Billy Lothridge: Super Bowl Champ

Was doing some research on Billy Lothridge. Not many photos from his time on the Cowboys and Rams. Found a picture of him on the Falcons, greeting Don Meredith after a game. 

Never really realized that in 1972, Larry Seiple, the punter for the Miami Dolphins, was injured. Lothridge was signed to fill in for two games. Pretty sure the undefeated Dolphins kept Lothridge on the roster throughout their undefeated season, so he was on the sidelines when Miami beat Washington in the Super Bowl. Backup punter, kicker, safety, and QB. 

At Tech, Lothridge was a Heisman runner-up, a top ten all time Yellow Jacket. With the Falcons he twice led the NFL in punting, and was pressed into service at safety - intercepting three passes in one season.

Latest rumor: Fever trade Caitlin Clark to LA. Doesn't seem like the Fever coaches have Caitlin's back. 

 

Braves record is what, 42-21. On pace to win 108 games. If they go 45-44 the rest of the way they'd still win 87 games. Gotta get Riley hitting again. No one has suggested it, but why not let him go down to Gwinnett for a week or two to get his swing back?

Why did Ronald Acuna wear number 21 for Venezuela? He was paying tribute to Roberto Clemente. A noble gesture. He had previously worn 42 to honor Jackie Robinson.

My church always draws a big crowd to Wednesday night supper when they serve Bourbon Chicken. Not sure why. 

Johnson's Ferry is a great church, but needs to improve in the dry erase marker department.

Sermon topic that I'd like to hear: we know that all dogs go to heaven - but what about cats? Surely not. 

Churches across America are being set on fire. Just a few years ago the same thing was happening in Europe, and we all know what's happening in Europe now. Are sleeper cells involved?

Yesterday W&MC had friends in town from Texas. They took them to Bellwood Coffee in Decatur, then went to Kimball House. C had a doctor's appt so she went over to babysit. At 6:20 pm, I left to drive down and help out with the 5 kids. Stopped by Chickfila to get C some supper. 

Didn't leave to drive home until 10:30 pm. C had fallen asleep on the couch. From their house you can drive one mile west on MLK Blvd to go 20 west to 285 north, but C doesn't like that way. So we took MLK east to Northside Drive north. 

   

Today: (1) walked Winnie, (2) gym to lift weights / sauna / treadmill, (3) Walmart for a big shipping envelope, (4) post office to mail a package, (5) Whattaburger for the free burger deal, and (6) Kennesaw Mountain to buy a lifetime visitor pass. 

Tonight will be the first night C and I have been home together all week. Nothing big on tap for the weekend.

Yet Another Blah Falcons Uniform Unveiling

Falcons released their new uniforms this week. Pretty plain. Red jerseys, which are few and far between in the NFL - a good thing. With jersey sleeves being so tiny there days, it's hard to have a unique jersey (though some teams manage it). Both the TV numbers and the Falcons logo is so tiny, it's almost not worth having them.

Stripes on the pants - another plus, though they're a new, weird stripe pattern. Some say the stripes mimic the Cardinals.

Same black helmets. Evidently the team took pains to make sure the low gloss matte shell was retained, which looks best inside domed stadiums.

White road jerseys will be mixed with either white or black pants. I hate black pants. At least they have the stripes.

Fortunately the all white look is in right now, though I'm sure the Falcons will wear the black pants more than I'd like. No black alternate jersey was unveiled. Not a huge fan of the numbers, though they're an improvement over the old ones. Some people couldn't tell the 1's from the 7's. 

The same throwback uniform was pictured: red helmets, black jersey. Thank goodness.  

Hard to get good french fries these days. Ceil is really liking the fries these days. Earlier this week she served up a big plate of fries. Whenever I have fries with a meal, I always eat them first, while they are still hot. C is liking slaw as well. Monday night she fixed a slaw with grilled chicken in it. Pretty good. 

Ceil went to to the gym two straight days. She needs to. Tuesday I ran / walked for an hour, did the sauna for 30 minutes, then cooled down with 30 more minutes on the treadmill. For some reason my face was burning every time I wiped sweat off my face. Not sure why.

A lady in the sauna was wearing a bucket hat because her friend said it would keep her head cooler, and she would be able to stay in the sauna loner. She said it didn't work. I mentioned that she should put a cabbage leaf inside the hat, but didn't explain that back in the day that's what ballplayers would do to keep cool. She kept talking to everyone about her hat. There were six of us crammed in the sauna. Time for me to leave. I joked "I just can't stay in here any more, with you wearing that hat!" Everyone laughed. I left. 

Tuesday: after the gym I went to Whattaburger again. Was going to get just the free burger, but instead got fries and a drink as well. The fries were just okay. All afternoon we worked to declutter. It is a slow go. We did sit outside in the sun for 20 minutes. Vitamin D.

Wednesday: I watched the rocket launch just after 6:30. Then I got dressed for small group, then Winnie wanted to go outside. Still made it to small group on time. Didn't get home until 10 pm.

Alton Brown's favorite place to eat steak in Atlanta: the Blue Ridge grill in Buckhead. 

The number of AI chatbots ignoring human instructions are increasing. 

Mysterious spike in meteors warrants serious investigation.

More and more people are saying that aliens and UFOs are actually demons. There are also reports of secret programs to breed a race of alien / human hybrids.  

 

FRANK CHANCE [SABR Bio] was the first California native inducted into the Hall of Fame. He was born in Fresno in 1876,  and was the Yankees manager in 1913 & 1914. They finished 7th & 6th in the AL (out of 8 teams). He entered the HOF 21 years after his death, in 1954. In 1906, he led the Cubs to a 116-36-3 record and a NL pennant while stealing a major-league-leading 57 bases. From 1900-1910, Chance was HBP an average of 11.6 times a season. During five of those years, the league leader was Boston’s Dan McGann.

"Solitude, silence, and the strait keeping of the heart, are the foundations and grounds of a spiritual life." —Robert Leighton (1611–84).

Top Five QB's by Team

Question of the day was who were your team's top five QB's. I posted six teams. Since so many youngsters post the most recent five, my picked traded old school. Should be easy for you to figure out what the teams are below.

1. Otto Brown

2. Frank Ryan

3. Bernie Kosar

4. Milt Plum

5. Bill Nelson

1. Joe Namath

2. Harry Gilmer

3. AJ McCarron

4. Tua T

5. Ken Stabler

1. Joe Montana

2. John Brodie

3. Steve Young

4. YA Tittle

5. Frankie Albert

1. Brett Favre

2. Bart Starr

3. Aaron Rodgers

4. Zeke Bratkowski

5. Lynn Dickey

1. Sammy Baugh

2. Sonny Jurgenson

3. Joe Theisman

4. Billy Kilmer

5. Doug Williams

1. Roman Gabriel

2. Norm Van Brocklin

3. Bob Waterfield

4. Kurt Warner

5. Jim Everitt

1. Eli Manning

2. YA Tittle

3. Charlie Connerly

4. Fran Tarkenton

5. Phil Simms

1. Johnny Unitas

2. Peyton Manning

3. Bert Jones

4. Earl Morrall

5. Andrew Luck

1. Trevor Lawrence

2. Deshaun Watson

3. Steve Fuller

4. Homer Jordan

5. Tajh Boyd

1. Roger Staubach

2. Don Meredith

3. Troy Aikman

4. Eddie LeBaron

5. Danny White

1. Drew Brees

2. Archie Manning

3. Billy Kilmer

4. Bobby Hebert

5. Aaron Brooks

1. John Lujack

2. Paul Hornung

3. Joe Theisman

4. Terry Hanratty

5. Joe Montana

1. Stetson Bennett
2. Fran Tarkenton
3. Buck Belue
4. Aaron Murray
5. Matthew Stafford

1. Billy Lothridge
2. Kim King
3. Joe Hamilton
4. Shawn Jones
5. Haynes King

1. Matt Ryan
2. Steve Bartkowski
3. Michael Vick
4. Bob Berry
5. Chris Miller

Longest TD Passes

Fun fact: former Bengals and Florida wide receiver Chris Collinsworth shares the NCAA record for throwing the longest TD pass in college history, with a 99 yard throw as a Gator freshman. The play was supposed to be a simple down & out pattern, but the senior told the freshman Collinsworth that he was going deep instead. After Collinsworth’s freshman season, Steve Spurrier was hired as the new Florida head coach. Spurrier’s first decision was to move Collinsworth to receiver, where he blossomed into All-SEC and All Pro. I remember back in the day when the Gators played at Grant Field, and Collinsworth was Florida's bell cow. Collinsworth told the story on the latest episode of Peyton’s Places.

Any win by the Falcons is a good win. They went up 21-0 then 24-3. The Rams came back and tied the game, but Atlanta kicked a late 51 yard field goal to win. Still, the Falcons need to fire their head coach and GM. 

Not sure that I would re-sign TE Pitts. He had a “big” year because Drake London and Michael Phenix were hurt. No one else for Kirk Cousins to throw to. If Pitts manages to catch a pass, he falls down when he sees someone is about to hit him. On one play Monday night Pitts didn’t run hard because he didn’t think Cousins was going to throw him the ball. When Kirk’s first two options were covered, he threw to where Pitts was supposed to be, but Pitts had stopped running. Many say Pitts just doesn’t like football, and finally played hard this year just to get a new contract.

One of the dozens of "coaches" on the Falcons sidelines negated a big play by being in the restrictewd area of the sidelines. What do all those guys do, anyway?

This past weekend’s top NFL passing leaders, including ten QB’s who didn’t start the season as his team’s starter. Fourteen of these 16 highest rated QB’s did not throw an interception.

Rating.YD.TD.INT

157.0 256 5 0 Drake Maye NE

142.7 333 2 0 rookie Tyler Slough NO

134.6 288 1 0 backup Malik Willis GB

129.1 305 2 0 Joe Burrow CIN

118.6 303 3 1 Brock Purdy SF

118.0 172 2 0 rookie Quinn Ewers MIA

105.6 107 1 0 Browns castoff Tyler Huntley BALT

100.3 330 2 0 Caleb Williams CHI

099.2 126 1 0 backup Kirk Cousins ATL

097.5 307 2 0 Dak Prescott DAL

093.5 346 2 2 Baker Mayfield TB

092.3 198 0 0 backup Josh Johnson WSH

091.9 207 0 0 rookie Jaxson Dart NYG

091.3 212 2 0 backup Jacoby Brissett ARIZ

088.6 251 2 0 rookie Cam Ward TEN

088.0 262 0 0 Josh Allen BUF

084.9 236 1 1 Justin Herbert LAC

080.1 244 2 2 CJ Stroud HOU

079.0 066 1 0 backup Chris Oladokun KC

077.3 147 1 1 Sam Darnold SEA 

076.9 182 1 1 Bo Nix DEN

075.6 186 1 2 rookie Shedeur Sanders CLE

My adventure project this week is to visit as many Champs Sports locations, in an effort to upgrade my new Braves cap from snapback to fitted. Last night I stopped by North Point Mall. Headed to Sugarloaf Mills at lunch and perimeter Mall on the way home from work. Maybe Cumberland as well, but I don’t think they have what I’m looking for. Friday I’ll try Decatur, Lenox, and Town Center. Maybe Southlake if I’m desperate. We’ll see.

Denison: cultural scholar Ian Tuttle reports that philosopher and cultural theorist Dr. Byung-Chul Han “suggests the possibility of an Other who is something outside ourselves that restores us to ourselves; something that transcends us and yet embraces us.” Dr. Tuttle concludes: “We might consider the possibility that the remedy for our broken world will require a different kind of physician. Han writes “every age has its signature afflictions” and identifies ours as “depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, borderline personality disorder, and burnout syndrome.”

Falcons Win in the Desert

Falcon RB Bijan Robinson has gained the 3rd most yards from scrimmage before his 24th birthday, in NFL history. Only Christian McCaffrey and Barry Sanders have gained more. Bijan passed Clinton Portis yesterday. The record for most yards from scrimmage before the age of 24 in professional football history is owned by Herschel Walker.

5443 McCaffrey

5391 Sanders

5376 Robinson

5327 Clinton Portis

7115 Herschel Walker   

Falcons hung around and got the win in Arizona, thanks to a lucky interception there at the end. Thought for sure the stupid coach’s decision to go for it on 4th down would cost them the game. The Cards were driving for at least a game tying field goal. And of course the game got off to a bad start with a penalty on the opening kickoff. The special teams coach wants to get fancy and direct the kickoff near the sideline. Sometimes the kick goes out of bounds. So the Falcons were down 3-0 right off the bat.

I was so mad after they didn’t convert the 4th down play. Bad decision by the head coach to go for it. Bad play call by the offensive coordinator. Hated that they were going to lose, but at least that would’ve been the nail in the coffin for the coaching staff. Then they got lucky and won.

I am hearing rumors the Falcons want UNC coach Bill Belechik as their new coach. That would be another huge mistake.

I may be old and biased and racist, but I still say Kirk Cousins gives you a better chance at winning than Phenix. Cousins didn’t have the greatest game, but threw two TD passes with one interception and one sack. Cousins isn’t the long term answer, but with Phenix’s tendency for season ending injuries, neither is he. Two critical mistakes by the Falcons GM made in the same offseason. A firing offense.

Also watched the Bills beat the Browns. Cleveland dropped to 3-12, losers of 4 straight games. Only the Raiders have a worse record. The Cleveland QB only threw for 157 yards with 2 interceptions and 2 sacks, with only one TD. Only one NFL QB had a lower rating this weekend. Out of the 44 NFL QBs who’ve played in at least 5 games this year, the current Browns QB has the lowest passer rating.

Friday night we stayed up to watch Bama complete their decisive comeback victory over the Okies. An impressive win. Is Bama back? Of the four playoff teams that won this past weekend, I’d rank them as toughest to best to easiest as Oregon the toughest, followed by Bama, Ole Miss, then Miami as the easiest to beat. My predictions:

ROSE: Bama beats Indiana.

Oregon beats Texas Tech.

SUGAR: UGA beats Ole Miss.

Ohio State beats Miami.

Modern Era players with 20 steals in a year without being caught. The all time MLB record for most seasons stealing at least one base without getting caught belongs to Greg Maddux.

Player                  SB CS Year Games

Quintin Berry..........21...0....2012.....94

Byron Buxton.........24...0....2025....126

Alcides Escobar.....22...0....2013....158

Kevin McReynolds 21...0....1988....147

Paul Molitor............20...0....1994....115

Trea Turner............30...0.... 2023...155

Chase Utley...........23...0.... 2009...156

Denison: the president of a once-Christian university said, “At our school, you can be as religious as you choose to be.”The same often applies to me: I am as obedient to Jesus as I want to be. If my next step into serving him were easy or obviously beneficial to me, I would have already taken it. What remains in my journey to surrender seems to cost more than it pays. Perhaps you are also being called to do something you’re not doing or stop doing something you are doing. I would imagine that every Christian on the path to holiness faces such a step today. As Oswald Chambers noted in today’s My Utmost for His Highest reading, “Every man is made to reach out beyond his grasp.”

There is a Santa Claus

Christmas arrived early this year. Yes, Atlanta, there is a Santa Claus. His name is Kirk Cousins.

1. The Falcons will be getting new uniforms for 2026. Most probably red helmets and silver britches, perhaps harkening to the William Andrews era. Most probably a new Falcon logo, since the current logo is too related to years of losing football. A complete break from the current uniforms as well as from the Matt Ryan era uniforms. The current 1966 throwback uniforms will be retained. All exciting news. Prediction: they'll screw it up and trade the beautiful grey facemasks for ugly white black masks. Ugh.

2. Both the Falcons and the Buccaneers wore their throwback uniforms last night. Both wore dark jerseys. A super rare color on color matchup. The Uni Watch game of the year.

3. The Falcons actually won the game. Call me a hater, but QB Kirk Cousins is a way more efficient QB than Phenix. Cousins may not scramble, but Phenix is no Fran Tarkenton either. Kirk knows how to get rid of the ball, usually without throwing the ball away. Kirk had a high passer rating – 116.9. Went 30-44 for 373 yards, three TDs & zero interceptions.

4. Georgia State has begun construction on their new baseball stadium, to be built on the footprint of the old Atlanta Stadium. Will include a Hank Aaron 715 memorial. Should be finished before the end of 2026. 

The Georgia State women's softball field may be built just west of the baseball stadium. Georgia State may also place a marker where Atlanta Stadium's home plate used to be, so future celebrations on the anniversary of Sid Slid will have a place to meet. 

The Aaron statue is being relocated from old Turner Field a few hundred feet north to the new baseball park. Back in the 90's Atlanta Stadium had been the first home of the statue.

5. The Braves signed a second closer / setup reliever this week. And a DH / fourth outfielder. With two months before spring training, and 3-1/2 months before opening day, I’m certain GM Alex Anthropolis will be making several moves to round out the roster.

6. Saw where the super cool Detlef Schrempf iSlides are still available in my size (12), for 4 payments of $13.00. Something I for sure don’t need. Alas, the royal & green Maravich era Hawks iSlides are nowhere to be found.

Andrew Peterson lives in Nashville, and the tour stop in Nashville will be in the Ryman. He will also have another concert in the Ryman next June. When Will had a baseball tournament in Nashville we stopped by the Ryman when we were sightseeing. Ceil wants to go back. The water park where Opryland and the new Grand Old Opry is? I’ve never been there, but did stop in front of the old Ryman Auditorium. There are still big name concerts at the Ryman just about every night – here’s the schedule.

Wish I had traveled more when I was single. I went to Camp SPdL and on youth and singles retreats, but that was about it. Never really made my career a focus or priority, but God provided. Our office building was just where I went to provide for my family. For the most part I had enjoyable coworkers. Only a few stretches where the work was overbearing. Enjoyed the few times I traveled for work, and was able to attend a few “road Games” along the way.

Denison on the “new” US position on foreign policy: the administration states, “The purpose of foreign policy is the protection of core national interests; that is the sole focus of this strategy.” The document adds that previous approaches “allowed allies to offload the cost of their defense onto the American people, and suck us into conflicts central to their interests but peripheral to our own.” The US has decided that America’s allies have too often been a hindrance to the nation than help. 

ME: is it not right for the US to put the best interests of its own citizens ahead of the interests of other countries?

JIM BUNNING [SABR Bio] pitched the first National League perfect game in the Modern Era, on Fathers’ Day 21-Jun-1964. Previously there were two perfect games in the NL, both in 1880. There have been 6 since. He was the first 20th century pitcher to rack up 1000 career strikeouts in each league. Bunning’s total was 2,855 — 1,406 with the Tigers and 1449 with the Phillies, Pirates, and Dodgers. After his playing and coaching career, he began representing players as their agent. He had at 30 clients when he first entered politics.

Falcons Continue the Falconing

Didn’t realize the Falcons were playing the 1972 Dolphins. At least the Falcons looked like half the teams, dressed head to toe in black. The look alone was worth the ten points that they actually scored. What a dumpster fire. Not worth my time to track down pictures to post.

It is hard to remember the name of the Falcons coach. Raheem Morris, I believe. On Sunday Ceil said that neither head coach looked like a football coach. The Dolphins head coach grew up in Denver as a Broncos fan. His mom married a Broncos player (I think). The kids went to Harvard (or Yale?), then started working as an intern for the Broncos, worked his way up to a coach, and was promoted by the Dolphins from assistant to head coach. Wears funny pants.

Raheem Morris went to Hofstra – not exactly a football factory. Morris and the play calling leave much to be desired. That’s what all the guys on the radio say as well. Can’t believe people will pay hundreds to go watch this crap.

Arthur Blank seems like a nice, generous man, but let’s face it - he’s one of the worst owners in the NFL. His right hand man Rich McKay is supposedly not involved in the football operations, though it is obvious that’s who Blank turns to for advice. The team hasn’t been to the playoffs in 8 seasons.

Morris totally botched the kicking position. Cost them games. Management botched the QB position, tying up way too much money in two players. Had the best RB in the league last year and didn’t use him properly. First round draft pick Kyle Pitts has been a bust, as are a few others. RB Robinson and WR Drake London have been good picks. The defense has improved, but when the offense produces nothing, the defense can’t carry the game themselves.

Lots of throwback uniforms in the NFL this weekend: Steelers, Eagles, Broncos. Guess this blog is now all football, all the time.

Did not watch, but the World Series game sounded like a classic. 18 innings. Ohtani reached base 9 times, including 2 doubles and 2 homers. A walkoff home run by Freddie Freeman. Horrendous strike three call turned into an unfortunate double play against the Blue Jays.

Saturday: played golf. Teed off at 7:20. Not pretty, though I was able to hit a few good shots with my driver. Ceil baked scrambled egg muffin cups and grits for breakfast (below).

Got a haircut before the Tech game, and raked leaves afterwards. An 11000 step 5 mile day. Will probably have to rake leaves again on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Sunday: supper at the Cho’s, with the Halls, Brasfields, Chiles, and Lee. A traditional Korean dinner. The Cho’s daughter is deciding what college she will be a pole vaulter for. Might be Georgia Tech.

Monday: it was a mess out there. Did make it to the gym. Cehe airport.il drove the Earharts to the airport (above). Grabbed an extra jacket and umbershoot out of my trunk. Also a cap. Busy day. Spend all afternoon working with Leo. Finally got back to my desk and had 45 new emails.

Grilled chicken and roasted vegetables for supper. Been watching more Wheel of Fortune now that Ryan Seacrest is host, though I always liked Pat Sajak as well. Jeopardy seems to mix in more and more woke questions, though last night they were trending conservation for a change. Then the Manningcast.

A good article on why God allows suffering. Denison wrote about the same subject: how can an all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God allow such evil to exist? Even though I have done so often in books and articles, the question persists because the issue persists.

JOHNNY PODRES [SABR Bio] taught Frank Viola a changeup that transformed Viola from an 11-25 record over his first two seasons into a Cy Young Award winner. Podres was the pitching coach for MIN 1981-85. Viola became the World Series MVP in 1987 and won the Cy Young in 1988. Podres was the first pitcher to throw a shutout at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, on 04-Jun-1958, Podres blanked the Reds on 3 hits. He pitched for SDP in 1969, his last stop in the majors as a player.

UPS drivers are trained to drive safely. Well this dude sure cut me off this afternoon today.