At Pinnacle, Parcells Notes the First Time

After the Super Bowl victory had been certified with a Gatorade shower, Bill Parcells was asked what thoughts he had as the final seconds ticked away Sunday at the Rose Bowl.

“I don’t want to sound dramatic, but this is the honest truth,” the coach of the New York Giants said. “With about a minute to go, I thought back to my first game at Hastings (Neb.) College in 1964. We were playing Colorado School of Mines. It was my first coaching job. We won, 24-0. I might be wrong on the score, but I don’t think so. Defensive coaches remember shutouts.

“I thought about that and about how the whole stadium at Hastings would fit into about half a section at the Rose Bowl.”

Add Parcells: In his first start as coach of the Giants in 1983, they lost to the Rams, 16-6, at East Rutherford, N.J.

The next day, he appeared at a press conference in the same clothes he had worn Sunday. He had been up all night.

“I watched the film twice,” he said. “Every man, every play. I yelled and screamed a few times.”

What did he learn?

“I’ve heard a lot of people say you can learn something from losing. I never learn a thing,” he said.

The Giants went 3-12-1 that year.

Note: Lawrence Taylor twice was penalized for unnecessary roughness in the game. When he threw a tantrum after one call, Parcells had to remove him.

Sam Huff, who played for the NFL champion Giants of 1956, told Newsday:

“I was talking with Lawrence Taylor a few days ago, and one of the things we talked about were the frustrations of defensive players. One of the worst of those is when a quarterback comes out of his pocket. He runs at you and then he slides. Slides. What the hell is that? If he’s got the guts to come out of the pocket, he should have the guts to take a hit like a man.”

Trivia Time: In the 1940 NFL championship game between the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins, why did the Bears try to convert after the last two touchdowns by passing and running? (Answer below.)

Anybody notice that John Elway was the third straight quarterback from the Class of ’83 to lose in the Super Bowl? He followed Miami’s Dan Marino and New England’s Tony Eason.

The other three from that class are Todd Blackledge at Kansas City, Jim Kelly at Buffalo, and Ken O’Brien with the New York Jets.

Cincinnati Red Manager Pete Rose, after announcing that he would bring coach Tommy Helms in from first base to help him in the dugout, admitted he had reservations about the move. It seems Helms chews tobacco, and Rose expects his shoes will be showered with tobacco juice.

“By the time the season’s over, I’ll probably have cancer of the feet,” Rose said.

Trivia Answer: In Chicago’s 73-0 win, so many balls had been kicked into the stands on extra points, they had run out of footballs.

Quotebook

Bill Sudeck, basketball coach at Case Western Reserve, on why he scheduled his team into five tournaments at the start of the season: “Anytime you put together a two-game winning streak, you get a trophy.”