Señor Sack

I would have loved to have seen what the Steelers would have done had they drafted Dan Marino in the first round in 1983. I think they’d have had a chance to win another Super Bowl or two. But I also remember how excited I was as a fan when we drafted Gabe Rivera out of Texas Tech and didn’t blame the Steelers one bit at the time for passing on Marino. The Steelers had just drafted Mark Malone in the first round a year or two before and still had hopes that he’d be the heir apparent to Bradshaw. Of course that didn’t work out and through the benefit of hindsight everybody wants to criticize the Steelers for not drafting Marino. But to show you how freakishly athletic, strong and fast Rivera was take a look at some of these college highlights. He’s a little hard to follow but just look for the biggest guy on the field running around making plays. And if you only watch one highlight from this video, go to 1:46 and watch him chase the quarterback down from behind 40 yards downfield. He was awesome and it’s a shame that a bad decision on a rainy night cost him his career.

 

So what happened? I read where he was drunk going home after practice. Did he stop at a bar after practice or something?

 

Based on news reports at the time, he stopped at a bar on his way home from practice, left around 9pm and made the fateful mistake of getting behind the wheel and driving while intoxicated. He crossed the center line, hit another car head on and was paralyzed from the waist down until his death at the age of 57 a few years ago. Very sad story.

 

He had the Joe Greene combination of quickness and strength. I remember being disappointed when they passed on Marino, and then being more disappointed when I heard the news about Rivera.

 

I don’t remember who but he was drinking with one of the defensive coaches

He also was not wearing a seatbelt which would have prevented him from having been thrown out the back window of his Datsun 280 Z which caused the paralysis

I saw a game where he looped around the right side and the play was a quick pass to a receiver on the other side

It took about 70 yards but Rivera ran the receiver down from the back and tackled him

 

That's why Noll drafted him, he thought that Rivera could be the next Joe Greene.

 

I remember reading something about the supposed discussions they had before the draft. There was talk about Marino, but they had both Stoudt and Malone (we know how that worked out, and really wanted to build the D has they had in the beginning. It's easy to look back and wonder what might have been with Marino, but no doubt Rivera was worthy of that first round pick and had the talent to be something special.

 

Kind of like Michelle Briere of the Penguins. Really promising rookie that got killed in a car crash. Tragic

 

It's still unbelievable they passed on Marino, a guy who played in their backyard .

 

There is a sad irony to the story if you believe the rumors that they passed on Marino due to concerns about him partying and doing drugs in college only to have the guy they picked instead of him drive drunk and get into an accident that paralyzed him.

 

And Len Bias...The night he was drafted he did Cocaine ( rumors were he had never done any drugs before ) and he got caught up with the wrong crowd...

I was a huge Celtics Fan, and this was when Bird ,McHale, Parrish et al ,were all in their prime...Said Bias " potentially " could have been the next Jordan!

So sad, What could have been

 

I have seen a total of one NBA game live

I saw Bird play against Jordan in Chicago

I figure if I’m only going to see one that was a good one

(And some day I’m going to get to Our Gangs Lounge)

 

Wow...Bird was my all time favorite player, and Air Jordan was number 2!

 

Never seen Bird play live, but I did see the Bulls with Jordan, Pippin, Rodman, Kerr, and so on a few times live in 1996....well the year they beat Seattle Super Sonics in the Championship....I believe it was 96....maybe 97.

 

Same here. I saw Jordan play in Atlanta. I sat behind a guy that heckled the crap out of Rodman all night. Kept calling him “snow cone head” because of the colorful hairstyle he had at that time, lol.

 

I saw the same group around that same timeframe in Atlanta.

 

Yes a very sad irony indeed, also the fact the Marino was not big on drugs but did some partying as all normal boys do. It was just so close to home and just got blown out of proportion. It would of been something special if he played for the Steelers.