(8 of 8)
Under the benevolent paternalism of Commissioner Bell, every team in the league encourages its players to engage in such extracurricular activities, against the inevitable day when they will be too old and battered to butt heads for a living. The Green Bay Packers' former great end, Don Hutson, owns the town's finest bowling alleys; the New York Giants' Kyle Rote peddles insurance and packaged kitchens.
Hardly any pro football player is in the game just because it pays. Most of them could make more elsewhere. And most of them stay in football because they have a feeling for the game—the sort of feeling Bobby Layne expresses when he rambles on about what playing is really like. "I kid a lot in the huddle, 'cause I don't like the pressure to build," he muses. "I remind the guys of the good time we're going to have when the game's over, that kind of thing. But one thing Rusty Russell, my old high-school coach, used to say always stuck in my book. He used to say, 'There's no such thing in my book as a good loser.' It's the kinda feeling you got to have to be a winner. It's kinda like the New York Yankees. Those guys win about 30% of their games because they got those pinstripe suits on. It's habit-forming, that winning or losing. The Lions have fallen into good habits."
Soul of a Sophomore. This week in Green Bay, the Lions again tested their habit, and Layne, as usual, made all the difference. Passing for two touchdowns, and running for a third, he beat the Packers 21-17. With only four games left to go (including a Thanksgiving-day rematch with the Packers), the Lions need only one more victory to sew up their third straight Western Conference championship.
In the process of winning, the Lions demonstrated again that the roughest pro in the game still has the soul of a Sophomore. After Layne sneaked over for his third touchdown, aroused Packers who had tackled him too late tossed him back to the 5-yd. line. Layne laughed out loud at such manhandling. He was having the time of his life. "They're a wild bunch," says one of their opponents, "but they have an esprit de corps which most coaches in the league feel keeps them on top. It sounds sorta high-schoolish but in that play-off game for the championship last year, the Browns were ahead, 16-10, there were only a couple of minutes left to play, and the Lions had 80 yards or something to go for the winning touchdown. But in the huddle, Layne told them in that silly old Texas drawl of his, 'Jes' block a little bit, fellers, and ol' Bobby'll pass ya right to the championship.' And he went and did it."
Not a man in Detroit this week dares say out loud that Bobby won't do it again.