I was listening to Dick Butkus on Golic and Wingo today and, as usual, he is such a great interviewee.  He is always informative and entertaining.

In any case, he mentioned how Gale Sayers was talking to an NFL running back several years ago and Jim Brown’s name up.  The running back asked “Who’s Jim Brown?” or something to that effect.

OK....I don’t expect current players to be completely knowledgeable about the history of their sport but, if someone is a running back, isn’t it reasonable to expect that the player should have at least some knowledge of the man who some consider the greatest running back in the history of the NFL?

I am old enough to have seen Jim Brown play and he is absolutely worthy of all the incredible praise that has been said over the years in connection with his unparalleled play on the field.  (And I grew up as a NY Giants fan, not a Cleveland Browns fan.)

I’ll end my rant now.

PS—one thing I forgot that was brought up today: in the 1965 NFL draft, the Bears with the number 3 and number 4 overall picks selected Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers.  Has any other team ever had a draft quite like that?  I don’t know; I’m just asking because that is a mind-blowing back-to-back selection of draft choices.