Card Identification Forum

This Card shows me so much more about how tuff the players from way back like this 81' Jack Youngblood TOPPS #205. I see players that jam a finger or get a "stinger" thru the shoulder and have to go to the licker room right? Read the back of the card that explains how he played with a broken fibula to help the team win 21-19 over the Cowboys in the NFL Playoffs, 30-DEC-1979!!

This is why I watched football back then a lot more than currently, players put it on the line to win a game, not break records for themselves, complain about not getting the ball enough, not blocking bcz the QB TICKED them off and so on right? I bet readers here could name any number of players that have done those things bcz it's all about them right? Loyalty was what made sports so popular and why it's falling apart too. 

Additionally, all the targeting fouls and head to head slams we see today were not as they once were right? There is a reason why that I have not heard 1 person state and it's so obvious its looked over. Anyone have an idea? 

Answer Below:

Shoulder pad size! Look at cards from the 80's & Mid-90's and take a look at the way pads have basically gone to a size that doesn't protect the head at all. I love big hits and slams like all but why have sports analysts not discussed the pads being changed so drastically that they protect little at all? The hits were as powerful back then too. Don't believe me, look up Cornelious Bennett, Derrick Thomas, sacks or Lawrence Taylor's from the 80's. They were like MACK Trucks hitting but they weren't knocked out. Just some - FOOD FOR THOUGHT !

Don't know about the pads ...

But about tough, nobody was tougher than Emmitt Smith playing the fourth quarter against the Giants with a separated shoulder and being very productive in a key game. 

Only thing I have to say right now is that LB Thomas Davis played in Super Bowl 52 with a broken right forearm. The Panthers lost that game, but it had nothing to do with Davis. He has also torn his ACL in the same knee 3 times in his career and continues to come back and play. That's a tough guy right there! And he is still a top player at 35.

also back in the day they played for the thrill of the game. What is that baseball book "The love of the game"? There was more of a passion with being one of the elite athletes that was good enough to compete at the highest level of the sport. Also they weren't making over 6 figures. Most were barely getting into the 6 figures. Sure many of them were doing it for the fame, but the Million$ weren't standard yet. Up unitl around the late 70s or early 80s maybe many athletes HAD to have a SECOND job outside of the league. If they were lucky or enough of a star in the league they would get some high paying endorcements that would replace the need for a second "job".

True story!