NFL 100 Greatest! | Page 2 | 49ers Webzone Forum

Originally posted by captveg:
I've enjoyed most of the NFL 100 lists/videos and such this year. I love the history of the game, and while these lists are always gonna favor the 80s and later because of the better TV coverage of the last 40 years, I think they've done a good job recognizing the 50 years of the pre-SB era of the NFL as well as can be expected; maybe even a bit more than expected.

I'll agree with you on the point of better TV coverage. Teams also have their own individual production houses now, which was unheard of fifty years ago. So, yeah, there's more to go off of.

BUT, that doesn't give the NFL the right to ignore most of its history. I know why they're doing this. Most rabid NFL fans were born after 1970. They never saw Roger Staubach play. They've heard about him, but never knew he was once called Roger The Dodger (and not because he played for the Los Angeles Dodgers).

I didn't see YA Tittle play. I didn't see Unitas or Otto Graham. I would say the vast majority of people who actually saw Sammy Baugh play are probably long gone. The point I am trying to make here is similar to the philisophical observation of a tree that falls down in the forest. If nobody is there to see or hear it, does it really make a sound?

If an NFL player played the game so long ago that nobody alive got to see him in action, was he really that good? The NFL, in its wisdom, says NO. I just disagree with them.

We don't have the video. What we have instead are books and newspaper reports. No, you can't see it. But you can read about it. There are also some old-timers around who did see Unitas, Otto Graham and so many others. Perhaps there are still a few who did see Baugh play or at least followed his exploits. They could probably name other QB's from those eras who didn't get the ink that Baugh received, but were just as good.

So, in my opinion, the NFL should divide it up. The Greatest 100 players starting with the Super Bowl era until present day. Then, a second list of the greatest 100-players in the pre-Super Bowl era. Haul in some of the greatest NFL minds that are still around before the pass on. Have John Madden reel off some names from his childhood. Have Don Shula do the same thing. I'm sure a few newspaper sports reporters from the pre-Super Bowl era are still stomping around. Bring them to the table as well. Have them start tossing out names before we lose them.

One of the best books I ever read as a child, which really stoked my love of the NFL, was a recap of every NFL season from the start of the league up until the 1969 Super Bowl. Can't remember the name of it, but my guess is that book is probably out of print now. It's similar to this book, but also different. I must have paged through that book 100 times. Buried within its pages were personal accounts pulled from countless newspaper articles and even a few interviews with surviving players. I think my brother bought it through one of those scholastic book sales they had in schools (do they still have them?). He probably paid a quarter for it. By the time I hit grade school those books were much more expensive: ONE DOLLAR. Egads.

Putting together a list of the greatest 100 players who played before the Super Bowl era will not be an easy task. Statistics, for the most part, were not kept. All that exists are a few memories from the old farts still stomping around and a treasure trove of print material, much of which has yet to be digitized (but still exists).