Scythe in Time Takes Nine

Matriculating the ball through the pearly gates
(Shared epitaphany with Craig)

Or
Sideline Flatline
Hank Stram, former Hall of Fame coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, has died at the age of 82. An innovator widely credited with the moving pocket for the quarterback, the two tight-end set and the stacked defense, Stram was the winningest coach in the history of the American Football League. His win with Kansas City in Super Bowl IV both further established the AFL teams as worth adversaries for their NFL counterparts and secured his own legend. The animated coach was the first to be miked for a Super Bowl and his running commentary, including the malaprop “Let’s matriculate the ball down the field,” became fixtures in NFL Films highlights retrospectives. Stram also won AFL titles in 1962, 1966 and 1969, losing the first Super Bowl to the Green Bay Packers. After his coaching career, he became a television and radio analyst with an awful toupee and a knack for accurately predicting a team’s next play.