Baseball is back! Yankees stink, so heres some college football to ease your mind. Ok, so the picture has nothing to do with college football. It's just so sublime that it should be posted whenever its even slightly appropriate. George Steinbrenner was a god. He brought the Yankees back from the dead. But before he was the Boss, he was the assistant; to Woody Hayes.
The Buckeyes won the Rose Bowl in 1954, after an undefeated 10-0 season with legendary coach Woody Hayes. George Steinbrenner's only year as Ohio State's assistant? 1954. There is no such thing as coincidence. Woody Hayes' book You Win With People! outlines that a winning mentality and hard work are the key components to being successful. Obviously Woody and George are cut from the same cloth, but just how similar are they?
Master Motivators
Both were leader of men. Sometimes you have to think outside the box. Woody Hayes during a rant about toughness, decided to lead by example. Urban Meyer claimed Woody took out a snapping turtle in the locker room, pulled down his pants, and let it latch on to his woody screaming "That's f'n toughness!". Ohio State later claimed that Urban was just joking but theres just no way. You're a perverted psycho if you make that story up.
After the Yankees lost three straight games in the 1981 World Series to the Dodgers, George needed to find an angle to motivate the team. The Boss showed up to a presser with a broken hand slung up. When questioned about his injury George alleged that he fought two Dodgers fans in an elevator. He claimed the assailants called his beloved Yankees "chokers" and New Yorkers "animals". "I clocked them. There are two guys in this town looking for their teeth and two guys who will probably sue me." Nobody ever sued and nobody ever reported that George Steinbrenner fought them in an elevator. He was 51 at the time. Years after the incident George never swayed from his story and denied that he just punched the elevator door.
Deadly Tongues
We're talking about next level trash talkers. Woody was kicking the ever loving shit out of Michigan in 1968. Up five touchdowns with 1:23 left, he kept the offense out there for a two point conversion. After the game he was asked why go for two when you're up so much to which he replied "Because I couldn't go for three." Just rubbing the Wolverines face in dog shit.
George was a silver-tongued devil. There's plenty of different accounts on his banter but this one in particular really projects his masterful grasp on the english language. In the ninth inning of an April 1st game, (so what like a few days into the season or maybe even spring training?) an overweight Hideki Irabu botched his second out of the inning. Irabu wasn't fast enough and was unable to cover first base in time. So what does George do? Calls him a "fat pussy toad." My God, just chalk him out right there. George traded Hideki after the season.
Fighters
Neither man was a stranger to chuckin-knucks controversy. The 1978 Gator Bowl. Woody was 65, handed three straight losses from Michigan, and on a downhill spiral. Clemson was up two with about two minutes left. Buckeyes were driving, almost in field goal position, when Charlie Bauman picked the ball off for Clemson. Bauman, the DT, was pushed out of bounds right at the feet of Woody Hayes. Bauman got up to celebrate and BOOM! Woody fuckin judo chopped him right in the neck. A Clemson linebacker later claimed he heard Woody scream "You SOB I just lost my job!", right before the hit. Woody Hayes never coached another game.
One time George Steinbrenner beat up two guys at once. In an elevator. By himself.
Nixon and Holiday Birthdays
This is just kind of a miscellaneous paragraph. Woody's birthday was Valentine's Day, and George's was the 4th of July. So American. Both also had this weird Nixon connection. Woody Hayes kept in touch with Nixon a lot. They wrote letters to each other and often talked on the phone. Nixon even eulogized Woody on his televised funeral. George's relationship wasn't as romantic. He was involved in Watergate and plead guilty to illegal campaign contributions. Steinbrenner would give employees bonuses and tell them it wasn't really for them that they have to donate it to the Nixon campaign.
Winners
Woody won five National Championships and thirteen Big 10 titles. "Without winners, there wouldn't even be any civilization."-Hayes.
George's Yankees won seven World Series and eleven pennants. "Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next." -Steinbrenner.
Two Buckeyes coaches, two titans of their field. Steinbrenner achieved his masters from Ohio State and him and his wife donated $1.5 million to the school for Steinbrenner Band Center which is still in use today.
Baseball is back in full swing, which means college football is right around the corner.
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