Joe Theismann

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Joe Theismann

Theismann at the “NFL Kickoff Live 2003” Concert
Date of birth September 9, 1949
Place of birth New Brunswick, New Jersey
Position(s) Quarterback
College Notre Dame
NFL Draft 1971 / Round 4 / 99th Overall
Career Highlights
Pro Bowls 2
Awards 1983 NFL MVP,
1982 Bert Bell Award
Honors College Football HOF
70 Greatest Redskins
Redskins' Ring of Fame
Stats
Statistics
Team(s)
1971-1973
1974-1985		 Toronto Argonauts (CFL)
Washington Redskins (NFL)
College Hall-of-Fame

Joseph Robert Theismann (born September 9, 1949 in New Brunswick, New Jersey,) is a former American football quarterback and current television football announcer for ESPN. He was born to an Austrian father, Joseph John Theismann, and a Hungarian mother, Olga Tobias, and was raised in South River, New Jersey. He played football for the University of Notre Dame and was a runner-up for the 1970 Heisman Trophy which went to Jim Plunkett of Stanford University. Late in the season, his hallmates in Zahm Hall hung an enormous banner out of a 4th story window proclaiming, "Theisman for Heisman," (sic) changing the original pronunciation of his surname, "THEEZ-man," to rhyme with "Heisman," which he has used since. During his collegiate career, the smallish Theismann (just 6'-0", 180 lb/1.83 m, 82 kg), led the Fighting Irish to a 20-3-2 record.

For his efforts as a collegiate player, Joe Theismann was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

Theismann was selected in the fourth round by the Miami Dolphins in the 1971 NFL Draft, as well as Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins as a shortstop in that year's Major League Baseball draft. However, instead of playing for the Dolphins or the Twins, Theismann elected to sign with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. In his rookie year, Theismann led the Argonauts to a 10-4 record and won the league's eastern conference passing title and a berth in the Grey Cup championship game in Vancouver, British Columbia versus the Calgary Stampeders (59th Grey Cup). Unfortunately, a fumble late in the fourth quarter by Argonaut running back Leon McQuay close to the goal line cost the Argonauts the Grey Cup.

In 1971 he completed 148 of 278 passes for 2440 yards and 17 TDs (with 21 interceptions.) His 1972 season was shortened by injury, but he hit 77 of 127 passes for 1157 yards and 10 TDs. During his last season, 1973, 157 of his 274 passes were complete, for 2496 yards and both 13 TDs and interceptions. He was an all star in both 1971 and 1973.

In 1974, the National Football League's Washington Redskins obtained his rights, and Theismann, determined to make it to the NFL, left the CFL and joined the Redskins where he volunteered to be the team's punt returner. In 1978, Joe Theismann became the Redskins' starting quarterback after Billy Kilmer proved ineffective.

Theismann led the Redskins to a win in Super Bowl XVII and an appearance in Super Bowl XVIII and would go on to set several Redskins franchise records, including most career passing attempts (3,602), most career passing completions (2,044) and most career passing yards (25,206), while also throwing 160 touchdown passes, with 138 interceptions. On the ground, he rushed for 1,815 yards and 17 touchdowns. He was the NFL's MVP in 1983 and played in two Pro Bowl games, earning the player of the game award in the second game.

In an era when most quarterbacks had long since used variations of a double-bar facemask (or even triple-bar facemasks) that afforded more protection, Theismann refused to use anything but a single bar facemask throughout his career so as not to obstruct his vision.

[edit] Injury

Theismann's career would end in 1985 with a gruesome compound fracture of his leg, suffered during a sack by New York Giants linebackers Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson during a Monday Night Football game telecast. On a "flea-flicker" play that didn't fool the Giants defense, Taylor sandwiched Theismann into Carson and inadvertently landed his hip on Theismann's lower right leg, fracturing both the tibia and the fibula.

"It was at that point, I also found out what a magnificent machine the human body is," Theismann said. "Almost immediately, from the knee down, all the feeling was gone in my right leg. The endorphins had kicked in, and I was not in pain."[1]

As Theismann lay on the stadium's natural grass field, a horrified Taylor frantically screamed for emergency medical technicians. Initially, however, many Redskins personnel thought Taylor's screaming and pointing directed at their sidelines was a taunt over the fact that he'd successfully stopped their play. Taylor has said that his animated behavior was largely a claustrophobic reaction to having been trapped at the bottom of the pile that followed his tackle[2].

The injury ultimately forced Theismann into retirement at the age of 36. Theismann has never blamed Lawrence Taylor for his injury. Taylor has said that he has never seen film of the play and never wants to. Below is Frank Gifford's commentary of the play:

"......Jim Brown and Franco Harris. First and ten, Riggins, flea flicker back to Theismann. Theismann's in a lot of trouble. And it was Lawrence Taylor who...slammed Theismann to the ground at the 42 yard line. The blitz was on, that's not necessarily a good play to have called and quickly Lawrence Taylor is up, saying Theismann is hurt. And I don't believe Lawrence Taylor would have reacted that way unless Theismann, is REALLY hurt..........He slammed him, to the natural surface here..........The blitz was on, that is not a good play to have with the blitz on.......Theismann has no chance at all to get downfield and lets take one more look at it with our reverse angle camera. He's looking deep and he knows he's in trouble. Lawrence Taylor number 56 right there. Carson is number 53. But it's Taylor, over Carson (at this time the leg is shown, prompting the color announcer to go "OOOH!"). And you can see the uh, right knee, the right foot. And I knew that something was uh.....REALLY bad. And Lawrence Taylor leaped to his feet, and beckoned over to the Redskins bench; get your medical team in here quickly."

[edit] Controversy

Theismann currently works as a color commentator on ESPN's Monday Night Football NFL telecasts.

During a May 30, 2006 interview [3] with Toronto radio station The Fan 590, Theismann criticized the Argonauts for signing Ricky Williams, the former New Orleans Saints and Miami Dolphins running back who had been suspended by the NFL for the entire 2006 season for a fourth violation of the league's substance abuse policy, to a one-year contract. In the interview, Theismann said the Argonauts were a disgrace and he was ashamed to be associated with them. The CFL currently has no substance-abuse policy, nor does it prohibit its member teams from signing players suspended by other leagues.

The Dolphins have not protested given the fact that Ricky Williams is technically still a contracted player.

In response to Theismann's comments, the Argonauts created a short clip mocking him that was played on the video screens at Rogers Centre during an exhibition game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Joe Theismann made an unintentionally humorous comment on September 25, 2006, Theismann, defending a penalty flag thrown by an official, quipped that the referee "must have seen something that made him take it out of his pants," bringing the entire commentary booth into laughter after a moment of uneasy silence. This quote was widely spread on the Internet the following days.[4]

Still others critize Theismann for his overly critical commentary on players of the modern generation, implying he is somehow tougher or superior in skill. Washington, DC, area fans characterize him as a football version of Jim Palmer, currently providing similar biting commentary for the Baltimore Orioles.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Shapiro, Leonard (Nov. 18, 2005). "The Hit That Changed a Career". Washington Post, p. E01.
  2. ^ Lewis, Michael. The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. W. W. Norton, 2006
  3. ^ http://www.fan590.com/mediaplayer/audioplayer.jsp?mediaFile=/mp3s/joetheisman-ms-20060530.mp3
  4. ^ http://blogs.baltimoresun.com/sports_custom_media/2006/09/lets_skip_the_r.html

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