Story time with Uncle Race
Herschel Walker. 1980 true freshman at Georgia
For years ABC has exclusive rights to college football and we got a game of the week and maybe a double header or a regional game. Being on TV meant something. ABC was not owned by Disney or ESPN at the time since ESPN wasn't born until 1979.
ABC loved the Pac 8 and the Big 10, mainly USC, UCLA, Michigan, and Ohio State. Other than Bama the SEC was not the Goliath you know today.
The other leagues broke the monopoly around 1980 when ESPN was born and made their own contracts with other networks. The Supreme Court upheld this in 1984.
Walker was perhaps the greatest running back ever and led Georgia to three straight National Championship bowl games of which they won one. They became must see TV and ESPN needed programming in a huge way. All of a sudden the South was rising. Walker and Georgia played eventual Heisman winner George Rogers and South Carolina in 1980 in what became a huge national game. Shown on ABC
After the 1984 Supreme Court decision in NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma allowed individual schools to negotiate television rights, ESPN began broadcasting live regular-season games during the 1984 season, beginning with a game between BYU and Pittsburgh on September 1, 1984. The first live broadcast of a regular-season night game followed that night, between the Florida Gators, who were ranked number 17, and the Miami Hurricanes, who were ranked number 10.
Now everyone could be on TV but the SEC not only has the ESPN package they have the CBS package.
Georgia basically did nothing between Walker leaving and Kirby Smart but were thought of as a power team.
Once the market started deciding the viewers have decided they like the SEC. ESPN showed a lot of games after 1984 and still cover numerous leagues to this day. The Pac 12 is lucky they even show us at all.
Its the fans that caused the love fest
Comments
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With a few photoshops added in belongs on the front page imo.
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do you remember when little Herschel was pissed off because his older sister would outrun him all the time so he started doing wind sprints every single day on his way to school and back?
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As I re watched it this weekend I found myself skeptical of how much of a fat loser he really was before doing thousands of push ups a day and racing trainsMeek said:do you remember when little Herschel was pissed off because his older sister would outrun him all the time so he started doing wind sprints every single day on his way to school and back?
Its the stuff of legend!
His high school film would close down our recruiting board -
my dad...when he still (barely) had aspirations for my sporting career made me read this issueRaceBannon said:
As I re watched it this weekend I found myself skeptical of how much of a fat loser he really was before doing thousands of push ups a day and racing trainsMeek said:do you remember when little Herschel was pissed off because his older sister would outrun him all the time so he started doing wind sprints every single day on his way to school and back?
Its the stuff of legend!
His high school film would close down our recruiting board
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Every kid growing up wanted #34, and not because of Sweetness.
That dude was a man amongst boys in college. Herschel, Bo and Dupree. Those guys were the best I've seen at the college level. Might throw Dickerson in there too.
That play where Walker runs through and over Bill Bates is amazing, especially considering that Bates was a tough mother fucker. -
I've been a @Swaye lean in the Circle Jerk finals, but damn Story Tim With Uncle Race is good reading. Reminds me of being a young college grad without a care in world waiting on slow dial up and Nestscape to load the week's issue of DFI.
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Wait 'till Uncle Race gets to the Ancient World Series of the Story Tim calendar. You'll get Race's first hand account of the Battle for Thermopylae: find out if there were really 10 million Persian soldiers against a mere 300 Spartans at the Hot Gates. Race was there!YellowSnow said:I've been a @Swaye lean in the Circle Jerk finals, but damn Story Tim With Uncle Race is good reading. Reminds me of being a young college grad without a care in world waiting on slow dial up and Nestscape to load the week's issue of DFI.
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All I know is that the Irish tied the Spartans
And Lambo beat Saban -
And Washington beat Willamette 120-0RaceBannon said:All I know is that the Irish tied the Spartans
And Lambo beat Saban -
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They remind me of Deantae Coopet
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Barry Sanders is the best ball carrier who ever lived. College or NFL. He wasn’t the physical freak that Herschel, Dupree, Campbell, Jim Brown and Bo were, but the bess nonetheless imo.creepycoug said:Every kid growing up wanted #34, and not because of Sweetness.
That dude was a man amongst boys in college. Herschel, Bo and Dupree. Those guys were the best I've seen at the college level. Might throw Dickerson in there too.
That play where Walker runs through and over Bill Bates is amazing, especially considering that Bates was a tough mother fucker. -
DerekJohnson said:
And Washington beat Willamette 120-0RaceBannon said:All I know is that the Irish tied the Spartans
And Lambo beat Saban
That was a GOOD Willamette team that year too. -
#MyBeercatssalemcoog said:DerekJohnson said:
And Washington beat Willamette 120-0RaceBannon said:All I know is that the Irish tied the Spartans
And Lambo beat Saban
That was a GOOD Willamette team that year too.
Pull guard duty at Pearl, than pop off!!! -
I won't argue that. He was amazing. But as you said, those guys had everything except maybe didn't have his ability to make people miss. Different backs. The guys I listed were, as you say, once in 20 years physical freaks.salemcoog said:
Barry Sanders is the best ball carrier who ever lived. College or NFL. He wasn’t the physical freak that Herschel, Dupree, Campbell, Jim Brown and Bo were, but the bess nonetheless imo.creepycoug said:Every kid growing up wanted #34, and not because of Sweetness.
That dude was a man amongst boys in college. Herschel, Bo and Dupree. Those guys were the best I've seen at the college level. Might throw Dickerson in there too.
That play where Walker runs through and over Bill Bates is amazing, especially considering that Bates was a tough mother fucker. -
"uncle" lol
