This morning I dropped my son off at pre-school and he was doing his usual-pinballing around like a young, white Barry Sanders. At one point he ran at me for a goodbye hug and I did the fake juke and stiff-arm because I crave the acceptance that only laughter can bring, even if it’s from day-care lunch ladies.
But as I walked on from there to work, I realized that I really miss the stiff-arm. So many teams have gone to offenses that “get the running back in space”, we rarely see the power-back just drop somebody, which is, really, one of the best things in football. So here’s some video from the college ranks, just so we can remember what we’ll be missing for the next three months.
I guess it’s important to note that in this example, the running back was “in space”, and still used the stiff-arm, so perhaps it’s more a question of desire and ability than one of opportunity.
And then here’s one from the playground. It really reveals the stiff-arm for what it is – a blatant slap in the face of an overmatched opponent:
Man, I can’t wait for football season.
UPDATE: Reader Joe linked this outstanding SI photo of LaDanian Tomlinson administering a stiff-arm, so I’m going to share. Thanks, Joe!
There is rarely anything more beautiful in football than a properly executed stiff-arm.
I figured the ignominy of the stiff-arm was leavened by the fact that USC was beating them by 50 and probably had the towel-boy in on D by that point.
One of my favorite moments in recent playoff history was the last time the Ravens faced the old guard Titans. Earlier in the game, Eddie George had dislocated his right shoulder, putting his entire right arm out of whack. It hurt like hell, but George kept playing.
In the third quarter, on a third down play, he delivered a devastating stiff-arm–with his dislocated right arm–to Ray F—ing Lewis for the first down.
Tennessee eventually won by a field goal in Eddie and Steve McNair’s last great season together.
I wish I could get some decent NFL stiff-arms from youtube – Goodell would probably have Edwin Mulitalo sit on me if I tried.
I once saw a whole NFL Films dedicated to the stiff arm and it was pretty much the awesomest NFL films ever…
check out this picture from si.com – http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0705/gallery.canon.mcdonough/content.19.html
That is a nice stiff-arm, Joe. Good research.
that boy tomlinson is tha best runningback ever…and he from waco thats where im from
i mean that was a mean one man best running back in the NFL history