CGB HoF Sweet Sixteen: Jeff Tedford vs The Play Players

More Hall of Fame selection polls! From here on out, the winners of these polls automatically enter the CGB Hall of Fame! One of the emerging Cal legends versus the defining moment in Cal sports history.

For each athlete, you can vote in the poll; it closes a week from today at midnight.  After the jump, you can read the athlete profiles written up by our commenters, and discuss in the comments your memories of each athlete and which one deserves to move on. (Check out the full bracket here.  To check out the original nomination thread, click here. For those who want to track the CGB Hall of Fame posts exclusively, click here or right next to the timestamp above where it says "Hall of Fame".)

Jeff Tedford

via bleacherreport.com

It'd be hard to find Cal fans who didn't have a positive opinion of Jeff Tedford.

Ohio Bear: He has done an unbelievable job. If you followed Cal football in the 1980s and 1990s through the Holmoecaust, you know what I’m talking about. Perhaps something I read a long time ago on a Michigan blog said it best (and I’m paraphrasing): before Tedford, Cal was the Indiana of the Pac-10 in football.

 

Beast Mode: 

59-30 Overall
5-1 Bowl Games
6-1 Against Stanfurd
1 Co-Conference Championship
Pac-10 COY
SAHPC
Hope

For people who might want more background on one of Cal's finest coaches, check out this widely circulated Gameday profile from 2004.

The Play Players

Norcalnick talks about The Play.

Moen to Rodgers to Garner to Rodgers to Ford to Moen.  Like pi to math majors, every Cal fan should know the sequence.  But how exactly did a last second victory in a game with no real national significance become so legendary, so mythical?

via upload.wikimedia.org

I tried to find a different picture, but apparently this was the only photo taken in the entire stadium. 

When I was 9 I went to my first Big Game and watched Cal win.  Having been hooked on Cal football, I then saw Cal lose 7 straight times.  My Mom, the consummate pessimistic yet loyal Cal fan, would hold up The Play as our desperate Cal fan trump card.  Lose 7 in a row to the ‘furd?  So what, we have The Play.  Go a decade without a bowl?  Whatevs, we have The Play.  No Rose Bowl berths in either of our lifetimes?  No worries, we have The Play. 

For 20 years between The Play and Tedford, it was our one shining moment in a sea of football pain and misery.  Whenever the Big Game was in Palo Alto my mom would play a tape that analyzed The Play, including an introduction, the CALX call of the game (which is significantly more confusing even than Starkey’s call) and player interviews.  We played it to piss off the Stanford fans, because THEY LOST ON THE PLAY! 

Every once in a while ESPN or Sports Illustrated will have some silly internet voting for the greatest play in college (or sports) history.  Despite a biased voting public, The Play almost always wins.  Nothing can match 6 laterals against your biggest rival with the most insane band in America on the field. 

It is here that we must mention the unfortunate part of our story:  Mariet Ford, he of the psychic blind lateral, is currently behind bars for the murder of his wife and 35 month old son. The Chronicle has a long profile on Ford, detailing the glory of The Play and his fall from grace.

Now, in 2009, with 6 straight bowl games and perennial conference title contention, maybe The Play isn’t as important as it used to be.  We don’t need to hang our hat on one moment.  Or, maybe The Play will remain as a moment that defines Cal athletes and fans alike with the attitude that the Bear will not quit, the Bear will not die. 

And if you ever wondered if The Play was ‘the most amazing, sensational, dramatic, heart-rending... exciting, thrilling finish in the history of college football,’ I’ll leave you with this: 

Via Wikipedia: 

 

For many years, John Elway was bitter, on both a personal level and on behalf of his team, about the touchdown being allowed: "This was an insult to college football... They [the officials] ruined my last game as a college football player."

 

Voting time!