Lynn Swann for governor
Posted by Moonage on 04 Jan 2006 | Tagged as: Politics
OK, so Trump is out. I got another one that features a well known name. At least in some circles. Mine particularly.
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In 1973, the Cincinnati Bengals were becoming one of my favorite teams. They won their division by going 10-4 and eventually lost to the Miami Dolphins in the playoffs. No big deal, The Dolphins won the Super Bowl. Something happened in 1974 to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Steelers not only won the division, they won the Super Bowl as well. The Bengals, my team, actually beat the Steelers that year. In 1975 the Steelers won both games. I knew it was going to be a short playoff ride. It was. The Steelers won the Super Bowl again. In 1976 the Bengals went 10-4. Not a shabby season at all. They didn’t make the playoffs, the Steelers did. The next season, the Bengals beat the Steelers, but that was the climax to an otherwise forgetful season. The next season was pathetic for the Bengals as my favorite all-time quarterback, Ken Anderson, broke his hand and the Bengals hired a guy named Homer because of that. They didn’t beat the Steelers that year, they didn’t really beat much of anyone except Cleveland. The Steelers won the Super Bowl. ‘79 wasn’t any better. The Bengals finished the season 4-12. They beat the life out of the Steelers once so the season was OK because of that. The Steelers won the Super Bowl. Get the picture? Then, something happened in 1981. The Bengals got new uniforms, got a new attitude, and the rumble in the jungle was on. They actually beat the Steelers TWICE in the same year. The Bengals went to the Super Bowl when it was all said and done.
What happened in 1974 was Lynn Swann joined the Steelers. What happened at the end of 1981 was Lynn Swann wasn’t as effective. What happened in between was:
| YEAR | GAMES | REC | YARDS | AVG | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | 12 | 11 | 208 | 18.9 | 2 |
| 1975 | 14 | 49 | 781 | 15.9 | 11 |
| 1976 | 12 | 28 | 516 | 18.4 | 3 |
| 1977 | 14 | 50 | 789 | 15.8 | 7 |
| 1978 | 16 | 61 | 880 | 14.4 | 11 |
| 1979 | 13 | 41 | 808 | 19.7 | 5 |
| 1980 | 13 | 44 | 710 | 16.1 | 7 |
| 1981 | 13 | 34 | 505 | 14.9 | 5 |
| 1982 | 9 | 18 | 265 | 14.7 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 115 | 336 | 5,462 | 16.3 | 51 |
Four Super Bowls wins, a Super Bowl MVP, All-Pro three times, and NFL’s Man of the Year for community contributions in 1981. Once the Bengals found a way to get him out of the way, the actually won the division and went to the Super Bowl a couple of times themselves. However, I hated to see Lynn Swann retire. At that time, all the dancing and silliness that accompanies every tackle, catch, or rush was unheard of. Football players were nasty mean-spirited dour personalities for the most part. Lynn Swann just seemed like this happy-go-lucky child in the middle of a field of ogres. And he ran around them, jumped over them, and glided into the end-zone like a gazelle ( I’m not the first one to use that adjective ).
Now, he’s back.
Sort of.
He’s been toying with the political arena for some time. I hope he makes the jump. I hope Pittsburgh supports him as he did Pittsburgh for so many years. And, if he does make it. I hope he does for Pennsylvania what he did for the Steelers. If he does that, PA’s OK.
- Technorati Lynn Swann
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