With 57 former Georgia players with their names on National Football League rosters, it is often difficult to pull for one team over the other. Still, I was happily lined up supporting the Eagles for the Super Bowl.
There is a personal history with the Eagles, which dates back to their 1960 NFL championship team, with four Bulldogs on their roster. With Mecole Hardman (3) and Malik Herring (1) winning Super Bowl rings with the Kansas City Chiefs, I was happy to become an Eagles fan in this big game. For the six players on the Philadelphia roster, it would have been something they would have to live with, perhaps forever, had they not won the big game last Sunday.
This situation begs the question: Is there too much emphasis on not winning a Super Bowl ring? There are many reasons why we should not consider those who do not win a ring “losers.” You are a winner by just getting to the ultimate championship.
Jordan Davis, Nolan Smith, Jalen Carter, Kelee Ringo, Lewis Cine, and Nakobe Dean won’t have to slink out the back door when a discussion occurs about who won or who did not win a Super Bowl ring.
The list is extended when you note those who never won a ring, including Jack Youngblood, Terrell Owens, J. J. Watt, Eric Dickerson, Larry Fitzgerald, Randy Moss, Barry Sanders, and Dan Marino. Champ Bailey did not win a ring, Fran Tarkenton was 0-3 in Super Bowls, Jim Kelly was 0-4.
Consider the list of those who did not even play in the big game. If you have visited this space before, you will likely have seen a reference to Tarkenton and his coach, Bud Grant, who never won a ring.
You may also be familiar with an interesting reference involving Ted Williams. He played in only one World Series, in 1946, when the Red Sox lost to the St. Louis Cardinals. He said he believed his work should define his career, not one Series.
Tarkenton, in latent years, has come around to that position. Some, including Bud Grant, believe that Tarkenton, who played 18 years in the NFL, was the greatest quarterback even when compared to Tom Brady, who won six Super Bowl rings—six with the Patriots and one with the Tampa Bay Bucs.
It would be easy to assess that Tarkenton has not been given the credit he deserves because he did not win a championship in all those years he played for Grant and the Vikings.
I have discussed this topic with many NFL coaches and players for years. Sonny Jurgenson was on crutches when the Redskins played the Dolphins in Super Bowl VII. He has never cared about not winning the game. He didn’t start, and he didn’t play.
Nonetheless, he does not have any regrets. Like Ted Williams, he feels his work should determine the rating of his career.
There are several great quarterbacks who not only do not own a ring but also never played in the game. That list includes John Brodie, Dan Marino, Dan Fouts, Jim Hart, and Randall Cunningham.
How is it that Jim Kelly, Fran Tarkenton, and so many others did not enjoy the confetti raining down on the winners, and Tom Brady has rings on seven of his eight fingers?
Chuck Howley is next on the list of Super Bowl Rings won with five, two from his years with the San Francisco 49ers and three while playing for the Dallas Cowboys.
If your team is excellent, multiple great players will likely be honored. Many players played for the Chuck Noll Steelers,, who accumulated four rings. One of them is Lynn Swann, the elite receiver who now lives at Lake Oconee.
As a member of the Augusta National, he has had fun when serving as a committee host at the upscale restaurant and sports bar Berckman’s Place, where he allows fans to take photos with him and his four Super Bowl rings.
For some in the sports arena, when it comes to championship artifacts, there is an embarrassment of riches, and for others, there is the affiliation of the quote in John Greenleaf Miller’s poem Maud Miller: “For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, ‘it might have been.’” None of the Philly Dawgs will ever have to recite those words.