Earlier today I heard Colin Cowherd, a prominent sports talker, assert that almost none of the quarterbacks of the Sixties and Seventies could play in today’s NFL.
Ridiculous. Consider what they had to do and put up with:
– they called their own plays;
– were largely unprotected from brutal, dirty hits;
– faced much tougher rules for receivers;
– played on inferior fields, and
– endured much poorer facilities, medical treatment, and training options.
Yes, the athletes are bigger and faster today, but that works both ways. The old QBs would be bigger, healthier, and faster if they played today, and today’s QBs would be taking a beating if they played way back when.
I think the real question is not whether the classic QBs could play in today’s NFL, but whether today’s oft-pampered QBs could play in the Sixties and Seventies.
Stan Guthrie is an editor at large for Christianity Today magazine and for the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. His latest book is God's Story in 66 Verses. He also is author of All that Jesus Asks: How His Questions Can Teach and Transform Us, Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st Century, and A Concise Guide to Bible Prophecy. He is co-author of The Sacrament of Evangelism. Besides authoring, writing, and editing books, Stan is a literary agent, bringing together good authors, good books, and good publishers.
Stan writes the monthly Priorities colum for BreakPoint.org. He has appeared on National Public Radio's Tell Me More, WGN's Milt Rosenberg program, and many Christian shows, including The Eric Metaxas Show and Moody Radio's New Day Florida. A licensed minister and an inspirational speaker, he served as moderator for the Christian Book Expo panel discussion, Does the God of Christianity Exist, and What Difference Does It Make?
Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st Century
A gripping, hard-hitting overview of issues confronting the spread of the world's most global faith. Includes discussion questions and suggestions for further reading.
"Necessary reading."
Scott Moreau, Wheaton College and Evangelical Missions Quarterly
