Georgia v. Tennessee

I've been so busy I almost forgot the game was today. That off week threw me for a loop. I'm saving my vintage Bulldog cards for the games against Florida, Auburn and Ga. Tech, so here's a couple of old Vol cards today.

Hey, that's a Colt, not a Vol. Don't worry, he played for Tennessee. Bert Rechichar was drafted by the Browns in 1952 and moved on to the Colts the next year. While the position on the card says halfback, Bert was more of a two way player. Make that a three way player actually, as he logged time on offense, defense and special teams. His best position was at defensive back, where he picked off 31 passes in his career.

See, I told you he played for Tennessee. You just have to check the back. While D-back was his primary position, he also did a lot of kicking for the Colts. He had a leg, too. In his first field goal attempt in 1953 he kicked one 56 yards so set the distance record in the NFL. This record stood until Tom Dempsey kicked a 63 yarder in 1970. His leg was strong but not too accurate. He kicked a 91% clip on extra points but was only 31 for 88 on field goal attempts. He made up for it with his play of defense though as he was a three time pro bowler.

Here's Bert's 1956 Topps card, look familiar? Bowman shoulda sued even though they had been bought by Topps already. Topps did make one signifigant change to the card and they stuffed the frot of Bert's pants with about three rolls of toilet paper. Topps wanted everyone to know they had the manliest cards around.

Here's the back of the '56 card, a pretty tight design if you ask me. Bio, stats, cartoon and a nice big number with a football around it. Backs like this is why Topps keeps mining their old sets for designs. The Topps card still says halback as the position, but you'll notice they put his kicking stats on the back. Bert never distinguished himself on offense as far as his stats were concerned. He caught 7 passes for three touchdowns, but his only rushing attempt went for a loss of one. The text talks about his "amazing kicking accuracy (35%??) and the fact that he was in the Cleveland Indians farm system for a while. If things had gone a little differently, David of Tribe Cards might be after Bert's cards instead. The cartoon featuring "Hoppy" Dave Middleton gave me a good chuckle.

Ok, that's enough love for Tennessee, go out and KILL 'em Dawgs!
WOOFWOOFWOOFWOOFWOOF!

UPDATE: Good home victory against a rival. The penalties are getting ridiculous. We need to fix that against Vandy next week, because the schedule is brutal after that. As for tonight's game, GO LSU!!!