Bud Grant With Four Lombardi Stories

[pbmax]

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/01/31/nfl-mmqb-bud-grant-minnesota-vikings-super-bowl-losses-vince-lombardi-disklike

1. Mike Wright
2. Dale Hackbart
3. Fuzzy Thurston
4. No handshake

[mraynrand]

“I told him, you have to be careful, because as you go along you’re supposed to get a little better,” Grant says, with only a hint of sarcasm. “If you had gone to the Super Bowl this year, then you have to come back next year and go to the Super Bowl again. Don’t do too much the first year or second year.”


That's the ticket - manage expectations.

http://www.ritholtz.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/228533.strip_.gif

[Carolina_Packer]

Those are funny stories. Interesting to hear the perspective of someone who didn't see Lombardi through rose-colored glasses. I always liked Bud, and thought his players probably did, too, which is why he got a lot out of them.

[Patler]

Certainly one of the great head coaches.

Interesting comments about punting, kickoffs and concussions. I like the idea of penalizing the kicking team if they kick it out of the endzone, and I have always like the CFL rule giving the punt returner room to field and return a punt.

I suspect the Lombardi stories have been embellished over time to fit Grant's narrative. Not a slam against Grant, everyone does that, especially in sports. My memory is that Lombardi traded for Thurston from the Colts, and that he had been in Canada (I didn't remember that it was Grant & Winnipeg) before being with the Colts. He was drafted originally by someone else (too lazy to look it up) and missed a year or two due to Army service. Thurston was a member of the Colts championship team in '58, so was one ahead of his Packer team mates in championships won. That was an often-mentioned tidbit of information during the championship years of the '60s, that Thurston had a previous championship.

[ThunderDan]

The anti-Lombardi.

Grant: We got paid. We won. We came back, and we won again and again. But you have to remember one thing: Football is entertainment; it’s not life or death. Once the game is over, you’re already talking about next year and the draft. It’s just entertainment. It’s like going to a play: When it’s over, you walk out the door and it’s over. There are no residuals to it. You’ve got to start all over again. If winning or losing is going to define your life, you’re on a rough road.

[ThunderDan]

More from the article.

Grant: The reason they call it the Super Bowl is because it is one game. If we played three out of five or more, like baseball and hockey and basketball, it’s different. Kansas City beat us in that Super Bowl [IV]. Next year they came here and we beat them handily. I don’t think we were that much better, but if you play a series of games, you get a much better feel. It’s just about when you’re playing your best and when you’re healthy. There’s a lot of luck going into this game.