Fans Skeptical of Joe Greene
You may have noticed that I love looking back at old newspapers and swimming in the contemporary zeitgeist. One of the joys of this activity is 20-20 hindsight on Steelers history.
I searched for the January 29, 1969 issue of the Pittsburgh Press because this was the day after Chuck Noll was selected by Dan Rooney to be the head coach of the Steelers, and we all know how that turned out. But interestingly, this newspaper issue also turned out to be the one immediately following the NFL draft. Hard to believe, but in those days the draft was held in January just after the Super Bowl. At the current pace, in a few years the draft may be held a week before the start of the season… but I digress.
The paper reported on fan reaction to the drafting of Joe Greene in the first round. I found some of the comments to be oddly familiar.
One guy was incensed that the Steelers bypassed a chance to select Terry Hanratty and instead opted for a no-name defensive lineman. A bus driver commented, “I never heard of him… They had a chance at Hanratty? They didn’t take him?” The Steelers did take Hanratty in the second round, and we know how that worked out too. Nothing against Terry, but choosing him in the first round would have been popular with the fans but a disaster for the Steelers, particularly after another Terry was chosen with the first pick a year later.
Another commented, “Actually, the way the Steelers are going, I’m not surprised at the pick. I would have liked to see them line up a secondary.” No word on if this guy’s name is MWalsh. 🙂
A salesman, perhaps named Malsor, added, “Am I surprised? You better believe it. The sports fans here are so sick at heart that I can’t see this move. Oh well, they didn’t get Paterno either.”
An unnamed stockbroker turned out to be perhaps the wisest of this bunch. “Joe Greene must have been rated pretty good. The scouts from the Steelers haven’t been too good, but I got to go with him. They know more than I do.”
I am happy with the Shazier pick! I was not happy with the Jarvis pick, and his play year one did not alleviate my fears…hopefully that will change.
That fact will not prevent me from tossing around cheap slander at your expense.
WE all have some bad habits. That said, the slander here is appropriate.
Copa, you keep pushing my pic of Johnny going to the Super Bowl down the page. I was really hoping for some complaints. I wanted to join Earl’s exclusive club.
I prefer to look at it symbolically, as JFS being flushed down the loo.
hahahaha, very funny. I love the shazier pick and everyone knows how i feel about j.jones .IMO his ceiling is clark haggans who i believe was a 5th rounder but was a nice fit across from porter. now if worilds turns into porter then if jones turns into haggans we’ll be good. Too bad they didnt ask Malsor how he felt about how they handled the previous year’s CB situation in Free Agency because we could actually be a bona fide Super Bowl contender this year had that been handled correctly..also nobody asked my opinion of signing b gradkowski and then drafting l. jones in the 4t round with more holes on the roster than swiss cheese?