Sitting here writing a column defining modern toughness may seem ridiculous if you take one look at my mugshot.
But as sports editor, opining is a perk I’m happy to take advantage of.
Come this weekend, many families will have the greatest football debate of all time.
In a one-on-one competition between your father’s high school football team and your football team, who would win?
This is not posited to start a fight at the dinner table, but the conversation often reveals more about the debaters than the topic.
Dan Carlin of Hardcore History defined the debate as “Caesar at Hastings.”
Take the greatest Roman general, Julius Caesar, and equip him with the same gear and forces as whatever side of the Battle of Hastings, then debate which side would win and why.
In football, there is the “Don Shula at Jacksonville” debate. Are the 1972 Miami Dolphins the greatest of all time? What would happen if you transported them to modern day Jacksonville and had them play arguably one of the worst teams in the NFL. Level the playing field by put them in the same equipment, give them months to prepare and adjust to the new rules.
I’d put my money on Jacksonville. Technically speaking, the Dolphins of 1972 are the greatest team of all time because they’re the only team that ended an NFL season undefeated. However, the lowliest NFL team — I’d bet on a D-III program — would wipe the floor with them.
Maybe I’m showing my hand. I’m slowly realizing the world around me is evolving faster than I can keep up. Maybe the Dolphins, underneath the cigarette and open beers on the sidelines, had a level of toughness Jacksonville never experienced. The play with grinding bones and chipped teeth toughness. Maybe Jacksonville knows that toughness too but doesn’t talk about it out of fear of fines or embarrassment.
Can your father or grandfather’s football team beat your high school football team?
Probably not. Modern football emphasizes the pass. And run-based offenses cannot keep up. Don’t debate me on this. I can write books on double-wing offenses stalling on third and long.
Today’s game is entirely different. Just the difference in diet and training has created smarter, stronger and faster athletes.
That’s what I love about high school football. At least in week one, every team running onto the field is the best that school ever fielded. Schools have rebuild years, setbacks, but every year programs inch forward in overall progress even if their record never reflects it.
Every year produces bigger, faster, stronger players and the coolest part of high school athletics isn’t seeing a team win but seeing what’s next. Injuries will come, losses will pile up but for at a moment every team is the best there is, the best there ever was but we will never know who will ever be the best there is.
Games evolve, people evolve and even opinions evolve. And if you think something is great because it’s the best there is at the time, then you’re not looking hard enough.
