A Football Life: John Riggins 11/21/12 8pm NFL Network (Edit: 12 min preview added to OP)

[pjfootballer]

I thought Joey T really nailed it on why Riggo sat out the 80 season. That loss to Dallas and the strange Chicago-St Louis game the same day that kept a 10-6 team out was so painful.

That part shocked me. I'd always thought it was a contract dispute.

[MartinC]

I saw Riggins twice around town during the years he played here. Once at the Black Rooster Pub in DC and once outside P.J. Skidoos in Fairfax. He was plastered both times. Seems like anything he did... party, hunt, work-out, seek a different path... he did to the fullest. No half measures. And at some level Gibbs recognized that and came to terms with it. Because on Sunday he was true to his nature and played to his fullest. And I haven't heard any teammate criticize Riggins in all the years.

There is no doubt that he showed up on Sundays and was a guy you could count on to get the tough yards when you really needed them. He was one of the best short yardage backs that ever played the game. I recall seeing a stat for I think the 1984 season that showed on 3rd and 1 we ran the ball every time apart from once - and we lead the league in picking up those 3rd downs - almost all of those would have gone behind LT and LG as well. every team in the league knew we were going to run in short yardage and goalline and they knew we were going to run left - they just couldn't do anything about it.

[pjfootballer]

IAnd I never knew about him living in that trailer on the Potomac. He was an interesting character, for sure.

This floored me also. Never knew about it.

---------- Post added November-27th-2012 at 04:49 PM ----------

Thanks for the heads up, already set up the dvr for the next airing. In a related note, the Eddie DeBartolo A Football Life was really compelling. The guy was just a great owner.

Yeah, he put the "modern" and "luxuries" in pro football. He started the whole, my team gets the best of everything to make them comfortable, so they can win.

[Frediemac]

1. What I remember most was during Super Bowl 17 the stadium announcer saying "JOHN RIGGINS THE BALL CARRIER GANED X AMOUNT OF YARDS" all day long and the Dolphins players will tell you that.

2. Randy White of the Cowboys AFTER the NFC Championship game in 83 said "It hurts to tackle John RiggIns"

3. When he quit in 1980 it got Pardee fired. It killed this team.

4. His famous comment when he returned with Gibbs team in 1981 "I'm bored, I'm broke and I'm back"

5. One night on Redskins sidelines TV Channel 9, I believe on at 7:30 Mondays was Joe Theismann. Then halfway through the show RiggIns walks right onto the show < edit rule 6 violation> FACED DRUNK slurrying his speech and Thiesmann says "Have you been like this all day"

6. This one is pure rumor....I heard back after Super Bowl 18 that John Riggins was in a Hotel Hot Tubb with 3 girls drunk until daylight THE DAY OF THE GAME. I would love to ask him off camera if that was true. He was in a word a 'SUPERSTAR" I Love John Riggins and his Redskins Legacy as the greatest RB to ever carry the ball in a Reskins uniform.

7. One last thing my cousin is the woman on the Soap Opera (Shown in A Football Life) that is talking to him before he jumps off the roof to his death on Guiding Light. Yep funny how the only Redskins fan on The Guiding Light got to work with him the most. She use to work for me selling pretzels at RFK stadium back in the day and she told me he was a great guy and he does NOT like Dan Snyder at all. He told her that one day they would change the name of the team. I don't agree with that one.

[Dark Acre]

4. His famous comment when he returned with Gibbs team in 1981 "I'm broke and I'm back"

"I'm bored, I'm broke, and I'm back."

[WheresRickySanders83]

I'm 34 and grew up in NoVA in the 80s, a few minutes away from the old Redskins Park. My father used to take me there all the time for autographs and whatnot. Well, in 1985, at the age of seven, we ran into Riggo in the parking lot, and here's what happened, according to my dad: "I still remember when Riggins asked if you wanted to see his new truck and when you said yes, he picked you up on his shoulder and put you in the back "where the hogs rode" "

The "where the hogs rode" line cracks me up to this day.

[Frediemac]

4. His famous comment when he returned with Gibbs team in 1981 "I'm broke and I'm back"

"I'm bored, I'm broke, and I'm back."

Yes sir ...fixed

---------- Post added November-27th-2012 at 07:41 PM ----------

I'm 34 and grew up in NoVA in the 80s, a few minutes away from the old Redskins Park. My father used to take me there all the time for autographs and whatnot. Well, in 1985, at the age of seven, we ran into Riggo in the parking lot, and here's what happened, according to my dad: "I still remember when Riggins asked if you wanted to see his new truck and when you said yes, he picked you up on his shoulder and put you in the back "where the hogs rode" "

The "where the hogs rode" line cracks me up to this day.

That's a cool story. I like your username "Where'sRickySanders83" I have a picture right in front of me at this time that was taken at the moment Sanders catches that pass from Reagan in the Rose Garden.

[Rpredskins]

Best moment of the show was when NFL network cut to the RG3 commercial right after showing Riggins super bowl highlights. Is it coming full circle?

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Not read through the thread. Don't intend to. (No offense to the OP. Just not that interesting to me.).

I am curious though for those that caught it; did he find a way to bring Snyder into it and slam him and the team?

I'll be impressed in advance if the answers no as that's so out of character for the Riggins of the last 15 years or there about's.

Hail.

[Rpredskins]

Not read through the thread. Don't intend to. (No offense to the OP. Just not that interesting to me.).

I am curious though for those that caught it; did he find a way to bring Snyder into it and slam him and the team?

I'll be impressed in advance if the answers no as that's so out of character for the Riggins of the last 15 years or there about's.

Hail.

Not a word about Snyder

[Mad Mike]

Yeah right

Give him the Hogs to block for him and a franchise level qb like Theismann and there would be no debate.

Glad I missed this. Sounds like another NFL Films mythmaking instead of reality. Riggins sat out 1980 because he was "heartbroken" over the loss to Dallas. GTFOH.

Are you on crack?

Show me ONE SINGLE CLIP of Portis mowing people over as RIggins did. Oh that's right, you missed watching the show and you are glad. Because if you *HAD* watched the show you wold have seen clip after clip after clip of Riggo running people over and running past them. Two thousand yard seasons BEFORE THE HOGS. The fact is Riggins WAS a hog. And RIggo NEVER... EVER... slid to avoid contact. EVER.

And regardless of which one you think was better, to be glad you missed a show about one of the greatest redskins is one of the worst things I have ever heard a "fan" say. Un ******** believable.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Not a word about Snyder

Then color me pleasantly surprised and carry on with the thread at your leisure.

Thanks man. Appreciated.

Hail.

[zoony]

For anyone who missed it. Amazing piece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUlgf8pSPtQ

iPads still suck

[Dark Acre]

RGIII + Alfred Morris = what J.R. & Joe T. could have been if they'd played together as starters more than a handful of years.

[Boss_Hogg]

iPads still suck

Puffin browser. I use it for my iPad G1, which is now a dinosaur.

[Bubble Screen]

Are you on crack?

Show me ONE SINGLE CLIP of Portis mowing people over as RIggins did. Oh that's right, you missed watching the show and you are glad. Because if you *HAD* watched the show you wold have seen clip after clip after clip of Riggo running people over and running past them. Two thousand yard seasons BEFORE THE HOGS. The fact is Riggins WAS a hog. And RIggo NEVER... EVER... slid to avoid contact. EVER.

And regardless of which one you think was better, to be glad you missed a show about one of the greatest redskins is one of the worst things I have ever heard a "fan" say. Un ******** believable.

The Portis fanboys crack me up. Portis, as good as he was, couldn't carry Riggo's jock. And one things for certain, you'd never see Riggins FALL DOWN so he wouldn't be tackled (Rams game). What a joke. GTFOH with this Portis was better than Riggins garbage.

[Parlett316]

Different styles, eras and teams. Impossible to compare unless you want to nitpick and argue just to argue.

[kingdaddy]

Portis behind the Hogs would have been scary....we saw a glimpse of it with what Timmy Smith did in SB XXll. He still holds the SB rushing record and he didn't have Portis talent. However, Riggins was a different kind of animal for defenses to handle. He was scary fast and even scarier big. You did not want to be the first one to have to hit him when he had the ball. Riggins was also the more durable back when compared to Portis. The Hogs would have taken bullets for John Riggins. They complemented each other perfectly.

One other thing.....Riggo did it for longer. He was still a full time running back at age 35-36 while racking up 46 TD's in his last 3 seasons. Portis was finished before the age of 30....or soon after turning 30.

Bottom line, Riggins is a legend, Portis was a bright star that burned out too soon.

[The Hangman- C_Hanburger]

What do you expect people to say about someone when they are asked to take part in a programme like this? Your about the same age as me and so I'm sure you recall Johns off field behaviour mainly drink related. Again I LOVED what Riggo did on a Sunday - but he was not exactly a model professional Monday through Saturday.

I remember him in traction in the hospital during the week...THEN show up on Sunday and run people OVER. NEVER heard him talk about the pain...Now we got guys with stubbed toes out WEEKS...I honestly don't remember Riggo missing a game...

[Mad Mike]

Different styles, eras and teams. Impossible to compare unless you want to nitpick and argue just to argue.

Different styles? You mean like Riggins running over people and Portis sliding to avoid contact?

---------- Post added November-28th-2012 at 06:38 PM ----------

I remember him in traction in the hospital during the week...THEN show up on Sunday and run people OVER. NEVER heard him talk about the pain...Now we got guys with stubbed toes out WEEKS...I honestly don't remember Riggo missing a game...

No ****. I remember that very clearly. You could see the pain on his face that last year but he kept mowing people down. As big a fan as I was, and as much as he was still doing for the team, I remember thinking that it was time for him to retire while he could still walk. Riggo was a true warrior.

---------- Post added November-28th-2012 at 06:43 PM ----------

Portis behind the Hogs would have been scary....we saw a glimpse of it with what Timmy Smith did in SB XXll. He still holds the SB rushing record and he didn't have Portis talent. However, Riggins was a different kind of animal for defenses to handle. He was scary fast and even scarier big. You did not want to be the first one to have to hit him when he had the ball. Riggins was also the more durable back when compared to Portis. The Hogs would have taken bullets for John Riggins. They complemented each other perfectly.

One other thing.....Riggo did it for longer. He was still a full time running back at age 35-36 while racking up 46 TD's in his last 3 seasons. Portis was finished before the age of 30....or soon after turning 30.

Bottom line, Riggins is a legend, Portis was a bright star that burned out too soon.

I would say that Portis was a very talented disappointment. At some point he just quit practicing the way a pro should. Even his team mates said it. He became Dan Snyder's spoiled golden boy and helped fracture the team. And for all of the effort he gave on Sunday, he could have given so much more if he did the same the rest of the week.

[E33Green]

Then color me pleasantly surprised and carry on with the thread at your leisure.

Thanks man. Appreciated.

Hail.

Since the show was produced by NFL films I doubt they would have included anything negative about Snyder even if all John did in the interviews was bash him. I think the whole Snyder/Riggins "conflict" (ie. the "dark heart" comments) was a result of John seeking publicity through controversy to promote his radio show and further his media career. Ever since his radio show was cancelled, I have been seeing less and less of John in the media and have not heard him say anything negative about the Redskins or Dan Snyder in a long time.

[ZRagone]

They were reshowing it today at 1:00 PM during their Football Life marathon. I didn't get to see it the first time around, but watching now and it's excellent.

The one thing I will say, with no shame once so ever....even as a near 30 year old male, who never had the honor of really witnessing the moments as they occured....there are two things in sports that inherently cause goosebumps to go over my skin and my eyes to tear up a bit at the pure emotion of it. Hearing the chorus of "We Want Dallas" chants before that NFC Championship game, and hearing the 70 Chip play call being made. After FINALLY having a tiny bit of that feeling during a season I actively watched, when they silenced the broadcasters and just panned around FedEx singing Hail to the Redskins on the last game of the season, I just hold onto hope that someday soon we'll have one of those moments for this generation.

Amazing job by NFL films, as always. This shows been really well done.

[RWJ]

Watching it now. I recorded it back in November. JR was and probably always will be my favorite Redskin's player. He gave all he had on the field. He played the game like a gentleman. Great all around FB. He could run, pass catch and block.

[repo_4]

They were reshowing it today at 1:00 PM during their Football Life marathon. I didn't get to see it the first time around, but watching now and it's excellent.

The one thing I will say, with no shame once so ever....even as a near 30 year old male, who never had the honor of really witnessing the moments as they occured....there are two things in sports that inherently cause goosebumps to go over my skin and my eyes to tear up a bit at the pure emotion of it. Hearing the chorus of "We Want Dallas" chants before that NFC Championship game, and hearing the 70 Chip play call being made. After FINALLY having a tiny bit of that feeling during a season I actively watched, when they silenced the broadcasters and just panned around FedEx singing Hail to the Redskins on the last game of the season, I just hold onto hope that someday soon we'll have one of those moments for this generation.

Amazing job by NFL films, as always. This shows been really well done.

I am lucky to be just old enough to remember the glory days of that era. But I still get what you are saying. This will be a great moment for me going forward.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/washington-redskins/0ap2000000119795/Hail-to-the-Redskins