Sport-Blog.com

In sports, it's quite common for individual athletes to have nicknames. These nicknames are usually descriptive of either the athlete's personality (Walter Payton was known as "Sweetness") or athletic prowess (Wayne Gretzky was "The Great One").  What's far less common is when an entire team or a unit of the team bands together and is comprised of such skilled players that they share a collective nickname. When you think of the New York Yankees teams of the past, you can't help but think of the nicknames "The Bronx Bombers" and "Murderer's Row," both of which described the power of the entire lineup rather than just one player.

Out of all the major professional sports, I think football is the one that lends itself to the kind of teamwork that inspires these great nicknames. In baseball, the focus is on a single player most of the time (for example, the pitcher or the batter); in hockey there are so many shift changes that you can't really say for sure who's playing with whom; and in basketball, there are more opportunities for individuals to shine than the whole team. In that spirit, let's take a look at some of the more interesting football team-within-a-team nicknames from over the years.

The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame
This is perhaps one of the most famous collective football nicknames of all time. Though many people have heard of The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame, even the most avid sports fans probably would have a hard time naming the individuals who comprised this fearsome foursome. They were: Jim Crowley, Don Miller, Harry Stuhldreher, and Elmer Layden. Coached by the legendary Knute Rockne, these four young men led the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to the National Championship back in 1925 with a perfect season (10-0) capped off by a win in the Rose Bowl over Stanford.

The Steel Curtain
The Pittsburgh Steelers joined an elite club of just three teams to ever win five Super Bowl Championships (the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers are the other two). The Steelers' first four championships came from the mid-1970s to 1980.  One of the reasons that the Steelers were so successful in the 1970s was because of their very stingy defense, known as The Steel Curtain. Led by tackle "Mean" Joe Green, linebacker Jack Lambert, and cornerback Mel Blount, the Steel Curtain was statistically the best defense in the NFL in 1974, 1975, and 1976 - a three-year run that no other squad has matched since then.  In 1976, the Steel Curtain helped Pittsburgh to an amazing five shutouts in nine games to close out the season and seal a playoff berth. Unfortunately for that incredible '76 team, they came up short in the end and didn't win the championship. But The Steel Curtain has endured as one of the most legendary defensive units to ever take the field in professional football.

The New York Sack Exchange
The Jets used to play their home games at Shea Stadium (home to the New York Mets baseball team) back in the early 1980s. During that era, the defensive line of the Jets was made up of Mark Gastineau, Marty Lyons, Abdul Salaam, and Joe Klecko. These were four men who made a living out of getting to the quarterback and breaking up plays.

These days, we have statistics for every kind of play and situation imaginable in professional sports; therefore it's a bit difficult to believe that just 25 years ago the NFL didn't count sacks as an official stat category. Therefore, the 66 total sacks these four men posted in the 1981 season doesn't appear anywhere in the record books. Nevertheless, the legend of the New York Sack Exchange lives on in the memories of football fans across the country.

The Greatest Show on Turf
Although defenses dominated the NFL a couple of decades ago, these days the emphasis is definitely on offense. When you watch highlight shows, you are more likely to see great passes, catches, and runs rather than great blocks and tackles. One of the most productive offenses to ever take the field was the St. Louis Rams teams in 1999, 2000, and 2001.

The offense, led by quarterback Kurt Warner, running back Marshall Faulk, and wide receivers Torry Holt, Isaac Bruce, and Az Hakim, seemed to score at will in every single game they played. In 1999, Warner had an incredible season. Having just been a grocery store clerk a few years before, Warner made the most of his shot in the NFL. He started all 16 games in place of the injured Trent Green and posted some of the gaudiest passing statistics ever seen. He completed 325 out of 499 passes for 4,353 yards and an amazing 41 touchdowns. He only threw 13 interceptions on the season, which gave him a quarterback rating of 109.4.  

As a team, the Rams scored more than 500 points in each of these three memorable seasons -- a feat that has been done a total of only nine times in the history of the league.  The Rams and their Greatest Show on Turf romped to a Super Bowl win in 2000, with Warner earning the game's MVP award after throwing for 414 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Those 414 yards still stand as a single-game Super Bowl record for any quarterback.  Warner also won the NFL's MVP award twice, just barely beating out teammate Faulk for one of those awards.

The Hogs
Playing on the offensive line of a football team is probably one of the most thankless jobs there is in professional sports. On the defensive side of the ball, at least the guys have a chance to go in there and make big sacks, cause fumbles, and stuff the run. On offense, nobody notices you unless you make a mistake. The job of an offensive lineman is to protect the quarterback and to create lanes for the running back to burst through. When the offensive line does this job well, the running back and quarterback get all the glory. When defenders get through for sacks, then people start calling the numbers of the offensive linemen.

So that makes it all the more unusual that one of the greatest teams-within-a-team in recent history was comprised of the offensive line. In 1982, the Washington Redskins o-line consisted of Joe Stark, Mark May, Russ Grimm, Joe Jacoby, Don Warren, and Rick Walter. These guys routinely cleared the way for running back John Riggins to pound out yards and for quarterback Joe Theismann to stay in the pocket and find the open receivers.  The Hogs were a big part of the reason that the Redskins were able to win Super Bowl XVII by a score of 27-17 over the Miami Dolphins.  In addition, they can be credited with helping Riggins win the MVP award with 166 rushing yards and one touchdown on 38 carries.

The Orange Crush
When you're talking about professional football and the color orange comes up, most fans would invariably think of the Denver Broncos. Orange has been a featured color in their uniforms for many years, and has come to symbolize the great offenses and defenses that the team has fielded over the years. Many people mistakenly think that the Orange Crush nickname began when Hall of Famer John Elway emerged as a star quarterback. And while it's true that the moniker was resurrected when Elway was at the helm, the Orange Crush actually began a couple years before Elway joined the team.

The original Orange Crush team in Denver referred to strong play on both sides of the ball.  The defense had players like Lyle Alzado and Tom Jackson, while the offense featured quarterback Craig Morton and running back Floyd Little. The Broncos of this era didn't win a Super Bowl championship, however. The original Orange Crush team fell short in 1978, losing to the Dallas Cowboys by a score of 27-10.  In subsequent years, the Broncos lost three more times (1987, 1988, and 1990) before finally triumphing in 1998 and 1999.

The Monsters of the Midway
The Chicago Bears defense has always made more of a splash than their offense. It's no wonder then that the Monsters of the Midway nickname came about as a reference to some of the most ferocious players that have ever worn a football uniform. The guy that instantly comes to mind when talking about the Monsters of the Midway is Dick Butkus. Butkus was the most feared linebacker in the league when he played in the mid-1960s and early 1970s. When Butkus was on the field, he was liable to take over the game. He led the Bears in tackles eight years in a row and was responsible for more forced fumbles and interceptions combined than any other player on the team. Butkus played with such ferocity and intensity that the award for outstanding college linebacker is named after him.

Since Butkus' playing days in Chicago, there have been two linebackers who seem to have been made out of the same mold: Mike Singletary and Brian Urlacher. These two players elevated the defensive play of their respective squads. Singletary led the 1985 Bears defense, one of the best in the history of the game, all the way to a victory in Super Bowl XX. In the Super Bowl, the defense held the New England Patriots to a miniscule 7 net rushing yards, which is a record that still stands today.  Urlacher hasn't had a chance to play in the Super Bowl yet, but he has been a member of two playoff teams in his six years on the Bears, and is averaging more than 100 tackles per season despite playing in only 9 games in 2004 due to injury. When Singletary was on the field, and when Urlacher leads the charge today, you're sure to hear the old Monsters of the Midway name uttered a few times by awestruck fans.

There's no doubt in my mind that these colorful nicknames make the game of football more interesting and memorable to fans of all ages and in all parts of the country. I don't have to be a Rams fan to appreciate the Greatest Show on Turf, and you don't have to be a fan of any of the other squads that I mentioned to appreciate their accomplishments.