Friday, May 12, 2006

Maroon-colored news

Back in February I wrote about Texas A&M suing the Seattle Seahawks over the use of the phrase "12th Man." Well, it now appears that my predicted resolution has come to pass:
The Seattle Seahawks will pay Texas A&M University a one-time licensing fee of $100,000 as part of the settlement agreement between the two entities, an A&M official said Tuesday.

Steve Moore, the university's vice president of communications, said the settlement also includes an annual licensing fee of about $5,000.

Both A&M and the Seahawks, who lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2006 Super Bowl, announced the settlement agreement Monday, less than four months after A&M filed suit against the then-Super Bowl-bound team.

In other, not-so-amusing news, the legendary Jarrin' John Kimborough has passed away. Kimborough led A&M to its first and only national championship back in 1939, and charmingly insisted he didn't mind losing in Heisman voting that year because he didn't know what the Heisman was.
Jarrin' John Kimbrough drew his last, difficult breath Tuesday, at 87, in his hometown of Haskell in West Texas. He died of pneumonia, after spending the last year or so in a wheelchair, his memory failing.

But no one will remember the godlike figure of the 1939 national champion Texas A&M Aggies in that way, not even those who never knew him or saw him play. He might not have saved football at Aggieland, but it won't abuse the truth to say he kept the banks from repossessing the stadium.

I love the tale deeper in the article about Kimborough's debut against eventual national champion TCU:
He made his debut as a sophomore in '38, with the Aggies losing 34-6 to powerhouse TCU. The Aggies caught a glimpse of the future.

"When I got in there," he would say later, "it was like a Chinese fire drill. In the huddle, the linemen were saying, 'Don't run over me again because I can't block those guys.' And the backs were saying, 'Don't give it to me. I don't want to get hit anymore.' So I just said, 'Hell, I'll run it.' "

On the first play, Kimbrough plunged into the line and bulled his way for 9 yards, putting a TCU defender on the bench with a bloody face. On the next play, he ran for 14 yards and left a defensive back writhing on the ground. When the trainers helped the TCU player to the sideline, coach Dutch Meyer rushed onto the field and got in Kimbrough's face.

"You big (bleep)," he told Kimbrough, "we're trying to win a national championship here and you're putting my guys out of the game."

When Coach Meyer threatened to break Kimborough's arms and legs if he kept playing so hard, Kimborough responded with a classic: "Look, little fella, you're too small for me to punch. Get somebody bigger out here."

He will be missed.

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