THE NATION’S NEWSPAPER
K-12
Case
Study
K-12HS2004-01
www.usatodayeducation.com
No. 2
Iverson puts heart on line,
ignores injuries
By Roscoe Nance
4-6
No. 1
For toughness over time,
Brett Favre is No. 1
By Larry Weisman
7-8
10 Toughest
Athletes: Part 3
Who are the toughest athletes? What is toughness and how do you measure
it? USA TODAY set out to answer these questions in its "10 Toughest
Athletes" series. Toughness defines athletes, just as their skills and talents
do. Some, by their deeds and demeanors, become the toughest of them all.
Indeed, there are different types of toughness, including both physical and
mental. But perhaps above all, toughness means tenacity. This three-part
case study will countdown the "10 Toughest Athletes" as determined by
USA TODAY's sports journalists. Of course, the list isn't definitive, and that is
what makes the choices so intriguing. USA TODAY has made its picks. You
might agree with some; you might see some glaring omissions. Let the
debate begin.
Cover Story
Titans' McNair uses
pain to stay focused
USA TODAY Snapshots
Prodigious passers in the NFL playoffs
Brett Favre is the only active quarterback who has thrown
at least 30 touchdown passes in the NFL playoffs. Most
touchdown passes in the NFL postseason:
Three older brothers
toughened him up
By Tom Weir
USA TODAY
Joe Montana (San Francisco, Kansas City)
Dan Marino (Miami)
Brett Favre (Green Bay)
Terry Bradshaw (Pittsburgh)
45
32
31
30
Source: NFL
By Ellen J. Horrow and Adrienne Lewis, USA TODAY
NASHVILLE — To appreciate all the
physical adversity Steve McNair has
endured — including surgery
Tuesday to remove a cracked bone
spur from his left ankle — perhaps
it's best to begin with the last time
he was booed by his Tennessee
Titans fans.
It was 1999, in the Titans' first
game in their new stadium. McNair,
playing on a twisted ankle, fumbled
the ball away late. Tennessee still
pulled out a 36-35 victory against
the then-dismal Cincinnati Bengals.
But fans thought it should have been
a romp and jeered McNair despite
the 21-for-32 passing day that
accounted for 341 yards and three
touchdowns.
The next week it became clear just
what a courageous performance
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY SPORTS SECTION, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2004, PAGE 3C
No. 3 on USA TODAY's list of the 10
toughest athletes in sports today is
Steve McNair. Here's why McNair is
so tough, including a statistical
explanation and a body chart, and
some names of others considered
tough in the sport.
Tough to the bone
Athletes are known for playing through pain. Some of
Steve McNair’s notable injuries:
Steve McNair
Concussion
Strain and infection
in right shoulder
Separated left
shoulder
Dislocated right
ring finger
Bone spur
removed from
left shoulder
Strained rib
cartilage
Bruised sternum
and ribs
Back spasms, pain
Ruptured disk
Strained right calf
Sprained and
cracked bone spur
in left ankle
Sprained left knee
Persistent turf toe
Source: USA TODAY research
Bone spur and cyst
from left big toe
removed
By Karl Gelles, USA TODAY
McNair had given, as he had surgery
to repair a ruptured disk in his
lower back.
tight end Frank Wycheck, "We don't
worry about Steve unless he's in
a cast."
Of his ability to play with pain,
McNair says, "It goes back to high
school, when my coach told me that
when you're in pain, you tend to stay
more focused on what you have to do.
I took that to heart, and I think that's
how I play now. I can just concentrate
better when I'm playing in pain."
That mettle was apparent in a 2002
playoff game against the Pittsburgh
Steelers, when McNair had a chunk of
skin dangling from the thumb
knuckle of his right, throwing hand.
He reluctantly missed two plays as
the skin was cut off and still threw for
a playoff career-high 338 yards,
passing for two touchdowns and
running for another.
"When I first saw him coming off
the field, I feared the worst," Titans
head coach Jeff Fisher said at the time.
"I thought, 'I'm not only going to see
skin, but I'm going to see bone and
pass out on national TV.' "
Six games later he was back at
quarterback against the St. Louis
Rams — a week ahead of schedule
—and on his opening drive he twice
boldly scrambled for first downs with
no regard for his just-healed injury.
McNair says: "I just bit the bullet. I
said I got to go."
That day Titans fans began to
respect the resilience of one of the
NFL's most fearless players and
rewarded him with his first standing
ovation in Nashville. There were
many more during an injury-riddled
78-game stretch in which McNair
missed one start.
"They pounded on me," he says.
"Not a little, a lot."
As Tennessee tight end Erron
Kinney says, "Steve, if he blew his foot
off right before the game, he'd still try
to play." Echoes just-retired Titans
McNair traces the roots of his
toughness to growing up with three
older brothers in Mississippi.
And in seven seasons as Tennessee's
starting quarterback, McNair has
pounded back. He probably has
lowered a shoulder and bulled for
yards more often than any
quarterback, regularly disdaining the
safety of taking a slide.
McNair says that's a holdover from
high school, when he also was a
By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY
defensive back, the position most
colleges recruited him to play. In high
school, he once was taken from the
field by ambulance to a hospital
because of a serious shoulder injury
but was back playing in three weeks.
"I enjoyed hitting," McNair says. "I
think that's where I get my physical
mentality from, and I don't slide
sometimes when I should. I still have
that defensive back mentality
sometimes."
That style also has defined McNair
as a quarterback who often throws
the best blocks. It led Houston's 2002
Pro Bowl defensive end, Gary Walker,
to describe McNair as Tennessee's
"best offensive lineman."
"To rush this guy, you have to have
four people getting up the field and
caging him in," Walker says.
At 30, McNair became this past
season the youngest of the five NFL
quarterbacks to throw for 20,000
yards and rush for 3,000, joining Fran
Tarkenton, John Elway, Randall
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 2
10 Toughest Athletes Case Study
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY SPORTS SECTION, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2004, PAGE 3C
McNair's tough guys
Mobile quarterbacks
Steve McNair is physically tough enough to be a running
back. Most rushing yards by a quarterback since 1997:
Steve McNair, Tennessee
2,965 yards
Offensive players considered tough
Kordell Stewart, Chicago
2,594
Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia
2,239
Daunte Culpepper, Minnesota
1,923
Jeff Garcia, San Francisco
1,571
Source: Elias Sports Bureau
Steve McNair on the toughest players in the NFL:
v Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre
v Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis
v Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George
By Karl Gelles, USA TODAY
Cunningham and Steve Young. His 3,172 rushing yards
from 1995-2003 also were the most by an NFL
quarterback, as were his 34 running touchdowns.
v Walter Payton — Set the NFL's rushing record while
playing most of his career for a generally poor Chicago
Bears team. All knees and elbows as he ran, dishing out
more hurt than he took. His conditioning drills left
many teammates drained and in awe.
v Johnny Unitas — Played in an era when quarterbacks were afforded little protection from shots to the
head or after they released the ball. Stood tall in the
pocket, never flinched, never backed down, unnerved
opponents with his frosty, blue-eyed stare.
v Bronko Nagurski — Outstanding runner, great
blocker and played defensive tackle. Probably was the
greatest player of the 1930s. The name lives on as a
testament to toughness.
This season, with his running game hampered by a right
calf injury and the cracked spur in his ankle, McNair ran
less but threw better. He led the NFL with a 100.4 passer
rating and was named the league's co-MVP, with the
Indianapolis Colts' Peyton Manning.
"The only way you can play this game is with an
attitude," McNair says.
He demonstrated that attitude this past season in a
victory against the Miami Dolphins, needing to have his
chin stitched at halftime. "That's what football is all about,"
McNair says, smiling broadly. "A little blood."
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 3
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY SPORTS SECTION, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2004, PAGE 3C
Iverson puts heart on line,
ignores injuries
Football tought him to play through pain
No. 2 on USA TODAY's list of the 10
toughest athletes in sports today is
Allen Iverson. Here's why Iverson is
so tough, including a statistical
explanation and a body chart, and
names of others considered tough
in the sport.
Tough to the bone
Athletes are known for playing through pain. Some of
Allen Iverson’s notable injuries:
Allen Iverson
Left shoulder
separation
Broken right
thumb
Sprained left
thumb
Right elbow
bursitis
Right shoulder
dislocation
Tailbone contusion
Fractured left hand
Right quadriceps
contusion
Synovitis (inflamed),
left knee
Right knee
contusion
Left knee
contusion
Sprained right
big toe
Sprained left ankle
Broken left
big toe
Source: USA TODAY research
Left hip pointer
By Karl Gelles, USA TODAY
By Roscoe Nance
USA TODAY
Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen
Iverson, who has gotten off to a rocky
start with new coach Chris Ford, gets
knocked down more than a bowling
pin. That's nothing new for him.
It has been happening since he
played youth football in Hampton,
Va., and he keeps getting up and
coming back for more the way he was
taught as an 8-year-old quarterback.
"He's a football player playing
basketball," says Gary Moore,
Iverson's
business
manager.
"That's really the answer to all
his toughness."
Moore should know. As Iverson's
youth league football coach, he
instilled a sense of toughness in
Iverson that helped him become an
all-state high school quarterback. That
quality remains with Iverson as an
NBA All-Star.
"One of the main things that I
taught kids is you never let your
opponent know he has hurt you,"
Moore says. "Unless it's a broken limb,
your thing is to get back up. Once you
let your opponent know he has hurt
you, you give him an edge."
That explains why Iverson,
generously listed at 6-0, 165 pounds,
is able to stand up to the pounding
that he takes. When he drives the lane
and challenges 7-footers, it's no
different than when he ran the
quarterback option and took on
linebackers and defensive linemen.
They knocked him down, too.
"Being an ex-football player, I'm
used to the contact," Iverson says.
"That's part of football. That has
enabled me to withstand everything
that goes on in basketball."
Unlike football, in basketball Iverson
doesn't wear protective padding, and
his hellbent style often leaves him
battered and bruised.
By Dan MacMedan, USA TODAY
"I'm used to being banged up," he
says. "You try to suck it up and not
think about it. You just play off your
adrenaline."
Countless times Iverson has limped
into the locker room before a game
and there seemed to be no way he
would play. But at tip-off, he's almost
always in the lineup.
"It's just playing with my heart first
before I play with my talent," Iverson
says of his ability to play despite being
injured. "It's just basically wanting to
play and being able to be there for my
teammates. My football background
definitely has a lot to do with it."
And it's why Iverson wonders how
Ford can question what he has to do
for the team to be successful.
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 4
10 Toughest Athletes Case Study
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY SPORTS SECTION, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2004, PAGE 3C
Iverson's tough guys
Going the distance
Allen Iverson rarely sits idle on the sideline during a 48minute NBA game. Highest minutes per game by players
since 1996-97:
Allen Iverson, Philadelphia
Allen Iverson on the toughest players in the NBA:
v Philadelphia 76ers guard Eric Snow
v Philadelphia 76ers guard-forward Aaron McKie
v Los Angeles Lakers forward Karl Malone
41.4 minutes
Michael Finley, Dallas
39.7
Gary Payton, L.A. Lakers
39.6
Latrell Sprewell, Minnesota
39.5
Kevin Garnett, Minnesota
39.5
Note: through Tuesday’s games
Source: Elias Sports Bureau
By Karl Gelles, USA TODAY
Iverson's penchant for playing through injuries is
legendary. Iverson was on the verge of tears in 1999 when
he told the media he had broken his right thumb and
would have to miss time. He missed 10 games but tried to
speed up his return by removing the cast himself.
Once, before a game in New York, the equipment
manager hid the No. 3 uniform to keep Iverson from
playing with an injury. Undaunted, Iverson wanted to go
to the NBA Store and buy a uniform to play.
"Whenever he misses a game, you know he's truly
injured," teammate Eric Snow says. "It's not some little
nick or a hangnail. More than anything, I think he's tough
mentally. He can somehow kid himself into thinking he's
(feeling) better than he actually is. Then he has the will to
get out there and will himself through it and do some
things even he didn't think he could do. . . . It's an amazing
thing to see."
Last season Iverson was expected to be out two to four
weeks after breaking the third finger on his right
(shooting) hand, but he was back practicing after five days.
Later in the season he broke his right thumb and sprained
a ligament in it but didn't miss any games.
"He takes the hit, he defends," Washington Wizards
coach Eddie Jordan says.
Other tough NBA small men
v Jerry Sloan — Played with a variety of broken
bones, including two broken ribs, and never complained.
v Ron Boone — Played in 1,041 consecutive games in
the NBA and ABA. Kept the streak going by playing
the first month of the 1978-79 season wearing a
mask to protect a broken nose.
v Isiah Thomas — Scored a record 25 points in the
third period of Game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals against
the Los Angeles Lakers despite a severely sprained
right ankle. Finished the game with 43 points.
v Michael Jordan — Despite battling stomach flu,
scored 38 against Utah in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA
Finals. Played all 82 games nine times in his 15-year
career, including his final season at 40.
v John Stockton — Missed only 22 games in 19 years
and played all 82 games 17 times. Didn't miss a game
during 1996-97 despite not being able to bend his
right (shooting) elbow most of the time, an injury
that required offseason surgery.
This season, however, even Iverson has felt he needed to
protect himself from himself. He asked the Sixers to put
him on the injured list after he bruised his right knee and
missed 12 games.
They were unable to accommodate him because the list
was full, so Iverson chose to stay in Philadelphia when the
Sixers went on a five-game Western Conference trip. He
says if he had traveled with the team, he would have
wanted to play.
"Pound for pound, inch for inch, he's the toughest,"
Atlanta Hawks general manager Billy Knight says. "He's
the type of guy we used to say you have to kill to get him
off you (in a fight).
"There are a lot of guys who say they are tough but aren't
genuinely. He is genuinely tough."
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 5
10 Toughest Athletes Case Study
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY SPORTS SECTION, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2004, PAGE 3C
As seen in Experience USA TODAY
This daily, four-page lesson plan
based on USA TODAY's articles,
Snapshots® and infographs helps students apply and hone higher-order
learning skills such as evaluation, synthesis and analysis. It is designed for
cross-curricular integration and
focuses on a variety of learning styles
and applications. To view today's
Experience USA TODAY, go to:
www.education.usatoday.com.
Iverson put
s heart on li
ne,
ignores inj
uries, 3C
APPLICATIO
NS:
character ed
ucation,
competition,
ap
plication
DISCUSSION
: Accordin
g
to Gary Mo
business man
ore, Allen Iv
ager, what is
erson's
the key to th
toughness?
How does Iv
e basketball
er
star's
son react w
during a gam
hen he gets
e? What is
battered
the differen
with heart an
ce between
d playing w
playing
ith talent? In
mentally to
what way is
ugh? How
d
Iv
id
erson
himself'' this
Iverson ''pro
tect himself
season?
from
ACTIVITY:
Iverson belie
ves playing
tough basket
football mad
ball player.
e him a
Identify a sp
each of the
ort that wo
following at
u
ld help
h
le
soccer play
tes perfect
er, a ballet
her or his sk
d
an
ills: a
driver, a fo
cer, an NHL
otball quarte
goalie, a NA
rb
SCAR
ack, a pitch
each decisio
n in writing
er. Briefly ex
.
plain
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 6
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY SPORTS SECTION, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2004, PAGE 3C
For toughness over time,
Brett Favre is No. 1
No. 1 on USA TODAY's list of the 10
toughest athletes in sports today is
Brett Favre. Why Favre is so tough,
including a statistical explanation
and a body chart, and some names
of others considered tough in the
sport.
The physical beatings don't keep
him out. He shrugs off injuries. The
mental pressures seem not to faze
him as he takes another snap and fires
a spiral through Lambeau Field's
swirling gusts.
Toughness? Not hard for Favre
to define:
Tough to the bone
Athletes are known for playing through pain. Some of
Brett Favre’s notable injuries:
Brett Favre
Broken right thumb
"To play every week and to be
someone that your teammates can
rely on to be there for them."
A mental thing? A physical one?
Sprained right
thumb
"Definitely both."
Bruised left hip
45-day rehab at
clinic for addiction
to painkillers
Sprained left knee
Sprained left
ankle
Sprained left foot
Source: USA TODAY research
By Karl Gelles, USA TODAY
By Larry Weisman
USA TODAY
He's the eternal among the
ephemeral, the constant in a world of
change.
Any discussion of toughness in the
NFL starts with Brett Favre because
Brett Favre starts. Every game. Week
after week. Year after year. At last
count, 208 games in a row (including
playoffs), an ongoing NFL record
for quarterbacks, a notoriously
fragile breed.
In 1992, in his second NFL season
and his first with the Green Bay
Packers, Favre came off the bench to
relieve Don Majkowski and threw a
game-winning touchdown pass. He
made his first start the next week.
One has followed the next without
fail, through ankle sprains and
tweaked knees and broken thumbs,
an addiction to painkillers and even
the death of his father, Irvin, who
coached him in high school.
"When he puts his mind to it, he can
accomplish anything," coach Mike
Sherman says. "He handles adversity
extremely well."
His ability to overcome the bodily
debilitations already made Favre the
stuff of legend. He broke Ron
Jaworski's record for consecutive
starts by a quarterback in 1999,
Favre still going
Brett Favre has started 189 consecutive regular-season
games, 208 overall (counting the playoffs), far eclipsing
any other quarterback. The most durable:
Brett Favre, Green Bay
(1992-2003) 189
Ron Jaworski, Philadelphia
(1977-84) 116
Joe Ferguson, Buffalo
(1977-84) 107
Peyton Manning, Indianapolis
(1998-2003) 96
Dan Marino, Miami
(1987-93) 95
Source: Green Bay Packers
By Karl Gelles, USA TODAY
leaving Jaworski's considerable mark
of 116 games ever further in the
rearview mirror.
When he opened up to his
teammates and vowed to play in the
Dec. 22 Monday night game against
the Oakland Raiders, Favre displayed
another aspect of his built-in grit. His
father's sudden death at 58 occurred
the previous day. The son considered
his family at home in Kiln, Miss., and
his football family of coaches,
teammates and fans and chose to play
in a game the team desperately
needed in its run for the playoffs.
Weighed down by grief but buoyed
by the game he loves, Favre passed for
399 yards and four touchdowns as the
Packers flattened the Raiders 41-7.
Joy in the moment and an overriding
sorrow mingled as he saw his job
through to its end.
"What Brett did was immeasurable.
Not a lot of guys can put that on the
back burner and go out there and
accomplish
the
things
he
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 7
10 Toughest Athletes Case Study
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY SPORTS SECTION, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2004, PAGE 3C
accomplished for himself, his team and Green Bay,"
veteran receiver Antonio Freeman says. "You can't
measure it. You can't put a price on it. I don't know how he
did it, but he did it."
It almost obscures the way he played through a broken
thumb suffered Oct. 19. Nineteen of his NFL-high 32
touchdown passes came with the thumb on his passing
hand cracked, splinted, bandaged, sore and aching. He
possesses a will that never takes "won't" for an answer.
"I've never seen a leader or a player like Brett in my
career, and I'm pretty sure that no one else in this locker
room has either," says tight end Wesley Walls, a 15-year
veteran in his first season with the Packers. "Just getting
up in front of the team at such a horrible and difficult time
in his life really showed he cared about us. That was
something I'll never forget."
Favre's frequent flirtations with the issue of retirement
stem from a certain fatigue with the sameness of practice
Favre's tough guys
Brett Favre on the toughest players in the NFL:
v Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair —
"Because of what he overcomes to keep playing."
v Green Bay Packers fullback William Henderson —
"To do what he does as a blocking fullback, putting
his neck into a linebacker on most plays and missing something like one game in his career, is pretty
amazing."
and meetings and the simple fact of advancing age. At 34,
he's older than most of his teammates and maybe more of
an icon in the minds of some. But he's not going anywhere.
He knows he wants to play and has to play because it's
what he does and who he is.
"When it counts, I still think I'm the best," he says. "And
that keeps me kicking myself in the butt and being not
quite ready to leave yet."
As seen in Experience USA TODAY
This daily, four-page lesson plan
based on USA TODAY's articles,
Snapshots® and infographs helps students apply and hone higher-order
learning skills such as evaluation, synthesis and analysis. It is designed for
cross-curricular integration and
focuses on a variety of learning styles
and applications. To view today's
Experience USA TODAY, go to:
www.education.usatoday.com.
The toughe
st athlete:
Brett Favre
, 3C
APPLICATIO
NS:
competition,
leadership,
knowledge,
co
mparison
DISCUSSION
: According
to reporter
does any dis
Larry Weism
cussion abo
an, why
ut toughnes
Brett Favre
s
in
? What is
the NFL beg
remarkable
in with
record? How
about Favre
does Favre d
's starting
efine ''tough
cal and men
ness''? What
tal strains h
physias he perse
did Favre ch
vered throu
oose to play
gh? Why
the day afte
death? How
r th
is he regard
ed by teamm is father's sudden
ates?
ACTIVITY:
Bein
physically ab g a ''tough'' athlete isn
't only abou
le and stron
t being
g. It has just
mental acuit
as much to
y and discip
do with
line. Toughn
ity. In small
ess also mea
groups, com
ns tenace up with a
athlete.'' Th
d
efinition for
en choose th
a ''tough
e top five o
players), an
f all time (n
d explain y
ot current
our reasonin
trast your d
g. Compare
efinitions an
and cond your lists
in class.
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 8