Hello, my name is Colin. Welcome to the 29th issue of The Wood Report, an eclectic smorgasbord of sports “news” and humor.
The long offseason is over and the NFL season is back. It started with a banger, a fantastic game between the Buccaneers and the Cowboys that came down to two clutch kicks. Couldn’t have asked for a better primetime start. On Sunday, we can plop down on the couch for 10 hours of uninterrupted football goodness. Plus we had an incredible US Open this week and a tight WNBA playoff race that is coming down to the wire with just one week left in the regular season.
This Week’s Main Story
On Thursday night, the reigning champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers took the field to begin the 2021 season with Tom Brady returning as the starting quarterback. Tom is undertaking his 22nd season in the NFL at the age of 44. The common thinking is that athletes begin to decline in their late 30s, and pushing a career into your 40s while playing at a top level is nearly impossible. In game 1 of his age 44 season, Brady merely threw the ball 50 times for 379 yards and 4 touchdowns. He also led the Bucs on a masterful game winning drive with under 2 minutes remaining, a drive that felt like a forgone conclusion the moment he stepped onto the field. This is not normal stuff.
When we watch elite athletes compete, we marvel at the amazing feats they are able to accomplish. We are in awe and say “how can they make the human body do that?” There is something human, then, to see an athlete age. We are able to relate to that experience and see that nobody is above the creeping threat of time. It might be sad to see, but it makes our connection to sports all the greater. But then there’s that 0.01% of competitors that have somehow found a way to beat even the looming specter of Father Time. They play longer and at a much older age than the players they struggle against. And they do it with grace, making it seem easy.
Today, in honor of Tom Brady’s 22nd season, we are going to explore the athletes across sports that have defied time itself and played into their 40s and further. These are the sports icons that didn’t care that their teammates were literally half their age. They were still better. Because sometimes, age is just a number.
I have to add, we will not diving deep into Tom Brady himself. I guarantee that you will get enough of that content every single Sunday for the next 5 months. We all know how insane it is, having experienced his career in it’s entirety. There are other people that we need to highlight in this newsletter.
Football
Tom Brady.
Okay, just kidding.
First let’s look at a couple of QBs who played well into their 40s (this section will indirectly show you why Tom is great. Oh well.) Warren Moon’s age 40 season was cut short by a collarbone injury and he left the Vikings that offseason to sign with the Seahawks in 1997. That season at 41, Moon led Seattle to an 8-8 record, but with an offense that ranked in the top 10 in both points and yards. His stats may have dipped for his standards, but he was still a top QB in the league, leading the team on 4 game winning drives that season. Vinny Testaverde was not as lucky, playing on multiple bad teams in his 40s. He cycled through a different team every year, going from the Jets, to the Cowboys, the Jets (again), the Patriots, and the Panthers. He never caught on as a starter after his age 41 season when the Cowboys went 5-10 with him as the starter and he led the league in INTs.
Like Tom, Moon and Testaverde both started games in their age 44 season. Neither was particularly good, playing just a handful of games and retiring the next season. But none of them played as long as George Blanda. George gave up quarterbacking in his 40s, instead solely focusing on being kicker for the Oakland Raiders until he was 48 (just narrowly outlasting Adam Vinatieri and Morten Andersen who both retired at 47). Blanda would even come out to play QB occasionally, like at 43 when he replaced Daryle Lamonica several times to win games with both his arm and his leg. Blanda played in 4 different decades during his career and is the oldest player to play in an NFL game at 48 years, 109 days.
Quarterbacks and kickers are great, but neither take on the amount of punishment or take as many hits as skill position players who are getting tackled. In that respect, Jerry Rice is unmatched. Rice played his last season at the age of 42 and was still productive in those years, adding to his already unreachable career stats. In 2002, at age 40, Rice was a Pro-Bowler (13th time), ending the season with 1,211 yards and 7 scores. He helped pushed the Raiders to the Super Bowl that year where he caught his 8th Super Bowl touchdown (NFL record). He is the oldest non-quarterback to score a touchdown in the league at 42 years old. And he is one of three players to even catch a pass at 40+. The other two are Tom Brady (on a trick play) and Brett Farve (from himself, making him the only tandem of 40+ year-old players to connect on a pass).
Baseball
The oldest player to get regular at bats in baseball history is Jud Wilson, who played through his entire 40s. Wilson was a player in the Negro Leagues and he dominated well past when you would expect, his final season coming when he was 49 years old. He was an above average hitter 8 of the 10 seasons of his 40s, often entering elite territory. For that entire decade, he slashed .304/.405/.431. The best of those seasons came at 45, when he hit .426/.495/.606, with an OPS+ of 221 (where league average is set at 100). Almost disrespectfully, Wilson led the league in hit by pitches at 49, when he was beamed 4 times. One article of the time stated that he was “probably the hardest hitter Negro baseball has seen.” He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Two more modern players who didn’t care about age are Barry Bonds and David Ortiz. Now, Bonds’ reference page is a trap. Just peaking at it can send you into a spiral of rabbit holes that is impossible to escape. There is so much bold ink on his page that it is nearly impossible to not talk bout it. It’s almost too easy. Enter at your own risk. But know that in Bonds’ final 2 seasons, at 41 and 42, he still led the league in walks and intentional walks because he instilled that much fear into pitchers.
Ortiz is a much more reasonable “out of this world” hitter to discuss. Ortiz announced that 2016 would be his final season in baseball at the age of 40. Farewell tours are usually a nice trip around baseball where former rivals give you gifts for beating them into a pulp for years. Expectations are low because are just happy to watch you play one last time. Big Papi decided to go full scorched earth and give the fans the show they remember from a decade prior. He slashed .315/.401/.620, leading all of the majors in slugging and OPS. He led the AL in RBIs with 127. His incredible run lasted the entire season too, as he was named an All-Star and finished 6th in MVP voting. Many athletes get slower as they get older. Ortiz may still have been an all-world hitter, but no one would be upset if he couldn’t get around the bases like he used to. Instead, Ortiz decided to buck that trend and led the majors in doubles at age 40. He had no trouble getting to 2nd.
Basketball
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played in the NBA at the ages of 40 and 41. While those Lakers teams were more centered on Magic Johnson, Kareem was still a force to be reckoned with and the all-time scoring leader in NBA history. He had won Finals MVP in 1985 at 37 years old. The Lakers went to the NBA Finals in all 3 of Kareem’s final seasons, goin 2-1 and giving Hall of Famer his 5th and 6th rings.
Sue Bird is a current player who has hit the 40 year milestone. This season she is helping direct a Seattle Storm team that is currently 20-10, 3rd best record in the league and ready for a daunting playoff run. Bird is still directing the offense at an elite level because that’s all she knows how to do. She leads the Storm in assists this season at 5.5 and is 3rd in scoring, still nailing 3s at a 44% clip. She is in the top-5 in the entire league in both assists and 3 pointers, and ranks 2nd in Offensive Rating. And all of this is just kind of standard for her. She does this year in and year out, so to see it at the age of 40 is expected. Then there’s this mind-blowing stat.
Hockey
When it comes to veteran players in professional hockey, the one man that needs to be mentioned is Gordie Howe, Mr. Hockey and one of the best players to ever lace up their skates. Howe played into his 40s with the Detroit Red Wings, a franchise he played with for 25 years. At 40, he scored 44 goals and 59 assists. Unfortunately, he suffered a chronic wrist problem that forced him to retire at 42. He eventually got surgery and at 45 returned to the ice in the World Hockey Association with the New England Whalers. That season he scored 100 points and propelled the Whalers to a championship. He would stay with the franchise for 7 years, including when they were absorbed into the NHL to become the Hartford Whalers in 1979. That season, which began when he was 51 years old, Howe would play in all 80 games on the schedule, scoring 15 goals and 26 assists. Howe played in the All-Star game that season, playing in the mid-season event in 5 different decades. He played that game alongside the 2nd youngest player to ever appear in an All-Star Game, a 19-year-old Wayne Gretzky. He set the record of oldest player to appear in an NHL game at the age of 52 years and 10 days.
I would like to give a special mention to Jaromir Jagr, another one of the best players of all time, who spent his 40s in the NHL seemingly trying to collect as many team jerseys as possible. Returning to the NHL at age 39, after a brief stint in the Russian KHL, Jagr played 7 more seasons in the North American league. He played for 6 different franchises in those seasons. He was not just a “veteran presence” for those teams either. He led the team in scoring on two different occasions, the 2013-14 Devils and the 2015-16 Panthers, at ages 41 and 43. He was always a threat to score, no matter his age. After his retirement from the NHL, he continued playing professionally with his hometown team in the Czech Republic, Rytíři Kladno. He is still on that team this season at the age of 49. Jagr just loves playing hockey.
Golf
Phil Mickelson made history just this year as an elder statesman in the golf world. Back in May, Lefty won the PGA Championship at the age of 50, becoming the oldest golfer to win a major. It was his sixth major win and the first since 2013. He led after the 2nd and 3rd round, and eventually finished at 6-under, 2 strokes ahead of runners-up Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen. He finally overcame many struggles of the mid-2010s that included multiple close calls, a couple surgeries, and reworking his swing with a new coach. Here is his best shot from that championship run.
It’s no wonder Phil was paired with Tom Brady for The Match events.
Wrestling
Mae Young might be the most impressive athlete on this list. Young is a professional wrestler who was instrumental in pioneering women’s wrestling in the 1940s. She was also appearing in events in the mid-2000s, well into her 80s. She made he official debut on in the WWF in 1999 at the age of 76, appearing in episodes of Smackdown! and Raw, as well as bigger events like WrestleMania and SummerSlam throughout the 2000s. While often known for her comedic performances, Mae was an expert at taking bumps/falls, even during her late years. Most famously, she was powerbombed through a table by Bubba Ray Dudley at the age of 77. I repeat: A 77-YEAR-OLD WOMAN WAS POWERBOMBED THROUGH A TABLE ON LIVE TELEVISION. I don’t even care what kind of safety is in place, watching that happen is a surreal viewing experience. Mae was down for anything though. She participated in it all.
Gold Medal – Juan Soto
Juan Soto just finished August with a walk rate of 30.3%. He is just the 8th player since 1920 to walk at such a high rate for an entire month and the first since Joey Votto in 2015.
(What did I tell you, just can’t get away from Barry Bonds.)
Soto is a 22-year-old phenom who is leading the majors in walks. He has some of the most impressive plate discipline in the sport, rarely leaving the zone for a pitch. He knows exactly where it is. And whenever he spits on a pitch, he lets the pitcher know with his patented Soto Shuffle. The Soto Shuffle can be supercut into a 25 minute highlight video for just the 2021 season.
Villain of the Week – The Denver Broncos Quarterbacks
Remember in 2020 when we got the amazing experience of watching an NFL team navigate losing every QB on the roster to the Covid list just a day before the game? It was a wild game, and we all wondered why the NFL let that happen. Well, we now know the answer.
Suddenly, the villain of the story goes from Goodell and the league office to the players trying to circumvent rules and policies. Maybe the league isn’t entirely absolved, but it at least explains the move a bit more.
Is This How You Play?
Everyone is getting into the NFL spirit! This is just good AFC North football right here.
Tatis is one of the best baseball players in the world, I swear.
College football is back.
Please comment what you think is happening in this Renaissance painting posing as Mets baseball.
News by the Numbers
0 - Sets lost by Emma Raducanu on route to the finals of the US Open. Ranked 150th, the 18-year-old has stormed through the tournament and is set to play on the biggest stage.
3 - Number of Top-5 ranked players Leylah Fernandez has beaten on route to the finals of the US Open. That includes No. 5 Elina Svitolina, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, and No. 1 Naomi Osaka. The 19-year-old will face Raducanu in the Finals on Saturday, setting up the first all teen final at the US Open since 1999. It is a historic match.
4 - Number of players who have rushed for 1000 yards now on the Baltimore Ravens. After a cursed run of injuries to the RB depth in just the past 2 weeks, the Ravens have gone full shotgun approach to figuring out the position this season, signing basically every veteran RB on the market. Those 4 players are Latavius Murray, Devonta Freeman, Le’Veon Bell and of course Lamar Jackson.
Homer Bias Restricted Area
The only good thing about the Yankees right now is watching Nestor Cortes Jr. mess with timing and release points.
Say what you want about Randall Cobb being on the Packer in the year 2021, the last time he opened the season against the Saints, he did this. I’m happy to see him back.
End Of Restricted Area
Thank you for reading the Wood Report this week. I hope this issue inspired you that age means nothing and you can accomplish anything at any point in life. If Mae Young can do it, so can you.
I appreciate all the kind words and encouragement that you have sent my way while building this newsletter. The best way to help out is to share it around with your friends and simply liking it if you enjoyed the content.
Keep Sports Fun.
Colin
Twitter - @ColinRingwood12
The Buzzer Beater
What the hell even is CrossFit?