From: jecorbett4@gmail.com   
      
   On Saturday, January 13, 2024 at 8:47:56 AM UTC-5, j...@mich.com wrote:   
   > On Fri, 12 Jan 2024 11:35:37 -0800 (PST), JE Corbett    
   wrote:    
   >    
   > >If I ruled the world (and I think I should) overtime in both pro and   
   college would    
   > >use the same format. However, I would eliminate the coin toss. There is too    
   > >much of an advantage to the team that wins the toss. In the pros, the team    
   > >winning the toss can end the game by scoring a TD on their first   
   possession.    
   > >In the postseason, both teams are assured a possession, but the team that    
   > >wins the toss will get the third possession and the chance to win the game    
   > >with a FG.    
   > >    
   > >In college, going on defense first is huge advantage because that team   
   knows    
   > >whether it needs a TD or can play for the FG. In essence, it tells them   
   whether    
   > >they have 3 downs or 4 downs to get a first down.    
   > >    
   > >I would like to see both pro and college go to a true sudden death format.    
   > >First team to score wins. However, instead of the first possession decided    
   > >by the luck of the coin toss, just continue the game from where the fourth    
   > >quarter ended. Change ends of the field just like is done between the    
   > >third and fourth quarter and continue playing with the same down and    
   > >distance. If a team tied the game on the last play of regulation, that team    
   > >kicks off to start the overtime. First possession would still be a big    
   > >advantage, but that advantage would be dictated by the flow of the game,    
   > >not the luck of the coin toss.    
   > >    
   > >I'm old enough to remember watching the very first sudden death overtime    
   > >game, the 1958 NFL championship game between the Baltimore Colts and    
   > >the New York Giants. Johnny Unitas drove the Colts the length of the field    
   > >to set up the game tying FG on the last play of regulation. The Colts won    
   > >the overtime toss, took possession and again drove the length of the field    
   > >and score on a plunge by Alan Ameche. Had my proposal been in effect    
   > >back then, the Giants would have received to start overtime. Would it have    
   > >changed the outcome? We'll never know. I had just turned 7 years old a    
   > >month earlier and it was the first game I ever remember watching and still    
   > >one of the best.   
   > I saw that game too, I was watching it with my dad and was about the same   
   age.    
   > I became a Unitas fan on the spot.Many years later I was in the Melbourne   
   (FL) airport    
   > waiting for my wife to come off the plane, and lo and behold, Johnny Unitas   
   was coming    
   > off the plane. I stopped him and told him I was a fan. We chatted for a few   
   minutes    
   > and shook hands, very pleasant guy, and I was excited to have met him and   
   talked to him.    
   > The NFL could do with more players with his class and honesty. Too bad those   
   attributes hurt him    
   > financially.   
      
   Like you I became a Colts fan after that game although my earliest hero was   
   Lenny Moore. It was   
   only after I became a bit older that I appreciated how important Unitas was to   
   the Colts.    
      
   I came across Johnny Unitas twice. The first time was my senior year of high   
   school (I graduated   
   in 1969). He was a guest speaker at our school and he spoke to an assembly of   
   just the boys in   
   the school (never get away with that today). He told a few stories but the   
   main theme of his talk   
   was the importance of education. He told us he had a BS degree from the   
   University of Louisville   
   and immediately informed us the BS stood for Batchelor of Science.    
      
   The second time was in the mid 1990s. My father was a retired faculty member   
   at Ohio State but he   
   had included Ohio State in his will which qualified him for membership in the   
   President's Club and   
   greatly improved the quality of his season tickets to the football games. We   
   were on the visitors   
   side about halfway up the lower level between the 40 yard lines. Louisville   
   was playing at Ohio    
   State and Johnny Unitas was sitting at the far end of our row. At halftime, a   
   lot of people had gone   
   to the concessions or restrooms. I looked over and Unitas was standing up to   
   stretch his legs as    
   was I. He noticed me gawking at him and gave me a nod and I nodded back.   
   Louisville lost the game    
   when they failed to tie the game with a two point conversion in the final   
   minute. As we headed to the    
   exits I was right behind Unitas and heard him talking to what I assume was one   
   of his sounds and   
   talking about how a missed extra point earlier in the game had put Louisville   
   in a position they had to   
   go for two just to tie the game (no evertime back then). I've never asked   
   anyone for an autograph but   
   was sorely tempted to do what you did and introduce myself and get a handshake   
   from him. I don't    
   know why I didn't and I regret that to this day.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)