Posts Tagged ‘riggo’

36-Year-Old John Riggins Held Out (Successfully) For More Money in 1985

In this day in age when running backs are considered over the hill at 30, when salary caps restrict teams from signing core players/fan favorites (see Alexander, Lorenzo) it’s hard to imagine a team negotiating with a 36 year old running back with a bad back and 2 bad hips. However, that’s exactly what the Redskins did with future Hall of Fame Running Back John Riggins during training camp in 1985. The 17 day holdout would result in Riggins receiving the largest 1 year contract in the history on the NFL for a running back, $825,000…not exactly chump change 28 years ago. To recap…hold-out running back, 36 yrs old, bad back and hips…but wait there’s more!!!

Riggins was just 3 weeks removed from an arrest for being drunk-in-public in Reston, VA. The drunk-in-public charge came just a few months after the famous “loosen up, Sandy baby, you’re too tight” comment to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor at a black tie Congress dinner. Riggins quieted up after he blurted that comment…as he passed out under the dinner table. Now we’re dealing with a broken down running back with a drinking problem!!!

You have to admit that Riggins had a set of brass balls on him. While he had a nice season in 1984 (1,239 yds rushing & 14 TD’s), age and injury were clearly stacked against him. In addition, you had the drinking issues along with the fact that the Redskins had traded for George Rogers the previous off season. Rogers was just 27 years old and had accumulated 4,267 yards rushing in 4 seasons. Riggins held out while his chosen replacement was learning the offense.

In the end Riggins had the only ally he needed on his side, Head Coach Joe Gibbs. Gibbs was loyal to Riggins and convinced Jack Kent Cooke to open the checkbook one more time for the Diesel. The 1985 season would be Riggins last season in the NFL. Riggo played in 12 games, starting 11 and rushed for 677 yards and 8TD’s.

The full article that appeared in the August 26, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated features many more nuggets including Riggins saying “I’ve been embarrassed and humiliated by the boners I’ve pulled”. Oh Riggo…you were one of a kind.

Cheers and Hail

The Ballad of Big John (Riggins)

I first heard this song on WPRW on the AM radio of my parents car way back in the day. Over the years I had randomly searched for the tune thru Google & Youtube but never had any luck. Truthfully, my memories had failed me and I thought the song had been about Dave Butz and I thought the hook was “Big Bad Butz”. Thus the reason I never found the song. Luckily, Redskins fan Brendan Severo (@MWCRedskin) tweeted out a link to this video. I have transcribed the words below…I love this song and I’m glad I now have my memory straight.

Ps…Good luck getting this song out your head, your welcome. FP

Big John, Big John

From Deep in the heartlands where the buffalo roam
Came an American Legend called Centralia his home
He stood 6’2’’ weighed 245
Folks say he was the fastest white man alive
Big John

Big John, Big John

Well the playoffs would start & expectations was high
He went in Joe Gibbs office looked him square in the eye
Lookie here Joe I plan on winning it all
& the only way to do it is by giving the ball
To Big John

Big John, Big John

Well he ran thru the Lions like crap thru a goose
& what they did to Minnesota some called it abuse
The chant “we want Dallas” started shaking the stands
Big John didn’t disappoint none of the fans
Behind Grimm & Jacoby, Bostic & Starke
He stomped on them Cowpokes like it was a walk in the park
One thing stood between Big John & his goal
Had to Skin him some Dolphins in the ultimate bowl

Big John, Big John

We was trailing by 4 with time running out
Coach sent in a play that left little doubt
He called 70 Chip & Didier went in motion
Then he ran the other way, he caused a big commotion
Big John took the ball bust out like a torpedo
Swatted that fella McNeil like he was a mosquito
Well he scored a touchdown & we won the game
& Big John kept running right to the Hall of Fame

Big John, Big John

Cheers and Hail

Acting Like Redskins

I think there’s an old saying that all actors want to be athletes and all athletes want to be actors. Sometimes, paths are crossed and quite frankly the term “keep your day job” almost always applies. Here’s a list of current and former Redskins who’ve dabbled in acting.

Joe Theismann

JT’s acting credits include ‘BJ and the Bear’ ‘The Man from Left Field’ ‘Sam Marlow, Private Eye’ and ‘Cannonball Run II’. He’s also appeared as himself in lots of TV shows including a recent episode of ‘Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives’.

John Riggins

Riggo actually committed himself to building an acting career which peaked on a 3 episode stint on ‘Guiding Light’. Riggins also appeared in an episode of ‘Law & Order’ and ‘1st & Ten’. Riggo showed his acting versatility by playing a football player by the name “L. David Riggins” in the later show.

Art Monk

Monk played himself in the major motion picture ‘Jerry Maguire’. Art’s entire dialogue: “Hey Rod, How you doing, man? Tough one out there.” Unfortunately, all this does is remind me that Monk played for the Eagles. Around the 8:25 mark here.

Chris Cooley, Todd Yoder & Lindsay Czarniak

All three appeared in the movie ‘Ghosts Don’t Exist’ in which Cooley played Deputy Dan and doubled as the executive producer.

George Michael

George obviously didn’t play for the Redskins but he hosted several Redskins related shows. George was in ‘8 Seconds’ ‘Tin Cup’ and ‘Silence of the Lambs’.

Jason Fabini

The former Redskins offensive lineman appeared in the movie ‘Made’ with Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau.

Dana Stubblefield

The original “Albert Haynesworth” played a character named the Alamo in the movie ‘Reindeer Games’.

Frank Herzog

For me, Herzog will always be the voice for the Washington Redskins. But, after being relieved of those duties, Frank appeared in ‘Step Up’ ‘State of Play’ and ‘National Treasure’.

Terry Crews

Crews played for the Redskins in 1995 and he’s carved out the most successful acting resume among all current and former players. Crews has over 62 acting credits on IMDB including roles in ‘Bridesmaids’ and ‘The Expendables’. Correction, as one reader pointer out Crews did not play the role of ‘Terry Tate, Office Linebacker’. I’m going to leave up the clip because it’s awesome.

Cheers and Hail

Sell Crazy Someplace Else, We’re All Stocked Up Here

Not once, but on multiple occasions today Redskins fans called in to the LaVar & Dukes show to proclaim Tim Hightower as a “faster John Riggins“. One caller went so far as to say Hightower was better than Riggins. Some Redskins fans never cease to amaze me…they’re ready to put a guy in the Ring of Honor after 10 carries and 44 yards, in a preseason game. I can understand why Chad Dukes couldn’t take listening to that nonsense any longer.

I’ll admit that I’m pretty excited about Hightower’s potential in this offense as well. He seems to be a great fit and he’s blessed with a nice combination of power and speed. I’m also educated enough to realize that we traded a late round pick and a part-time 35 yr old defensive end for him. The Cardinals were going to cut Hightower, that’s a fact. Hightower was drafted in the 5th round, that’s a fact. Hightower has a fumbling problem, that’s a fact. Can we let this guy get a few regular season games under his belt before we start comparing him to a Hall of Famer who’s the franchise’s greatest running back of all-time?

For the record, it’s a myth that John Riggins didn’t have speed. Riggins was a 2-time Kansas State champion in the 100 yard dash, setting a state record with a time of 9.7 seconds. In comparison, Hightower had a personal best time of 4.59 seconds in the 40 yd dash at his combine. I guess folks remember Riggo as a “3 yards and a cloud of dust” type runner…but if Riggo broke one to the outside he was hard to catch.

BTW, when you search for Tim Hightower in google search the first keyword to pop up is fumble. He’s had 10 fumbles in the past 2 seasons. The Redskins and Hightower may be downplaying those fumbles but I’m telling you right now, it’s a problem.

Cheers and Hail

Riggo & I Have Something In Common

He’ll always be my favorite, always.

Cheers and Hail

Margaret & Riggo

I’ve been a Redskins fan my whole life but the truth of the matter is I had no choice, I was born and raised to be this way. Most of it comes from my grandmother, the great Margaret Pearson or Nanny as I affectionately called her. Nanny had a bar in Herndon back in the day and lots of former Redskins utilized Margaret’s Inn as their watering hole. One of the players that frequented Margaret’s Inn was John Riggins. Riggo is/was my favorite player of all-time and I always enjoyed listening to Nanny tell Riggo stories. Riggo actually came to visit my grandmother in the last few days before she retired…and in classic Riggo fashion asked for a 6-pack to go.

It was sometime in the later years of my Nanny’s life that I was sitting with her playing cards and we were drinking beers…yep that’s the way we rolled. Nanny looked over at the telephone hanging on the wall and said “I bet you one G-damn thing, if I had John Riggins number he’d meet us out for a night on the town any old time.” Despite everything I’d known about my grandmother’s relationship with Riggo, I kind of blew that off. However, I’m pretty certain now that she was right. You see, there was no Twitter or facebook back in those days…hell, cellphones weren’t even common. So, it came as a suprise to me that nearly 30 years later, Riggo sent me this tweet (this is from Aug of 2009):

That’s exactly right, if you’ve ever set foot in the Ice House in Herndon, VA…then you’ve been to Margaret’s Inn. A place where Hall of Famers like Charley Taylor and John Riggins would drink beers and shoot the shit. I was much to young to have remembered her place, let alone have a beer there. On the day of Nanny’s funeral my wife and I snuck down to the Ice House (which was just a block away from the funeral home) to grab a beer. Unfortunately, it was closed…I still have yet to tilt one back in Nanny’s old establishment, it’s on my bucket list. Maybe Riggo will meet me there because the more things change, the more they stay the same. On the very night Riggo sent me the above tweet I asked him what he was drinking, his response below:

Cheers and Hail