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Toward the End: Readings, Writings, Football
Scott’s Bud Wilkinson: A Late B(l)oomer of a Book
John Scott is anything but a slow study yet it took him years to complete his marvelous archetype of learned sports biography. He began Bud Wilkinson and the Rise of Oklahoma Football in 1986. It wasn’t published until 2021. Do the math. It took Michelangelo less time...
Mayfield Memorandum 32: NFL ain’t Bean Bags
Before he unceremoniously dumped the Oklahoma Sooners for USC and the lure of LaLa Land, Lincoln Riley had become known as a Quarterback Whisperer. Usually if a person works in Oklahoma, he is more likely to be known as a Horse Whisper. In a sense, Riley was. He...
Mayfield Memorandum 31: Sitting in Judgment
Photo by Connor Betts on Unsplash The Supreme Court of the NFL is the General Manager's Office The National Football League can appear a heartless realm: From teams that did face-plants short of even the shallow end of NFL mediocrity to those who embarrassingly...
Mayfield Memorandum 30: When Winning=Losing
National Football League coaches like to claim that their goal is to put their teams and players in situations that provide them the best opportunity to succeed. But this isn’t always true. Take the Cleveland Browns. (Please!) They beat Cincinnati 21-16 on Sunday at...
Winter Comes to the Lion of the O-Line
Before he ascended into the heaven that is the Cleveland Browns radio broadcast booth, Doug Dieken played a hallowed position: Left tackle. It is the one spot along the offensive line where anonymity can be turned into celebrity if a man is good enough and tough...
Mayfield Memorandum 29: A Season of Aughts
As the Cleveland Browns were solidifying their claim as the worst team in the best division—AFC North—of the National Football League, quarterback Baker Mayfield’s nightmarish performance was earning him a passer rating of 0.0 in a 26-14 loss at Pittsburgh. If QB...
Mayfield Memorandum 28: No Quarter Given
Photo by Vitolda Klein on Unsplash What it must feel like to be Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield After yet another display of his shortcomings, Baker Mayfield had to have realized the sporting commentariat would come for him hammer and tongs. Collecting a...
Mayfield Memorandum 27: Bad Ending Redux
The cosmic disconnect between the games of football that two quarterbacks—Baker Mayfield and Aaron Rodgers—played could not have been more extraordinary. On Christmas Day, it became such a physical presence that it could not be ignored. And, of course, national TV...
Mayfield Memorandum 26: An Honest President!
Merry Christmas, Mr. President. No, not the Joes—not Biden nor Manchin (the West Virginia senator who behaves as if someone elected himpresident). As far as I’m concerned, the one person who has demonstrated the greatest leadership and most presidential qualities this...
Mayfield Memorandum 25: The Browns are 7-7???
QB3 Nick Mullens wobbled early but stayed on his feet as the 32nd starting quarterback since the Cleveland Browns were rechristened in 1999. He might have been elevated to sainthood—St. Nick does have a ring to it—had he not failed to notice the black cloud. That’s an...