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In 2022 we have lost some important athletes. Before the scorebook quietly closes, I want to say a few words about that number.
• Ray Guy, 72 years old. This guy named Guy made his punts look like part of a ballet, like the pas de deux in “Swan Lake” with football as his partner. He is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and is the only punter. He made punts into the corner of the coffin a key part of the Raiders’ defensive strategy and a big part of their offensive strategy.
Offense not working? no problem. Guy, the guy right over my head is going to blow us out of here.
His coach, John Madden, described the tall, lean player as a player who can pass, run and tackle. We said, ‘Because not only is he the best punter in the draft, he’s the best punter that ever punted football. ”
And he was.
• Bruce Sutter, 69 years old. The former Cubs pitcher blew his elbow and apparently was fired as a potential major leaguer in 1973.
Then, just as Luke Skywalker got the green lightsaber from Obi-Wan Kenobi, in 1973, getting a split-fingered fastball from minor-league pitching coach Fred Martin made the hitters I started swinging at a pitch two inches away from my plate. He recorded his 300 saves, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006, and won his World Series with the Cardinals.
But Sutter won the National League’s Cy Young Award in 1979 with the Cubs, and for years, many young Chicagoans were trying to lift their fingers and throw silly pitches. What did we find in the sandbox, driveway, and backyard? Impossible.
•John Clayton, 67 years old. The longtime ESPN Pro Football Insider was a hilarious and cautious figure that anyone who cares about the NFL (for example, most people in the 32 largest cities in America) has come across in one way or another.
We scribes remember John as another ink-soaked man at press conferences. .
But the way most sports fans remember him is for the legendary “This is SportsCenter” commercial. In it, he revealed that he had stripped off his suit jacket for fake business and wore a black sleeveless Slayer T his shirt. Like a bedroom with death metal posters everywhere. He pulled his long blonde ponytail down behind his balding patties, turned up the volume on the stereo, hopped onto the bed, grabbed an old box of take-out noodles, and yelled, “Mom, my segment is over!” I cried. ‘
Lord, I still laugh at it. I hope John is laughing now too. He was polite and nice.
•Ernie Shavers, 78 years old. The former heavyweight boxer will be most remembered for three things. First, he emerged during the golden age of heavyweight boxing in the 1970s. The department was brimming with talent, including Joe Fraser, Larry Holmes, George Foreman, Ken Norton, and Muhammad Ali.
Second, Shavers lasted 15 rounds against Ali, hitting the champion with a blow that would have knocked out most other players.
This leads to the third thing. Shaver was widely considered to be the hardest puncher in heavyweight history at the time. After the game Ali said:
However, Ali had a gift for words and often said clever things about his enemies and himself. Indeed, he once said: “I’m so mean, I get sick with drugs.”
But Shaver and most fighters weren’t like Ali.Shaver was all business and he had 70 knockouts in 76 wins to show it. However, he weighed less than 215 pounds and when he fought Ali in his title match, he was such an underdog that there was no line to bet on the fight. But with his shaven head and thundering right hand, he was a terrifying presence.
What Holmes said after fighting Shavers in 1979 was true, pure observation, nothing but insight. remains in my heart.
“When Ernie Shavers hit me,” said Holmes, “I thought people were taking pictures of me.”
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