Football news has dominated the sports world this week, overshadowing baseball’s trading deadline (more on that in a moment), Barry Bonds’ slow crawl toward his ill-gotten home run record, the largest trade for one player in NBA history and a Tour de France that was one of the most shameful displays of out-and-out cheating in modern sports. I wish I could say that preseason excitement – rookie signings, reloaded teams, new coaches and philosophies – is the reason for the focus on pigskin , but the news has mainly centered on Mike Vick’s dog fighting operation, and for good reason – what he is accused of doing is enough to sicken anyone with a conscience.
But almost lost amid the lunacy of Vick’s doings was the passing of the one of the league’s truly great minds, a man some credit as the father of the modern game. Bill Walsh, who changed the look of the league with offensive schemes that had never before been used and inspired a legion of coaching disciples, died this week at the age of 75 after battling leukemia for several years. Walsh created the West Coast offense, an innovation that has become the premier offense in football today, and left his indelible mark on the game despite spending just 10 seasons as the coach of the San Francisco 49ers. But was a decade it was.
In the interest of full disclosure, the 49ers were my first favorite pro sports team. As I grew up, I adopted the usual New Yorkers (Giants, Yankees and Knicks) but when little me first started watching sports, I was drawn to the 49ers. Without even knowing who Walsh was and what he was doing for the game, I loved watching Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Tom Rathman, Roger Craig and the rest of the high-octane Niners’ offense. There wasn’t anything they couldn’t do, and one of the high points of my childhood was watching them win Super Bowl XXIV 55-10 over the Denver Broncos. They were unstoppable, and as I came to understand the game more and more, it became clear that it was Walsh who laid the foundation for success (he had retired prior to Super Bowl XXIV) for the Niners and helped to revolutionize the game.
His offensive schemes, which eventually became known as the West Coast offense (although he reportedly didn’t like the name and rarely used it) actually originated in Cincinnati, where he developed them as an assistant under coach Paul Brown. Utilizing short dropbacks, crossing routes and focusing on the passing attack to set up a rushing game (rather than the other way around, which had been the prevailing wisdom in the NFL), his offense been adopted and molded by most of Walsh’s assistants, creating a hierarchy of some of the league’s biggest names who still swear by Walsh’s ideas. Some of the men who worked directly with him include Jim Fassel, Mike Holmgren, Sam Wyche and Dennis Green, with others influenced include Mike Sherman, Andy Reid, Jon Gruden, Mike Shanahan, Brian Billick and Tony Dungy, among many others.
Walsh is also credited for other modern ideas, including the practice of scripting the first 15 offensive plays of the game (now commonly used), carrying laminated sheets of plays on the sidelines and stressing repetitions in practice. And on top of all of that, Walsh was also one of the biggest proponents of racial equality in the game, establishing the Minority Coaching Fellowship program in 1987 to help black coaches get a foothold in the game. The program was later adopted as a league-wide initiative.
University of Washington coach Tyrone Willingham had this to say to ESPN upon Walsh’s passing: “It’s not just how he prepared his teams and his attention to detail and his training camps that all of football is still emulating. As a minority coach, here is a guy who stood on a table and said, ‘A door should be opened.’ His impact is so far beyond football. He opened a door worldwide that made a better America, not just a better American football.”
Any survey about influential football personnel in the last 30 years would have Walsh at or near the top, and for good reason – as Willingham pointed out, Walsh was more than a coach or a strategist. As the architect of the premier football team of the period, at a time when the league was just beginning to enjoy the national dominance it does today, Walsh realized that his responsibility to the NFL was bigger than scripting plays or working with his quarterback. He wanted to make football better, to serve as a teacher to his players and other coaches and to leave a mark on a game that so many players, including Vick, now take for granted. Contrasted with the daily updates on the Vick investigation and pending trial, the news about Walsh’s passing is a reminder of the good that can come from sports. During a time when so much news coming out of the sports world is bad (the Donaghy/NBA betting scandal, Vick’s dog fighting, Bonds and steroids, contract holdouts and million other tidbits), a celebration of Walsh’s life and contributions should serve to counterbalance some of the negativity. There’s no denying that this is one of the worst periods, ethically speaking, in modern sports, but it’s also worth pointing out when someone goes above and beyond to leave the world a better place. If a coach is supposed to be a mentor, motivator and father all in one, the best thing you can say about Walsh is that he was a consummate coach. As someone who grew up watching sports and admiring his teams, I feel safe saying that he will be missed.
Trade season
Back to baseball, and ignoring Bonds for a moment (there’s a good chance that he’ll break Hammerin’ Hank’s record later this week, after this article has already gone to press, and if he does, we’ll analyze it at a later date), the trade deadline this season was remarkably low-key. After weeks of buildup, only a few big names were on the move, but all the same, three teams still improved dramatically.
The Atlanta Braves set the standard this year, picking up the biggest name on the market (slugging first baseman Mark Teixeira) and adding the second-best reliever available (Octavio Dotel from Kansas City). The addition of Teixeira gives the Braves one of the best lineups in the National League, and Dotel gives them another quality arm in the bullpen. In the wide-open N.L., the Braves transformed themselves into real contenders.
Also making big strides were the Red Sox (adding Eric Gagne gives them one of the scariest bullpens I can remember) and the Padres, who, in a flurry of trades that flew under the radar, deepened their bench (Rob Mackowiak and Morgan Ensberg), added power (Milton Bradley) and a starting catcher (Michael Barrett) while taking little away from their club.
For their part, the Yankees dealt overused Scott Proctor to the Dodgers for young utility infielder Wilson Betemit, who is possible insurance in case Alex Rodriguez skips town. Although I wanted to see them add bullpen depth, I’m glad the Yanks didn’t touch their deep minor league system to rent a player in what’s proving to be their most difficult season in more than decade. In two or three seasons, the Yankees’ rotation will be the envy of the entire league.