From: ronnie@uts.amdahl.com (Ronnie Townsend)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro
Subject: Re: Barry Foster, rushing records
Date: 18 Dec 92 17:39:37 GMT
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

In article <1992Dec18.012801.16377@zip.eecs.umich.edu> sybesma@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Eric Sybesma) writes:
>In article <7c=b03USc4IB00@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> ronnie@uts.amdahl.com (Ronnie Townsend) writes:
>
>>>}this career in computers as I would obviously never get a fair shot to play
>>>}with the big boyz. If only I'd been born a couple of years later when the 
>>>}"smurf" receiver came in vogue I might be out there playing with these guys
>>>}now instead listening to your bullshit! 
>>>}	If given some of the holes Foster has had to run through I dare 
>>>}say I'd have close to 1000 yards too, assuming my 32 year old body didn't 
>>>}all apart by now. The guy is having a great year .. but in my opinion... 
>
>>insisted that I could not possibly outrun Earl Campbell. Of course, later that
>>year when I turned a 10.7 100  meters on the track team... he had to take it
>>back.  
>
>>Ronnie
>
>I can say Ronnie that you certainly can probably outrun most of us here
>on the net.  Congratulations.  But you are also more full of yourself
>than most of us here on the net.  Of this, I am certain.

You'll get no argument from me on this issue. I like myself. I've played high
school football in Florida where some of the better high school teams could 
contend for a Division II NCAA championship. I was not a star... I was a shrimp
who got no glory and played WR in an offense that ran for 300 YPG and passed 
about 5 times a game .. but boy could I block a CB on a sweep. I went to college
and averaged 14 yards PER CARRY  and 31 yards  per kickoff return... mind you 
this was in the Ivy League so you have to take it for what it's worth. I always
knew that if I stayed tiny I would not get a shot at the pros.. Maybe that's 
why I went to Harvard and not Oklahoma. By the time the NFL was starting to 
let's quick little shrimps like me play I was married with two kids... I don't 
have any regrets about it... well maybe some... but I don't have any doubts 
about my ability.... I spent some time in a USFL training camp abusing bigger
guys with my quickness so I know what I could do. I used to play amateur tackle
football back in FLA until I destroyed my knee one day. Now I only play flag. 
I mention the 10.7 100 meters because that was my freshman year. I have since
taken my PR down to 10.5 but that was some years ago... I did run 10.8 this 
past summer at an all comers meet so I know I still got... some of it. What 
does this have to do with anything? Well... generally when i give my opinion 
about an athlete's ability, I try to see it from an athlete's perspective... 
I get the impression that many on this net have never actually played organized
football at any level and don't fully understand some of the intricacies of the
game let alone the business of pro football. I started watching football back 
when I was five years old. I have always loved the game and never seriously 
considered playing any other sport as my primary sport... if only I could have
grown another six inches! I saw Jim Brown play when I was a kid.. I was in awe.
I saw O.J. play... I saw Gale Sayers play... not live, mind you.. . but on the 
tube. I also recognize that today's athletes are continually getting bigger 
faster and stronger than those of 20 years ago... I doubt that O.J. or Jim 
Brown, using the training methodolgy of their eras would be as dominant in 
today's game as they were  then. By the same token... take their ability and 
give them the benefits of modern diet, weight training etc... and you could 
have hell on wheels.  We'll never know... some guys are simply special .... 
At this point Barry Foster is not.... the door is not closed... but it will 
take more than one good year to get it beyond a crack! 
in the city leagues around 

-- 
Ronnie
-------------------------------------------------------------
Whenever the fates hear someone say, "It can't get any worse than this..." 
They just laugh and double your misery! 


Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro