Every
American professional sport has had its particular decade of
glory...
Many say that
Major League Baseball was at its best during the 1950s. The
NBA, by contrast, undoubtedly reached an apex in the 80s. And,
when you consider the NFL, either the AFL/NFL days of the 1960s
or the pass-happy 80s could arguably be identified as the top
era.
Each of these
great periods was defined by the championship-caliber teams
that ruled the era. Looking at the history of the NFL, whether
you're a fan of any decade, no time was as colorful, eccentric,
harsh and entertaining as the NFL in the 70s. And that is due
in part to the rivalry that existed in the mid-70s between the
Oakland Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
One of the key
things that made the NFL great during those days was the characters
that populated the league. The battles between the NFL Players
Association and NFL ownership -- for better or worse -- were
not yet having a major impact upon the game; and although the
marriage between the NFL and network television had been consummated,
the country still was not fully attuned to the wackiness that
existed in the locker rooms of the NFL.
Roy Blount Jr.,
then a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, took on the mission
of peering into the eyes of the animals within the game by spending
an entire season alongside the colorful characters of the 1973-74
Pittsburgh Steelers.
By utilizing "a
lot of heavy-duty listening," Blount, Jr. chronicled players'
aggression, the locker room wackiness, race relations, and the
economic conditions surrounding the Steelers and the city of
Pittsburgh with an incredible amount of depth and wit, from
the start of the NFL Draft. He also was able to give readers
a unique inside view of a team that was fighting to achieve
the ultimate goal -- a Super Bowl ring that would be the first
for a beloved franchise.
In the new introduction
that accompanied the 2004 reissue of his book "About Three
Bricks Shy...And the Load Was Filled." Blount Jr. stated,
"Only now can we realize how irreproducible this book is...You
had to have great characters who were athletes rather than mounds
of flesh, and who were funny without being derivative; and you
also had to have the right--which is to say, exploitative--economic
conditions. . . . So it was a rare moment in history that I
had the great fortune to be a tangential part of."
Following his
appearance as a panelist on the NPR radio show "Wait, Wait,
Don't Tell Me." at the newly renovated Memorial Hall on
UNC campus,.I caught up with Blount Jr. -- who is far better
known for his Southern writing and the authoring of seventeen
books. In a short interview, I asked him a few questions about
the NFL, the book, and why he chose the Pittsburgh Steelers
as the subject for his book in 1973.
BD:
Roy, this past year was the 30th Anniversary of your
legendary book on the 1974 Pittsburgh Steelers, "About
Three Bricks Shy...And the Load Filled Up." Do you still
enjoy the NFL as much as you did then?
Blount
Jr.: Well, when I wrote the book, I was in my
30's. I was also writing for Sports Illustrated in the mid-70s,
which was a magic time for both the magazine and the sports
world. So, it was a much different time to enjoy the NFL because
the personalities, access, and issues that were surrounding
the game were different. The NFL nowadays is much more corporate.
It's less fun.
BD:
What's makes it less fun?
Blount
Jr.: The guys in the NFL back then were not much
different than ordinary people. Look at the guys now...They're
too buffed up...They have $40 million dollar contracts. How
you can you relate to them?
Back then, you
could size up to a guy, and he could be the same size of your
uncle or that neighbor that you knew. They were just ordinary
guys. So, it's a lot different for me now.
But do I enjoy
it? Yeah...I do. My son is a huge Steelers fan, and I still
watch Steeler games with him. To let you know, I do watch the
Steeler games, I wear my Mel Blount #47 jersey that Mel gave
to me...It finally fits me now. It was always too big because
it was oversized to fit shoulder pads, but I fill that out with
my weight now.
BD:
What inspired you to portray the Steelers for a season?
Blount
Jr.: At the time I was writing a lot about the
NFL for Sports Illustrated. One night, a group of us writers
and editors were in a bar in New York City, and someone suggested
that I spend a season with a football team. I laughed it off
at first, but I thought it was a good idea because no one had
really done it before. Plus, the NFL was so colorful then.
Now, everyone
at SI loved the Raiders…And for a good reason…They
were colorful in their own way. I understood that. But I had
already done a story on the Steelers. I loved the Rooneys...Art
Rooney walked to the stadium for every game..The family was
great and each person cared for not only the game, but also
was heavily involved with the community.
The immediate
choice would be to choose a team from New York or LA. Yet, those
teams were in major media markets. In order to create the story,
the players had to be accessible, so that knocked out those
two cities.
Also, the season
before had just seen the "Immaculate Reception" between
Terry Bradshaw and Franco Harris. So, there was a lot of magic
going on with the organization. The players were all colorful,
eccentric, and they were deeply rooted into Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh
was a great town with the blue collar workers, the small bars,
and the local pride they had for the team and their city. It
was just a great setting for a fun team.
BD:
Within that team, did you have a favorite guy on the
team that stuck out for you?
Blount
Jr.: There were way too many great characters
on that team to single one out. That team had Frenchy Fuqua,
Dwight White, LC Greenwood, Joe Greene, Andy Russell. There
were so many characters. They were wild, loose, and fun. I couldn't
single one out. Every player was colorful and each one was a
loose individual in his own way.
BD:
I'm assuming that's why you went with "About Three
Bricks Shy of a Load.."?
Blount
Jr.: Craig Hanneman, a nose guard/ defensive tackle
out of Oregon State, told me that the guys on that team "were
crazy...so crazy that they were about three bricks shy of a
load."
So, it was an
apt title for it because everyone was so eccentric on that team.
Personally, I
wanted something different, or at least shorten it to "Three
Bricks Shy of a Load." But the publisher was set on "About
Three Bricks Shy...And the Load Filled Up." with the thirtieth
anniversary. They did it for other purposes.
I always liked
that "Three Bricks Shy..." title, that everyone refers
to, but that anniversary title was the publishers choice.
BD:
You're known as one of the best sportswriters ever at SI,
and as a fan of your columns in the 70s...I'll support that
statement wholeheartedly. Why don't we see much of your sportswriting
anymore?
Blount
Jr.: At 63, I have too much pride now. To be in
a locker room with a 23 year old who is earning $14 million
a year and making you wait for an interview while he's drying
off his feet...That requires too much humility than I can muster.
There are just too many other interests out there now.
However, it was
great for me at that time. I was able to see a lot of the country.
And I was able to meet some great people across the country.
Like when I wrote a Sports Illustrated article on Vida Blue
called "Humming a Rhapsody Blue." His high school
football coach from Mansfield, Louisiana, and the people from
that community were absolutely and incredibly great people.
Those are great
people that you get to meet because of sportswriting. That was
great...If it weren't for sportswriting, I wouldn't have seen
a lot of the country to meet those people. BD: Roy, thanks a
lot...You're one helluva writer. I appreciate the talk.
Blount
Jr.: Thank you.
BD
Bret Dougherty
is an alum and completed his Master's degree at UNC-Chapel Hill.
He is a host of WXYC FM 89.3 Chapel Hill 'SportsRap' and a WXYC
music show called 'Fifteen Feet and In' that can be streamed
at www.wxyc.org.
Visit his website at www.bretdougherty.com
and his blog, "The IronDog Chronicles, which can be reached
at www.irondogchronicles.com.
He may be reached at bret.dougherty@gmail.com. |
