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The day Jimmy Mac went scoreboard

In spite of McMahon being a ding-bat, I really liked his style of football! I can't think of anyone with a greater competitive fire. His leadership on the field was electric, and he made everyone else on the field better. My greatest football memory is McMahon's Miracle Bowl. (Dang close is "Beck to Harlene," though. My wife and I were screaming! [She screamed like a girl, and I screamed like a....ummm...really excited guy.])

BYU by 1.

I remember seeing McMahon do the same thing against Air Force in a 1981 home game. He was jawing with an AFA LB after yet another touchdown and I saw him point to the scoreboard

There is no doubt that Jim is one of the greats. We were lucky to have him at BYU.

I'll never forget the Miracle Bowl of 1980, the first bowl game I attended; and yes, I stayed until the end.

You were one of a kind and BYU was lucky to have you play for them.

As the song goes, "you did it your way."

I'm a McMahon fan, but to claim he invented either the head-butt or pointing to the scoreboard is ridiculous.

No one had ever pointed out that their team is winning when the other team was taunting them before the BYU-Utah game in 1980??

That's like claiming the McMahon invented the Hail Mary pass or breaking BYU's honor code. Sure he did it and was good at it, but he didn't invent it.

Jimmy Mac was one of a kind and super competitive. With Bronco now at the helm it's doubtful we'll see these types of players in cougarville again.

Jim McMahon hated the Utes.

as the article states:

"NOBODY KNOWS FOR SURE whether McMahon was the first to use "scoreboard" as a taunt. But some who were at the 1980 Utah-BYU game claim that's the case."

So unless you have proof of someone else using "scoreboard" prior to McMahon using it in that 1980 BYU/Utah game, then to emphatically claim that McMahon didn't invent it is just as ridiculous.

It's not at all like claiming your other examples, since we already KNOW that Jim didn't invent those.

What's with McMahon Sr.? Why is he so bent on talking up his son and making sure he gets BYU to bend their rules to let him into the Hall of Fame adn making sure he gets credit for everything from "Scoreboard" to the wearing of headbands. Was Jim the first to do that too?

C'mon, man give it up. Your boy had a great run at BYU, learned a lot, has said as much, and then had a great career in the NFL that now allows him to bum around, play golf and bag on the college that got him there.

Enough already. Every serious college football fan knows what Jim McMahon meant for BYU football and knows what a great QB he was. Give it up and stop the constant pushing of his greatness. We get it and now it is just becoming a whining deal.

...was going to BYU.

Imagine if he had gone to Utah:

* No honor code hassles
* No hours-long meetings between Lavell and administration officials after the latest McMahon antic
* No charges of hypocrisy by Lavell and the administration
* No sweat over over him marrying a sweet Mormon girl

Are you kidding me?

McMahon Sr. thinks his Jimmy invented 'Helmet-Butting'. We did it before every game in the 60's on my HS team. Did he also invent the forward pass?

There was a sidebar in a recent issue of Sports Illustrated about Jim McMahon and BYU. I thought it was an interesting read, especially when he said that BYU used him, and he used BYU. Also how BYU lied to get him to go there, very interesting...

Well, one thing Jimmy Mac did invent was bad-mouthing your school the first chance you get after finishing your college career.

Whether he agreed with the honor code or not, McMahon enrolled at BYU. No one twisted his arm. He wasn't forced to attend. Yes, he was a great QB and one heck of a competitor. I, too, will never forget the Miracle Bowl.

But instead of showing contempt for BYU, couldn't he have just said that while he thought a lot of the rules were silly, he was grateful to Coach Edwards and the school for giving him the opportunity to be the starting QB and parlay that into being drafted by the Bears.

His father can campaign all he wants, but until Jimmy changes his attitude towards BYU, McMahon will not be in the school's HOF - which probably means never.

"Imagine if he had gone to Utah:"

*And a lousy team that would have killed any chances of McMahon having outstanding college and NFL careers.

To: McMahon's Mistake

Imagine if McMahon had gone to Utah:

*No NCAA records
*No conference championships
*No draft into the NFL
*No Super-Bowl

Yep, Jimmy Mac really blew that choice.

McMahon was looking for a high-octane offense where he could show off his QB prowess, not a sub-par program where all he did was hand off to Pepper Rodgers or whoever was back there. His second choice after BYU was Notre Dame (he was Catholic).

I bet Jimmy Mac would like to give Brad Rock the one finger salute.

I keep trying to win his sweepstakes, but he hasn't shown up at my door with one of those giant checks yet. Too bad he had his house foreclosed.

My grandpa invented the flea-flicker and the statue of liberty play.

I really enjoyed every year Jim played at BYU. I know he was unorthodox and Ute fans will rail on his antics. I think he was just a rebel and liked the notoriety. I really enjoyed watching BYU throw on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd down all through games. The problem he created for the defense was leaving them on the field too long because he scored so quickly. I remember his touchdown drives that would go for less than a minute all through a game. Everybody always had lots of TOP; more than BYU. But we usually won the game.
Jim could finish his BYU degree on-line, but is so much of a rebel he probably won't. I'd sure like to see him in BYU's HOF because he was one of the greatest. Of all the things he did, I think he was probably tame compared to some of the guys under Crowton. It's funny that Ute fans hate him so much when he was the most like their players in personality. Goooooooo BYU! BYU 38 - Utah 3.