Historically Speaking: 4-27-09

Good morning, boys and girls. It's lovely to be greeting this Monday with you, and thanks to those of you who popped in for a chat over the weekend. Those were some good darn times. Before we get today's lesson underway, I'd just like to share a few team draft grades from Randy Covitz of The Kansas City Star. For starters, there was one A handed out, and it went to the dumb-ass New York Jets, who, after mortgaging the home, had three picks, the first of whom was none other than Mark "Dirty" Sanchez. Then they took a running back out of Iowa and an Nebraska guard. And to that, I say, get a clue. Just because people are high on quarterbacks, and they'll get high on the above-mediocre quarterbacks that are around when there are no great ones, doesn't mean a team hits a home run when they draft one of those guys.

There are two A-. One went to Green Bay, who took B.J. Raji and Claw Matthews with their two firsts, then went D three more times, as well as adding a lineman and a tailback. Not bad. We'll see how the players pan out, of course, but not bad. The other went to Pantsless Mike Singletary and his 49ers. Why? Crabtree, I'm guessing. They also took Ball State qb Nate Davis, and an Alabama back, among others. Whatever. There's someone in the sports department that probably went balls deep to see to it that that grade got handed out.

The Denver Broncos were handed a D+, saying "With all the help Denver needed on defense, Moreno was not the best option with the pick for Jay Cutler. Ayers salvaged the first round, and trading a 2010 pick to take Smith may pay off. Could Brandstater be the next sixth-round version of Tom Brady for Josh McDaniels?" Not very critical wording for a D+, but that chatter sounds a lot like our LiveDraft chatter yesterday.

The Chiefs were only given a full letter grade better, citing "The new regime is trying to undo all of the mistakes the franchise has made in the defensive line during the last seven seasons. Jackson and Magee fit the mold of big, strong New England-type defensive linemen. Don't forget QB Matt Cassel and LB Mike Vrabel represent the second-round pick." Wow. I don't think you could possibly be less bold if you tried. Anyway, on to history...

* Today in 1956, heavyweight champ Rocky Marciano retired with an undefeated record of 49 wins (43 by knockout) and, of course, no losses.

* Five years later, the National Football League officially recognized the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

* A decade after that, a guy by the name of Hank Aaron hit home run number 600.

* Two years later, Steve Busby tossed the first no-hitter for the Kansas City Royals. The win came against the Tigers in Detroit.

* And a decade later, Nolan Ryan slides into first place on the all-time strikeout list, with number 3509.

Your Sports Illustrated quote of the day?



It came from Jim Dickey, former Kansas State football coach, who, in 1978, said "Kansas State hasn't won a Big Eight championship in 40 years. I told them if I don't win a championship in that same length of time, I'll resign." For the record, he went 25-62-2 over seven years in the position.