Joe Namath HBO Documentary

[sport historian]

Tonight (Saturday) at 9pm ET, HBO premieres "Namath." We've mentioned before that Joe Namath was the last white athlete who was considered "Charismatic" by the media. He was seen as a major cultural figure of the 1960's.

On the other hand the film shows what a phenomenal athlete Namath was before tearing up both knees. At Alabama, he could jump 2-3 feet in the air and throw the ball accurately 50 yards down the field. He was an excellent runner as well.

 

[white is right]

Funniest clip of the documentary is Namath claiming that he couldn't understand Bryant...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF-EHfPRZfw&feature=relmfu

 

[Tom Iron]

sport historian,

I lived in Qns. and even worked on Shea Stadium. I saw Namath play and the most important thing about Namath was he was the first QB who came along and was able to throw the ball like a rope 40-50 yrds down field with perfect accuracy. Before him, most all previous QBs had to put some air under the ball to get distance. Even the great Johnny U, Norm Van Broklin, YA Tittle, Bobby Layne, etc.

Guess I'm showing a bit of age.

Tom Iron...

 

[sport historian]

sport historian,

I lived in Qns. and even worked on Shea Stadium. I saw Namath play and the most important thing about Namath was he was the first QB who came along and was able to throw the ball like a rope 40-50 yrds down field with perfect accuracy. Before him, most all previous QBs had to put some air under the ball to get distance. Even the great Johnny U, Norm Van Broklin, YA Tittle, Bobby Layne, etc.

Guess I'm showing a bit of age.

Tom Iron...

You're right. I first started following pro football around 1958 (age 8) and Namath was the first QB with a lightning-fast release who could put it on a line down field right on the money.

One of the best parts of the film is the 1971 49er-Jet game. Namath hadn't played since early in the 1970 season and he was activated for this game, which was the 11th of the 1971 season. Namath hadn't played in over a year.

I saw this game on TV and the crowd went wild when Namath came into the game. He threw 3 TDs to close the gap to 24-21 but was intercepted in the end zone at the end. This also was fairly typical of Joe Namath.

There really was something about him.

Nowadays, the MSM puts their hope in QBs like Newton, Vick, etc.

 

[DixieDestroyer]

Funniest clip of the documentary is Namath claiming that he couldn't understand Bryant...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF-EHfPRZfw&feature=relmfu

Funny stuff. I recall an older interview w/ Joe referencing the same story. Here's a funny clip w/ Joe, Coach Bryant & Bob Hope.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5vymQdvfQs&feature=related

 

[Westside]

I saw it. It was a great documentry on Namath, as only HBO can produce.

Several things, as SH pointed out, I had no idea how quick and athletic Joe was before his 1st knee injury.

Namath grew up around blacks in high school and once he got to the pros had a real affinity towards them. It was not faked or pushed, it was just him.

The segment where the NFL forces Joe to close down his private/successful bar due to alleged "undiserable patrons" such as Frank Sinatra and mob figures. Today, the NFL is composed on almost 1/4 of undiserables and are paid millions. Wow, how times have changed to push the cult marx and castesystem agenda.

Joe had charisma in the boatloads, glad he is in a happy and peaceful time in his life.

 

[Van_Slyke_CF]

I'm a little too young to have seen Namath play but the clips I've watched and what I've read have convinced me was something truly special.

 

[wile]

I saw it. It was a great documentry on Namath, as only HBO can produce.

Several things, as SH pointed out, I had no idea how quick and athletic Joe was before his 1st knee injury.

Namath grew up around blacks in high school and once he got to the pros had a real affinity towards them. It was not faked or pushed, it was just him.

The segment where the NFL forces Joe to close down his private/successful bar due to alleged "undiserable patrons" such as Frank Sinatra and mob figures. Today, the NFL is composed on almost 1/4 of undiserables and are paid millions. Wow, how times have changed to push the cult marx and castesystem agenda.

Joe had charisma in the boatloads, glad he is in a happy and peaceful time in his life.

He could two hand dunk a basketball from standing under the basket.

 

[jaxvid]

I always liked Broadway Joe, he had a way of being famous without being offensive (it seemed to me), although I imagine to the older generation he was looked at as a some kind of hippie. One thing I remember about him that stood out in my memory was that he was ruled 4-f for Vietnam because of his bad knees.

This was a big thing at the time, especially to people in my working class neighborhood where my older brothers and their friends were going off to war, some of whom did not come back. I guess there was such an uproar that he was forced to take the physical again, and again failed. I wonder if the modern techniques of knee surgury would have repaired his knee to the point of him having to go to Hanoi instead of New York?

I wonder why a Pennsylvania boy like him didn't go to play for Joe Pa? I always thought he seemed out of sorts playing at Alabama.

 

[sport historian]

I always liked Broadway Joe, he had a way of being famous without being offensive (it seemed to me), although I imagine to the older generation he was looked at as a some kind of hippie. One thing I remember about him that stood out in my memory was that he was ruled 4-f for Vietnam because of his bad knees.

This was a big thing at the time, especially to people in my working class neighborhood where my older brothers and their friends were going off to war, some of whom did not come back. I guess there was such an uproar that he was forced to take the physical again, and again failed. I wonder if the modern techniques of knee surgury would have repaired his knee to the point of him having to go to Hanoi instead of New York?

I wonder why a Pennsylvania boy like him didn't go to play for Joe Pa? I always thought he seemed out of sorts playing at Alabama.

Namath was criticized around 1966 for being 4-F and getting big money to play football. You'd be surprised how many big name pro football players were 4-F in those days. According to Pete Gent, the Cowboys bribed the doctors to fail their high draft choices' draft physicals.

In 1960, Joe Paterno was an obscure assistant at Penn State. Rip Engel was the head coach.

Namath was going to Maryland, but failed the entrance examination. The Maryland coach called up Bear Bryant because Bama wasn't on the Maryland schedule. Namth was enrolled at Alabama with no problem.