When I think of Another one Bites Dust, I think of the Cardiac Cardinals dancing to Another one bites the dust.
As we leave Koy and Koy at Repent Bar, Phang sees us. She’s working next door at Smoke and Kisses. Which is either about to close or she wants to leave, looking for a little more excitement. And Mali’s always a lot of fun. While Phang knows that tonight never ends thanks to my Nikon camera and my website at alphapro.com.
No sooner than we arrive at Sweet Bar, the manager changes the music to Another One bites Dust. I hate that, my having to use improper English and leaving out part of a title. Because Google tells me I should not be using more than four words as my keyword. Use more than four, the search engines are not going to do a good job for me. But this song’s terrific being my favorite out of all from Queen.
I mentioned the Cardiac Cardinals Football team. Which is the absolutely the number one reason I love this song. This was my football team. And when the Cardinals Football team was in Saint Louis, I followed the football team avidly. And even went to watch a lot of their games. But when the Cardinals moved to Phoenix to become the Arizona Cardinals my interest in Professional Football came to an almost complete stop.
When Don Coryell became the coach of the Football Cardinals, he made it very clear that he could put the team into offensive high gear.
Coryell was so successful that the football fans across the country started calling the Saint Louis football Cardinals the Cardiac Cardinals. Coryell based his offense on a potent passing game. Jimmy Hart was the quarterback in those days. He couldn’t ‘ run with the ball any better than your grandmother could, and when he did, he fumbled the ball a lot. But Jimmy had a lot of heart. He could stay in the pocket until the last split second before releasing the ball. While probably taking more hard hits than any other quarterback in pro football.
Jimmy Hart and the football Cardinals built a reputation for being able to come back from being three touchdowns behind with just ten minutes left on the clock and still winning. Snatching victory from defeat in the last few seconds of a game. While conversely the team could lose a game in which they were three touchdowns ahead in the last ten minutes. The Cardiac Cardinals became the most exciting team in professional football. But what I will never forget is the Cardiac Cardinals dancing to Another one bites the Dust just moments after each victory. As I still remember Conrad Dobler and the rest of the offensive line jutting their behinds into the air as if they were mooning the opposing team.
My father totally despised Jimmy Hart as a quarterback while I totally loved him.
Because Dad always contended that Jimmy Hart was wasted space when it came to running with the ball.
Dad’s favorite two quarterbacks were Fran Tarkenton with the New York Giants and Roger Staubach who played with the Dallas cowboys. Both men being top scrambling quarterbacks whose running games were a potent aspect of both teams’ offenses.
I remember once watching Jimmy Hart at his finest hour after giving up the football to the opposing team something like four times due to his either throwing interceptions or fumbling the football. Hart’s offensive line whose job was to protect the quarterback had given up on him and had already counted the game as totally lost. Time and time again the offensive line deliberately caved in allowing the opposing team to sack Hart time after time. But Hart never gave up. Each time the opposing team bludgeoned him into the ground, Hart got right up and kept playing his heart out.
Hart’s courage impressed his teammates so much that they finally rallied around him. Hart threw several touchdown passes. winning the game in the final second.
I finally got my come up pence on my father when I finally found myself sitting across a dinner table from Jimmy Hart.
Back then Dad had a cattle operation. One of his friends was Randall Loveless who had one of the biggest cattle operations in Central Illinois. And when it came to raising cattle Randall Loveless was a legend. For example, if a barge loaded wiih corn sunk in the Illinois River, someone would call Loveless to tell him the barge was full of a lot of damaged corn that could be bought for a fraction of that it had once been worth. Randall would then call one of his buyer pals and sell the entire barge load of corn within minutes of acquiring title to the damaged corn. Randall literally made millions of dollars because of his connections and his peerless knowledge of the cattle business.
I found Randall Loveless to be fascinating. Because I had just started farming for my father. But here was Jimmy Hart sitting across the table from my father and me. And with only around eight men sitting at our table I had ample opportunity to talk with Jimmy Hart one on one.
I found Jimmy Hart to be a great guy with not one ounce of bravado about him. And would always remember all the excitement that Jimmy Hart and the Cardiac Cardinals provided me.
Football would never be the same again. While every time I hear that song, Another One Bites the Dust I can’t stop thinking about Jimmy Hart and the Cardiac Cardinals playing once again in Saint Louis.