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Speaker 1: in demand developers, designers, project managers and more at www
Speaker 1: dot up work dot com. The model those emotionalizelf turning
Speaker 1: handle and his website by a little bit of a
Speaker 1: old pike was like before it for forty five is
Speaker 1: on the one way forty or five looking to go.
Speaker 1: He's the same pak or go or go touchdown says
Speaker 1: all sixty seven yard run or shawnlich only label the
Speaker 1: Baste is alive in the world. The Beast was most
Speaker 1: definitely alive. He was going full on Beast mode, and
Speaker 1: that play right there is forever known as the Beast Quake.
Speaker 1: Hello everyone, Welcome to NFL explained I'm a deedy Kinkabwalla,
Speaker 1: joined as always by the wonderful and eloquent Mike yam
Speaker 1: what's up, Yammer. I'm doing great. I cannot tell you
Speaker 1: how excited I am because you just dropped Yammer out there.
Speaker 1: My nickname not nearly as cool as Marshawn Lynches. Although
Speaker 1: I can't do what Marshawn did in that NFC wild
Speaker 1: Card game back in If I was able to stiff arm,
Speaker 1: push five dudes off of me in an NFL football
Speaker 1: game and get into the end zone, believe me, I
Speaker 1: would want the fans basically erupting so darn loud that
Speaker 1: the place would be shaking. And that's exactly what happened, right.
Speaker 1: The crowd was so loud the noise registered on the
Speaker 1: Richter scale, and that's kind of be some sort of
Speaker 1: crazy trifecta, one nickname leading to one action leading to
Speaker 1: one event. I mean, and the whole pantheon of NFL nicknames.
Speaker 1: What better way to start the show, right, It's totally appropriate.
Speaker 1: And I'll say this, Sometimes names evolve over time, and
Speaker 1: for Marshawn Lynch, his actually did because think about it
Speaker 1: this way, like when he was playing Pop Warner football,
Speaker 1: man child is what he was called, and then as
Speaker 1: he grew up, it's sort of evolved into beasts and
Speaker 1: then it clearly stuck. I once again just wish I
Speaker 1: had it. But when you think about some of these nicknames,
Speaker 1: there are so many a deity that are just so
Speaker 1: darn creative, and you just wonder, like, where the hell
Speaker 1: did that come from? So I think on today's show
Speaker 1: like we should go through some of our favorites and
Speaker 1: explain as much as we can some of the origins
Speaker 1: of some of those nicknames for sure, because just like
Speaker 1: when we did this over team names, some of them
Speaker 1: are extremely obvious. Like you said, I mean, take Iron
Speaker 1: Mike Ditka. He grew up in western Pennsylvania, in the
Speaker 1: steel towns of Western Pennsylvania. Obviously he was Iron Mike,
Speaker 1: but Sweetness. We're going to get to sweetness and Walter Peyton.
Speaker 1: That one's a little bit less obvious. Let's say, yeah, No,
Speaker 1: there's other obvious ones, right like Javon Curse the freak.
Speaker 1: Just watch him on the football field. Yeah, that one
Speaker 1: is finning Dante Hall the human joystick once again, one
Speaker 1: that just applies. But there's been something that's been bugging.
Speaker 1: I mean, do you have a nickname because you dropped mine? Well, yes,
Speaker 1: I mean I had a family friendly one and one
Speaker 1: that I don't particularly feel like sharing. But I will
Speaker 1: say that when I was a child, I was called
Speaker 1: Adidas fairly regularly. Oh I like that, add Adidas. Can
Speaker 1: I start calling you Adidas? You're more than welcome to
Speaker 1: do that. I've also been called a deed. I've been
Speaker 1: called Deats. Okay, I got a little surprised for you
Speaker 1: at the end of the show with regard to your nicknames.
Speaker 1: I hope it's a shoe deal that seems to be
Speaker 1: a running commentary through our episodes here. Let's just say,
Speaker 1: Justin Tucker is getting his shoe deal before you and
Speaker 1: I are getting our shoe deal. Okay, that was a disappointment,
Speaker 1: But what won't be a disappointment, I promise is this episode. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I've been so so excited for this one
Speaker 1: because there are people with nicknames, there are units with nicknames,
Speaker 1: there are whole teams with nicknames. And again, like I said,
Speaker 1: running through some of our favorites, the history the story
Speaker 1: behind some my favorite thing to do, especially when I
Speaker 1: get to do it with you. Well, look, let's just
Speaker 1: roll into it, because there was an email chain that
Speaker 1: was going and this might be a little too inside baseball,
Speaker 1: but I do think it speaks to what you're referring
Speaker 1: to on players, teams, units that had nicknames, and we
Speaker 1: had to claim five piece. Let's just say that there
Speaker 1: was a little bit of real estate grabbing. I think
Speaker 1: I might have saw the email in the text message
Speaker 1: before you did, so I'm like, oh damn, I'm getting
Speaker 1: on this real fast because I don't want Adidas over
Speaker 1: here to try to take some of my nicknames and
Speaker 1: some of the players. So I'll kick things off here
Speaker 1: because for me, one of the ones that really stood
Speaker 1: out I just remember, and not to get into the
Speaker 1: whole fantasy thing, but Chad Johnson, how about Ocho Sinko.
Speaker 1: Joe Sinko is going to kick the extra point and
Speaker 1: you know what I heard, he kicks pretty well. At
Speaker 1: least that's the word. Kevin Hubert, the normal holder. We'll
Speaker 1: put it down high snap. Look at that he drills it.
Speaker 1: O Joe Sinko point. I heard somebody was telling me
Speaker 1: that he was kicking one day of practice and they
Speaker 1: said he was kicking up believable. He'll be hard to
Speaker 1: live with. Like you think about Ocho Sinko, how different
Speaker 1: it is and the buzz, and I think there's so
Speaker 1: much that it was made around that time. It's sort
Speaker 1: of like a joke and being funny. But when you
Speaker 1: legally change your name like Chad Johnson did to Ocho
Speaker 1: Sinko on the back of his jersey because he was
Speaker 1: fined by the NFL when he did that, when you
Speaker 1: legally change your name like he did in two thousand eight,
Speaker 1: it no longer becomes a joke. Now it is really serious.
Speaker 1: And just in case you're wondering, he did return his
Speaker 1: last name back in so we can just go with
Speaker 1: Chad Johnson. But the lore and the legacy surrounding Ocho Sinko,
Speaker 1: it doesn't go away. Legal name or not. Fine, but
Speaker 1: I'm going to disagree with you right here. You think
Speaker 1: that that was a major grab. I think there are
Speaker 1: actually two Bengals players that had better nicknames than Ocho
Speaker 1: Sinko given to me. Well, one of them absolutely has
Speaker 1: to be Albert Woods, better known as Ikey. I mean,
Speaker 1: and when we talk about variations and offshoots, the Ikey shuffle.
Speaker 1: And do you know how Ikey Woods actually got his name? No,
Speaker 1: please explain. His brother couldn't say Albert. He just kept
Speaker 1: thing e e e e and that eventually turned into Ikey.
Speaker 1: And here, very quickly is my second former Cincinnati Bengals
Speaker 1: player with a very very very good nickname, Andy Dalton,
Speaker 1: the Red Rifle. Oh I didn't even think of that one.
Speaker 1: That's a good one, of course. No, well, due by you,
Speaker 1: I have to tell you. Andy Dalton was not happy
Speaker 1: when J. J. Watch said, well, we wanted to turn
Speaker 1: the red Rifle into a Red Rider bb gun. So
Speaker 1: sometimes your nickname can be taken from you and bastardized.
Speaker 1: But anyway, let's move on. You give me your next one,
Speaker 1: and I'll do my best to knock it down because
Speaker 1: that's what I like doing. It's hard for me to
Speaker 1: go to the next one. Because now I just have
Speaker 1: like a Christmas story in my head and a leg
Speaker 1: lamp just pictured in my brain right now. And maybe
Speaker 1: there's a younger audience that has no idea what I'm
Speaker 1: referring to. Google it, trust me and watching around Christmas time,
Speaker 1: please because it's like a holiday tradition. Prime Time, how
Speaker 1: about Dion Sanders, but his parents such a kick the sideline?
Speaker 1: Dion Sanders Sanders is dashing, You're looking backwards from about
Speaker 1: the forty yard line. Is he gonna do a number
Speaker 1: on the crown here? Prime Time Sanders shows how I
Speaker 1: gots nos all the way for a touchdown. I think
Speaker 1: about what he did on both sides of the football,
Speaker 1: the flare, the dramatics, you know. I know ESPN did
Speaker 1: that thirty for thirty with him as sort of the
Speaker 1: focal point. I think it was a thirty for thirty.
Speaker 1: Like he's one of those characters that if he's on
Speaker 1: my phone, if he's on the television, I gravitate. I
Speaker 1: stop what I'm doing because it's Prime. And when it's
Speaker 1: Dion Sanders referring to himself as Prime, I always get
Speaker 1: a kick out of. It's like when Ricky Henderson was
Speaker 1: referring to himself in the third person. Dion does sort
Speaker 1: of the same thing with prime Time. It is a
Speaker 1: completely appropriate name, but it has nothing to do with football,
Speaker 1: but it also speaks to what he was as an athlete.
Speaker 1: I think you can make an argument Dion Sanders Boat
Speaker 1: Jackson might be too, were the greatest athletes that sports
Speaker 1: has ever seen to play at the pro level in
Speaker 1: two sports like Dion Sanders MBO. Jackson did really amazing
Speaker 1: baseball and football, and yet the name prime Time originates
Speaker 1: because of what he did on a basketball floor. High
Speaker 1: school friend name Richard Fain actually gave him the nickname
Speaker 1: after he put up thirty points in a basketball game.
Speaker 1: I would have thought it was a higher point total
Speaker 1: a d D than thirty, like more like fifty plus.
Speaker 1: But he must have had some spectacular moves. And now,
Speaker 1: of course he's doing his thing as the head coach
Speaker 1: at Jackson State. You know what's funny about that one.
Speaker 1: I remember him also being Neon Dion when he played
Speaker 1: for the Yankees, so he had another nickname. But here's
Speaker 1: another thing that I'll give Deon Sanders credit for, and
Speaker 1: that is bestowing a nickname. He is the man who
Speaker 1: came up with any time for the fabulous return man
Speaker 1: Devin Hester, and that is because whenever Devin Hester had
Speaker 1: the ball, any time he can score. Props for that one.
Speaker 1: That's definitely a good one. I actually thought you would
Speaker 1: gravitate towards Slash because I think of you obviously covering
Speaker 1: the Steelers a lot living in Pittsburgh, and I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: I wonder if Cordell Steward is one of the people
Speaker 1: that Ady is going to try to grab. I think
Speaker 1: about him and what he was able to do in
Speaker 1: Boulder at see you, and how athletic he was. But
Speaker 1: the name, and this is what surprised me. I thought
Speaker 1: he was still Slash when he was in college. That
Speaker 1: apparently was not the case. Steelers commentator Myron Cope, a
Speaker 1: legendary voice around Steelers Nation, actually gave Cordell the nickname
Speaker 1: because of his ability to play different positions, whether it's quarterback,
Speaker 1: running back, and wide receiver. But to me, if you
Speaker 1: saw him on the football field, you understand why he
Speaker 1: was given that nickname. Slash kind of like any time, right,
Speaker 1: like it's appropriate, the physical response that you get and
Speaker 1: if you have to put it to a word, Cordell
Speaker 1: Stewart's style of play, Slash. It all makes sense to me.
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny because I think I remember seeing
Speaker 1: somewhere that Bill Kawer coach Bill Kawer to take credit
Speaker 1: for calling him Slash. But Slash is certainly a little
Speaker 1: bit more entertaining than one of his successors, of course,
Speaker 1: and that is big Ben, Big Ben Roethlisberger, because I
Speaker 1: mean he is big. Yeah. See whenever they tiny and
Speaker 1: big for the nicknames, like when it's the reverse, like
Speaker 1: when it's a big dude who gets the nickname tiny
Speaker 1: or a big guy like my nieces and nephews will
Speaker 1: call me Big Mike, and I love it because they're
Speaker 1: too young to know that I'm really not Big Mike,
Speaker 1: but I will. I'll take it for as long as
Speaker 1: I can. Sure. It's like two tall drones. Is not
Speaker 1: a little guy. He obviously was too tall. So there
Speaker 1: you go. Big Ben, Well, he's obviously one of the
Speaker 1: biggest things on the field, like Big Ben in London,
Speaker 1: which I don't think really actually had anything to do
Speaker 1: with it, but I did cover him in a game
Speaker 1: in London where he stood next to Big Ben, and
Speaker 1: it made for you know, quite an iconic photograph. I
Speaker 1: gotta go through my mental rolodex on things. And you're
Speaker 1: timing in terms of your career because you covered the
Speaker 1: Giants for a significant period of time. I don't like
Speaker 1: and on the years, but just being in that area,
Speaker 1: you probably made reference to Rivas Islands more than a
Speaker 1: few times in a Gang Green. Speaking of nicknames, uniform,
Speaker 1: Darrell Rivas because I felt like I referenced Rivas Island
Speaker 1: more times than not. When I was actually working at
Speaker 1: ESPN at the time and we were doing highlights around
Speaker 1: the NFL. Darrell Rivas was a spectacular a cover corner
Speaker 1: as you have seen in the NFL. And once again
Speaker 1: that nickname very appropriate to what he was able to
Speaker 1: do to wide receivers. So Darrell Rivas is also a
Speaker 1: native of Western p a very good guy. When the
Speaker 1: Jets were going through their bad phase, which you know
Speaker 1: has happened on occasion, or when they were going through
Speaker 1: one of their bad phases, I always thought that Gang
Speaker 1: Green reminded me of Gang Green G A N G
Speaker 1: R E N E, which is what like dead tissue,
Speaker 1: and so I felt like gang space Green should maybe
Speaker 1: not be used because it makes you think of gang,
Speaker 1: but that's just me also appropriate at the same time,
Speaker 1: and Jets fans right now, don't hate me. You you
Speaker 1: understand where I'm going with this. Um My last favorite,
Speaker 1: because we had to pick five, was a guy that
Speaker 1: I've been fortunate enough to become friends with over the years,
Speaker 1: and I refer to him as Snake a lot, Jake Plumber,
Speaker 1: and I reached out to him knowing that we were
Speaker 1: going to do the show, and we were talking and
Speaker 1: I said, Hey, like Jacob doing this podcast, NFL explained,
Speaker 1: and we're doing nicknames. You're stood out to me because
Speaker 1: I call you Snake all the time. And I said,
Speaker 1: I'm assuming it's something to do with the way that
Speaker 1: you played, right because you were kind of you had
Speaker 1: a little bit of wiggle And he laughed and he said, no,
Speaker 1: it's actually not how it came about, and he said
Speaker 1: it is true, though he did tell me he's like,
Speaker 1: no, no no, I definitely had wiggles, so I know where
Speaker 1: you're where it's coming from. But he used my term
Speaker 1: to explain the story. He said, the wiggle and the
Speaker 1: nickname actually came from when he was a kid. He
Speaker 1: was playing a lot of um dodge ball, apparently with
Speaker 1: his brothers, and his brothers gave him the nickname after
Speaker 1: Jake read Kenny stay Bler's book called the Snake the
Speaker 1: other nickname for the other quarterback. And then when he
Speaker 1: got to a s U he signed his first autograph
Speaker 1: as Jake the Snake Plumber and it's stuck from there.
Speaker 1: So appropriate, not only for the way that he played,
Speaker 1: but it had nothing to do with that. It was
Speaker 1: his big brothers just giving him the nickname. We have
Speaker 1: seen quite a few of these stories right where it's
Speaker 1: brothers or grandmothers or siblings of sisters, you know, parents.
Speaker 1: I was just reading about ha ha Clinton Dix. That's
Speaker 1: not actually his name. His name is has seen, but
Speaker 1: his grandmother when he was three years old, because he
Speaker 1: would giggle all the time, called him ha ha instead.
Speaker 1: And now his teammates just call him ha ha. Just
Speaker 1: throwing that out there. You know, it is kind of
Speaker 1: weird how teammates can sometimes come up. I hope that
Speaker 1: didn't come about because of the you know, I think
Speaker 1: some players say, hey, you can't pronounce my name, you
Speaker 1: can call me this. That actually happened one time Tina
Speaker 1: by Woozier, who obviously has now been balling out with Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: I remember meeting him for the first time and I said, hey,
Speaker 1: I don't want to mispronounce your name. He's like, oh,
Speaker 1: just call me Cheeto. And I was like, no, no no, no,
Speaker 1: tell me how to pronounce it, and he taught me,
Speaker 1: and obviously now I can say it. But everyone referenced
Speaker 1: him as Cheeto because of the struggles of pronouncing his name,
Speaker 1: and yet here it is. He still has the ability
Speaker 1: to have a cool nickname. But also people know how
Speaker 1: to say his name because he's obviously having success now
Speaker 1: on Sundays. Well, frankly, that's where I think Adidas comes from.
Speaker 1: It's a D D sounds like Adidas without the US. Yeah,
Speaker 1: get it. So it's a common yeah. All right, Just
Speaker 1: so you know, I'm not limiting myself to five okay,
Speaker 1: all right, So you're a little rule breaker over here, Adidas.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, one of us needs to be right.
Speaker 1: I think that since you mentioned being in western Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: one of the names that I have to start with
Speaker 1: is Craig iron Hood Hayward. Now part of that is
Speaker 1: because of course I cover his son, cam Hayward, who
Speaker 1: is a star defensive end and captain for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1: Just a wonderful gentleman. And he, of course is the
Speaker 1: son of the former pit star Craig Hayward, who was
Speaker 1: probably maybe twelve or thirteen years old. He was hanging
Speaker 1: out at a boys and girls club in New Jersey,
Speaker 1: and of course you and I are both from New Jersey,
Speaker 1: so there's another connection. And some of the other kids started,
Speaker 1: I don't know, creating a little trouble, and something led
Speaker 1: to something else led to something else, and a kid,
Speaker 1: as a legend goes apparently hit Craig Hayward over the
Speaker 1: head with a pool queue. Now it was the cue
Speaker 1: that broke, not Kim Hayward's dad's head. So after Kim
Speaker 1: Hayward's dad's head, Craig Hayward's head was totally fine. His
Speaker 1: mother started calling him Ironhead, and it just sort of stuck.
Speaker 1: And then you think about the type of player he was,
Speaker 1: the way that he ran the football, how he ran
Speaker 1: over people, his toughness, well, it was again kind of
Speaker 1: like Yammer, a name that really fit. Once he got
Speaker 1: into his vocation, I un't heard, Hey, work boy is work?
Speaker 1: Why did he make a couple of people pay for
Speaker 1: being in a wrong place. I like it, and I
Speaker 1: think the general rule of thumb is if mom and
Speaker 1: dad and grandma and grandpa are dropping your nickname, it
Speaker 1: will never be lost ever again. Your nickname is now
Speaker 1: your your new real name. That's true, although I don't
Speaker 1: think I want anyone actually calling my children the nicknames
Speaker 1: I call them, But that is a story for another day.
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Speaker 1: you have to, so you can quickly get back to
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Speaker 1: Your results may vary. Not an endorsement speed comparison to
Speaker 1: Media and Verizon four G LTE speed downloads very based
Speaker 1: on network conditions and five G content optimization. Since we
Speaker 1: talked about my growing up a Giants fan, well, then
Speaker 1: of course Bill Parcels, the tuna comes up, and I
Speaker 1: tried hard to figure out where exactly this definitely totally
Speaker 1: came from. But I'll say that even our fabulous, amazing researchers,
Speaker 1: they think they think it's because of what Bill Parcels
Speaker 1: used to say himself. Apparently whenever somebody would say something
Speaker 1: ridiculous or absurd to him His response was, who do
Speaker 1: you think I am? Charlie the Tuna, And that's because
Speaker 1: Charlie the Tuna was apparently an animated character for Starkist
Speaker 1: brand Tuna, and somehow the Hall of Fame coach Bill
Speaker 1: Parcels became known as the Tuna. I love that story,
Speaker 1: and I think every time I make tuna melts at home,
Speaker 1: I will think about Bill Parcels. Okay, if that will
Speaker 1: help your appetite, you go right ahead and do that. Okay.
Speaker 1: So we have to move on to the refrigerator, because
Speaker 1: the fridge has been a star in several of our episodes.
Speaker 1: We've had his right like him running the football in London. Now,
Speaker 1: of course, his day job was as an enormous defensive
Speaker 1: lineman who just occasionally moonlighted as a ball carrier. And
Speaker 1: the fridge is not because he was so enormous clogging
Speaker 1: up the lanes on a football field, but because when
Speaker 1: he was in college at Clemson, he was on an
Speaker 1: elevator and a friend said that you're blocking all of
Speaker 1: the elevator's light and you're taking up all the space.
Speaker 1: You're like a walking refrigerator. And so then that stuck.
Speaker 1: But as I said to you earlier. Some of my
Speaker 1: favorite things are derivatives. When the Packers later on had b. J. Rogie,
Speaker 1: another enormously big defensive lineman who occasionally moonlighted carrying the football,
Speaker 1: based calling him the freezer, isn't it clever? I do
Speaker 1: like that. It's very fitting. Although I think you can
Speaker 1: go like solar eclipse, but the refrigerator seems very appropriate.
Speaker 1: Here's another one, Western p A and other Steelers one.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry I have two more Steelers ones just because
Speaker 1: I sort of have to have them. I just think
Speaker 1: they're that good. Jerome Bettis the bus. Back when he
Speaker 1: was at Notre Dame, a student reporter said that he
Speaker 1: actually looked like a bus. The student started chanting, nobody
Speaker 1: stops the bus. The bus carried on through his entire
Speaker 1: professional career. And when Jerome Bettis won the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: in his hometown of Detroit, he stood on that podium
Speaker 1: and what did he say? Is this the lot of
Speaker 1: stop for the bus? You know what? In rod And
Speaker 1: it's always a more time when you have to call
Speaker 1: the quits. And uh, I played this game to win
Speaker 1: a championship. I'm a champion, and I think that this
Speaker 1: is in Detroit Mr Bregulars, Mike, I have to do
Speaker 1: another Steelers one, and that, of course is James Harrison's
Speaker 1: nickname Deebot. Now I think this is really funny because
Speaker 1: when I say Deebo, you don't think of James Harrison.
Speaker 1: Who do you think of? Look? I get some time
Speaker 1: fortunately to be around the San Francisco forty Niners. So no,
Speaker 1: I'm not thinking about Harrison. Um thinking about receip streaking
Speaker 1: down the football field and finding his way into the
Speaker 1: end zone. And that's hysterical to me because, as you know,
Speaker 1: Deebo was that freakishly strong, bullying, frightening character on Friday,
Speaker 1: the movie that came out back in So the Steelers
Speaker 1: nicknaming their teammate defensive players looking at James Harrison that menacing,
Speaker 1: freakishly strong bullying of a person and nicknaming him Debot
Speaker 1: makes total sense to me. You're talking about a wide receiver. Yeah,
Speaker 1: But the history behind the wide receiver's nickname. His dad
Speaker 1: said that Depot was Tyshawn was actually bullying kids in
Speaker 1: the neighborhood. So his dad gave him the nickname Debo
Speaker 1: from the movie Friday, which apparently Debot was seen about
Speaker 1: quote a thousand times, so it's fitting from the kind
Speaker 1: of that perspective. Well, unfortunately for him, there is a
Speaker 1: Debot clothing line, and that is James Harrison's. You know,
Speaker 1: this all goes back to the whole thing about what
Speaker 1: we talked about when we did one of our first
Speaker 1: episodes on team names, and I told you I don't
Speaker 1: like shared names, you know, like when you have a
Speaker 1: football team and a baseball team that have the same name.
Speaker 1: You did say that, Yeah, so I don't really love
Speaker 1: shared nicknames. Well, it's kind of like Iron Mike, right,
Speaker 1: like when you say Ditka. For sure, there's also Mike Tyson.
Speaker 1: That is true. But who's one into that fight? Well
Speaker 1: at this stage right now, although you don't even know
Speaker 1: about that. Uh, let's move on Megatron, who has just
Speaker 1: entered the Hall of Fame. I mean it's obvious because
Speaker 1: of course Calvin Johnson had these superhuman abilities and seemed
Speaker 1: like the fictional Robot character. He was given that nickname
Speaker 1: by his fellow receiver Roy Williams. But I think what's
Speaker 1: so magical about Megatron is all of the offshoots Mike
Speaker 1: like Legatron. So Greg's urline was this undrafted rookie out
Speaker 1: of Division two Missouri Western State and just started kicking
Speaker 1: the you know what out of the ball. And just
Speaker 1: a few games in he was called Legatron. So Megatron Legatron.
Speaker 1: And now there is a Maple Tron and that is
Speaker 1: a young wide receiver who currently is playing in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: His name is Chase Claypool. He is originally from British Columbia.
Speaker 1: So when he went to Notre Dame, it's these Notre
Speaker 1: Dame kids. Here's the Jerome bettist tie again Notre Dame,
Speaker 1: he was called the Maple Bandit. Then he went to
Speaker 1: the Combine and he had these insane measurables that reminded
Speaker 1: people of Calvin Johnson. Most notably, he ran a sub
Speaker 1: four four five forty while weighing more than two hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty pounds, which hadn't been done since Megatron did it.
Speaker 1: And so then all of a sudden, the Maple Bandit
Speaker 1: became Maple Tron. And I can tell you this, Chase
Speaker 1: Claypool actually really likes the nickname. He calls himself Maple Tron.
Speaker 1: And now he has a clothing line that says Maple Tron.
Speaker 1: So the other thing I need, can we make it
Speaker 1: while there is Addis clothing line, so we just need
Speaker 1: the Amber clothing line. You can claim Adidas is yours
Speaker 1: and I'll come up with the Yammer one. At some point,
Speaker 1: everyone's got a clothing line now all of a sudden, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't want to do that work. I would just
Speaker 1: like someone to send me stuff. I'll do that, and
Speaker 1: I'm an equal opportunity distributor of great clothing. So everybody,
Speaker 1: anybody listening, feel free. Okay, I like it moving right along.
Speaker 1: Send Adidas the clothing, Send Yammer the wine. This podcast
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Speaker 1: know what else besides offshoots, I find really interesting the
Speaker 1: ones that are sort of in dispute. You know, I
Speaker 1: referenced Walter Payton in Sweetness earlier, and there are so
Speaker 1: many people that think sweetness comes from the fact that
Speaker 1: he had this just like wonderful, sunny personality. But Jeff Perlman,
Speaker 1: who I worked with many years ago It's Sports Illustrated,
Speaker 1: did the definitive book on Walter Payton, and he found
Speaker 1: out that sweetness actually came from Walter Payton talking trash
Speaker 1: to a defensive lineman. He basically said to the guy,
Speaker 1: your sweetness is your weakness, and after that he was
Speaker 1: called sweetness. I like that. Here's another one, Dick Knight
Speaker 1: Train Lane. People love to tell the story that he
Speaker 1: was nicknamed night train Lane because in training camp he
Speaker 1: would go and listen to that song and dance to it, etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 1: But I have also seen that the reason that he
Speaker 1: had that nickname is because he didn't like to fly
Speaker 1: and he would take the train. That's actually really appropriate.
Speaker 1: Then it happens on the football field, I'll take that.
Speaker 1: You know, it's kind of wild too, because for all
Speaker 1: the individual names Adidas that we get to, how about
Speaker 1: all of the actual units like the teams or you know,
Speaker 1: like the DBS or a defense or you know, a
Speaker 1: specific portion of the offense. Like those units that actually
Speaker 1: have their own nicknames. I'm always fascinated by a couple
Speaker 1: of those, especially because there are some that, i mean
Speaker 1: just are so obvious, like the Purple people Eaters. I mean,
Speaker 1: just look at those guys. It's two Hall of famers
Speaker 1: and Alan Page and Carl Eller, and then you also
Speaker 1: have defensive and Jim Marshall and tackle Gary Larson. You
Speaker 1: look at those four starting defensive lineman. They played so
Speaker 1: many years together, they were in the Super Bowl four
Speaker 1: years together. I mean they look like people eaters and
Speaker 1: they were purple, very very obvious, the Minnesota Vikings, the
Speaker 1: Purple people Eaters. And on the flip side of that,
Speaker 1: you think about that no name defense, which has come
Speaker 1: up a whole lot the last couple of years because
Speaker 1: of individual success. That certain teams have had ninety two
Speaker 1: that Dolphins defense. The name actually caught on when Dallas
Speaker 1: coach Tom Landry actually mentioned that Miami has a good
Speaker 1: defense but features some months of guys whose names you
Speaker 1: don't know, and then don't name defense. It's stuck because
Speaker 1: of that. And it's certainly a team that had a
Speaker 1: ton of success, undefeated super Bowl winning team. That defense
Speaker 1: allowed the fewest points and fewer shards in the NFL
Speaker 1: that particular year of seventy two. So very very appropriate. Well,
Speaker 1: and talk about bulletin board material right there. Right, I
Speaker 1: don't even know who these guys are. They're a bunch
Speaker 1: of no names and boom, what this is what they do.
Speaker 1: If we're gonna stick with defensive lines, though, we have
Speaker 1: to include the New York sack exchange. Right. That was
Speaker 1: the Jets defensive line from ninety nine to nine three.
Speaker 1: And it was actually the team's PR director who used
Speaker 1: it in a press release after seeing a fan hold
Speaker 1: up a big bed sheet with the name written on it,
Speaker 1: and I wonder who that fan was. That fans should
Speaker 1: really get the credit for that. A lot of these
Speaker 1: names are fans sourced. I will say that you know
Speaker 1: one that wasn't fan sourced dirty Birds or Jamala Anderson
Speaker 1: actually came up with it. He loves using I got
Speaker 1: to work with him for the first season, a ton
Speaker 1: of fun. But he it's like a badge of honor
Speaker 1: because he does reference it a lot. Those Falcons teams,
Speaker 1: remember they were fourteen and two got to the Super Bowl, Well,
Speaker 1: it was Jamala Anderson who created the dirty bird dance um.
Speaker 1: And then that's sort of how the nickname stock Well.
Speaker 1: And the flip side to that is the Bungles, the poor,
Speaker 1: poor poor Bungles who didn't have a winning season between
Speaker 1: nineteen and two thousand four. And then of course the Ets,
Speaker 1: which was actually the Saints in nineteen eighty when they
Speaker 1: lost their first fourteen games, and it was a local sportscaster,
Speaker 1: Mike that started suggesting that maybe Saints supporters their fans
Speaker 1: were paper bags over their heads, and a lot of
Speaker 1: those paper bags said ats as opposed to Saints. Okay,
Speaker 1: can we go flip side again from lack of success
Speaker 1: to a ton of success. Greatest show on Turf. We
Speaker 1: had Kurt Warner on one of our previous episodes, the
Speaker 1: work Week one for NFL players, and it was awesome
Speaker 1: to have him. If you missed that episode, highly encourage
Speaker 1: you to go back and listen to it. But consider this,
Speaker 1: You got a Hall of Fame quarterback and Kurt Warner
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame running back in Marshall Falk. You got
Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame one receiver Isaac Bruce. You got
Speaker 1: a seven time pro bowler Tory Holt. An offense that
Speaker 1: was just an absolute jargonnaut espns. Chris Berman actually called
Speaker 1: the Rams the greatest show on Earth in two thousand
Speaker 1: and then Earth was eventually switched to turf because they
Speaker 1: were playing on the AstroTurf in St. Louis. So to me,
Speaker 1: that is one of the more iconic ones. I think
Speaker 1: when it comes to team names. Greatest show on Turf,
Speaker 1: I think is is really well known and everyone references it,
Speaker 1: and maybe partially because of recency bias and Kurt obviously
Speaker 1: still having a great broadcast careers, that continues to pop up. Maybe,
Speaker 1: But I still feel like I really like defensive nicknames
Speaker 1: like the Legion of Boom, which was of course the
Speaker 1: Seahawks secondary and the late you know, two thousand teams,
Speaker 1: whatever you call that decade that was of course Richard Sherman,
Speaker 1: Earl Thomas, cam Chancellor, Brendan Browner, And it was cam
Speaker 1: Chancellor who came up with the name when he said
Speaker 1: that he liked to bring the boom. Then when you
Speaker 1: think of the legion of Boom, you also have to
Speaker 1: think of the no fly zone, and that I believe
Speaker 1: is Chris Harris's idea when he was with Denver. And
Speaker 1: then go back, we were talking about defensive lines at
Speaker 1: the top, I feel terrible. How could I not mention
Speaker 1: the steel curtain that was the nineteen seventies Steelers defensive
Speaker 1: line led by a man who has one of the
Speaker 1: best nicknames of all time, Mean Joe Green, not because
Speaker 1: he was mean, by the way, but because of where
Speaker 1: he played his college football. You know the answer there,
Speaker 1: Well that was North Texas. The North Texas Mean Green. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like I should so me and Joe Green. But sure
Speaker 1: the way he played the game was mean. But the
Speaker 1: steel Curtain that Steelers defensive line helped the Steelers to
Speaker 1: four Super Bowl wins in the nineteen seventies. And that
Speaker 1: nickname actually originated in a radio contest. But you know, Mike,
Speaker 1: we could just keep on going now. This Each one
Speaker 1: makes me think of something else. We're talking about a defense,
Speaker 1: and then that makes me think of the Minister of Defense.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, Reggie White, one of the all time greatest
Speaker 1: defensive players who also had an extremely strong faith. And
Speaker 1: when you listen to him, he sure is hex sounded
Speaker 1: like a minister. And we could keep going. We could
Speaker 1: totally keep going. But now I'm thinking about places, Mike,
Speaker 1: the black Hole, the Dog Pound, the frozen Tundra, give
Speaker 1: me your favorite. Well, look, just because I've lived in
Speaker 1: the Bay Area. Now, obviously the team is in Vegas,
Speaker 1: but I will say when I moved out to San
Speaker 1: Francisco in you could feel on Sundays, like even in
Speaker 1: San Francisco sort of what the black Hole has brought
Speaker 1: to the table and indity. You've traveled a ton for
Speaker 1: NFL games, the games that I have traveled too, and
Speaker 1: there's been a few where the Raiders have been involved.
Speaker 1: I cannot get over how well that fan base travels
Speaker 1: for games, and just the intimidation factor that's there, Like
Speaker 1: there's something unique about just large human beings that are intimidating,
Speaker 1: face painting themselves and being there ready to sort of
Speaker 1: be disruptive. Um to me, black Hole is definitely at
Speaker 1: the top of the list. Well, we could keep going,
Speaker 1: but I think this is a great place to ask
Speaker 1: our listeners to send us some of these suggestions. And
Speaker 1: while we may not be able to get anybody a
Speaker 1: shoe deal, maybe yammer, we can start a movement for
Speaker 1: some nicknames. I know that I did ask some of
Speaker 1: my Twitter followers to send me some players that they'd
Speaker 1: like to see have nicknames. George Kittle was a name
Speaker 1: that came up the fair amount. Uh T J. Watt
Speaker 1: was one who some people are saying deserves one of
Speaker 1: these legendary, transcendent nicknames. I'm sure you've got some guys
Speaker 1: that surprises you they don't have nicknames as well. Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: there's definitely a few players that I also think deserve
Speaker 1: a little bit more recognition when it comes to just
Speaker 1: sort of standardizing. And I know we touched on some
Speaker 1: of those names, but I also think sometimes memories pop
Speaker 1: up with certain nicknames. I think very fondly of my
Speaker 1: time back in college. But one nickname that we did
Speaker 1: not get to that to me just reminds me of
Speaker 1: my college days. And I didn't even go to Boston
Speaker 1: College and Matt Ryan did, but Mattie Ice. I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people reference it because of his cool,
Speaker 1: calm demeanor in these under pressure type moments, but when
Speaker 1: he was at BC, it was also a little bit
Speaker 1: of a play on a popular beer, Nattie Ice, which
Speaker 1: does bring me back to my own college days. So
Speaker 1: I did want to just highlight that sometimes us nicknames
Speaker 1: have more meaning, I think on a personal level, because
Speaker 1: they conjure ups just some really positive memories. Two things
Speaker 1: for that. Number one, I did not drink Natty Ice,
Speaker 1: and number two, I was not an underage drinker. Just
Speaker 1: in case my mom and dad are listening right now, Okay,
Speaker 1: you make the claims you want to make, I will
Speaker 1: just say, okay, cool like moving on, all right, Well, everybody,
Speaker 1: this has been a tremendously fun one. For sure. We
Speaker 1: left many, many, many nicknames on the cutting room floor.
Speaker 1: So if you want the story behind a favorite nickname,
Speaker 1: make sure to tweet us Mike underscore yam or at
Speaker 1: a Kinkabwala and we will get you the stories and
Speaker 1: definitely send us some ideas for some players today who
Speaker 1: don't have nicknames, who absolutely deserves some, and indeed, let's
Speaker 1: not forget for anyone who is checking out the show.
Speaker 1: Make sure you follow us wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1: Not to mention, we always appreciate a rating and a
Speaker 1: review and share it with a friend. I know a
Speaker 1: d you and I are posting this on our social
Speaker 1: media counts. We'd love when people are getting into the
Speaker 1: conversation and if you have some more of those nicknames.
Speaker 1: Is DV made reference to hashtag NFL explained, all right, yammer,
Speaker 1: that was a ton of fun. Can't wait till next week,
Speaker 1: and that all our friends listening is NFL nicknames explained.
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