By now, you've heard the news of the passing of Sammy Baugh. For the benefit of non-Redskin fans, I'll explain his significance to pro football.

     When the franchise moved from Boston to Washington in 1937, the first true draft pick of the "new" Redskins was a single-wing passer from TCU. No one--not even Sammy Baugh himself--had an inkling of the greatness that was yet to come, either from him or the franchise.

     By the time he called it a career in 1952, he owned every Redskins passing record there was. (He now sits 3rd in career passing for the Skins. Sonny Jurgensen sits #1, and I assume Theismann is #2.) I should also point out that Sammy played DB (and punted) in addition to taking snaps under center.

     But here's what you need to know...

     Sammy Baugh led the Skins to 5 NFL Championship appearances, and won 2 of them ('37, '42). Yet, it's the '40 and '45 championship games he's remembered for...the '45 game against the Cleveland Rams for throwing a ball that hit the goalpost in his own end zone (which resulted in a safety in those days), and the '40 game against the Bears for...oh, crap, do I have to say it?? 73-0...

     (Of course, that game gave us a memorable quote as well. When he was asked what would've happened if he had connected for a TD early in the game, Sammy's response was "Hell, the game would've been 73-7, I reckon". OK, I paraphrased it, but still...)

     After he finished up being the 1st coach of the Houston Oilers, Sammy became part of the very first class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame when it opened in '63. Then, he was done with football and retired to his ranch to live out his days.

     Now, those days are over.