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AJ McKenzie
  • 1 week ago
Multi year monikers
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
Transcript
00:05are you serious but you know they're fun we all thought it was great tom landry hated it
00:10why didn't the packers have a nickname because vince lombardi was there
00:20from the leather helmet era to modern times nicknames have been a catchy and colorful part
00:26of the game thanks man joe the refrigerator the catawba claw the boss that's pretty cool i sort of
00:36like uh crazy legs crazy ladies hurt i think that name look okay i'm correct stadiums have nicknames
00:44or at least they used to i'll tell you what passes for a nickname today in vesco field synergy field
00:52that's why we don't get nicknames anymore for stadiums because they've all been bought up
00:56nicknames have to be said in john facenda's voice the steel curtain america's team the real steel
01:04curtain dropped into place and of course teams have nicknames you've got the no-name defense
01:12and the over the hill gang the fearsome foursome
01:18the fab five oh that's basketball it's good for the fans and probably like the players enjoy it
01:23a good nickname will last forever since we don't have forever we'll have to limit our show to the
01:28category of team nicknames if you're scoring at home and have a different top 10 that's okay
01:35our show won't be lacking for opinions i think the frame of reference and nicknames in the old days
01:41from a higher iq level now it's all this garbage the number 10 nickname of all time
01:48the monsters of the midway one of my favorite nicknames that nickname lasted
01:5560 70 years he's got to be higher than 10. this is the monsters of the midway
02:06nobody knows what the hell midway means so a little air of mystery in there and when you get
02:10back to the word monsters maybe some of that came from the fact that emlin tonnell maintained that the
02:16bears used to add extra padding to make themselves look bigger the monsters look big played big and had
02:27the big guy on the sidelines papa bear george hallis he was the founder of the national football league
02:34can you imagine that the founder of the league the head coach the owner and the whole deal the bear
02:38oh midway means the midway plaisance of park in chicago big building this were the most penalized
02:49team in the league they played both ways 60 minutes offense and defense you can't help but like george
02:55house i love your dollars from 1940 to 1943 they won three out of four nfl championships and then
03:04they won another one in 1946 they were the monsters there was nobody could beat them that moniker defined
03:10what they were about as a team they were the big bad bears i mean they've never been a pretty
03:17team
03:17they've never been a team that you would ever call a finesse team these guys they did have a big
03:23strong ferocious team since monsters of the midway has been around for half a century our number 10
03:32nickname might be nearing its expiration date indeed should a name that started in the halis era still
03:39get some lovey today the monsters really referred to the team of the 40s but it's such fun to say
03:46the
03:46monsters in the midway that every time the bears had a good team that would come back that was terrific
03:52if you're winning 1968 we were one of 13 you know we had champagne in the locker room when we
03:58wanted to
03:59toss it a coin roses are red and violets are blue if you've got any sense you'll keep butkus away
04:07from you
04:07you know dick butkus mike singletary they too were monsters of the midway talk about a monster of the
04:18midway buckus and singletary look like bears at every stage from those days through the 60s into the 80s
04:28when they were good you could call the monsters the midway and it fit the number nine nickname of all
04:35time the over the hill game in 1971 george allen was named the head coach of the washington redskins
04:43today starts a new era bob why'd you drop it personally i don't like long hair and i don't like
04:53long sideburns and since he also really didn't like youth he hated rookies allen believed children
05:01should be released and not heard redskins sparks soon resembled a 55 and older community he just
05:08traded away all of his draft picks and just brought in a whole bunch of these veteran players and in
05:13his first year the redskins were a winning team hey hey next year they were in the super bowl
05:22let's do this let's have three cheers for the redskins there's a guy he's not walked right over the
05:29defending champions to do it not some bum team the wolf what is he 34 one of the youngest guys
05:37in the
05:37team he hated rookies he didn't think a rookie could do anything but make a mistake uh we're gonna have
05:43it all better in team there would be no rookies and that's the way it should be if it were
05:48up to george
05:48allen there wouldn't have been a draft because he didn't want a single rookie on his roster so if
05:53it meant mortgaging the future by trading all the draft picks in the following draft he didn't care
06:03with five playoff appearances between 1971 and 1977 belly cover perfectly on target the over the
06:11hill game didn't fly under the radar coach allen has inspired these men i'm i'm a native one tony with
06:18a minute following became the the george allen's team
06:29in of every single meeting room set at 64 degrees so that nobody would fall asleep
06:36they knew they were unwanted by the rest of the league it took a lot of castoffs they played with
06:42a
06:42chip on their shoulder just remember this 40 men can't lose it was a very gregarious team that sort
06:50of celebrated the fact that they were not spring chickens our number nine nickname of all time was
07:01fun while it lasted but the over the hill gang soon went over a cliff
07:06so wait frank all right that's okay irony is that their young running back larry allen who was like
07:15larry no larry brown who was 20 something years old he he got hit by injuries the hardest and he
07:22was young
07:24it is a young man's game later in the season physically they just couldn't do it in the playoffs
07:29they never really played as well as they did during the regular season so the ending of course wasn't
07:34it wasn't as fun come on we gotta get going come on let's go let's go i don't know what
07:39his plan was
07:40other than just trying to win for right now and hell we don't care how we win as long as
07:45we win
07:45he was the only coach who believed in that system george allen got away with that because george allen
07:53was a legendary figure stay tuned to top 10 nicknames and find out which team got no respect we're kind
08:02of
08:02like rodney dangerfield name some nicknames like iron mike ditka or billy white shoes johnson just seemed
08:10to fit bronco nagurski is one of the great names by saying his name you have a pretty good idea
08:17of how
08:17he played some are i don't even know what his real name was sexy morons like bullet bill dudley who
08:25was
08:25slower than a speeding bullet and slower than most defensive players smurf i didn't like it's not a
08:32football term smurf one and smurf two back into the game are you really serious about all this hollywood
08:38stuff you either call somebody like that damn fool or hollywood i don't know jane it's a mere myth
08:45deacon is a nickname that gave me clear identification as a human being which is from the public relations side
08:52of
08:52this game you have to give some thought to ed too tall jones is a computer's printout of the ultimate
08:58quarterback's nightmare my favorite nickname for any of our players was kenny anderson we called him
09:04candlelight because basically one blow and he was out that's that's a stupid nickname kenny anderson when
09:12he retired i believe was at the third most of any quarterback all time so if he was out with
09:19one hit
09:19how could he take in the other sacks why why why wasn't the offensive line nicknamed finish line
09:29everyone ran through them
09:40other nicknames are just plain awful the tough steeler secondary nicknamed track down incorporated
09:47intercepted three passes for the second game in a row but the worst nicknames are simply inappropriate
09:53take byron white an nfl running back and supreme court justice who had a nickname that no man should
09:59take sitting down the wizard's a great nickname i mean i think in today's day and age it might be
10:05considered politically incorrect i don't think anybody could be called wizard today but back in the day
10:09wizard was a good name wizard because he would wiz uh uh like they're saying he was fast
10:21the number eight nickname of all time the no name defense
10:27that's the name that was given to us by tom landry he referred to us in an article it's just
10:32a bunch of
10:33no name guys that i don't know much about but the dolphins didn't mind they knew the name of the
10:40game
10:40was winning no name was the perfect moniker and they loved it they played off of it the no name
10:46thing
10:46they sort of wore as a little bit of a badge of honor it was the number one defense in
10:57the league
10:58ultimately it worked against them only one of those guys went to the hall of fame and that was nick
11:03bonaconda nick anderson should really be in there if you look at what he accomplished
11:11that group of players collectively may have been as good a group on defense as there has been
11:18you have the steel curtain the purple people eaters but this might have been the greatest defense of all
11:23time they are to this day you were great for like two years i hope that's not a serious statement
11:33the only undefeated team in the super bowl modern day era
11:39our number eight nickname of all time is both memorable and accurate
11:45the dolphins had lots of players in on the tackle but no one player got the credit
11:54the miami dolphin defense in those days was designed to help and to give help everybody knew
11:59what their job was you never saw a guy take a chance you never saw a guy freelance everybody
12:05went where they were supposed to be on every snap to me they stood for what is the best about
12:12the game
12:12of football and that is unselfishness teamwork give up the big blood
12:20for whatever reason they feel like historically they haven't gotten enough respect and they believe
12:25that very strongly and they believe it to this day
12:30there's still no respect we're kind of like rod it's true
12:33the danger field we don't get no respect we did a poster of our defense wearing these silly
12:40looking lone ranger masks yeah i want to go let it go guys you know let it go
12:50we were one heck of a butt kick in football team
12:56the old goal makes it 17-0 17-0
12:59when you think of the miami dolphins what's the image that comes to your mind it's not the
13:05no name defense it's garrow you premium's blunder
13:11by the time that comedy of errors was over i really wanted to kill him
13:16their win in super bowl seven gapped a perfect season
13:19but the no-name defense still carries a chip on their shoulders thanks to a botch chip shot field goal
13:28it rankles a few of the fellas coming up on top 10 nicknames which coach was the mad scientist
13:35on offense light years ahead of everybody else he was always thinking of how to expand the passing
13:42game this city was to the public paul horning was known as the golden boy number five is the golden
13:51boys in the locker room they called them goat shoulders and jimmy taylor for some reason was
13:58called duty bird jarring jim goes hiking through the viking what kind of nickname is that for a tough guy
14:08chiseled from stone fullback jimmy taylor himself had a problem with names and he couldn't remember
14:16believe it or not some of his teammates names so he would call everybody roy hey how you doing roy
14:21ray
14:22roy i remember when i was up there as a cameraman hey roy how you doing today what are you
14:26guys going to shoot
15:10i thought air corio was one of the greatest nicknames ever
15:15he's going for jefferson he's got it touchdown he wants a touch i wanted him to call it air fouts
15:24it was a very apt phrase because it was air corio don corio man he just came out slinging he
15:30wanted
15:30his quarterbacks to come out slinging when you think about air corio you got to kind of go back to
15:36san
15:36diego state which is where this whole thing began wow that's a coincidence and they the quarterback
15:43slaying and slaying and slaying the football and he had the pass catchers to to make sure the ball was
15:51caught the most cardinals the saint louis version of air corio in the early 70s featured the likes of
15:58amad rashad and mel gray but when corio was hired by san diego in 1978 he turned them into the
16:05superchargers
16:14that team gave the town exactly what they wanted the lights were just on
16:19live full time with that offense it was an offense that led the league in passing six straight years
16:25and was only limited by the imagination of its head coach don corio is kind of like the mad scientist
16:33always concocting stuff he was always thinking of how to expand the passing game and the offense in
16:39general i mean this guy was a genius there is no in to the things that the san diego office
16:46can do it
16:47wasn't the first system but it was probably the most advanced system in the idea of isolating players
16:53on defense of moving your piece on the board and getting it matched up against a weaker side of the
17:00board and then exploit that matchup and our number seven nickname of all time certainly had the pieces
17:07with dan fouch in the cockpit he was such a smart quarterback once we start scoring don't tell when
17:13we're gonna stop huh i mean he got the ball after the receivers bing charlie joiner on one wing
17:20he was so good that when our coaches were teaching the younger players how to run routes they would
17:27say watch charlie that's how you run that route and john jefferson on the other when he came in the
17:34national football league people said john jefferson left and they got wes chandler put his name on the
17:42first ballot hall of fame he had a tremendous hunger for the ball if he was going to be around
17:47it he was
17:48going to get it there was no shortage of options including chuck muncie james brooks and wes chandler
17:54but what really made air corio soar was the presence of tight end kellen winslow winslow was the x-factor
18:03this guy reinvented the tight end position he was the first super fast super athletic tight end he
18:14changed the mold completely everybody equates a passing team with a finesse soft team well nobody
18:21called kellen winslow soft at least they didn't call him soft twice he would catch the ball and then he
18:27had an attitude and that he was going to try to hurt somebody after it winslow's toughness was never
18:32questioned though the same could not be said for air corio which despite its success never made it to
18:40the super bowl but still was a great way to fly the number six nickname of all time the greatest
18:51show on
18:52turf is perfect because we were built to play on turf so explosive so many weapons we're a very fast
19:16quick explosive team and when we were on astroturf it was magnified that team that personnel that scheme
19:24in that building and on that field they were lethal from 1999 to 2001 the rams offense lit up the
19:35city
19:35of st louis and the nfl record books becoming the only team to ever score over 500 points three consecutive
19:44years it was fun really we were a little maybe a little cocky the best on three one two three
19:49the
19:49best the feeling was just like it was easy it's not supposed to happen like this it's not supposed
19:55to yes it is easy for an offense to score like this the funny thing was is that we all
20:01knew it wasn't
20:02that easy but it felt like and it doesn't get any better than this i thought it was great to
20:07finally
20:07have somebody come out and just say you know what i don't care what you do this is what we
20:10do try and
20:10stop this they were just relentless you know and march just kept attacking and attacking
20:29it could transfer what his eyes see to his feet and respond without even thinking about it when we
20:36talk about great multi-purpose threats marshall faulk is at the top of the list absolutely remarkable i
20:44remember one time we were playing i think the cleveland browns he made a play he went all the
20:48way with it i'm 40 50 yards for touchdown and my thought was he just scored i don't think we
20:53blocked
20:53anybody marshall faulk breaks attack into the 20 hit him to the outside of the 10 to the five touchdown
20:59hey marshall we didn't block anybody we didn't block anybody that was a hell of a run superman number 28
21:06check him out if falk was superman then warner was clark kent in 1999 the mild-mannered quarterback
21:15was minding his own business until a pre-season injury to starter trent green thrust him into the
21:20spotlight warner takes throws the end zone touchdown rams he came up from nowhere had a great sense of
21:29timing a great sense of rhythm on his throws he had it all in the hall of fame the rams
21:34ringmaster
21:35capped his storybook sees football 34 since this came out four of them are in the hall of fame and
21:45five of them should be in the hall of fame rainbow's the far sideline and it is caught by as
21:50it grows
21:51makes a move to the 30 25 20 and they won't catch him today
21:57touchdown rams st louis the gateway to the west is now the gateway to the best football team
22:05in the world coming up on top 10 nicknames confessions of a network reporter i loved purple
22:13as a kid that was my favorite color you know i want to embarrass myself
22:18the number five nickname of all time the purple people eaters minnesota's football team already had a
22:27ferocious name that was a natural here vikings connotes ferocity uh pillage all that sort of thing
22:35but when they developed the dominant defense in the late 1960s another moniker was needed
22:48the purple people eaters not bad sounds too much like a kiddie show but uh not bad it's prince in
23:10kids but it's something that an odd way stuck for these guys when you came in there as an opponent
23:18knowing that this was their reputation purple people eaters it was an intimidating thing
23:25i even saw some history me i saw my grand smile if there is a common trait among norwegians
23:33it would be relative stoicism unless aroused one thing you can be sure of when the vikings come to
23:39play they don't run away from violence purple people eaters is a nickname that seems out of step
23:46with the flannel and fur hats of the north country but it was soon synonymous with the vikings defense
23:52and their front four in particular they won how is it you you know how hard you have to hit
24:00a human
24:00being for him for him to flip like that that's a grown man it's a grown man he played grown
24:08man football
24:09and he flipped people in those days
24:14and because of the dominance of that defense line the viking front four is quite simply one of the best
24:21in pro football history they did devour teams by killing them up front and if the people leaders
24:30didn't beat their opponents the weather turned them purple i think psychologically the fact that grant
24:38wouldn't let them have anything warming the other teams would be huddled against these probably less
24:45than modern heaters it was cold it was miserable but it was their advantage and the fans absolutely
24:52loved that didn't hurt that the fans might have had something keeping them warm also
24:59the number four nickname of all time the fearsome poor
25:09during this era that fans were freezing in minnesota sunny california was the home to our
25:15number four nickname i think most people remember the fearsome foursome
25:23deacon jones if he's not the greatest defensive end that's ever played i mean he's certainly in that
25:28group merlin olson one of the great defensive tackles ever and rosie greer was an all pro
25:34lamar lundy at the other end was no slouch
25:38all lamar lundy gets is he was no slouch that's it it's not really all he's all he said was
25:47he was a
25:48decent player we were huge
25:55i was the smallest guy i'm six five and i weighed 275
26:04and the hugest hadn't got to the game at that point so it made us really unique and different
26:09and that fearsome foursome was one of the first to loop and stunt and do a lot of different
26:15creed marmar lundy lundy was at at the other end he was 285 290
26:22olson was 300 greer was a little over 300 maybe 310
26:29guys were not that big back then if you were 240 as a defensive end you were doing just fine
26:36if you
26:36were 250 as a defensive tackle you doing just fine back then creative things you saw a defensive line
26:47take over again they were dictating to the other team when things were cooking for us we were a fearsome
26:52group
26:56the man most responsible for making the foursome
27:13are you clean a multitude of people he loved watching the reporter's mouth drop open when he would say
27:19something just outrageous i wanted to put as much fear into his heart and as much pain on his back
27:26as
27:26i possibly could we want to make you hate carrying this ball not one yard are we gonna let him
27:35gain
27:35and we'll stay here till jesus come you understand for me i came i saw and i did conquer
27:46and well before the lines between entertainment and sports began to blur
27:51the fearsome in the stands at their game were hollywood celebrity types that didn't go on around
27:57most of the rest of the national football league they were really a west coast los angeles answer to
28:02the new york teams if you will they really brought the focus up to the west coast we had hollywood
28:09we did national syndicated television shows and they even took it on the road they created a nightclub
28:15back we worked with bob hope we worked with we worked with bean cosby we worked with jimmy
28:20the ranny well put them all together and here attended we've affectionately dubbed them the fearsome
28:24foursome and i was hoping maybe we could uh persuade you gentlemen to do one more song for us rosie
28:28how about that thank you here we go we did the first shindy we sang and danced on shindy so
28:35it was a lot
28:35to the fearsome force we played the football but we had that strong hollywood image man and it all worked
28:46together before we resume the countdown let's look at some team nicknames that didn't make the cut
28:56in 1977 the orange crush defense made a splash in denver
29:02the 49ers million dollar backfield was a bargain at any price
29:08the eights chose paper over plastic it's so bad that you can't even watch other little poke
29:13eye holes just in case somebody does something a decade after the no-name defense miami was infested
29:21by the killer bees the nickname for a defense that boasted eight players whose last names began with the
29:28letter b the offense are number one we got the defense the number three nickname of all time the hogs
29:39programs redskin programs
29:40pork is always the redskins offensive line of the 80s and early 90s
29:50is a big topic inside the beltway but in the early 1980s pork had nothing to do with government
29:56spending and everything to do with the success of the washington redskins
30:02ah the hogs you look at the skill position position players quarterbacks all those pieces
30:10interchanged what was the common denominator through most of the gibbs super bowl teams was the hogs
30:17that was the redskins right there got to find that football those hugs were pretty special
30:27our number three nickname blossomed into a brand but the hogs weren't born with marketing in mind
30:34it was joe bugle that gave him the nickname hogs joe bugle uh really earned the title of boss hog
30:40one day he said let's go you hogs down here let's hit the sled i said come on you hog
30:44let's get
30:45down here and they kind of got a kick out of it
30:59tough tough mental offensive line
31:05they played physical nasty football in your face football
31:10there are the butchers and where are the hogs the thing they forgot is before a
31:14hog goes to the butcher somebody got to kill it
31:17membership in the hogs was a privileged thing and despite playing in dc campaigning wasn't allowed
31:25guys through the key block i wanted to be a part of it hey you gotta be an old lineman
31:30before you can
31:31be a hog you know hey guys can i get in no get out of here they don't even do
31:36it in a nice way they
31:37just tell you no you can't be a hog it hurt riggins has been named an honorary groundhog
31:50you couldn't become a hog unless you were john riggins
31:58he had just this perfect personality to make the joe gibbs offense that offensive line go
32:04i guess he was the sizzle and the bacon to the hogs that means anything
32:11the guy was 235 pounds i mean he'd knock you around like a 10 pin in a bowling
32:18he was so loved by the hogs they knew if they could just maybe hold that block just a
32:24tenth of a second longer john was going to get through it i left tight wing 70 chip one way
32:29ready
32:29the hogs signature play won them super bowl 17. good hole he's got the first down to the 40 he's
32:35gone he's gone push down washington redskins
32:42hogs was special because think about it nobody ever talked about the working man you looked at
32:47those five guys and you thought i could picture them in a big mud wallow and somebody out throwing
32:53a pail of garbage into the mug wall five six or seven i'm getting around
33:00our number three nickname also gave birth to a subspecies the hoggettes
33:08now they had a good marketing guy we looked up in the stands and saw what we heard were very
33:14successful businessmen up there cross-dressing i'm a retired naval officer i worked for the department
33:19of energy i worked for the u.s postal service and finance to this day you can go and see
33:25growing
33:25men uh with uh pix newt masks on i thought when we retired that these guys would would hang it
33:31up
33:31but they obviously love that cross dress
33:38the hogs are the largest heaviest ugliest set of men i've ever seen in my life
33:47that's kind of offensive i don't think they were the ugliest man and they prided the outside
33:53you hear a lot of these uh nicknames of perfect people they hated that they really did but the
33:59hogs the guys embraced it if i was people would still be talking about the hogs in 2007 i would
34:06have
34:06just said no way
34:09the top 10 nicknames what goes up must come down hard the idea of a defense is to bring
34:17someone physically down as fast as you can and a curtain falling is a perfect sort of
34:23meta
34:25i think the boss jerome bettis
34:29big manny he doesn't have a nickname tom brady doesn't have a nickname there aren't any really
34:33good nicknames
34:38you
34:51you
34:52you
34:53you
34:53you
34:57you
34:59you
35:00you
35:03...is to bring someone physically down as fast as you can,
35:08and a curtain falling is a perfect sort of metaphor.
35:18The Steel City is home to the number two nickname of all time,
35:22and it was coined by radio homer Myron Cope.
35:26It's a shovel pass, period, to me!
35:29Myron said, we gotta name these guys something.
35:32They came up with the Body Snatchers was one,
35:35then they had the Anvil Chorus, which was terrible.
35:40Who would even come up with that?
35:44That's a stupid nickname.
35:49...the Steel Curtain, and that stuck.
35:52...that has a dark, nasty, Darth Vader-like feel,
35:56it's with the Steel Curtain.
35:58It was really the time later, it was the Iron Curtain.
36:03Obviously, we knew what that was in the 60s and 70s.
36:06Churchill talked about there was an Iron Curtain
36:09coming down over Eastern Europe,
36:10referring to the Soviet Union.
36:12The Steel Curtain, and that team, and that city,
36:15that was one of those moments in time
36:18when everything came together.
36:23The Steelers not only won four Super Bowls in six years,
36:27they also led the league in alternative nicknames.
36:30The fans had as many great nicknames as the team itself.
36:34The Steel Curtain is great,
36:35but you've got Jack Hamm's Dobraschunka,
36:38the Big Ham,
36:39Rocky's Flying Squirrels,
36:41Franco's Italian Army,
36:43Jarella's Gorillas.
36:44Bob Bubenik, the man in the gorilla suit,
36:47leads another faction of Steeler fans
36:49who have made place kicker Roy Jarella their hero.
36:52Whoever that visiting team was,
36:53they weren't just playing the Steelers that day,
36:55they were playing Pittsburgh.
36:5750,000 people standing in a party.
36:59There were a few games where I thought,
37:01if we don't win this game,
37:03the fans are going to come out on the field
37:04and do it for us.
37:07Two tight ends!
37:09Tight eye left!
37:10Tight end off!
37:11Tight end off!
37:12Fans may have fueled the fire,
37:14but the most important raw material
37:16in the Steel Curtain was mean Joe Green.
37:20Joe Green,
37:21throws through to nail,
37:22Staubach, and caused a fumble.
37:24Joe Green hated to lose football games
37:27more than he enjoyed winning.
37:30Joe could do just about anything
37:32he wants to do on a football field.
37:33I mean, he just actually was unstoppable.
37:37It had a real nasty personality.
37:39I know personally,
37:40I'm probably the nicest guy
37:41that could possibly play the game.
37:43Serious.
37:45You don't believe that, huh?
37:47As he kicks the guy in the nuts.
37:50That's funny.
37:53Joe, in my opinion,
37:55was the player of the decade.
37:59That is some kind of meat grinder
38:01that's rolling through the NFL.
38:04They are the number two nickname of all time
38:06and possibly the number one defense
38:09in NFL history.
38:10But there's no consensus
38:12on who comprised the Steel Curtain.
38:14On the wall,
38:15they had a large, huge banner
38:17that hung during that period.
38:19And it said the Steel Curtain.
38:21And it had just the four defensive linemen on it.
38:24Defense came to the rescue
38:26as the real Steel Curtain dropped into place.
38:29The Steel Curtain
38:30is Elsie, Joe Green,
38:33Ernie Holmes,
38:34and yours truly.
38:35And that's what it was.
38:37You can't change it.
38:38You can't deny it.
38:39I don't want to offend Dwight
38:42and Ernie.
38:43That's ridiculous.
38:45There's Mel Blunt, Donnie Shell,
38:47Jack Lambert, Jack Hamm.
38:49Come on.
38:51And Joe, I'm assuming
38:52that I don't respect
38:54their Steel Curtain name,
38:55but I think we all are
38:57the Steel Curtain.
38:58Stabler is back to throw.
38:59And it is intercepted.
39:01When I think of the Steel Curtain,
39:03I have to think of Lambert.
39:04Jack Hamm is part of that.
39:06Mel Blunt is part of that.
39:08Intercepted.
39:08Here we come.
39:09Mel Blunt.
39:09Those are three Hall of Famers
39:11that were a big part of that defense.
39:12You know, they had a great front four.
39:13They had great safety.
39:14They had great linebackers.
39:15You know, it was really the defense.
39:18Steelers are so great
39:19and they play the best of all.
39:23It's just shut out
39:25in nine games all week.
39:29Number one!
39:31Number one!
39:32It was not so much what we did,
39:34it was the way we did it.
39:36And we kicked your ass.
39:38Coming up next,
39:39we reveal the number one team
39:41nickname of all time,
39:48America's Team.
39:50Beginning in 1965,
39:53the Dallas Cowboys made the playoffs
39:55in 13 out of 14 years.
39:57Back then,
39:58their nickname was
39:59Next Year's Champs
40:01because most seasons
40:02ended in disappointment.
40:03He's got the quarterback
40:04and he's able to cut down
40:06and the Tigers are out in front.
40:10Oh, bless his heart.
40:12He's got to be
40:12the sickest man in America.
40:14So after another
40:15close call in 1978,
40:18a young NFL Films producer
40:20wasn't willing to tell
40:21the same old
40:23story.
40:24I think the disappointment
40:25of that Steeler loss
40:27made me look
40:28in a different direction
40:29than just a standard highlight.
40:30If you go through the season,
40:32show the offense, defense,
40:33I said there's got to be
40:34something more
40:34to take this thing
40:35out of this loss.
40:36When we did
40:37highlight films then,
40:39they were usually
40:40entitled more
40:41toward what the season
40:42was about.
40:42You know,
40:43gateway to greatness,
40:44on the edge of greatness.
40:46It was the dawn
40:47of a new season
40:48for the Dallas Cowboys.
40:49And what Bob saw
40:50was, you know,
40:51every place the Cowboys played,
40:52it really was a team
40:54that had fans
40:55on almost every stadium.
40:56I saw all these fans
40:58in away stadiums.
40:59Am I never won?
41:01Hey, they're the most
41:01popular team
41:02in the country.
41:03How can I use that?
41:05Why don't we call them
41:06America's Team?
41:07They appear on television
41:09so often
41:10that their faces
41:11are as familiar
41:12to the public
41:13as presidents
41:14and movie stars.
41:17They are the Dallas Cowboys,
41:21America's Team.
41:28The name America's Team
41:30was a Madison Avenue moniker
41:32deep in the heart of Texas.
41:34And it spread across the land
41:36because they were
41:37the league's most popular team
41:38and featured
41:39the most popular player.
41:44Not only were they
41:45America's team,
41:46but they had Captain America,
41:47the most glamorous player
41:48in pro football
41:49and Roger Stalbeck.
41:50Character,
41:51clean cut,
41:52you know,
41:52he had it all.
41:53You wanted your daughter
41:54to marry a Roger Stalbeck.
41:56You know,
41:57I enjoy sex
41:57as much as Joe Namor.
41:59Only I do
42:00with one girl.
42:01There was something
42:02about that star
42:03that kind of
42:05symbolized America.
42:07What can you say?
42:08This is complete,
42:09total,
42:09utter domination.
42:11We all thought
42:12it was great.
42:13Tom Landry hated it.
42:14It just painted
42:15a big bullseye
42:16on the forehead
42:17of every Cowboy player.
42:19It probably made it
42:19tougher for the Cowboys.
42:21Everybody looks up
42:22to this team,
42:22so if they're looking
42:23up to this team,
42:23let's knock them down
42:24on a pig.
42:25The Dolphins would say,
42:26wait a minute,
42:27we had a perfect season here.
42:29Why aren't we America's team?
42:30The Steelers would say,
42:31we're better than them.
42:32Why aren't we America's team?
42:33It was disrespectful
42:34to the rest of the league
42:35and guys resented it.
42:37Hey,
42:37we just chopped liver
42:38down here in Houston.
42:40What the hell?
42:43Yeah,
42:44you are chopped liver
42:45in Houston.
42:46How about you make
42:47a Super Bowl
42:47once in a while?
42:50Well,
42:50like,
42:50oh,
42:50God,
42:51we must kiss
42:51the garbage
42:52before we go out here.
42:58People hated us
42:59or loved us,
43:01but you had an opinion.
43:02Very rarely do you meet somebody
43:03and say,
43:03what do you think
43:04about the Cowboys?
43:06They're okay.
43:07You either love them.
43:08That's exactly
43:08what I think about
43:43and say,
43:49sure,
43:49was it used in the 90s?
43:51Yeah, was it used in the 80s? No.
43:52We weren't called America's team when we were 1-15.
43:55If you're not successful, America's team doesn't fit, right?
43:58America doesn't want that team that's losing.
44:01It's amazing, because they're still one of the most popular teams.
44:06So many Cowboys fans.
44:08Still.
44:09And they haven't won anything in 30 years.
44:11So even that is kind of a mess that's busted.
44:16They just had the most watched regular season game ever
44:20during the losing season.
44:25Sales tell you who is America's team.
44:28For so many years running, the Dallas Cowboys led the nation in sales.
44:35World champions!
44:37World champions!
44:39It may be the most enduring of them all,
44:42but our number one nickname had humble beginnings.
44:45It meant nothing more to me than,
44:49hey, this is a catchy highlight title.
44:53I never knew that the Cowboys would take this,
44:55that it would last so long.
44:57It still lives on.
44:59Tech Schramm is long gone.
45:00Tom Landry is long gone.
45:01Texas Stadium will soon be long gone.
45:03And the Cowboys have taken the lead!
45:04But yet, they still talk about America's team.
45:10Not every team on our list has a Super Bowl ring,
45:13but their nicknames have granted them football immortality.
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