Game 33: Harry Truman vs. Super Bowl XXXIII

Everybody remembers Wally Pipp, the Yankees first baseman who sat out of the lineup for "one game" in 1925, only to be replaced by Lou Gehrig, who became known as the Iron Man by playing a then-record 2,130 consecutive games. Few remember the man who replaced Gehrig, though. It was Babe Dahlgren (he  had exactly the wrong nickname, too) who played 12 unexceptional seasons for eight teams. What does baseball trivia have to do with John Elway winning his second Super Bowl or with 33rd President Harry Truman? Well, Truman could have been the next Babe Dahlgren, stepping in as a relative nobody for the beloved Iron Man of presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who like Gehrig became ill after breaking the longevity record, among other highlights. The fact that Truman made a name for himself working in such a long shadow says something - and sets us up for America Bowl Game 33.

The Broncos were supposed to win the big game this time, now 1999, and they did. They beat the Falcons decisively, 34-19.  There was a little bit of drama, some off the field. Atlanta Coach Dan Reeves and Denver coach Mike Shanahan, former colleagues, made some mean pregame statements. The night before the game, Falcons safety Eugene Robinson tried to do the Dirty Bird dance with an undercover police officer, and his arrest became a team distraction. On the field, the Broncos picked off Falcons QB Chris Chandler three times. Elway passed for 336 yards (some of that exploiting a dissipated Robinson), RB Terrell Davis ran for 102, and fullback Howard Griffith punched in two one-yard TDs. 

Former midwestern Senator Truman was a freshly minted vice president when he suddenly took the oath of office upon FDR's death, and many said, "Harry Who?" Addressing the press, he said "I don't know whether you ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me yesterday what had happened, I felt like the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on me."  Few expected much from him, although it was a vital time with much to do. Truman was a plainspoken man of action. He dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945 to savagely end that war, then chilled relations with the Soviet Union, pretty much starting the Cold War. Also the Korean War. But his policies did help piece Europe back together after World War II. Domestically, his administration set up the G.I. Bill to help veterans thrive.

Historians rate Truman more kindly than contemporaries did.  For Super Bowl XXXIII, not so much, either then or now. Score this one for the Presidents.

Score after this match (end of 3rd quarter): Presidents 18, Super Bowls 15.

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