End Zone Insight is a weekly podcast dedicated to the history of the great sport of football. Hosts Paul Guido and Bob Boyles will make football’s past come alive through compelling stories, inspiring interviews and lively discussion. Bob and Paul will delve into topics as varied as the launching of the NFL and the integration of Southern football. No yelling. No smarmy comments. No click baiting. Just important, fun and enlightening conversation.
…
continue reading
Perfection. In the history of the NFL there has been just one team, in one incredible season 50 years ago, to win every regular season game and every playoff game. That team was the much-celebrated 1972 Miami Dolphins, who went 17-0 that magical year including a 14-7 victory over the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII. End Zone Insight will take…
…
continue reading
If ever there was a football coach who wanted no part of rookies, it was George Allen. When he arrived in Washington with an unlimited expense account, which he quickly exceeded, he acquired every available veteran player he could find. He traded for, signed, or cajoled them into joining the Redskins. When the dust settled, so to speak, the roster …
…
continue reading

1
Fit to Be Tied: the NFL’s Bizarre 1963 Season
36:55
36:55
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
36:55Paul and Bob take their listeners on a strange trip on which an outlandish number of tie games threw the NFL divisional title races into near chaos. Learn how the Pittsburgh Steelers missed winning the East partly due to a warped goalpost, while their three ties almost dethroned the New York Giants despite having four fewer wins.…
…
continue reading
Now playing in the modernistic So-Fi Stadium, the NFL Chargers have returned to their Los Angeles birthplace. But the Chargers left L.A. after only one season in the old American Football League to boldly bring bigtime sports to a bright, new, and growing city, San Diego. END ZONE INSIGHT relives the time when the Chargers redefined offensive footb…
…
continue reading

1
How College Football Fumbled into a Playoff
43:01
43:01
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
43:01After 68 years of crowning unofficial and 61 years of voting for the college football national championship, fans now have the soon-to-expand College Football Playoffs. But are the playoffs the best solution for naming a champion? The Pigskin Pod Cats look back at how the AP Writers’ and UPI Coaches’ crowned a title-winner and debate what the futur…
…
continue reading
In this episode, End Zone Insight debates the merits of a few of the greatest games in the history of the National Football League. Bob and Paul break down the reason why a particular game deserves its ranking or should be moved higher or lower. The list was compiled by the NFL and Associated Press and is now presented by Pro Football Reference. Ma…
…
continue reading

1
Colts-Giants 1958: Greatest Game Ever? Revisited
46:26
46:26
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
46:26The NFL had never staged a sudden death overtime to decide a championship game. But, late in 1958, the Baltimore Colts beat the New York Giants in the late day gloom of Yankee Stadium to win an overtime thriller. Many have called it “The Greatest Football Game Ever". END ZONE INSIGHT hosts Paul and Bob weigh in on that claim and discuss the ramific…
…
continue reading
The NFL is clearly America’s most popular sport, but fans were led to believe it happened overnight. The magic moment is said to be the overtime thriller in the 1958 NFL title game, won by quarterback Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts over the New York Giants. It helped that 40 million TV viewers were electrified by Colts-Giants that day, but P…
…
continue reading
Given the NFL’s humble beginnings in 1920, it would seem impossible that pro football could ever topple the college game as America’s favorite form of football. In time, wise NFL owners and commissioner Bert Bell overcame foolish policies to lay out the blueprint for unrivaled success. It helped that rulers of college football inflicted a stupidly …
…
continue reading
The Pigskin Pod Cats turn back the clock to describe a trio of great Army-Navy games. In 1946, West Point was one impressive win from an unprecedented, third straight, undefeated national title. Navy had other plans, however. The mysterious “Lonely End” was unveiled by the Cadets in 1958 and carried Army to a come-from-behind win over Navy. In 1963…
…
continue reading
During this holiday season, Paul and Bob fondly remember their fathers—Robert “Bob” Guido and Houston “Hugh” Boyles respectively—who introduced the boys to the great game of football. Bob B. recalls the Sports Illustrated story, “A Dollar on Dartmouth” and a trip to West Point for “Everybody Up for the Kickoff!” Paul remembers his first in-person f…
…
continue reading
Paul and Bob sit down with the remarkable J.D. Hill, Arizona State All-American and first round draft choice of the Buffalo Bills in 1970. This END ZONE INSIGHT episode coincides with the release of a book titled, Go Long: The Life Story of J.D. Hill. J.D.’s candid story is remarkable: his fall from football fame, due to dependence on painkilling d…
…
continue reading
Today’s fans look at the achievements of the mighty New England Patriots and their record six Super Bowl championships. But, back in the early days of the American Football League, the on-field fortunes of the Boston Patriots bounced up and down like a yo-yo. And matters were far worse for finding a place to play. Ride along with END ZONE INSIGHT a…
…
continue reading
To honor our nation's veterans, End Zone Insight revisits a past episode detailing the amazing life of Heisman Trophy winner, Tom Harmon, who became a ground-breaking sports broadcaster after surviving harrowing war experiences.By Paul Guido and Bob Boyles
…
continue reading
The unique skillset and incredible success of Benny Friedman as the first passing superstar of the NFL helped keep the league afloat as the Depression hit and may have changed the league as much as any other player. So, why is he forgotten? Our Benny Friedman profile brings to life this special player, from his early days in Cleveland to his stunni…
…
continue reading

1
Charley Trippi: 100 Years Young Revisited
27:27
27:27
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
27:27Charley Trippi, an all-around athlete from Pennsylvania coal country, fulfilled a promise to enroll at the University of Georgia and leads his Bulldogs to a Rose Bowl victory and national championship before making the College Hall of Fame. After World War II, Trippi had the opportunity to become both a Yankee football HB and a Yankee baseball outf…
…
continue reading

1
Vince Dooley and the Greatness of Georgia Football
28:40
28:40
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
28:40The Pigskin Pod Cats sit down with legendary Hall of Fame coach Vince Dooley and find him to be a charming, colorful ambassador of the game. He admits he “wouldn’t have hired himself” had he been athletic director. But his Bulldogs managed a quick return to glory in the 1960s, and the “Dawgs” continued as a force in the SEC, winning six titles over…
…
continue reading

1
Sid Luckman & Murder Incorporated Revisited
37:08
37:08
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
37:08Every podcast listener loves murder and mayhem of real crime. In this episode of End Zone Insight, Paul and Bob investigate how Sid Luckman, an all-time great quarterback, overcame the homicide conviction of his father Meyer. While Sid fashioned a Hall of Fame career, Meyer was stuck in Sing Sing Prison, doing 20-years-to-life.…
…
continue reading
The Chicago Bears are a storied NFL franchise. But since the retirement of Hall of Famer Sid Luckman in 1950, the Bears have lived through an absolute hell searching for another great quarterback. Johnny Lujack looked like a perfect fit but retired early. Ed Brown had some nice years in the 1950s, and Bill Wade led the ’63 team to the title. Jim Mc…
…
continue reading
The Vermeil saga continues as the “Pigskin Pod Cats” pick up his story as the Eagles make the playoffs in Vermeil’s third year, race to Super Bowl XV the next year, where bad luck gave them no chance to beat the Oakland Raiders. Vermeil abruptly quit after the ’82 season citing “burnout,” and in so doing created a commonly used phrase. The coaching…
…
continue reading
On August 6, 2022, coach Dick Vermeil was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. END ZONE INSIGHT sat down with Coach Vermeil for a trip through his illustrious career. Not planning to go to college, Vermeil was energized by a late-blooming interest in football. It sent the enthusiastic Californian into the coaching ranks. He made his way thro…
…
continue reading

1
New York Giants Remake Offense in the Summer of '61
26:50
26:50
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
26:50It’s impossible today to reconstruct an offense in a few weeks of training camp, but END ZONE INSIGHT takes its listeners on a magical ride in the summer of 1961 when the New York Giants created a record-setting aerial attack by making three astute trades that netted a top tight end, a super-fast wide receiver, and Hall of Fame passer. And they did…
…
continue reading

1
How Barry Switzer Wrecked the Kickoff Classic
29:56
29:56
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
29:56Starting as a preseason bowl game at Giants Stadium in 1983, the Kickoff Classic aimed to match the previous season’s national champion team against new season’s no. 1 ranked college team (or at least a highly ranked opponent). The ambitious formula was achieved in year 1. The game was played before 71,000 fans as top-ranked Nebraska crushed the 19…
…
continue reading

1
Draft Special: Grading the 2012 Draft is Absurd
33:35
33:35
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
33:35A growing cottage industry is in place to grade the NFL Draft. It is made up of an army of self-appointed opinion-makers known as “Draft Experts.” Listen while the Pigskin Pod Cats have fun unmasking the annual buffoonery. Note to the experts: nobody can see the future.By Paul Guido and Bob Boyles
…
continue reading

1
Drama around John Elway and Dan Marino in 1983 NFL Draft
36:19
36:19
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
36:19The Baltimore Colts owned the NFL’s first overall pick, but Stanford’s John Elway, a once-in-a-lifetime catch in a great QB class that included Pitt’s Dan Marino, held strong-arm leverage over a team he wanted no part of. Follow the drama as the great 1983 NFL draft unfolds.By Paul Guido and Bob Boyles
…
continue reading

1
How College’s Year of the Quarterback Translated to the NFL Draft
35:45
35:45
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
35:45The fall of 1970 brought a plethora of talented passers. From Jim Plunkett to Joe Thiesmann, from Rex Kern to Archie Manning. All were swept up by the NFL to replenish an aging group of quarterbacks. And it would be the last time for 12 years such a bonanza was available.By Paul Guido and Bob Boyles
…
continue reading
The Heisman Trophy may be the ultimate individual trophy in American sports. Yet the Heisman does not always reward the winner's team with immediate on-field success. In fact, the team featuring the winner of the Heisman as often as not stumbles in contests played soon after the award's presentation. It is the dreaded Heisman Hex so win the trophy …
…
continue reading

1
Oakland Raiders: the Wrong Side of the Bay
30:24
30:24
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
30:24By Paul Guido and Bob Boyles
…
continue reading
Paul and Bob dissect a recent list of the so-called “25 All-Time Best Football Movies” published recently by USA Today. The “Pigskin Pod Cats” discuss what should and what shouldn’t be labeled a football movie. They discuss the good choices in the list and what they believe are awful choices on the list.…
…
continue reading

1
Pat O’Dea: the Mysterious “Kangaroo Kicker”
34:19
34:19
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
34:19Arriving in Vancouver from Australia in the 1890s, Patrick O’Dea miraculously finds his brother coaching rowing at the University of Wisconsin. Pat is discovered by Badgers football coach Phil King and his incredible kicking makes him an All-American. A bizarre story grows: criminal indictment, assumed name, and reported WWI casualty. All ends well…
…
continue reading
William Ryzcek, author of Crash of the Titans, reminisces about the financially challenging, but comical early days of the Harry Wismer-owned, Sammy Baugh-coached New York Titans. The interview follows colorful stories of better-than-given-credit players and outrageous in-game results, while looking at the foundation built for Joe Namath and the Je…
…
continue reading

1
Fritz Pollard A Man for All Seasons (Part 2 - Professional Life)
33:16
33:16
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
33:16A question answered: what didn’t Fritz Pollard accomplish? Not only did Pollard fight racial prejudice during his life but was a great football player in the Ohio League and helped pioneer what would become the National Football League. Pollard’s intelligence, winning personality, and all-around skill made him a Hall of Famer and the NFL’s first bl…
…
continue reading
We celebrate Black History Month with the many “firsts” achieved by Fritz Pollard. Not only did Frederick Douglass Pollard come from a well-educated family, but he was perhaps the greatest early African American football player. In this episode, Fritz goes through early life in Chicago and plants a toe in nearly every Ivy League college before lead…
…
continue reading

1
Dollars and Sense in the NFL with author Mark Yost
31:31
31:31
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
31:31Mark Yost, author of Tailgating, Sacks, & Salary Caps and a writer for the Wall Street Journal visits Paul and Bob to talk about how the NFL became so filthy rich. Yost also looks at the future of fantasy and sports gaming with cautionary words of overexposure.By Paul Guido and Bob Boyles
…
continue reading
The Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Colts played in the first Super Bowl after the NFL-AFL merger. They bumbled, stumbled, and blundered through a combined 11 turnovers. Did either team want to win? Hall of Famers were in the middle of crazy plays: a multi-tipped pass landed in the lap of Colts TE John Mackey and went for a 75-yard TD, Cowboys DB Mel …
…
continue reading

1
Gogolak Brothers: Unlikely Makers of Radical Change
37:48
37:48
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
37:48A set of Hungarian refugee brothers survive a harrowing escape from the crushed revolution in their Communist-governed homeland, emigrate to the United States, and create a revolution of their own. Pete and Charlie Gogolak became catalysts to sweeping change in the way all football placekicking would be made. The “Sidewinders” were more than a curi…
…
continue reading
Charley Trippi, an all-around athlete from Pennsylvania coal country, fulfilled a promise to enroll at the University of Georgia and leads his Bulldogs to a Rose Bowl victory and national championship before making the College Hall of Fame. After World War II, Trippi had the opportunity to become both a Yankee football HB and a Yankee baseball outf…
…
continue reading
While it is almost comical how many college football games are tagged as the “Game of the Century,” the 1935 “Game of the Century” battle between Southern Methodist and Texas Christian Universities provided a thrilling late-game touchdown to decide a winner from a pair of undefeated teams from neighboring cities. The game’s importance would elevate…
…
continue reading

1
George Allen Blows Up the Redskins Roster
31:08
31:08
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
31:08If ever there was a football coach who wanted no part of rookies, it was George Allen. When he arrived in Washington with an unlimited expense account, which he quickly exceeded, he acquired every available veteran player he could find. He traded for, signed, or cajoled them into joining the Redskins. When the dust settled, so to speak, the roster …
…
continue reading
The confident, upstart Miami Hurricanes, winners of 10 games in a row, planned to use a vocal home crowd in Miami’s Orange Bowl to prevent the mighty, top-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers from securing coach Tom Osborne’s first national championship. The contrast in styles—Miami’s passing versus Nebraska’s power running—and the shifting of momentum made…
…
continue reading
The NFL had never staged a sudden death overtime to decide a championship game. But, late in 1958, the Baltimore Colts beat the New York Giants in the late day gloom of Yankee Stadium to win an overtime thriller. Many have called it “The Greatest Football Game Ever". END ZONE INSIGHT hosts Paul and Bob weigh in on that claim and discuss the ramific…
…
continue reading

1
Snow Games: The Weather Outside is Frightful
37:50
37:50
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
37:50Some of the most exciting football games are played in late season on snow-slick surfaces and blinding blizzards. END ZONE INSIGHT takes listeners to the blizzard of 1950 when Michigan beat Ohio State without making even one first down. The 1948 NFL Title Game when Philadelphia Eagles star Steve Van Buren almost stayed home. The unbelievable Snowpl…
…
continue reading
All-Ivy League tackle at Princeton in 1957, Bob Casciola entered football coaching as an assistant at Princeton and later Dartmouth. He played or worked under three Hall of Famers in Charlie Caldwell, Dick Colman, and Bob Blackman before becoming head coach at the U. of Connecticut and Princeton. He was a broadcaster for New Jersey Generals games i…
…
continue reading

1
George Blanda 1970 Hero to an Older Generation
30:27
30:27
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
30:27Any age group can enjoy watching football, but never did gray-haired geriatrics find such a hero as George Blanda in 1970. The crusty old Oakland Raider became the poster child for late game heroics that captivated a nation. Blanda’s season was so rare he won the NFL MVP Award with the stats of a back-up quarterback.…
…
continue reading
Ronnie Knox, California high school quarterback, was probably the nation’s best prospect in his 1953 class. Thanks to his meddling stepfather, Harvey, Ronnie searched for “the perfect coach.” He quarterbacked the ’53 Cal Bears frosh, then transferred to the 1955 preseason no. 1 UCLA Bruins and played in the 1956 Rose Bowl. After a record-setting st…
…
continue reading

1
Football’s Long Association with Thanksgiving
32:58
32:58
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
32:58Football and Thanksgiving were born in the United States in the 1860s, and in a way, they grew up together. New York City’s annual hosting of Princeton vs. Yale may have sparked drunken brawling, but soon 5,000 high school, college, and professional contests sprung up on Turkey Day. Radio and TV sparked the Detroit Lions’ tradition that led to the …
…
continue reading
This offbeat episode of END ZONE INSIGHT profiles Marvin Gaye, the smooth voiced star of 1960s and ‘70s Sweet Soul Music. The Detroit-based superstar had a love for football and befriended Lion NFL stars Mel Farr and Lem Barney. The pair of Lions were invited to attend a recording session at which Gaye created one of his most famous and emotional s…
…
continue reading

1
Notre Dame Halts Oklahoma’s 47-Game Winning Streak
43:10
43:10
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
43:10Given Notre Dame’s worst football season in history—a 2-8 record in 1956—the Fighting Irish would be the last team fans would expect to end the Oklahoma Sooners’ record 47-game streak. END ZONE INSIGHT delves into the 1930s Dust Bowl, the Irish post-war glory days ending in self-induced struggles and the building of the Sooners dynasty leading up t…
…
continue reading
All a rich, young Texan wanted was to bring a professional football team to Dallas. And soon Lamar Hunt realized there were plenty of other dreamers. Hunt banded together team owners in what became known as “The Foolish Club,” and the American Football League succeeded like no other sports challenger ever had.…
…
continue reading

1
Bobby Bowden: Gentleman Coach of the South
38:07
38:07
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
38:07End Zone Insight takes a look at the biggest games of Bobby Bowden, an honorable Alabaman and witty football coach who lifted the program at West Virginia University only to wake up one day and wonder: “What’s a good, ol’ Southern boy doing in all this snow?” So, Bowden went south to Florida State to build one of the most continually-great teams an…
…
continue reading