Latest / The Facts with Jamal 🇺🇸🦅👊 / #WarrenMoon is the perfect example of an athlete taking the unconventional route to success.

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#WarrenMoon is the perfect example of an athlete taking the unconventional route to success. · The Facts with Jamal 🇺🇸🦅👊

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  While there was no question the NFL has certainly come a long
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  way from where it was previously, you know, over the
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  decades. But I'm going to highlight one
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  specific thing that I'm not going to say it's gotten lost
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  over the years, but it's certainly something to really
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  make note of. So I'm not even going to say
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  throughout the end of our history.
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  But regardless, while there has been questions throughout the
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  years about the plight of, you know, the black quarterbacks,
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  you know, in some cases being unable to be given an
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  opportunity to prove and validate themselves.
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  You know, there have been plenty that when given the opportunity
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  actually did well for them. So, you know, I mean, we have
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  seen the number of them grow exponentially even today.
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  But what about in the case of a trailblazer, someone who,
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  despite showing traits of that, I actually had to take the long
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  way? Here is my thoughts about the
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  first black quarterback to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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  But there's also a caveat. He's not just in the Pro
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  Football Hall of Fame. He's also in a Canadian football
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  hall. Here is my thoughts on one moon
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  making history to be in the Hall of Fame in two really countries,
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  but how he essentially had to travel the longest Rd. just to
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  get there. Despised having success at the
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  University of Washington and leading the Huskies to a Rose
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  Bowl win. 1 Moon was passed over in the 1977 and you can say 78
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  draft the problem that. And unfortunately, this was just
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  the way it was back then. One of the problems for him was
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  that while talented, he was considered, you know, a
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  scramble. But it's not, as you know what
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  we see today. He in a lot of ways at Great
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  Orange, he had great mobility. He could make every draw.
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  The problem that we came was he didn't play in the offense that
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  necessarily was post. And of course and not
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  surprisingly, the other side issue was it's complexion.
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  And like I said, you know what, that's just the way things work
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  back. I mean, you can try to slice it
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  and dice it either way you look at it, but that's just where the
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  tenure of the times. And before him, as I mentioned,
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  there were other, you know, black quarterbacks that have
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  been kind of given that same stigma, if you will.
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  Really the only real successful one from that ever is James
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  Harris. And the other noble was Doug
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  Williams. Now, in the case of film, he was
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  drafted in 1978 by Tampa Bay with the 17 back.
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  But he was just the exception. Meaning despite any college
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  success, one who had, you know, some encouraged them to, you
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  know, switch positions, wide receiver or so I'm saying, hey,
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  move to the cornerback. It will take you no worse than
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  probably in the second round, maybe late 1st.
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  And for more, that kind of felt like a personal private attack.
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  He knew in his heart he wanted to be a signal call.
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  And so this is where the crux of all this really begins.
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  So after his college career ended and he didn't go into go
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  into info draft being selected, he decided to go up north.
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  And by going up north, he went up to Canada to begin a football
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  odyssey that would span 22 seasons in both countries.
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  In 1979, One Moon joined the Edmonton Eskimos.
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  It was going to be his first and a long stop of football success.
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  Now mind you, and I apologize, he had joined them a year
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  earlier. OK, I want to be clear, but it
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  took him a little while to kind of establish himself, just like
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  with anybody trying to prove if they belong.
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  And supposedly what happened the next couple seasons with
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  Edmonton proved to be part of his legacy.
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  He immediately had success with the Eskimos, winning 5 Grey Cup
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  champions every year he was getting better and maybe given
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  the NFL and the teams, that's when we didn't take a fly on
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  him. Kind of something to think
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  about. But despite all his success he
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  had in Canada, he always wondered, you know, about being
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  in the States playing in the NFL and wondering if that was going
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  to come to fruition. And sure enough, in 1984,
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  everything changed. See the Houston Oilers at that
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  point was a franchise and rebuilt.
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  They had ironically hired Moons coach up in Canada, Hugh
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  Campbell to be the head coach. They were transitioning away
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  from the old Campbell days and Houston essentially needed a
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  signal call. Now mind you, after he
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  established himself in Canada, he had it seemed like the doors
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  opened for him almost immediately.
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  The CFL, the NFL in the old USFL if you remember that, all bid
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  for his play in the end. In 1984, Moon finally joined the
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  NFL signing refuse, which would actually begin the first of his
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  16 year NFL career at the 6th. Great years in Canada, winning 5
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  great cup tiles. Now you probably would think.
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  Well, sure, One Moon had to essentially pay his dues to an
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  extent they had to go a unorthodox way to get to the
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  NFL, right? And even though he had this, you
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  know, success in Canada and was highly covered in 1984, he was
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  soon realized that here in the States, even though he did it in
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  college, that the NFL was all cry from Canada.
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  To put a Long story short, as far as Moon's first three
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  seasons in here, it wasn't pretty.
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  Now, granted, by the time he even joined the Oilers in 1984,
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  as I mentioned, there was a franchise in rebuilding and the
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  team's first three seasons on him.
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  It's just it just wasn't good. I'll say that kind.
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  And I shouldn't say he was a young quarterback.
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  But you know what, for the sake of argument, he had to kind of
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  learn the works immediately that this is not going to be
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  something he would have success immediately like he had in
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  Canada. And you're what, like how he did
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  in Canada? I've mentioned he will learn to
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  adapt, adjust and eventually have success.
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  That didn't stop, you know, a lot of people from really both
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  sides questioning if he was even still cut out for the pro game
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  here. You see, it wasn't enough that
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  Houston was not going to adapt. It was the fact that they pay
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  essentially a premium for a guy that was a great Canadian
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  Football League quarterback but wasn't going to cut it in the
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  out. It worked.
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  When you take unconventional paths to get you where you want
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  to be, there's always going to be challenges.
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  I mean, can we at least acknowledge that?
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  But I think what helped Warren understood was that he had to
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  take the hardest way possible. That after essentially having
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  great success when he was at the University of Washington, being
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  passed over in the ethical draft, and having the fight to
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  prove himself in Canada. If anything, he looked his first
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  two to three years as nothing more than just another challenge
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  he would have to overcome. And sure enough, by the time
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  1987 walked around everything changed.
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  After taking his long his first three years, 1987 it seemed like
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  everything was finally coming together for him.
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  He went from a QB with a lot of questions and a lot to prove to
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  be one of the leagues best. When Houston finally got things
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  together as a franchise and surrounded him with talent,
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  that's when everything flaws. Led by Hall, famous on the
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  offensive line, Bruce Matthews and Mike Munchak.
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  With stay with he was Hayward Jeffries, Curtis Duncan, Ernest
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  Givens, Tony Jones and Lando Hill and they saw it running
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  back group of Gary Brown rest in peace and Mike Rozier Moon
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  instantly became one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
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  He eventually became really a guy that went from is he going
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  to be going up to stay to pray down almost immediately today
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  and his ten FL seasons with Houston, 5 Pro Bowl selections,
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  man of the year award and was the countless for the run shoe
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  offense at the time was sort of kind of how, like I mentioned
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  yesterday with, you know, Buffaloes K gun offense.
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  I mean, if you go back and watch those footages back then, that
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  one shoe offense was electrifying and as was all it
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  turned Houston from one of the worst teams in the NFL with no
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  future to some say a playoff in borderline Super Bowl contender.
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  Now think about that for a moment.
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  Despite the fact he had to really overcome a new set of
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  challenges in his first half fourth years in the NFL, he had
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  to overcome it. Not only did he do that, but he
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  was finally having success individual and it seemed like
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  everything was on the upswing. Unfortunately, now good stories
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  have smooth sail. Even though he was the key in
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  turning around the Oils franchise, one question still
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  remained. Not just him, but hovering over
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  the franchise. Were they going to be good
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  enough to win a Super Bowl? Now mind you, the Oil franchise
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  as a whole in the NFL, not counting the American Football
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  League days at the time, they only went to two conference
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  championship games. Those games just happened to be
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  with Oral Campbell who they may have spent the ball when they
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  bought in one move and you figure with the offense they had
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  the time and they stay defense. You thought it was realistically
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  possible that recent conference out game or Super Bowl pills was
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  in the works, right? I wish I could say it was, but
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  not quite the Oilers back then. Despite the talent on both sides
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  of the ball, something would always seem to go wrong at the
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  worst time, especially in the playoffs.
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  They suffered some really difficult ones in the UA 80s,
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  but it was in the 90s where people still remember at least
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  from the hell, particularly 1991 to 1993. 91 was against Denver
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  in the Division One where despite having the chance to
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  upset John Elway and the Broncos, the Oilers defense came
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  completely apart and Elway once again was able to make one of
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  his great comebacks and be in the Oilers at home. 1992 might
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  have been The detonator of what would lead to 1992.
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  Houston was on the road against Buffalo in the Wild card round
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  and kind of how I got talked about yesterday with Buffalo and
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  their Mason comeback. I have to acknowledge Houston,
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  how everything fell apart. So the Oilers draw up 35 three.
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  It looked like they were going to send the two time defending
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  AFC champion. It was home.
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  I mean, all you had to do was essentially at least get one
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  more touchdown or get some stops defensively.
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  And then it was all to the next stage.
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  And even today, I still don't know how the defense completely
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  fell apart when Buffalo kept chipping.
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  Where do we And the defense was going to be stagnant as far as
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  you know, giving a play after playing touchdown to touchdown.
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  You figured that the offense would help, right?
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  But here's the problem. It seemed like everything
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  Houston did right in the first half offensively turned
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  completely backwards because once they couldn't get anything
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  going offensively for one reason or another, it put the defense
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  in a tough spot. And when that happened, that was
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  almost essentially impossible to stop the slide.
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  But Long story short, Buffalo ended up coming back and won it
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  over time in one of the great playoff comebacks in NFL playoff
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  history and subsequently one of the greatest disasters, last
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  collapse you can probably say in playoff history.
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  And you heard me bring up how that playoff laws set in tone
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  what would be essentially Moon's final season with the team.
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  But the first part of the season kind of signaled the end.
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  Moon got off to a rough start. He would be erratic, you know,
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  pressing a lot of times trying to get this franchise over the
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  hump. And for one game, he actually
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  got benched against the way And it was after their start out one
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  for and you know, it looked like he was not even going to play
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  with us this season. I mean, that's how bad things
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  had gotten. But as faithful habit, maybe the
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  door was about to open. While in Foxboro, Moore had
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  century watch from the sidelines most of the game.
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  But then when his backup teammate at quarterback, Cody
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  Carlson, tore his hamstring after scoring A touchdown run of
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  his own, that opened the door for one to come back.
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  And in the century not only lead the Oilers to a comeback win
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  against the Patriots, but that spearheaded an 11th game-winning
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  streak where what it looked like the season was going to be a
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  disaster. It was reborn once again and
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  maybe gave Houston one more glimmer of hope that the season
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  could potentially end with a deep playoff.
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  Now the 1993 season could be a countaway in one round, A1 one
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  way. A complete whirlwind of
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  something always going on because if and for those that
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  won't remember it better than me, if you remember by the
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  Adams, the Oilers slash tight and so on there.
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  He essentially said to the team prior to that season that if we
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  don't go far in the playoffs or win the Super Bowl, he was going
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  to basically dismount on this team.
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  Because if you remember, it was at that point, free agency was
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  starting to really take shape officially.
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  And with the impending salary cap, the after that season, it
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  was either get it done or not. And then, of course, you know,
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  by running being higher as the best coordinator and the, you
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  know, unfortunate passing of one of the better defensive players,
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  Jeff on, he was in peace during the season.
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  It just seemed like that whole season was another winning cycle
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  of what else could go wrong? And of course, it Finley was
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  summed up when doing a home game against the chest buddy.
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  Ryan took a swing at Kevin Gill by the offensive coordinator
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  after the two exchange words. And I'll just say that part.
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  But you know what? Despite the crazy season, the
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  Oil was at home field advantage. Despite starting at 1:00 and
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  4:00. They had won eleven well and it
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  was their time. It was their opportunity, last
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  of it I should say, to finally make headway to a deep playoff.
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  All they had to do was beat Kansas City in the playoffs and
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  they would host Buffalo in the AFC town game at home.
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  Now mind you, Houston had beaten the Chiefs 30 to nothing earlier
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  in the year, but if you recall Joe Montana had not played
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  because of an injury. Well, in this scenario in the
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  divisional round, he would be there to start against Houston.
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  Everything looked promising for the Organs.
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  They were 10 to nothing at the half, and then, like the
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  previous two playoff games prior, everything fell apart.
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  The Chiefs found Second Life and after they had fought their way
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  back in The Cave, a century shut them in and the Chiefs ended up
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  scoring 21 fourth quarter points.
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  They had scored seven in the third quarter, but then by that
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  point Houston unfortunately became known until the Rockets,
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  played by Akima Raju, won back-to-back tiles.
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  They became known as Choke City and the Oilers ended up losing
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  at home in the division. And that was it, a last ditch
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  effort to try to win the Super Bowl or the playoff line
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  effectively in. It also met the end of women's
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  time in Houston, unfortunately. But I'm just made it perfectly
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  clear what he was going to do with nothing suffice of a
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  championship when he said that he met in In the 1994 offseason,
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  the Oilers said goodbye to the longtime franchise signal
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  caller, shifting him off to Minnesota.
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  So as much as I in a way, kind of feel bad for Warren that, you
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  know, his Tom Houston ended the way I did, he cannot ignore
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  this. He did have opportunities with a
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  talented ball club to get to the next stage as far as the playoff
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  run, and it just never worked. And so you figure that's the end
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  of the story, right, That, you know, he was about to be on the
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  decline. Not necessarily.
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  See, when he joined Minnesota in 1994, in a way, yes, It was a
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  new beginning and he was able to help him go along.
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  Chris Carter, who it's starting to emerge as a great receiver in
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  his own way. And as a matter of fact, in the
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  first season it got they, Carter ended up succeeding the same
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  gold season reception way. So you figure while Moon's
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  having some success in Minnesota and everything's going fine,
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  right? But then kind of came, you know,
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  and I don't get into personal people's business, but he was
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  dealing with some internal family issues and, you know,
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  just let's say he left time for him.
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  But like his whole football life, he eventually overcame it.
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  But it was really after the 96 season when Minnesota chose to
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  go in a different direction, that many thought his school was
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  over, that, you know, the end was there foreborn that, you
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  know, maybe it's time for him to retire.
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  Apparently he didn't get the memo.
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  In the 1997, the Moon joined a franchise that his century.
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  When he joined the NFL 84, he spun 14 years old.
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  He ended up joining the Seattle Seahawks and it seemed like he
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  was experiencing a career with five.
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  In his first year there, he drew 25 touchdown passes.
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  And even though in this two seasons there the franchise came
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  up just a bit short of making the playoffs, both years, it
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  looked like he was going to a century silence many people that
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  ran them off so many times. And in 1999, he spent his final
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  two seasons in Kansas City as really the backup.
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  But you know what? Him being Ginsmith boys at that
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  point it was almost perfectly clear he knew that by the end of
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  2000 it was ton of St. hangout. So that he did.
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  And in 2000, his 22 year professional career was old.
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  I mean, if you really think about it, the way he was able to
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  have a career that in some ways never was going to happen if he
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  didn't bound himself. It's a sound now, mind you, all
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  things considered, it was during a time when, you know, the
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  thought of having a quarterback with a darker complexion that
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  people don't think, you know, it's gonna be good enough to
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  your play, you know, be smart enough to be a team to
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  essentially have so many questions surrounding them.
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  I mean, I think it speaks to a lot of discount of how he was
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  not only able to take the, like I said, not only the longest
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  path just to even have success, but it was in the most
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  unconventional way. Again, we're talking about a guy
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  who First off never got drafted. Many question if his skill set
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  would be even be good enough in the NFL level and the fact he
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  had to go to Canada just to even have an opportunity to start
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  somewhere speaks a lot about him and who he is.
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  And like I said, it wouldn't be long before you know, the
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  Canadian Football League Hall of Fame and literally the Pro
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  Football Hall of Fame came calling.
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  And then of course, the Oilers last Titans franchise retire
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  this number, although Ken waters well in right now, which he died
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  from Mormons blessing. But you remember moon that's
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  annoying. So but in the end, if you really
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  play all together, being the first black quarterback to be in
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  the Pro Football Hall of Fame is no small feat in and of the
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  South. And like I said, he became
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  really a special player, not just for the fact he's in the
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  Hall of Fame in both countries behind you, but it was in the
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  way he was able to do it, being on himself, just trying to see
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  if he was good enough in one country before another country
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  and league was finally willing to take him on.
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  And not only did he prove himself in both instances, in
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  both countries, you may have a point that if you have to take
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  the long road to get there, then you know what, it is all worth
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  it.