Category Archives: NFL

NFL

Johnson, Ted (LB)

Card: Topps Chrome 2008
Acquired: In Person 6/10/12, Houston 610 Fan Fest
See Also: Ted Johnson (2)

Ted Johnson is a man-mountain of a linebacker. When I met him at the Fan Fest, he had his SuperBowl ring available for fans to pick up. It was heavy, loaded with gems to the point of being gaudy, and super heavy. Easily I probably could’ve slipped my two biggest fingers into his ring, which just blew my mind. He was kind enough to sign this card for me, and remarked he had never seen it before.  I really liked this Chrome card, because of its clever layout and design.  (It absorbed the autograph well after I applied baby powder to it and rubbed it thoroughly.) I may even get another and just send it to him to keep for the heck of it.  We talked for a few minutes about the concussion lawsuit former players are filing. I told him that ‘true’ fans would be behind them, and the NFL needed to do a better job of taking care of its gladiators.

A four time AFC champion, and 3 time Super Bowl winner, Ted Johnson was a second round pick out of Colorado by the Patriots in 1995  (- at a time when I began to tune out football with the impending end of the Houston Oilers on the horizon).  A warrior, Johnson stepped into the lineup for the Patriots, playing right and left inside, and middle linebacker for New England over a 10 season career.  He’d play in 125 games, and record 763 tackles.

He’s made a lot of waves since retirement, which was due to concussions. Johnson has battled depression and headaches due to post-concussion syndrome, and things have been rocky from time to time for him suffering from amphetamine addiction and recently joined the players lawsuit as a plaintiff against the NFL in regards to concussions and player safety.

 

 

G/Gs  125/106       Tac   530     Sac 11.5      Fum   7      Int  1      Yds    0      Avg -.-     Td  0        Lg 0

NFL, NFLE, WLAF

Bicknell, Jack “Cowboy Jack”

Cards: ProSet 1991, ProSet WLAF 1991, Proset WLAF 1991 HC
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Home.
Sent: 6/1    Received: 7/11  (41 days)

Jack Bicknell was quarterback for the Montclair St. Redhawks back in 1959.  After establishing himself as a successful high school coach, he found himself at Boston College coaching runningbacks in 1968, – a position he’d hold through 1975.  He’d take his first head coaching gig at Maine for the Black Bears, that next year, but return to be named head coach of Boston College in 1981.  He’d really put BC on the map, and put his faith in a young quarterback by the name of Doug Flutie, who led them to a victory against the Miami Hurricanes with a last second hail mary, and won the Heisman in 1984.  Before his arrival at BC, the school hadn’t appeared in a bowl game in some 40 years. Bicknell not only got them there, he got them to four over his tenure including the Tangerine Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Liberty Bowl, and the Hall of Fame Bowl.  Over his coaching career at BC through 1990, Jack’s teams in those 4 bowl appearances went 2-2, and his overall mark was 59-55.

A new football world beckoned in 1991 to Jack, and the WLAF came calling. He’d be named head coach of the Barcelona Dragons franchise and was the face of the franchise for the next 11 seasons.  In the team’s inaugural season the Dragons finished an impressive 8-2, but eventually lost in the World Bowl to the Monarchs. 1992, the team won an overall weaker division, and was bounced from the playoffs.  It wouldn’t be until 1997 that Cowboy Jack won his only World Bowl, 38-24 over the Rhein Fire.  The team also returned to the big game in 1999, and 2001, but lost on both occasions. Bicknell coached the Dragons through 2003, when the franchise was shuttered, finishing with a 61-55 record.

Jack also coached with the Scottish Claymores in 2004 to a 2-8 record, and then the Hamburg Sea Devils in both 2005 (5-5) and 2006 (3-6-1), before citing health reasons for retirement. Boston College in 2007 also named a Scholarship in his honor. He currently has a home in New Hampshire and Florida, and enjoys watching both of his sons coach at the NFL level.

Jack was kind enough to sign 3 cards for me through the mail. I had checked sportscollectors.net and it appeared as though there was no success from him since 2007 so I went ahead and took a stab in the dark on this one that it might just still work.

W 71    L 74   T 0    Pct .489

 

NFL

Givins, Ernest “EG” (2)

Cards: Score 1989, ProSet 1989
Acquired: In Person, 6/10/12, 610 Houston Fan Fest III
See Also: Ernest Givins

Ernest Givins is just a classy guy. He treats his fans incredibly well, – especially those who recognize him and remember him for his playing days with the Oilers. At Fan Fest in Houston this year, both Ernest and Haywood were stationed at the same table.  I had gotten Givins a year or two ago TTM, and in person, lo those many years ago at Oilers Training Camps, so I was super stoked to see him again in person. It did not take me long to recognize him in the crowd wandering around on the floor. When I bellowed “EEEE GGGGG!” ,  he turned around and said hello. I asked him again to do the Electric Slide, and he laughed and said he just might.

A few hours later I got to the front of the line and asked him about it. Haywood started laughing and Ernest told me he had already done it twice, once at the front and back of the auditorium. I growled a bit and we laughed. He resisted the handlers attempts to move his line along and signed 2 cards for me. I thanked him for being so good to his fans, and even to his TTM fans. He told me that he tries extra hard to honor all his requests, and signs everything he can for his fans. I told him that I had gotten some autographs earlier last year and I wanted him to know that his efforts go above and beyond were surely appreciated. I asked him if Louisville had inducted him into their HoF, to which I learned they still hadn’t. (An absolute crime in my book.) He flashed his trademark smile and told me he’d love to be there.

Jeffires has been quoted on record that Givins is the best receiver he has ever seen. Givins played slot, primarily in the run n shoot. While people try to bag on it as a gimmicky offense, remember that most teams now run a spread variant or similar which is the same thing. He always seemed to have somewhere around 900 sub yards, and 70 catches or so, but he also had two other primary receivers (Hill, Jeffires, and Jeffires, Slaughter), that always got more looks than he did. But Givins made the acrobatic catch over the middle, -and rarely dropped the ball.  He was basically the Wes Welker of his day.  Currently Givins is a Vice Principal and coaches semi pro football in Florida, but still looks to be in fine shape. He has been quoted as saying that based on the amount of money kids make these days playing football, give him two weeks to prepare and he’d be back in game shape.

Givins and Jeffires do the Electric Slide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHtL40i2Xvc