Today, they wouldn’t even get a look

yanling

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KiickCsonkaSI.jpg


There are hundreds if not thousands of Jim Kiicks and Larry Csonkas in high school football today, yet no one will recruit them.

These are guys who children should be proud to look up to as heroes, because they aren't these overpaid, greedy, self-absorbed and -- finally -- not especially talented thugs playing RB today. They're talented athletes, hard-working, and schooled in the game.

A young Larry Csonka, if anything, would be relegated to safety in the 2007 draft.
 

C Darwin

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Steve would be the pride of the practice squad.
smiley11.gif

Largent,Steve9.jpg
 

Riddlewire

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You're both insane if you think any of them would even be able to land a college scholarship these days.
Maybe to Valdosta State...
 

Colonel_Reb

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Nice picture of the Miami duo!
 

bigunreal

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Your point is well taken, of course, but you probably should have used another photo. That photo of Csonka and Kiick, on the cover of Sports Illustrated, became very controversial once it was noticed that Csonka's middle finger was sticking out while resting on his knee. I believe that the two of them confessed to pulling this rather tasteless joke, which would of course be barely noticed in today's nightmarish culture. In today's NFL, Csonka would be a blocking FB in the mold of a Daryl Johnston or Brad Hoover, and Kiick wouldn't even rate a tryout with any NFL team. Edited by: bigunreal
 

GWTJ

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In their book, 'Always on the Run', Csonka and Kiick talk about the photo shoot. If I remember correctly, Walter Iooss Jr. took the pictures. According to Csonka, over one hundred pictures were taken and the photographer said to just have a good time and be yourselves. Csonka said the SI people told him they hadn't noticed the finger. He also said they were doing worse in other photos.

A follow up to this picture can be seen on a later cover of SI. Csonka, Kiick and Paul Warfield jumped to the WFL and SI had an almost identical photo on the cover. The only difference was Csonka had two fingers out instead of just his middle finger.

2007-08-31_212530_072875.jpg
 

white is right

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There is no way Zonk wouldn't make an NFL team. Would he be a feature back, probably not he really wasn't even one back in the early 70's. He was too strong not to be utilized for something. He might well be the best pure fullback in NFL history(I don't include Brown and Riggo as they were more big tailbacks).
 

yanling

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There is a similar photo on an ESPN magazine cover showing Luke Walton spinning a ball on his middle finger, and it could be interpreted as an obscene gesture, too. I think there's kind of this unspoken rule in professional sports where, if you're white, you're held to a higher standard of behavior expectations than black athletes. Example: Bill Lambeer is considered one of the nastiest players in the game but a lot of black players play much rougher than him and they never get accused of playing dirty.

Same double standard in other things, like stand-up comedy, where black "comedians" make race -- specifically, ridiculing whites and other races, including themselves -- the focal point of their routine, and we're expected to laugh. That's okay, because sometimes they're actually being funny and it's good to have a sense of humor about yourself.

But blacks clearly don't have a sense of humor when it comes to whites ridiculing blacks, even though it's "okay" for blacks to make fun of whites.

Back to Csonka. If he grew up in the world today he'd smash high school records left and right as an RB, but when he got to college he'd probably sit on the bench, assuming he even got in anywhere.

A white man I know from work and I were talking about whether or not Csonka could be a force in today's NFL as an RB. He contended that Csonka would be mediocre, because today's game is "tougher."

To which I contended -- Csonka played several games with a broken nose bleeding onto his jersey. He's certainly big enough (6'3"). Today's game is different, but then, Csonka would benefit from the alleged superior training programs of today, too. He could adapt and be like Mike Alstott (another great who, good as he was, could have achieved more if given the ball).

I don't think Csonka would put up HOF numbers today because he wouldn't be trusted with the ball in 2007 like he was in 1972. Coaches, fans -- many of them white, who demean their own people with phrases like 'white boy' -- would think a coach was crazy if he ran plays for a white halfback.

That's the problem with football. It's ingrained in fans' minds that whites can't play RB or other positions, and the media now wants to make us think whites are obsolescent at the QB, too.

Ridiculous, yet I believe that blacks won't be happy until there isn't one white player left in the NFL. The media seems to give every culture a free pass when it comes to selfish, self-promoting behavior, but white men's balls have been cut off, and it seems that our world won't be happy now until all white men are either gay or some black man's personal assistant, or both.


Edited by: yanling
 
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