In a project that was done in conjunction with the celebration of the 25th anniversary of their newspaper, USA Today put together a list of the 25 greatest football players of the USA Today era.
Hilarity ensues.
They list Terry Bradshaw at #23. Terry Bradshaw's stats during the USA Today era are as follows:
10 games, 132 completions, 248 attempts, 53.2% completion rate, 1845 yards, 19 TD, 11 INT
That's it. He played 9 games in 1982, the first year that USA Today was available on newsstands, and 1 game in 1983. Then he retired. This was, apparently, good enough to get him on this list.
The other thing about this list that's just mind-numbingly stupid is this. . .check out how many wide receivers are on the list. Go ahead, I'll wait while you count them up.
Okay, done waiting. You should be through by now anyway, since the total number of wide receivers on the list is 1. Now, obviously Jerry Rice is a no-brainer, but come on. . .you're telling me that he's the only receiver worthy of making a list of the best players of the best 25 years?
No Cris Carter?
No Marvin Harrison?
No Cris Carter?
No Art Monk?
No Cris Carter?
No Steve Largent?
No Cris Carter?
No Randy Moss?
No Cris Carter?
No Tim Brown?
No Cris Carter? Really? Seriously?
In response, Pro Football Talk is in the process of making their own list. Not surprisingly, it's far superior to the USA Today list. They've revealed all but their top 2 to this point, and if you look at the list, it's pretty obvious who those top 2 guys are going to be. (Here's a hint. . .their names rhyme with "Larry Tice" and "Don Melway.") It's amazing what happens when you actually put a little research into a project like this. PFT obviously did. USA Today obviously did not.