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Dexter Manley on making Danny White cry
(AP archives)
If you've ever heard Dexter Manley talk, you know that it can be a sometimes baffling yet thrilling experience. His answer to one question will quickly veer to something else entirely, then something else, then something else, then a plug for Certified Building Services, then a sharp dash of pathos, then an aside about Joe Gibbs, and then finally he'll be interrupted and asked something else after 15 minutes or so.
So trying to piece together two of Manley's radio interviews this week, both on ESPN 980, is a bit of a job. But let's get to some highlights anyhow. Like, here was when he was asked about knocking out Danny White during the 1982 NFC championship game at RFK, which remains one of the indelible images of this Dallas-Washington rivalry.
"I could tell as he was going down, he was whining like a baby, and I knew at that point in time this guy is done," Manley said on The Sports Fix. "He'd never play another down, and I knew that the Commanders' fan base was all excited and happy and we were on our way. But then we had to keep coming back, because they brought in a guy named Gary Hogeboom. I couldn't pronounce his name at the time. I was pronouncing his name sort of wrong, and then Joe Theismann kept telling me the correct name. You know, his name is Hogeboom. I didn't know how to pronounce the guy's name at first."
From making Danny White whine like a baby to being schooled on the pronunciation of Hogeboom; that's a Dexter Manley interview. If I can switch around here, Manley's teammate Darryl Grant was on the John Thompson Show later in the day, and he was asked about the defense during that game.
"Basically the scheme, to sum it up, was just attack," Grant said. "We ran some stunts, we ran some twists, but it was just penetration, get to the quarterback, put as much pressure, knock him around. And Dexter came through there on a twist and knocked him out. Cold. That's the kind of aggression we went into the game with. We felt they had no respect for us, they totally disrespected us, and we were focused when we went in there. It was all about beating the Cowboys, man. We weren't gonna be denied."
Anyhow, Kevin Sheehan also asked Manley about his pre-game locker room behavior before that game. Apparently he had gotten sort of excited.
"That was my second year in the league, and of course I think Tex Schramm had sort of built the Cowboys as America's football team: the star, the uniforms," Manley said. "And I was just sort of a young guy, straight out of Oklahoma State. I felt like I could compete. I always sort of disliked the Cowboys once I became a Commander, because I understood that just goes with the territory. And so I was shooting my mouth off during the week, and so now it's time to back it up.
"And so now it's game day. You know, and so you can do all that stuff in the locker room, but also you've got to go perform on the field. And I was just so pumped. To be quite frank with you, I read a book about Thomas Hollywood Henderson, and I didn't know anything about it, but he said it sort of gets your adrenaline flowing. I took maybe five Sudafed tablets before the game. I took Sudafed tablets and I just sort of lost it in the locker room.
"I remember there was a big coffee maker machine there and I just went and picked it up and slammed it on the blackboard. It was, like, barbaric stuff. But you know, I knew that once you do that, you play a game in the locker room, and then you have to play a game on the field as well, and I sort of couldn't control it."
(What was it like to play next to Dexter? "It was awesome," Grant said, "because you knew Dexter was gonna bring that heat. He'd be woofing and hollering and being all excited and fired up every play, ready to go, and just would be mauling his man. Just maul him. I just watched him maul guys.")
Both of these players were asked about Dallas Week now, and both said it still matters, which is exactly what you want them to say.
"It is a big week; I think it's a big week for the current players and the non-active players," Manley said. "It's something still in my craw that I just dislike the Cowboys. I don't quite understand, you've got a fan base here, Washington people here, and most all these people, they be telling me they're rooting for the Cowboys. This is a great tradition here in their own backyard and they sort of neglect the Commanders....You of course are rooting for the guys to go out there and play well and play with a lot of heart and represent the Commanders and the guys who was there before them, and so I'm hoping that they'll do that on Sunday."
"What does this particular game mean? It's big," Grant said. "It's a lot of tradition, a lot of history. At one point this was the biggest rivalry in the NFL, possibly all of sports. Man, this is the week."
(Grant will turn 50 on Sunday; he said his birthday present is "gonna be a win against Dallas. That's all I'm asking for. It's simple.")
Manley was asked whether he could give a pre-game talk to this year's team, if necessary, and he said sure. Which I don't doubt. So long as he doesn't hand out cold medication.
"It's like defending America," he said, summarizing his talking points. "You've got to take the fight to the enemy, and the Cowboys will be the enemy....I think that what's important is that those guys have to have the courage to go out there and persevere and sacrifice, not only for themselves but for this great generation that's here, this legacy that the Commanders have been here since 1932. So many things I could say that these guys can do. Can't be frustrated, just got to be determined."
Manley also appeared on the John Thompson Show, leading Doc Walker to tell stories of Dexter smashing up a locker room at Texas Stadium before a Cowboys game. Doc asked him whether that was his top pre-game psycho moment.
"I think so," Manley said. "No, I take that back, that's probably the second one. The first one, I'll never forget....We had just beat the Minnesota Vikings in the Metrodome and then some reporter asked me about Mike Ditka. It was on a Monday night in San Francisco, he threw bubble gum at a woman in San Francisco, you remember that? Okay so a reporter asked me about this, I said Mike Ditka's a bum, something like that. He came back and said Manley's got the IQ of a grapefruit. So I took that real personal. I didn't think a coach of his caliber, an NFL coach would sort of get into this tit for tat with a player.
"And that [had] a lot of validity. Not that I had the IQ of a grapefruit, but I had a learning disability, I was sort of living this secret life, and he sort of exposed me. People made fun of me. And I sort of made a commitment on that day. I remember, that's the first time Joe Gibbs came to my back for me, and he sort of stood up and said something and we had a team meeting. You should ask those guys. I threw chairs. Joe Gibbs was up talking in the meeting, and I just kind of lost it and then I went out and played a game against the Bears and I challenged Mike Ditka to come on the field."
Jeez, can you imagine the Web traffic that episode would have generated?
(AP archives)
If you've ever heard Dexter Manley talk, you know that it can be a sometimes baffling yet thrilling experience. His answer to one question will quickly veer to something else entirely, then something else, then something else, then a plug for Certified Building Services, then a sharp dash of pathos, then an aside about Joe Gibbs, and then finally he'll be interrupted and asked something else after 15 minutes or so.
So trying to piece together two of Manley's radio interviews this week, both on ESPN 980, is a bit of a job. But let's get to some highlights anyhow. Like, here was when he was asked about knocking out Danny White during the 1982 NFC championship game at RFK, which remains one of the indelible images of this Dallas-Washington rivalry.
"I could tell as he was going down, he was whining like a baby, and I knew at that point in time this guy is done," Manley said on The Sports Fix. "He'd never play another down, and I knew that the Commanders' fan base was all excited and happy and we were on our way. But then we had to keep coming back, because they brought in a guy named Gary Hogeboom. I couldn't pronounce his name at the time. I was pronouncing his name sort of wrong, and then Joe Theismann kept telling me the correct name. You know, his name is Hogeboom. I didn't know how to pronounce the guy's name at first."
From making Danny White whine like a baby to being schooled on the pronunciation of Hogeboom; that's a Dexter Manley interview. If I can switch around here, Manley's teammate Darryl Grant was on the John Thompson Show later in the day, and he was asked about the defense during that game.
"Basically the scheme, to sum it up, was just attack," Grant said. "We ran some stunts, we ran some twists, but it was just penetration, get to the quarterback, put as much pressure, knock him around. And Dexter came through there on a twist and knocked him out. Cold. That's the kind of aggression we went into the game with. We felt they had no respect for us, they totally disrespected us, and we were focused when we went in there. It was all about beating the Cowboys, man. We weren't gonna be denied."
Anyhow, Kevin Sheehan also asked Manley about his pre-game locker room behavior before that game. Apparently he had gotten sort of excited.
"That was my second year in the league, and of course I think Tex Schramm had sort of built the Cowboys as America's football team: the star, the uniforms," Manley said. "And I was just sort of a young guy, straight out of Oklahoma State. I felt like I could compete. I always sort of disliked the Cowboys once I became a Commander, because I understood that just goes with the territory. And so I was shooting my mouth off during the week, and so now it's time to back it up.
"And so now it's game day. You know, and so you can do all that stuff in the locker room, but also you've got to go perform on the field. And I was just so pumped. To be quite frank with you, I read a book about Thomas Hollywood Henderson, and I didn't know anything about it, but he said it sort of gets your adrenaline flowing. I took maybe five Sudafed tablets before the game. I took Sudafed tablets and I just sort of lost it in the locker room.
"I remember there was a big coffee maker machine there and I just went and picked it up and slammed it on the blackboard. It was, like, barbaric stuff. But you know, I knew that once you do that, you play a game in the locker room, and then you have to play a game on the field as well, and I sort of couldn't control it."
(What was it like to play next to Dexter? "It was awesome," Grant said, "because you knew Dexter was gonna bring that heat. He'd be woofing and hollering and being all excited and fired up every play, ready to go, and just would be mauling his man. Just maul him. I just watched him maul guys.")
Both of these players were asked about Dallas Week now, and both said it still matters, which is exactly what you want them to say.
"It is a big week; I think it's a big week for the current players and the non-active players," Manley said. "It's something still in my craw that I just dislike the Cowboys. I don't quite understand, you've got a fan base here, Washington people here, and most all these people, they be telling me they're rooting for the Cowboys. This is a great tradition here in their own backyard and they sort of neglect the Commanders....You of course are rooting for the guys to go out there and play well and play with a lot of heart and represent the Commanders and the guys who was there before them, and so I'm hoping that they'll do that on Sunday."
"What does this particular game mean? It's big," Grant said. "It's a lot of tradition, a lot of history. At one point this was the biggest rivalry in the NFL, possibly all of sports. Man, this is the week."
(Grant will turn 50 on Sunday; he said his birthday present is "gonna be a win against Dallas. That's all I'm asking for. It's simple.")
Manley was asked whether he could give a pre-game talk to this year's team, if necessary, and he said sure. Which I don't doubt. So long as he doesn't hand out cold medication.
"It's like defending America," he said, summarizing his talking points. "You've got to take the fight to the enemy, and the Cowboys will be the enemy....I think that what's important is that those guys have to have the courage to go out there and persevere and sacrifice, not only for themselves but for this great generation that's here, this legacy that the Commanders have been here since 1932. So many things I could say that these guys can do. Can't be frustrated, just got to be determined."
Manley also appeared on the John Thompson Show, leading Doc Walker to tell stories of Dexter smashing up a locker room at Texas Stadium before a Cowboys game. Doc asked him whether that was his top pre-game psycho moment.
"I think so," Manley said. "No, I take that back, that's probably the second one. The first one, I'll never forget....We had just beat the Minnesota Vikings in the Metrodome and then some reporter asked me about Mike Ditka. It was on a Monday night in San Francisco, he threw bubble gum at a woman in San Francisco, you remember that? Okay so a reporter asked me about this, I said Mike Ditka's a bum, something like that. He came back and said Manley's got the IQ of a grapefruit. So I took that real personal. I didn't think a coach of his caliber, an NFL coach would sort of get into this tit for tat with a player.
"And that [had] a lot of validity. Not that I had the IQ of a grapefruit, but I had a learning disability, I was sort of living this secret life, and he sort of exposed me. People made fun of me. And I sort of made a commitment on that day. I remember, that's the first time Joe Gibbs came to my back for me, and he sort of stood up and said something and we had a team meeting. You should ask those guys. I threw chairs. Joe Gibbs was up talking in the meeting, and I just kind of lost it and then I went out and played a game against the Bears and I challenged Mike Ditka to come on the field."
Jeez, can you imagine the Web traffic that episode would have generated?
