Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 16

 It's Monday and that means Monday Night Football. Unless the schedule changes drastically, the Chicago Bears are expected to head to Minneapolis to play the Minnesota Vikings (I write my Advent posts a few days in advance. So if 2 different teams are now on the schedule to play instead of Bears/Vikings, I'm sorry.)

Since there's football today I thought I'd look at an Advent calendar devoted to the pigskin. The one I selected is the NFL Funko 24 Day Countdown Calendar. Each corresponding day you open up the correct door and unearth a miniature vinyl figure of the most popular players in the league. There's a Patrick Mahommes, a Lamar Jackson and a T.J. Watt among the players to be found in this Advent. 

While you don't know which player you will receive, you do know which team that they play for. That's because each door is designed to look like a Christmas ornament with 1 of 24 different teams logos on it. You might be wondering 'aren't there 32 teams currently in the NFL?', and you'd be right. If you are a fan of the Carolina Panthers, Washington Commanders or the New England Patriots, you are out of luck. Sorry, no Bears either.

You've got to really be a fan of the league to enjoy this set. What true Steelers fan is going to want a player from divisional rivals, the Cleveland Browns? 

Don't expect custom work either. While the D.K. Metcalf figure is black, there are no distinguished features among these Funko Pops unlike their regular sized counterparts who has a ton of tattoos on both arms. 

1977: A Madman Turns 40: 2017- Day 8

   I don't really get into much on my blog, but friends and family know that I am a devoted fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I'm such a fan that in the town I live in Hillsborough, NC, I am known by residents as Mr. Steeler. Since the Steelers are playing in the Wild Card today, I thought this would be the perfect chance to reflect on what the Steelers were like the year I was born- good ole 1977!
  

1977 Team Photo taken from the old Three Rivers Stadium.

  1977 wasn't the best year for the team. 3 years of winning two straight Super Bowls and a trip to the AFC Championship had taken a toll. The guys were exhausted and injuries mounted. Though they won their division and did make it to the playoffs, they were trounced by the Denver Broncos.

At this stage of both QBs careers, both had/have
only won 2 Lombardi trophies. I hope Big Ben (right)
can add a third before he retires.

    The team MVP that year was quarterback Terry Bradshaw. The feisty Cajun played 14 games, throwing 17 touchdowns for over 2,500 yards. At this time, Bradshaw had lead the team to 2 Super Bowls and would end his career as the first quarterback with 4 Super Bowl rings.

Antonio Brown's (right) stint on Dancing With The Stars,
seems to have helped him become the premier wide-receiver in the NFL today.

     One of Terry Bradshaw's favorite targets was wide receiver, Lynn Swann (or Swannie as announcer Howard Cosell would refer to him.) In '77, Swann caught 7 passes from Bradshaw for touchdowns and accounted for almost 800 of QB-12's passing yards. Swann was poetry in motion and so very light on his feet. He would credit his love of dance and ballet as attributing to his prowess on the field.

  In 1977, another offensive weapon for the Steelers was running back Franco Harris. Franco is my all-time favorite Steeler. His miraculous catch in a 1972 playoff game (The Immaculate Reception) is credited as the spark to Pittsburgh becoming one of the most dominate teams in the modern era of football. This year was a good one for Harris as his ran for over 1,700 yards and 14 touchdowns!

Despite a 3-game suspension for drug policy violations,
Le'Veon Bell (right) racked up over 1,700 total yards of offense this season.

    If I'm going to talk about the Steelers in 1977, I have to mention the team's defense. Honestly, while the offense was good, their defense was better. The 4 men that made up the Steel Curtain of the front defensive line were the best in NFL history. Greene, Greenwood, Holmes, and White. But my favorite defense-man on the Steelers in the 70s was Jack Lambert. 

The legacy of Ol' #58 lives on
with my Steelcat, Lambert J!

     Lambert was a line-backer who many believe was the last piece of the puzzle needed for the Steelers to become 4x Super Bowl Champs. Having played for Kent State, which practice field was a gravel parking lot (in which Lambert recalls picking stones out of his arms in the locker room afterwards) #58 was a mean son-of-a-gun on the field. He ate quarterbacks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Unfortunately, in 1977, sacks weren't recorded by the NFL but I am sure Lambert had quite a few under his belt that year.

    And there you have a look at the Steelers in the year this Madman was born. I love the team we have now. I just wish we'd get a really decent back-up quarterback (Big Ben not gonna be around forever folks.) Hopefully, 2017 will find the team reaping more success than in the year I was born. I may be stuck in the 70s but this is one time that I hope something I love from that era does better than they did in my favorite year of 1977.
   

NFL Superpro #1

Well folks, today is the beginning of football. I’m ready to cheer on my Steelers. In preparation to the kick-off of the 2014 season, I decided to ready what many consider the worst comic book of all-time. That’s right- I read NFL Superpro #1!

  The book was published in 1991 and was collaboration between the NFL and Marvel Comics. The book stars Phil Grayfield, a retired football player whose career was ended due to injury. He’s now a sports reporter and during an interview with a sports collector, he’s knocked unconscious and trapped in a burning room filling with practice films. The chemicals melt and give Grayfield super powers. Along with an experimental football player’s uniform, the ex-athlete fights crime while simultaneously committing copyright infringement.

This being the first issue, I thought it would be the ‘origin’ issue. Alas, that all happened in the NFL Superpro Super Bowl Special, which I also own but was saving to read during next year’s Super Bowl. Thankfully, Marvel did devote a whopping 4 panels in explaining how Grayfield became Superpro.

Now I’m about to commit some comic book heresy- issue #1 wasn’t that bad! Yes- the premise is corny. If burning celluloid would give you super powers, I’d set a movie theatre on fire right now and breathe deep. Also, if your running around in an experimental football uniform that bears the NFL logo and you were the Commissioner of said league would you not A) sue the guy for wearing unofficially licensed material and B) figure out who had said uniform and trace back how it ended up in this vigilante heroes hands? It’s not one of the most well thought out premises, I’ll give you that.

However, if you look at this as an un-official 'Marvel Team-Up' between Superpro and guest hero, Spider-man; the book isn’t terrible. True, the two heroes never officially meet but in terms of Marvel Team-Up’s reputation of introducing new heroes to fans in hopes of garnishing a fan base, Superpro was better than some of the crap I’ve read in the pages of MTU. (Speaking of Team-Up, apparently Robert Kirkman wanted to bring Superpro back for a story but couldn’t due to copyright and the best he could do was have Stilt-Man brag about beating Superpro up once. Okay, if Stilt-Man can defeat you, maybe you should hang it up.)

The art was okay for 1991 standards. It was gritty and a little sexy. There are some pretty cool fight scenes. The dialogue stunk, unless it was Peter Parker/ Spider-man. Those parts were pretty good. I would say instead of treating this book as garbage, look at it as a B-movie. It’s so bad, it’s good.

Instead of considering Superpro the worst comic of all-time, I see this as the Plan 9 from Outer Space of comic books. I paid 50 cents for this in a bargain bin and I am sure some folks would say I paid too much. However, if I find the other 11 issues in this series in a dollar box, I’d snatch them up. They’re always good for a laugh.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars

"Dan Rooney: My 75 Years With the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL"

WORTH CONSUMING!

I’ve been a Steelers fan since I don’t know when. I’ve got family from Pittsburgh, I’ve always loved that the helmet only has a logo on one side, and one of the first sentences I remember ever reading was “One for the Thumb.” Well, it took a while to get the thumb, but I’ve been a member of Steelers Nation my whole life, and I don’t expect to change!

 If you are a fan of the Steelers, this book is required reading! If you are a football historian, this book needs to be on your reading list, as the Steelers are one of the original NFL founding teams. If you are from Dallas, I pity you.

 A great, fun, and fast read. (I wish it was longer!)