Alabama SI Cover Tournament: Opening Statements (Trent Richardson) vs. Broadway Joe

We wrap up with second round of the Joe Namath Regional in the Alabama SI Cover Tournament with ... who else but Joe Namath.

Namath had numerous covers in the 48-field bracket, but his Broadway Joe shot is the most famous, and most iconic. Ironically though, the corresponding story wasn't just about Namath, but the Jets, their owner Sonny Werblin and John Huarte, who won the Heisman Trophy.

He's up against Trent Richardson. Fresh off Alabama winning the national title, and with Mark Ingram Jr. out with an injury, Richardson hoped to help lead the Crimson Tide back to the championship game and maybe make a Heisman run of his own.

The "Opening Statements" issue was published after Alabama's dominating 48-3 win over San Jose State at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Vote on Twitter (@BamaCentral) or Facebook (@AlabamaonSI). The voting goes 24 hours for each matchup and the result added to the original post on BamaCentral.

Second round

Joe Namath Regional

Game 24: Opening Statements (Trent Richardson) vs. Broadway Joe

Opening Statements (Trent Richardson)

Story headline: In With the New

Subhead: Tim Tebow is a pro, and so is a Texan named McCoy. The college football season kicked off last week minus many familiar names, but in their place emerged several fresh faces who are ready for their close-ups

Excerpt (by Austin Murphy): Top-ranked Alabama, likewise, is loaded at that position, and remains so even after the Tide's biggest scare. In a practice five days before the season opener, Ingram tried to turn the corner on a sweep. Spun around by a defender, the reigning Heisman winner suffered slight cartilage damage in his left knee. Ingram was in surgery the following morning. While the junior was definitely out for 'Bama's opener, Saban would not foreclose the possibility that he might return for Penn State.

"When Mark went down, I was shocked," says Richardson. "I was sad for him. But I still have to go out there and play the football I know how to play."

If he lost any sleep over Ingram's absence, he was probably in the minority in 'Bama Nation. The truth is that no team in the country, with the possible exception of the Carolina Panthers, is better equipped to withstand the loss of its feature back. Notwithstanding Ingram's possession of a certain 25-pound bronze doorstop, there's not a lot of drop-off from him to Richardson, an impossibly buff, 5'11" 220-pounder out of Pensacola, Fla.

"Great player, great person," Jimmy Nichols reminisced last week. Nichols coached Richardson at Escambia High, which happens to be the alma mater of Emmitt Smith. "Emmitt had the ability to run over you or run away from you," says Nichols, "and Trent has those same abilities." In truth, the coach adds, "There's not many I put in [Smith's] class, but Trent's one of 'em. He's bigger, faster and stronger than Emmitt."

Broadway Joe

Story headline: Show-Biz Sonny and his Quest for Stars

Subhead: Sonny Werblin of the Jets and his two rookie quarterbacks, Joe Namath and John Huarte, form pro football's most interesting triangle

Excerpt (by Robert H. Boyle): This week, in the quaint Hudson River town of Peekskill, N.Y. the New York Jets of the American Football League open training with 28 rookies who cost a total of $1.1 million to sign, the most money ever committed for new talent in one year by any pro football team. Among the rookies coming on strong are Cosmo Iacavazzi, Princeton's All-America fullback; Verlon Biggs, mammoth defensive end from Jackson State; Bob Schweickert, All-America back from VPI; Jim Harris, a gigantic lineman from Utah State; George Sauer, the dropout flanker from Texas; and, finally, to the blare of trumpets, a roar of welcome from the M-G-M lion and a thumping bong from J. Arthur Rank's gong, the two most publicized college quarterbacks in America: Joe Namath of Alabama, everyone's darling in the pro football draft, and John Huarte of Notre Dame, the Heisman Trophy winner. Namath, who cost the Jets an estimated $400,000, and Huarte, who so far has refused to develop a complex despite signing for only about half as much, will do battle with Mike Taliaferro, a holdover from last season, for the job of No. 1 quarterback. A few years ago, when the Jets were the hapless Titans, most pro football fans could not have told you if the team even had a quarterback, much less his name. Now, thanks to the astute handling and fathomless bankroll of David (Sonny) Werblin, the president of the Jets, the competition for quarterback has achieved all the supercolossal proportions of the casting of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind. And with good reason: Sonny Werblin wants a star. "I believe in the star system," he says. "It's the only thing that sells tickets. It's what you put on the stage or playing field that draws people."

As a result of the brouhaha aroused by the signing of Namath and Huarte, the Jets have sold the improbable number of 35,000 season tickets, as compared to only 11,000 at this time last year, and on this score alone Sonny Werblin has to rank as one of the most clever, fascinating and energetic operators to emerge in sports since Larry MacPhail showed up at Cincinnati's Crosley Field with the Kaiser's ashtray and the idea of night baseball.

No one knows better than Werblin the value of a star.

Result

Opening Statements (Trent Richardson) def. Broadway Joe; 60.0-40.0 percent