By d-Rx

Just like Bill Walsh, I stumbled upon Jerry Rice, my favorite athlete of all-time, by shear chance. I just happened to be in the right place (in front of a television), at the right time (while Jerry Rice was about to do something memorable). Not to be dramatic, but it's a journey that means a lot to me as a person, and the following Legends piece is meant to shine a light on an amazing man, the best wide receiver to ever play the game, and in many eyes - my own included, the best NFL player ever to live - regardless of position.

Jerry and I crossed paths for the first time during a weekly tradition of watching Monday Night Football with my father. It was against the L.A. Rams and the Niners were my dad's team cause he loved Norte Dame and "Mr. Perfect" Joe Montana. In the pre-game commentary I remember the weird combination of Monday Night announcers they had, it was led by of course, the ultra playboy Frank Gifford (and you wonder why his wife is crazy), O.J. Simpson (no comment), and what appeared to be a drunk and sluring "Broadway Joe" Namath (see our Legends piece of him on this site). What a motley mix in the booth, who ever came up with that trio… it lasted 1 year, as did Namath.

Anyway, these three were talking, about a team that had won the Super Bowl the year before no less, the niners, and all they were talking about the whole time was this rookie wideout from a school I had never heard of (Mississippi Valley State) that the team had such high hopes for, but was sucking it up bigtime - dropping everything and losing the faith of the team. I was like this team are the Champions, why are they talking about some rookie that wasn't there last year when they became champions so much.

The game started, and Joe was stumbling over words, while this disappointing rookie, Jerry Rice put on a crazy display against the Rams secondary. This kid was electrifying, my father and I had never seen anything like it, he was just obviously the most gifted person on the field, it was like he was playing a different speed than the rest of the players on the field. He was much like Chris Johnson is today, video-gameesque. It was one of those ahhh moments in my life, that I have had a hand full in my entire 36 years on Earth. You know, that feeling, when you knew you discovered something that you can just love, cherrish and will be sacred to you forever. Anyway, sorry if I get all whiley niley willy writing this piece… this is moving stuff for yours truly. Rice arrived in that game, ending the game with 10 catches for a then team record 241 yards, with a 66 yard TD. Rice had a handful of enormous plays, including a 52 yard catch that lead to a Roger Craig TD. I had a FLASH 80 jersey within a couple weeks, it was mail order - oye - you internet babies are lucky with your cell phones and world wide web.*

"I call that my coming out game, I went in really relaxed, and when it was over, I knew I could play profession football." - Jerry Rice 

Jerry Rice is the best player I have ever seen play the game of football. There are a select few players that are worthy of consideration as the best player in NFL history, maybe we say there are 10-15 players that are in the discussion. While probably all being varied in the contributions to the game and the things they did to earn consideration as the games best ever. My guess is that if  you asked 100 experts and polled 100 fans from accross the country, who is the Greatest of All-Time? My guess is that Jerry Rice will win be the player that ends up with the most votes. If not, whatever, maybe I give him too much credit, but the guy has changed the game like no one that has ever played during my lifetime. The way Jordan changed the guard position and the fandom that came along with his style of play, the way Jerry did for the prima donna mindset. Rice was the NFL's answer to the Michael Jordan phenomenon. Once Rice arrived, every kid that loved football, wanted to be a wide receiver and chances are, they wanted to be the magnificent Jerry "Flash 80" Rice. 

The next time I got to watch him, was round 1 of the playoffs against the New York Giants. I was really fired up to watch Jerry again, in a playoff atmoshpere, where on cue in the first half, he caught a bomb, had no one in his path to a for sure touchdown. Opps. Wait no, what just happened? Jerry with no ones doing but his own knee - this great hope, in his biggest moment as a professional athlete - fumbled the ball off his knee on his way to a TD, no one touched him… the game was never the same again… the G-Men went on to kill the Niners and win the Super Bowl.

Oye. But I feel that single play turned him into the GOAT. It was that play that turned him from a great player to the best ever.

"He's one of the people that give the game dignity, in a time when that dignity seems to be escaping us." - Bill Walsh, Hall of Fame Coach

I could go on forever on his whole career and promise to do so on the day he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame and he and I both have tears on our face (I cried at Jordan's induction a few months back). This is a great man, and he will always be a big part of Pyromaniac.com. The first character we ever made for the site was Jerry Rice (Larry Fitzgerald the first active player). 

To earn a spot in the NFL Hall of Fame, a player must consistently play at a level above that of his contemporaries.  To call Jerry Rice merely a cut above his peers would be a dramatic understatement.  Jerry Rice is the best wide receiver in NFL history, and his combination of production, consistency, and longevity has never been matched. Jerry Rice was the perfect blend of intelligence, dedication, concentration, and athleticism.  If one word could possibly serve to encompass his game, the only logical choice would be ‘graceful’.   His soft hands seemed to stick to every ball thrown his way.  After the catch, Rice never needed to juke or stutter.  He simply just glided through the sea of flailing defenders, sailing smoothly into the end zone untouched.  At 6’2, he was a good-sized target for a quarterback (tall those days), and his flawless route running always put him in the right place at the right time to catch the football.

Over the next eleven seasons, Rice never once dipped below 1,000 yards, cementing himself as the most consistent receiver to have ever played the game.  Rice and the 49ers won Super Bowls XXIII, XXIV, and XXIX in that span, Rice winning MVP honors in XXIII. In 1997, Rice was brought down with a rough facemask by Tampa Bay’s Warren "QBKilla" Sapp, tearing his ACL and shelving him for nearly the duration of the season.  A premature return resulted in another knee injury and held him out of a Pro Bowl for the first time since his rookie year. In that year, I took Jerry Rice with the first overall pick in our 8 man league. I was devistated, my favorite player, that I was able to get with a unlikely first pick in the draft, down right out of the gates (it was like Brady last year). No way Jose!!! F!!

So I still get into the playoffs, and it's the first round of the playoffs, and I'm playing Stitchface!!! Rice is back, playing in week #15 against the Denver Broncos, he had rehabbed his ass off all season, well documented, he was a crazy over-achiever, hardest working guy imaginable. In one of the most memorable moments in our leagues history (definitely in my fantasy career) Rice scored a touchdown for me, breaking his knee cap in the process. Of course I'm playing Rice when he comes back!! So, I am up by I don't remember how points on my opponent Stitchface, and he has a talented rookie Fred Lane (yeah that Fred Lane - total bullshit!) a guy that had 100 yards and 2 TDs the week before, playing on Monday Night Football. Long story short, Fred Lane had 138 yards in the game and was stopped from the 1 yard line 4 times in a goal line stand by the Dallas Cowboys to give him 0 TDs for the game. Had he scored there, Stitchface is in the Championship game. Instead Nuna's Tuna's go into the big game and win it all!! Holla' for your boy!

Again sorry, just have to get this all off my chest. Rice bounced back in 1998 with another 1,000+ yard season, but his production slowly began to taper as his long career caught up with him.  Rice signed with the Oakland Raiders after the 2000 season, marking the first time that he had played for a team other than the 49ers since 1985.  Rice enjoyed three solid seasons in Oakland, going to another Super Bowl and having a great game with 77 yards and a TD at 40 years old. They lost the game, and he was traded to Seattle midway through the 2004 season, which would be the last of his career.

Rice retired from football after the 2004 season and resurfaced as a dancing machine on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, ultimately coming in second place.  Rice has also popped up intermittently on a variety of reality shows.  He has co-authored two books, and has a son Jerry Jr., who plays at UCLA as a walk on.

When it was all said and done for Rice, he was easily the most dominant wide receiver the game had ever seen.  His 22,895 career receiving yards is the most in league history, dwarfing second place Tim Brown’s total by over 7,000 yards.  His 208 total TDs (11 rushing) are 33 more than runner-up Emmitt Smith. His 197 career touchdown catches put him 49 touchdowns ahead of second-place Randy Moss and 53 touchdowns ahead of third-turd holding Terrell Owens.  Rice’s 14 1,000+ yard seasons is an astonishing testament to his durability and consistency.  Much like the quarterback who threw to him for many of the best years of Rice’s career, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice didn’t have the assets to dominate the game on a physical level.  Instead, he relied upon his own consistent approach and knowledge of the game to play the game the way it was meant to be played.  Rice wasn’t a prototype player, a project, or a raw athlete.  Rather he was likely the most refined player that the game had ever seen.

*I had to be home to get the call where the party was in order to hang out with my friends. Sucked. Wish I had a mobile phone, facebook page and 3 email addresses at age 7 like my nephews do.

Go Long!: My Journey Beyond the Game and the Fame