It is time start announcing the members of Gotham's Hall of Infamy. This is not like the standard Hall of Fame. It not only looks at the player's on the field accomplishments, but it also focuses on their personality and off field actions.
A perfect example of someone that won't make this Hall is Mariano Rivera. The best closer in the history of baseball, but he doesn't have anything else to give. He is the ultimate professional who showed up for work, did his job better than anyone else, and went home. That is not the type of talent we are trying to recognize here.
With that being said, get your popcorn ready.
- Also goes by Broadway Joe, Joe Willie Namath, Joe Willie Whiteshoes
- New York Jets quarterback from 1965-1976
- 2x AFL MVP
- 5x AFL All-Star
- AFL Championship (1968)
- Super Bowl III - "The Greatest Game Ever Played"
- Super Bowl III MVP
- Pro Football Hall of Fame
- #12 Retired
Broaday Joe was the man going all the way back to his high school days. He would throw down routinely in basketball games, was heavily recruited by multiple baseball teams, and was obviously the star football player. Couldn't even get into his first choice (University of Maryland) because his SAT scores were too low and had to "settle" for Bama where he lead them to a National Championship. Maryland really messed that one up.
Wound up being drafted 1st overall by the AFL and 12th overall by the NFL and signed a record setting contract of $427,000. He won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1965, was the first player to throw for 4,000 in 1967, and won the championship in 1968.
Every New Yorker, however, will most remember his on the field play of his Super Bowl III championship over the Baltimore Colts, aka "the greatest team in football history", when he guaranteed the victory over the 19 point favorites. That is the shot calling of a true boss.
Now let's get into the stuff that is really important.
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| Giselle who? |
- Changed the role of the quarterback on the field, but more so off the field, helping them gain the "superstar" reputation.
- Called the Commissioner's bluff when he threatened Joe for opening a bar. Namath retired from football instead of giving up his business venture and the Commish came crawling back to him, letting him keep his shares in Florida and Boston as well as future bars so Joe returned to the league.
- Broadway made Ocho Cinco antics look weak when he popularized wearing a full length fur coat on the sidelines and low-cut white cleats.
- Appeared in over a dozen television shows and even tried to be the host of Family Feud. Even appeared on Broadway once to live up to his nickname.
- Namath's immortality came with his commercial with Farrah Fawcett. A moment I will forever envy him for.
- His dating resume includes Janis Joplin, Mamie Van Doren, Phylis Davis, Randi Oakes, and of course the amazing Raquel Welch. The true original playboy who would made Tom Brady look like an inferior species of human being if he was playing today.
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