Bednarik Unsure How Magic Image Box Works

There’s a new video game coming out that features legends from football’s past. The game was made because there’s a big market for pro football’s past, as everyone loves to remember history and respect elders.

Ha ha, of course not. It was made because EA Sports has an exclusive NFL license for Madden, and so another company wanted to make a football game. At least one Eagle of yore is in the game, although I think he has a little trouble figuring out exactly how a video game works:

Of the 300-some players 2K Sports targeted, 241 ended up in the game. Among the ones who got away, Jackson wanted too much money. Lawrence Taylor already had a deal with another publisher. Then-Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann declined — no joke — on the recommendation of his political advisors.

By contrast, Chuck Bednarik said yes. But only after the game maker cleared a few things up for the man who nearly ended Frank Gifford’s career.

“We were on the phone, and I actually had to explain that he would not physically be in the television set,” recalls Sandra Tabata, who works at IMG World, the agency 2K Sports used to locate former players. “The younger guys are familiar with it, but some of the older guys, they didn’t even know what video game technology was.”

If anything, this only increases the legend of Concrete Charlie. I mean, he clearly was born in approximately 1862, so it’s pretty amazing he led the Eagles to the 1960 NFL Championship.

The ultimate retro football experience [ESPN.com]

Chuck Bednarik Doesn’t Care About White People

Yesterday, Eagles Hall-of-Famer Chuck Bednarik returned to Philadelphia Eagles training camp. You may remember Bednarik, in the weeks before the 2005 Super Bowl, said he was rooting for the Patriots. He had been in a one-sided feud with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie when the owner wouldn’t buy the remainder of Bednarik’s autobiographies, since he said it would violate NFL rules to buy them and distribute them to the players.

Well, Chuck was at camp yesterday in Bethlehem — where he lives — apologized to Lurie and even got recognized by Eagles camp phenom Hank Baskett and another player. Being Chuck Bednarik, he also put his foot in his mouth:

“I don’t know. At the time there was something about him that I just despised. My memory is pretty bad, so I don’t remember those things.”

And who was Bednarik talking about? Why, none other than Reggie White, the late defensive end who is going into the Hall of Fame this weekend!

We’d like to think Bednarik was pissed at him for saying, “Fornication is a sin” — that jerk! — and “Indians knew how to sneak up on people” and “You can see a Hispanic person and they can put 20 or 30 people in one home,” but it’s more likely it has something to do with, as Rich Hofmann wrote, being upset that when he was the number one draft pick players made about a dollar a day. And so we should probably leave the old man alone and lay off him.

But, oh, c’mon, where’s the fun in that. Say some more funny things, Chuck, so the media can all make fun of you some more!

Rich Hofmann | Just Chuck being Chuck [Daily News]
Remarks by Reggie White [Action Wisconsin]