
San Diego 28 Kansas City 14 11/15/64 (Kansas City)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR6d_me_gKA&t=9s
(George Blanda)
You have to search the You Tube for the old year in review for the AFL and NFL teams but they are still out there. On the way to the 1964 AFL Title, San Diego had to go into Houston to play the Oilers and a hurricane monsoon that almost drowned the players in the second half. But the legendary George Blanda drove the Oilers down the Gulf of Jepperson Stadium and was in line for a winning FG, till it sailed a bit wide left and a pissed off George jumping up and down the puddles to complain that the referees blew the call. A few weeks later, The Chargers went up to Kansas City, a place that they don't won very much up there (just like this year) but managed to score 4 touchdowns in the second quarter in a steady rain and Lance Alworth had two TDs and 168 yards receiving in a soggy 28-14 victory. After that, San Diego lost three of their last four games, including a 49-6 Chiefs scalping at home, but still managed to get in the AFL Championship, to which they lost 20-7 to the Buffalo Bills, which is could be consider a mud bowl but not as epic as these two games. The game forever known as Mike Stratton planting Keith Lincoln six feet into the moon after trying to get a pass over his head. Lincoln would not be the same again.
(Steven Savioa: Photo)
2) The Last Mud Game In New England 2006
New York Jets 17 New England 14 (Foxboro) 11/12/06
It's been a known fact that any grass stadium on the East Coast will be subject to the elements of Noreasters and heavy rains and this game was no exception. Tom Brady was introduced to the Jets defense time after time. It didn't help things that the FIFA soccer league used Gillette Stadium for soccer games which contributed to the field becoming tough to play. After the game, The Patriots would rip up the grass and put in field turf, which has now been replaced three times in a decade, most recently the start of the 2017 NFL season. Tom Brady has mentioned he would like to return to a grass field. But nowadays it's field turf all the way. Even the grass stadiums don't have much mud anymore, the Dallas/Washington game of two weeks ago proved that. BTW Brady would return to a grass field, Tampa Bay in 2020 to which he took the Bucs to a Super Bowl Victory.
(Tom Silverstein- Photo)
3) A Bad Trick Or Treat Game 1994
Green Bay 33 Chicago 6 10/31/94
In 1994 the NFL decided to do a throwback to the old days of old uniforms which worked wonders for teams like San Diego, both the New York Jets and Giants to which both teams would return to their old jerseys. Some teams were better off leaving them in the past, Chicago and Green Bay had some hideous uniforms and of course those ugly Denver Broncos uniforms from 1960 including the vertical stripes. On this game Brett Favre and Edgar Bennett had more trouble battling the elements of hard rain and 40 mile an hour winds than the Chicago Defense, Bennett ran for over 100 yards and Favre scored on a 36 yard TD run. As for the Bears offense, let's just say they got blown away by the elements on that Halloween night. http://www.chicagotribune.com/csac-bt-941031bearspackersgamer-story.html
(Jim Kanicki-Getty Images)
4) New York Giants Sinking in the mire 1968-1969
Cleveland 45 New York 10 (12/1/68)
Cleveland 28 New York 17 (11/23/69)
Of course we can always count on Cleveland and Municipal Stadium to give us a double dose of Mudpie action. But once upon a time, Cleveland had a pretty good football team that played in a stadium by the lake with a field that went uphill. Of course you could count upon seeing plenty of muddy games in November and December and usually the New York Giants were there on the muddiest of games, (the most mud still remains the 6-2 baseball score Dallas hung on the Brownie) but in 1968 Cleveland hounded Fran Tarkenton all over the field to the point that Fran was replaced by Dick Wood. The Browns pretty much had things go all their way even before the rains came off the lake and turned the field into muck. The Browns rubbed the mud in the face of the Giants to the last second TD from Frank Ryan to Tommy McDonald, who managed to do a mud angel in the end zone and jumped on a few Browns in the process. The 1969 game was a bit more closer although Leroy Kelly scored 3 TDs in the first half, Tarkenton did get the Giants back in the game with 2 TD passes. But Bill Nelsen would throw a 24 yard TD pass to Gary Collins and that was the game.
(Neil Leifer again with the photo credit, 1965 game, Couldn't find any pictures of the 69 game)
5) Mud Bowl 2 1969
Cleveland 20 Green Bay 7 12/7/69
Two weeks after outlasting New York, Cleveland finally beat the Green Bay Packers after a decade of coming up short and of course they had plenty of help from a gale off the lake and a steady rain. Bill Nelsen hit Paul Warfield on a amazing TD catch to which Bob Jeter popped him in the face, to which Warfield took exception and was ready to kick Packer ass. Ernie Kellerman's 40 yard Pick Six sealed the fate of the Packers, although Don Horn did throw a TD pass to Dave Hampton to make the score more closer than it actually was.
6) Oakland 21 Miami 14 1970 Playoffs
The most famous picture of that game was Big Bad Ben Davidson embracing Bob Griese as he was delivering yet another mud pack to the quarterback. Heavy rains turned the Oakland field into a quagmire. Willie Brown scored on a 50 yard Pick Six, and Darrell Lamonica threw a 82 yard strike to Rod Sherman to seal the game. http://www.raiders.com/news/article-1/Greatest-Moments-1970-AFC-Divisional-Playoff/4390c51f-6980-4ab6-a7cc-2aed915d508f
Blaine Nye covered in Cleveland Mud (Photo: SI)
7) Baseball in the mud 1970
Dallas 6 Cleveland 2 12/12/70
Would you believe Bill Nelsen threw for 239 yards in perhaps the most muddiest game in Cleveland Browns history. A game of epic mud flattery, everybody who got on the field would have 10 pounds of mud on their jerseys and even both kickers Mike Clark and Don Cockcroft looked like mudders. The Browns had a chance to win this game, but a costly penalty on Gary Collins nullified one TD and on a final drive, Collins fumbled and the Cowboys recovered in the end zone. In terms of pure mud utopia, this gives a run for the money with the 1965 Green Bay Championship game and the December 15, 1962 13-10 Browns victory at the Rumble in the mud at Kezar Stadium with the 49ers, to which Cleveland would be king of the mud in 1974. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4lDkR8RhnI
8) Packer Mud Bowl 2 1997
Green Bay 35 San Francisco 14 1/4/97
History has shown that both Green Bay and San Francisco had their share of mud battles, the most notable one was the 13-0 1960 Mud bath that earned the Packers a date with Philadelphia that season. Kezar Stadium gave no favors to the home team and basically hampered their running and passing attack, while Paul Horning and Jim Taylor had no problems running through the muck Twenty years after the 1965 Packer victory over Cleveland in Lambeau Mud, San Francisco came a calling and Desmond Howard burned them with a 71 yard punt return. Steve Young got hurt and so Elvis Grabec came in and found himself covered in Lambeau real estate. Edgar Bennett scored two touchdowns as well. After that, they replaced the muddy sod with new grass and Carolina got beat 30-13. Packers went on to beat New England in the super bowl. However the Super Mud game was GB/SF.
9) San Francisco Mud Misery-Kezar Stadium
Paul Horning (GB) 13 San Francisco 0 1960
Cleveland 13 San Francisco 10 1962
Kezar Stadium has had its share of mud baths. When the winds blew off the ocean and the rains came, chances are you were going to see plenty of five star mud games. In the 1960 game, it was all Packers and the running game. Jim Taylor slugging through the mud for 161 yards, but it was the Paul Horning scoring show, with him scoring a TD, and XP and two FGs. The 49ers sank in the mud, gaining only 81 total yards.
Two years later. Jim Brown rushed for 135 yards and two TDs as the Browns won this slop fest. Neither team scored in the second half. If you love pure mud games, these two are the ones that stand out in Kezar Stadium history. But rest assured throughout the 60s, plenty of more mud games would come to follow. Maybe some day I'll continue the five star mud games. The Browns win would be the last game Paul Brown would coach.
(John Brodie finding his way through the Kezar Mud in the 13-0 Packer shut out in 1960 Ray Nisckie looks on as a Packer LB tries to tackle Brodie)
(Cleveland Vs San Francisco to which they won 13-10 in 1962 Neil Leifer: Photo Credit)
(Fred Waters: Photo Credit)
And we always seem to find pictures of the St Louis Mud Bath at Old Sportsman Park in 1964 to which both St Louis and New York slogged through a 10-10 tie. Jackie Smith does the zig zag walk in front of a New York defender taking a splash.
(Chicago Tribute Photo Dick Butkus a true Mud Monster Of The Midway)
(Tribune: Photo)
10) San Francisco Mud Misery: Wrigley Field 12/12/65
Chicago 61 San Francisco 20
Gale Sayers carved up the 49ers for 6 TDs Rudy Bukich threw for 3 TDs as Chicago had no problems going up and down the Wrigley Field Mud on a warm December day in 1965. 54 degrees and rain and not snow. This was Sayers finest game, even the game out of reach he managed to come back in and return a punt 85 yards. He also scored on two long passes from Bukich, one 80 yards and one 50 yards. The Bears had 584 total yards on offense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-JIQ-nwao0
(Steelers; photo credit)
BONUS MUD: Pittsburgh 36 Cleveland 33 2002 playoffs in Pittsburgh 1/5/2003
In the old days of the 1960s, you could count on a mud game when Cleveland played Pittsburgh, be it the mistake by the lake or Pitt Stadium before the Steelers moved to Three Rivers and a carpet of astro turf, but once Three Rivers was deemed obsolete 30 years onward, Pittsburgh moved back to a grass multi use field for both them and the Pitt Panthers, The Rooneys have been very generous in letting other teams use their field. When the old Browns moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens, Cleveland fans had to wait till 1999 for a new version of the Browns and these Browns have never done much in terms of winning. In fact they only made the playoffs one time and it was held in Pittsburgh. Just like in the old days of the 1971, 72 and 73 game of mud in your eye, this one featured plenty of mud action, this time from Heinz Field. The Browns managed to have a 24-7 lead before the Steelers started to come back. Tommy Maddox threw three TD passes and Pitt scored in the final minute on a combination of Maddox passes to Hines Ward and Plaxico Burress. Chris Furamata scored from the 3 and two point conversion as well. Cleveland ran out of time. Since then Cleveland has gone south and stayed in the basement for the majority of the past 15 seasons.
And with that, the Mud Games becomes a distant part of the past. This weekend in a driving rainstorm in Cleveland, Jacksonville beat the Browns 19-7. Once upon a time it would have been a big mud bowl. Back in the old days, Cleveland used to be a good team, they're still looking for their first victory this season.
Passings: Chuck Mosely, original lead singer of Faith No More. Died of a drug overdose. He was 57.
Janis Hansen, singer for Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66 (The Look Of Love) died from leukemia on Oct 4. She was 74.
Next week, we'll try to return to a more musical theme. I think we got this years Crabby's and the Turkey's of the year next week. Probably won't be a novel but at least it will get us out of the mud of this blog. So here's mud in your eye from Jim Bakken in that St Louis/New York Mess of a tie in 1964.
An Muddy Album From The Past: REM-Monster (Concord 1994)
I had an extensive argument with somebody over the value of Monster while comparing it to Automatic For The People, an album that has recently gotten the 25th Anniversary treatment with a blue ray and four other CDs of note. I tend to think that Automatic was a nice album with some cool songs (Man On The Moon, Drive, Ignoreland although a lot of critics didn't care for that final number). Monster, was the muddy followup and dammed if I didn't pick a more perfect album about Mud Bowls than this. I still contend that side 1 still works fairly good, What's The Frequency Kenneth, Crush With Eyeliner, the latter featuring Peter Buck using such a nasty delay that I stole that for a song I did with the Townedgers in 2002. Star 69 is a nice uptempo modern alternative rock (not punk rock, personal note to Everybody's Dummy). However there's a complaint to this album is that time has not treated side 2 very well, I still can't get into Tongue, the worst cop of a U2 sound I ever heard (or is that Rolling Stones?) Let Me In, is a failed salute to Sonic Youth but that misstep is replaced by Circus Envy and ends on a good note with You. Let's face it, the naysayers will not warm up to Monster, it's the loudness of the recording, or the songs weren't good enough. But even for a dollar find, I'll still put on Monster when I wanna hear REM go grunge. But then again I enjoy REM uptempo and rocking, even if the distortion delay gets a bit out of hand.
Grade A-
Final note: The new Stone Temple Pilots lead singer is Jeffery Adam Gutt, a one time X Factor contestant and has plenty of him doing covers of other people songs on You Tube, Hallelujah for one. His vocals on Plush if its any indication will put STP back into the sound of Core, which despite it's big sales was their least interesting album for me. We wish Jeffery and STP the best of luck.
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