When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Since the Arizona Cardinals are the NFL’s oldest team, with roots extending back to 1899, there are many examples of unusual plays, strange accomplishments, and perhaps odd statistics! Most of this stuff has been relegated to history, and remains hidden on yellowed newspapers or dusty microfilm. In other words, once the game or experience is over, we’re likely never to hear ...
Oct 24, 2024•21 min•Ep. 95
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY As usual during the staging of the Summer Olympics, numerous stars are born, discovered, and revered forever based on their gold-medal winning performances. World-wide coverage of the numerous events is eagerly followed by millions and many of the champions quickly become household names. Recognition, riches, and honor quickly follow, although not necessarily in that order! ...
Aug 08, 2024•19 min•Ep. 94
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY This episode covers some of the greatest moments in Paddy Driscoll's career. Read the entire episode blog post and check out some other cool info regarding this episode here . WHEN FOOTBALL WAS FOOTBALL BACKGROUND Each episode takes the listener back to the very early days of the National Football League. Author Joe Ziemba will share a forgotten or lost story from one of the...
Jun 24, 2024•24 min•Ep. 93
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY On this episode of “When Football Was Football,” we’ll take a break from covering professional football and journey back to 1937 for a celebration of one of Chicago’s most prominent annual sporting events: the Prep Bowl. Each year, the high school season in the city would conclude with the enormously popular clash between the champions of the Chicago Catholic League and the ...
Apr 14, 2024•21 min•Ep. 92
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY And, you may ask, who is Joseph T. Sternaman? Sternaman was more commonly known as Joey Sternaman during his professional football playing days from 1922 through 1930. As such, Joey was actually the very first quarterback of the Bears when the team incorporated in Chicago in 1922. He was also the head coach of the Duluth Kelleys in 1923 as well as the player/owner/coach of t...
Mar 01, 2024•16 min•Ep. 91
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . NETWORK SPONSORS Row One - the vintage shop for sports history fans! EPISODE SUMMARY Cardinals’ fans are familiar with the long, sad story concerning the current championship dry spell for the club that has now stretched into its 76th year. That will be 76 years this fall without an NFL title, the longest such streak in the National Football League, as well as in all professional sports! On...
Feb 04, 2024•22 min•Ep. 90
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Long before we could watch football games on our phones, or talk with our friends using our wrist watch, there was Dick Tracy. On this episode of “When Football Was Football,” we’ll visit the original Dick Tracy, a crime fighting cartoon character whose fame achieved world-wide status thanks to a rather large former lineman from the Chicago Cardinals. We’ll also visit with a...
Dec 11, 2023•20 min•Ep. 89
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Every so often, we encounter a football story that just screams to be shared. In this episode of “When Football Was Football” we’ll actually discuss a kicker who, believe it or not, boomed 100-yard punts in practice. Sometimes, there are true stories that just cannot be made up… Such was the case of punter Harry Ghaul, whose startling back story includes the previously menti...
Oct 02, 2023•17 min•Ep. 88
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Stories about unknown or undrafted collegiate players making it big in the NFL, are rare, but always entertaining! One such case occurred in December of 1953 when Chicago Bears’ assistant coach Clark Shaughnessy was scouting the Blue-Gray all-star game in Montgomery, AL. A local coach shared that “the best end in this part of the country wasn’t chosen to play in this game.” ...
Aug 28, 2023•19 min•Ep. 87
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Who is Art Folz, and why is he one of the most notorious villains in NFL history that you never heard about? On this episode of “When Football Was Football” we’ll introduce you to Mr. Folz who was banned from the NFL for his unwitting attempt to be helpful, but then became the godfather of stock car racing in Chicago, and later a successful newspaper publisher. It’s a compli...
Jul 24, 2023•18 min•Ep. 86
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY The episode recounts the story of World War II hero Edward "Butch" O'Hare and his gangster-affiliated father. Butch O'Hare, an American naval aviator, displayed extraordinary courage and skill by single-handedly taking down five enemy bombers threatening his ship, the USS Lexington, an act that earned him the Medal of Honor in 1942. His father, Edward O'Hare, despite being a...
Jun 12, 2023•11 min•Ep. 85
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . From a personal standpoint, I truly love the game of football…and to write about it. At times, it’s easy to slip back in time during my research of pro football topics to be captivated by some obscure player or fact from the history of the game itself. A few minutes searching for verification on a specific topic can quickly turn into hours as the stories and legends seem to spin off and blo...
May 16, 2023•17 min•Ep. 84
Historian Joe Ziemba Shares Stories of Some Pieces of his Chicago Cardinals Memorabilia Collection. The History comes to life when you see period pieces from when Chicago had two NFL teams. Join us at the Pigskin Dispatch website and the Sports Jersey Dispatch to see even more Positive football news! Sign up to get daily football history headlines in your email inbox @ Email-subscriber Miss our football by the day of the year podcasts, well don't, because they can still be found at the Pigskin D...
May 08, 2023•25 min
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY On November 6, 1927, a few thousand of his closest friends gathered to honor Chicago Cardinals’ lineman Willis Brennan. But Willis Brennan was much more than a football player. In fact, if you consider some of the landmark events of Chicago in the 1920s, chances are Willis Brennan was there…such as the birth of the NFL in 1920, Red Grange’s first professional game in 1925, t...
May 01, 2023•17 min•Ep. 83
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Before player drafts, salary caps, and heck, even before the National Football League, we had the Cardinals! On this episode of “When Football Was Football,” we’ll chronicle the very first season of the NFL’s oldest team—the Arizona Cardinals. Along the way, we’ll discover some surprising facts about the early activities of the club. Back in 1899, things were different in th...
Apr 13, 2023•15 min•Ep. 82
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY No one knew it existed. But suddenly, there it was: a dusty, withered document, that brought a quick end to a daring rivalry, disrupted an NFL team’s plans for an economic revival, and may have even saved the NFL. That was then, but six decades later, no one knows where this incredibly valuable manuscript is hiding. Read the entire episode blog post and check out some other ...
Mar 20, 2023•16 min•Ep. 81
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Bidwill was the founder of the Chicago Bluebirds professional softball team and was also the co-founder of the National Girls Baseball League (NGBL) which began in 1944 with all teams based in Chicago. Many of the games were played at Charley’s own Bidwill Stadium, located at 1975 East 75th Street on the south side of Chicago. Read the entire episode blog post and check out ...
Mar 06, 2023•15 min•Ep. 80
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Remember the infamous “Spygate” scandal from a few years ago? As a reminder, one prominent NFL team was severely penalized for allegedly, and illegally, filming another team’s defensive signals from an on-field camera during a game, thus offering the offending club a significant offensive advantage. On this episode of “When Football Was Football” we’ll dance around the “Spyg...
Feb 20, 2023•16 min•Ep. 79
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode of “When Football Was Football” we’ll look back at a battle between the two rivals that has largely been erased from the record books despite the game being played under the lights on Wednesday, October 17, 1934 at State Fair Park in Milwaukee, WI. Read the entire episode blog post and check out some other cool info regarding this episode here . WHEN FOOTBALL...
Feb 06, 2023•13 min•Ep. 78
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode of “When Football Was Football,” we’ll look closely at the arrival of the original Chicago Bulls back in 1926. Unlike the NBA champions of almost 70 years later, these Bulls were formed to participate as members of the newly formed American Football League. And the creation of that team sent shock waves through the existing pro football establishment in Chica...
Jan 23, 2023•13 min•Ep. 77
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY Something didn’t look right… It was the morning of December 28, 1947, 75 years ago today, and both the Philadelphia Eagles and the Chicago Cardinals were preparing for their eagerly awaited NFL title game at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Despite the presence of 18 tons of hay being used to cover the field in the week before the game, the turf had quickly become frozen overnight ...
Dec 28, 2022•13 min•Ep. 76
Author and historian Joe Ziemba of the When Football was Football Podcast joins us to discuss the 1996 Rose Bowl game between USC and Northwestern. The people, plays, and great stories associated with the 70th Rose Bowl Game. Joe has a fantastic book on Chicago area pro football titled Bears versus Cardinals , that is an excellent piece of reading for any fan of football history! Join us at the Pigskin Dispatch website and the Sports Jersey Dispatch to see even more Positive football news! Sign ...
Dec 28, 2022•19 min
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY As we continue our tribute to the 1947 Chicago Cardinals NFL championship, we head back to December 27, 1947, the day before the title game with the Philadelphia Eagles at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Absolutely no one gave the Eagles a chance in this game, except, perhaps Cardinals’ coach Jimmy Conzelman who was overly cautious in his approach to the title contest: “We keep he...
Dec 27, 2022•10 min•Ep. 75
The 74th Rose Bowl between USC and Michigan State was a fun game. Joe Ziemba of the When Football was Football Podcast joins us to discuss the game played in early January of 1988. Join us at the Pigskin Dispatch website and the Sports Jersey Dispatch to see even more Positive football news! Sign up to get daily football history headlines in your email inbox @ Email-subscriber Miss our football by the day of the year podcasts, well don't, because they can still be found at the Pigskin Dispatch w...
Dec 27, 2022•18 min
Author and historian Joe Ziemba of the When Football was Football Podcast joins us to discuss the 1984 Rose Bowl game between UCLA and Illinois. The people, plays, and great stories associated with the 70th Rose Bowl Game. Joe has a fantastic book on Chicago area pro football titled Bears versus Cardinals ; that is an excellent piece of reading for any fan of football history! Join us at the Pigskin Dispatch website and the Sports Jersey Dispatch to see even more Positive football news! Sign up ...
Dec 25, 2022•22 min
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY They called them “Cinderellas”—a couple of previously woebegone National Football League teams that had never been to the big ball-- more commonly known as the NFL Championship game. Since the NFL staged its first “playoff” in 1932—due to a tie in the standings—neither the Philadelphia Eagles nor the Chicago Cardinals had ventured into the annual battle for pro football’s to...
Dec 24, 2022•9 min•Ep. 74
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY It was a long week—and a long wait—for the Chicago Cardinals as the club waited for an Eastern Division playoff result to determine which team would play the Cardinals for the 1947 NFL championship. And now, 75 years ago to the day, we continue our mini-series on the 1947 Chicago Cardinals championship quest here on the Sports History Network. After handily defeating the Chi...
Dec 21, 2022•10 min•Ep. 73
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY How does a team adequately prepare for an NFL title game? Even more, so, how does a club prepare itself for the biggest game of the season when the name of the opposition is not yet known? Such was the case for the Chicago Cardinals 75 years ago today on December 18, 1947. As the winners of the Western Division of the National Football League after a stirring 30-21 win over ...
Dec 18, 2022•10 min•Ep. 72
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY With all of the hype now delivered and the big day finally arriving, we’ll take you back to December 14, 1947 when the Bears and the Cardinals met in Chicago to determine the NFL’s Western Division championship. It had already been an unusual decade for both teams. Each organization survived the horrors of World War II and moved forward to this glorious day. For the Bears, a...
Dec 14, 2022•11 min•Ep. 71
When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear . EPISODE SUMMARY With the NFL Western Division title on the line, both the Bears and the Cardinals continued their pre-game preparations for that upcoming contest 75 years ago today. By Saturday, December 13, 1947, both teams were confident in their game plans and overall preparation for the battle to be held on December 14 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. With both clubs checking in with 8-3 re...
Dec 13, 2022•10 min•Ep. 70
