No Mercy

BadgerKing · Post by **BadgerKing** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 6:26 am

I would like to share with you a memory....

Its Sunday 18th December 1983 and about two weeks previously I had been told to watch American Football as it was great fun. Now I was not a sports person, I am...ahem...stocky and though I had some success with rugby, Sports were not my friends! I never liked Soccer, I didn't grasp Cricket and so I was that lost of all creatures, a man without a sporting obsession :roll:

I did some research into this transatlantic game found out some team names but decided I should choose a team from the capital of the USA. I had no idea about the Redskins but assumed the played in some sort of Red..that would do.

On Sunday the 18th I sat down at 7pm to watch this hour long show featuring American football, I had noted that the Redskins were playing the Cowboys. I never liked westerns so if anything I felt a little more connected to the noble native american!

The highlights started and so did some unbreakable connection, I remember details about that game (and I have never seen it since) that I have not got from any other game.

There was the commentator saying 'Joe Theissman is looking for more......and his is going to get more with Clint Didier' the ball soaring through the air slicing that odd square of white light (why the hell was there a hole in the roof!) vanishing in that light onlt to reappear into Clint's hands (He was called Clint...no one in England was called Clint, Clint was the ultimate action star!) and into the endsone for a blissful score

There was a little running back in powder puff blue sulkily thowing a ball in the face of a giant (Darryl Grant) the Giants stepped forward and the sulky bank slunk away in terror!

There was the fun bunch and what fun they were, forming a circle and ready to high five (Man they even celebrate well in this game) and thenk some other powder puff bloke (They all seemed so sulky and petulant) called.....Downs (?) who got cross and overtired about celebrating on the star...(hmm does that sound familiar at all) and tried to break it up.

There was a wonderful movie like moment of suspense when the Cowboys tried something called a long count (I had no idea what this was but it was drama!) but my already beloved Redskins were standing like a stonewall, unflinching unmoved by this cheap attempt to sucker them. The QB flinched, snapped the ball, the grumpy man in the stupid hat yells NOOOO! The power blue running back look suprised, horrified but both were fleeting feelings as darkness and the burgandy and gold stonewall crushed him like a bug.

My heart soared, I had found my sport and I loved the Burgandy and Gold, Hail the Redskins, Hail indeed, Hail, Hail, Hail

When the show was ending one more little trick sealed my love. The end titles showed a montage of runs, scores and hits...powder puffs went flying, spinning and crashing all the the tune of Nils Loftgren singing a song called no mercy...Led Zep is my band I own nothing by Nils LOfgren but a remember the song, it is the song that binds my obsession across an ocean but as secure as love can make it!

Cry - No mercy , no quarter
No place to hide for me and the man
Lefts and rights never came in harder
No mercy , take it while you can - now!
No mercy take it while you can

Its a good song...even now

Thanks to this great board for letting me share HTTR

HighOnTheHogs · Post by **HighOnTheHogs** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 7:02 am

Great memories and good times, those were. Recalling those years is always a pleasure. Thanks for sharing them. I also recall Danny White and Randy White and Ed Jones looking like they wanted to either cry or just go home by the end of that game. Those images still make me smile.

While slightly off-topic, Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter" is also a fine song, one of Zep's countless many. I think Page, Jones and Bonham are to musical perfection what the Washington Redskins are to professional American football perfection. I can't say I recall the Lofgren tune playing at the end of that game. I'm certain I would have remembered the LZ tune.

C-Dog · Post by **C-Dog** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 8:16 am

I remember that game well. I had anticapted that game for months, seeing as how the Skins had blown a game they should have won in the Monday Night opener (am I thinking of the right season?) against the Boys, a painful loss. Anyways, I remember feeling euphoria after the Skins had so throughly trounced the Boys that day. I couldn't wait to get to Woodbridge Middle School the next day and stuff in the face of all the bandwagoneering Cowboy fans. I remember their only comeback was "did you see when Dorsett slammed that ball in Grants' face." Typical Cowpoke fans....thanks for sharing....

BadgerKing · Post by **BadgerKing** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 8:19 am

HighOnTheHogs said

I can't say I recall the Lofgren tune playing at the end of that game. I'm certain I would have remembered the LZ tune.

The Zep are simply the finest rock band to ever strut, wail and build sheds (UK slang for rock drumming) My Memory comes from a UK TV show not from being at the game, however clearly No Mercy by the Zepp rocks! :evil:

BossHog · Post by **BossHog** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 9:27 am

Good stuff BK - thanks for sharing.

langleyparkjoe · Post by **langleyparkjoe** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 9:30 am

I enjoyed reading that.. from someone who never watched it before

Deadskins · Post by **Deadskins** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 9:56 am

I think that was the only time I ever saw Landry lose his cool. It was awesome. :lol:

NC43Hog · Post by **NC43Hog** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 11:09 am

Good stuff BK. We are glad you came aboard!!

tribeofjudah · Post by **tribeofjudah** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 11:26 am

Welcome to you from across the POND. I,m really glad that American Football is being embraced by the UK and all around the world......

BigRedskinDaddy · Post by **BigRedskinDaddy** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 12:31 pm

That was well done, BK. Thanks for the memories.

ICEMAN · Post by **ICEMAN** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:20 pm

Badger King...Hip-Hip-Hooray!!!

Hoss · Post by **Hoss** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 11:08 pm

Badgerking, thanks for the trip down memory lane. Cheers my friend.

Countertrey · Post by **Countertrey** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:17 am

It was December 11, 1983. Needing to convert on 4th Down, Landry sent in a dummy play. The intent was that Danny White would call a hard count, and draw the aggressive 'Skin's DL offsides, getting the penalty, and (therefore) the 1st down. With the hard count, the Redskins defense stood like a rock, not falling for the ploy. Danny recognized that the play had not worked, so, rather than calling a time-out (clearly, the intelligent thing to do), he began an audible. The camera panned to Landry... there was no sound, but the words "NO, DANNY! NOOOO!" could clearly be observed rushing from his anguished mouth. Too late. Snap. Hand off, up the gut to fullback Ron Springs (yes, the father of our own Shawn Springs) and STONED for a two yard loss!!!!

The change of possession meant little, in the scheme of the game, as the Reskins squandered the possession. There is a bit of a myth that the play ended the game... but it occured in the early part of the 3rd quarter.

It did, however, result in cracks in the Cowboy's facade of unity (Dave Butz said later that he could hear White getting an earful from Center Tom Rafferty), and as those cracks widened, the floodgates opened, ultimately resulting in a complete blowout, 31-10. Dallas was thoroughly dominated.

But, whenever old timers like myself think of the game, we think of "NO, DANNY! NOOOO!"

Beautiful.

Deadskins · Post by **Deadskins** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:36 am

Countertrey wrote:It was December 11, 1983. Needing to convert on 4th Down, Landry sent in a dummy play. The intent was that Danny White would call a hard count, and draw the aggressive 'Skin's DL offsides, getting the penalty, and (therefore) the 1st down. With the hard count, the Redskins defense stood like a rock, not falling for the ploy. Danny recognized that the play had not worked, so, rather than calling a time-out (clearly, the intelligent thing to do), he began an audible. The camera panned to Landry... there was no sound, but the words "NO, DANNY! NOOOO!" could clearly be observed rushing from his anguished mouth. Too late. Snap. Hand off, up the gut to fullback Ron Springs (yes, the father of our own Shawn Springs) and STONED for a two yard loss!!!!

The change of possession meant little, in the scheme of the game, as the Reskins squandered the possession. There is a bit of a myth that the play ended the game... but it occured in the early part of the 3rd quarter.

It did, however, result in cracks in the Cowboy's facade of unity (Dave Butz said later that he could hear White getting an earful from Center Tom Rafferty), and as those cracks widened, the floodgates opened, ultimately resulting in a complete blowout, 31-10. Dallas was thoroughly dominated.

But, whenever old timers like myself think of the game, we think of "NO, DANNY! NOOOO!"

Beautiful.

He threw his clipboard to the ground too, didn't he?

Countertrey · Post by **Countertrey** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 2:49 pm

He threw his clipboard to the ground too, didn't he?

Yup... immediately after Springs was stuffed. The only time I have seen Landry rattled. Seen him pissed a few times, but usually, he'd just turn around. Never like this. Danny was lucky that Landry wasn't a "Scanner" (Scanners: a period movie... you had to be there ).

Deadskins · Post by **Deadskins** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 2:57 pm

Countertrey wrote:
He threw his clipboard to the ground too, didn't he?

Yup... immediately after Springs was stuffed. The only time I have seen Landry rattled. Seen him pissed a few times, but usually, he'd just turn around. Never like this. Danny was lucky that Landry wasn't a "Scanner" (Scanners: a period movie... you had to be there ).

I was.

Countertrey · Post by **Countertrey** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 4:03 pm

JSPB22 wrote:
Countertrey wrote:
He threw his clipboard to the ground too, didn't he?

Yup... immediately after Springs was stuffed. The only time I have seen Landry rattled. Seen him pissed a few times, but usually, he'd just turn around. Never like this. Danny was lucky that Landry wasn't a "Scanner" (Scanners: a period movie... you had to be there ).

I was.

I'm pretty sure it was availible in VHS, Betamax, and LD.

Deadskins · Post by **Deadskins** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 5:08 pm

Countertrey wrote:
JSPB22 wrote:
Countertrey wrote:
He threw his clipboard to the ground too, didn't he?

Yup... immediately after Springs was stuffed. The only time I have seen Landry rattled. Seen him pissed a few times, but usually, he'd just turn around. Never like this. Danny was lucky that Landry wasn't a "Scanner" (Scanners: a period movie... you had to be there ).

I was.

I'm pretty sure it was availible in VHS, Betamax, and LD.

I got it on 8-track. :shock: