@the-gipper said:

Are you a "non-American"? We thought maybe that you were Frenchie Fuqua, former Steelers running back from the 1970s....you know, the guy that wore disco platform shoes made of glass that had a goldfish in them.

You may have gotten it because I don't think there are many people in this country that pay any attention to the fact that there is such a thing as a "World Cup of American Football".

First off is the name. No one here would ever refer to it as "American Football". Football is Football. It isn't American Football or Asian Football or Martian Football. It doesn't have any other name. That other sport that some parts of the world call football is Soccer to us. Note that the pro league here is called the MSL, not the MFL. (Americans did not invent the name to differentiate that sport from Football...the English did...."soccer" is a derivation of the word "Association...as in Association Football. It was actually coined by the English in the late 1700s early 1800s to distinguish it from "Rugby Football". So, don't blame Americans for using a term coined by the British.

The other thing is that the level of play of the Team USA is very minor league. As I understand it, Team USA can consist ONLY of football players that are one year removed from college. If you are more than one year from playing in college you are ineligible. And the roster MUST include players from all levels of college inclucing FBS, FCS, Div.II, Div.III, and NAIA. So, there can be no ex NFL players, not even ex-Arena Leaguers. Any decent college team would probably defeat this team.

Be that as it may, the USA Team still won the World Cup Championship game by a score of 51-7....over the Canadians. Canadians should be the one place capable of giving the USA a run...as their Canadian football style is not much different than US football rules.

(However, apparently it was Mexico that gave the USA the sternest test in the 2011 World Cup. The US only won by 17-7 over Mexico)

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

To answer your questions: Born in Montreal, lived in Cleveland between 1994 (Indians in World Series) to 2005. Used to be a Raiders and Fighting Irish fan before Cleveland, but now I'm a Browns, Buckeye, fan!

@frenchie said:

Ironically, a non-American got that answer! LOL

Are you a "non-American"? We thought maybe that you were Frenchie Fuqua, former Steelers running back from the 1970s....you know, the guy that wore disco platform shoes made of glass that had a goldfish in them.

You may have gotten it because I don't think there are many people in this country that pay any attention to the fact that there is such a thing as a "World Cup of American Football".

First off is the name. No one here would ever refer to it as "American Football". Football is Football. It isn't American Football or Asian Football or Martian Football. It doesn't have any other name. That other sport that some parts of the world call football is Soccer to us. Note that the pro league here is called the MSL, not the MFL. (Americans did not invent the name to differentiate that sport from Football...the English did...."soccer" is a derivation of the word "Association...as in Association Football. It was actually coined by the English in the late 1700s early 1800s to distinguish it from "Rugby Football". So, don't blame Americans for using a term coined by the British.

The other thing is that the level of play of the Team USA is very minor league. As I understand it, Team USA can consist ONLY of football players that are one year removed from college. If you are more than one year from playing in college you are ineligible. And the roster MUST include players from all levels of college inclucing FBS, FCS, Div.II, Div.III, and NAIA. So, there can be no ex NFL players, not even ex-Arena Leaguers. Any decent college team would probably defeat this team.

Be that as it may, the USA Team still won the World Cup Championship game by a score of 51-7....over the Canadians. Canadians should be the one place capable of giving the USA a run...as their Canadian football style is not much different than US football rules.

(However, apparently it was Mexico that gave the USA the sternest test in the 2011 World Cup. The US only won by 17-7 over Mexico)

@the-gipper said:

Yes, it is the roster of the Team USA that participated in the "World Cup of American Football".

Ironically, a non-American got that answer! LOL

@clevelandmilidh said:

The Iowa Barnstormers, Arena football league. I seen Matt Bassuener and thought he was there quarterback, guess not.

That TEAM USA was made up of semi-pro type players and guys that played at smaller colleges, so it it certainly possible that a team like the Iowa Barnstormers could have had members on TEAM USA.

Ricks graduated from Barberton HS. He played for Michigan under Bo Schembechler, also a Barberton High graduate.

And, in the pros, he played his cup of coffee for the Kansas City Chiefs under John Mackovic...also a graduate of Barberton HS.

I suppose it is possible that there are others out there that did this besides Ricks and Houston.

@roach said:

Lin Houston.

That is not the name I had, but I guess it could be true. In fact, unlike the name I came up with, the coach that Houston played for could have been the same individual: Paul Brown.

Was he his coach at Massillon HS? At Ohio State? and with the Browns?

Actually, I have looked it up, and you are right. See this from Wikipedia:

Nicknamed "Mr. Perfection" as a master of technician on the offensive line, Lin Houston was an "original Brown", who played with the Browns from their inception in 1946 through the 1953 season. Houston helped Cleveland to the championship game in each of his eight seasons with the club as the Browns claimed championships in 1946-49 in the All-America Football Conference and in 1950 in the NFL. Houston played for legendary coach Paul Brown during every phase of his football career: Massillon (Ohio) High School, Ohio State and the Browns.

@frenchie said:

USA?

Yes, it is the roster of the Team USA that participated in the "World Cup of American Football".

@king-ghoolie-lives said:

Gipper,

as I gt ready to call it a day, and rise for church, you bring me great hope.

Please, don't take this as an insult, but like you there are some things I enjoy in life that I spend way too much waking time on. It gives a nigga hope to a fellow human being with the same kind of affliction.

LMAO, man, what goes through your brain to come up with this mundane, obscure shit? God Bless ya man. Enjoy!

Sometimes it is like playing word association. Kind of like perhaps when you are having a conversation and some point of the conversation reminds you of a song lyric or a line from a movie. Same type of thing here.

In this case, the Michigan kid was bragging about his school and the running backs that came from his school, and I pointed out that some of the best assets about the Michigan Program came from right here in the town where my office sits. That spurred that question in my mind.

The second question came from doing some surfing about football. So, I threw it up there too.

So, like I said, its just word association.

@the-gipper said:

No, not the Barnstormers....at least I don't think so. Who are The Barnstormers?

The Iowa Barnstormers, Arena football league. I seen Matt Bassuener and thought he was there quarterback, guess not.

@the-gipper said:

Here is a one question trivia quiz:

Which RB played for his college HC and his NFL head coach who both went to the same high school as he did?

Would that be Don Shula?

@the-gipper said:

Oh, well, OK, here is another trivia question. Below is the roster of a football team. Identify if you can the team that this roster belongs to. Hint, it is not a high school or college team:

Quarterbacks

5 Matt Bassuener

11 Micah Brown

7 Cody Hawkins

13 Ben McLaughlin

Running Backs

40 Richie Brockel FB/TE

37 Jason Haller

32 Henry Harris

1 Nate Kmic

20 Taylor Malm

25 Da'Shawn Thomas

Receivers

81 Alex Anderson

2 Ricardo Lenhart

88 Mike Peterson TE

Offensive Linemen

60 Alex Alvarez OL

78 Darius Henderson OL

54 Brandon Jordan OL

72 Frank Knights OL

65 Josh Koeppel C

70 Luke Summers OL

77 Daniel Warderburg OT

60 Cameron Zipp C

Defensive Linemen

91 Charles Bay DE

51 Gerard Bryant DL

99 Daniel Calvin DT

55 Daniel Catalano DT

93 Wacey Coleman DL

92 Johnny Dingle DT

98 Tyler Roach DL

75 Nick Rossi DL/OL

Linebackers

42 Demetrius Eaton

43 Terrence Jackson

56 John Jacobs

23 Osayi Osunde

44 Zach Watkins

Defensive Backs

30 Maurice Banks S

10 Myles Burnsides S

29 Diezeas Calbert CB

18 Tommy Connors S

27 Jeff Franklin CB/S

21 Jordan Lake S

12 DeWayne Lewis CB

33 Joe Sturdivant S

24 Daniel Tromello DB

22 Stephan Virgil CB

Special Teams

17 Gregg Berkshire K/P

Inactive List

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roster updated 2011-07-08

USA?

@the-gipper said:

Here is a one question trivia quiz:

Which RB played for his college HC and his NFL head coach who both went to the same high school as he did?

Lin Houston.

Mike

@clevelandmilidh said:

Second question I believe is the Barnstormers. First question I have no Clue

No, not the Barnstormers....at least I don't think so. Who are The Barnstormers?

Quarterbacks

5 Matt Bassuener

11 Micah Brown

7 Cody Hawkins

13 Ben McLaughlin

Running Backs

40 Richie Brockel FB/TE

37 Jason Haller

32 Henry Harris

1 Nate Kmic

20 Taylor Malm

25 Da'Shawn Thomas

Receivers

81 Alex Anderson

2 Ricardo Lenhart

88 Mike Peterson TE

Offensive Linemen

60 Alex Alvarez OL

78 Darius Henderson OL

54 Brandon Jordan OL

72 Frank Knights OL

65 Josh Koeppel C

70 Luke Summers OL

77 Daniel Warderburg OT

60 Cameron Zipp C

Defensive Linemen

91 Charles Bay DE

51 Gerard Bryant DL

99 Daniel Calvin DT

55 Daniel Catalano DT

93 Wacey Coleman DL

92 Johnny Dingle DT

98 Tyler Roach DL

75 Nick Rossi DL/OL

Linebackers

42 Demetrius Eaton

43 Terrence Jackson

56 John Jacobs

23 Osayi Osunde

44 Zach Watkins

Defensive Backs

30 Maurice Banks S

10 Myles Burnsides S

29 Diezeas Calbert CB

18 Tommy Connors S

27 Jeff Franklin CB/S

21 Jordan Lake S

12 DeWayne Lewis CB

33 Joe Sturdivant S

24 Daniel Tromello DB

22 Stephan Virgil CB

Special Teams

17 Gregg Berkshire K/P

Inactive List

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roster updated 2011-07-08