Nassau Drops Todd Case New York Times Published: November 17, 1981 HEMPSTEAD, L.I., Nov. 16— Denis Dillon, the Nassau County District Attorney, has decided not to act on the criminal-assault charges filed against the Jets' Richard Todd by Steve Serby, a reporter for The New York Post. ''The District Attorney has decided this doesn't belong to the criminal-justice system,'' Ed Grilli, a press relations officer for Mr. Dillon, said today. ''There was no physical injury.'' The reporter and Todd got into an argument in the Jets' locker-room on Nov. 4. Several witnesses told the police they had seen Todd push Mr. Serby into a locker. Mr. Serby's lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, said he would not comment on the decision, because ''we are studying other alternatives.'' Presumably, a civil action could be undertaken. The Jets' president, Jim Kensil, said he planned no disciplinary action, although he said he had told the players at a team meeting, ''We don't condone what Richard did.'' A National Football League official said that Commissioner Pete Rozelle was out of town for a few days, and would review the case when he returned.
If Sanchez wants people to forget his ambiguously metro-sexual GQ photo spread, he must beat up Cimini.
I don't remember the game, but I do remember there being a full page image of Todd with both middle fingers up on the back page of Newsday the next day. I think the headline was "Todd Lets His Fingers Do The Talking".
i heard if you have 5.1 surround you can mute the announcers by lowering the center speaker but alas all i have is a soundbar and it doesnt work that way. They shoulld have a SAP button to turn off announcers that would be the greatest thing to happen for sports television.
Todd and Serby later made up, but for whatever reason, Serby was never a beat columnist again for The Post after that incident. Peter Finney Jr. took over for him and Serby took to writing opinion pieces and also covering the entire NFL.
The case was referred to the Community Dispute arena, which is where you go when a neighbor's dog does poopie on your lawn. LOL
No, Todd was beloved by the fans in 1977-78 after a very promising 1977 when Joe Namath had left. Todd's problems started when the fans gravitated towards Matt Robinson in 1978. The team was forecast to have a lousy year -- SI said they'd go 1-15 -- and they finished 8-8 with Robinson leading a bunch of come-from-behind wins (notably the game in Denver against the defending AFC champions). This was after Todd got hurt in the Washington game, tried to come back about 4-5 weeks later, and got re-hurt during the Steve Nelson "thanks Pat" game (same day as The Fumble or a week or so later/before I recall). The QB controversy of 1979 was a disaster. It split the team and the fanbase. It was one of the first real QB controversies in a major media market (Dallas and Staubach/Morton was before Dallas was bigtime). The team finished 8-8 in 1979 but it was a 'bad' 8-8 after most people went the other way on their 1-15 predictions of 1978 and thought the Jets would go 10-6 or something and make the playoffs. Howard Cosell ripped the Jets for practically an entire MNF game that they were on (1st time on MNF in years) and Walt Michaels got ripped too. The Jets biggest defender in the NY media? A young up-and-coming columnist named Mike Lupica in the NY Daily News. LOL Still, Todd had some good moments including beating NE at Shea after they had beaten the Jets 56-3 in NE. In 1980, the Jets made the idiotic decision to let the OC John Idzik go. No OC, and Todd threw 30 interceptions. Half the Jets games weren't even on TV in upstate NY because of blackouts and NFL decisions because the team was so bad (4-12 that year). In 1981, Joe Walton came in and after an 0-3 start, turned it around bigtime. Todd was cheered in the November Miami rematch when he broght the Jets back with 0:16 seconds left (to Jerome Barkum) and the Jets finished 10-5-1. Blaming him for the loss to Buffalo in the WC game is asinine -- he brought the Jets almost all the way back, and the Jets defense and special teams put the Jets behind by like almost 3 TD's early. Great year in 1982 (strike-shortened).....then Joe Walton took over as HC and once again no OC in 1983 and Todd regressed.....Walton and Todd, so tight as OC and player, had a falling out. Todd was traded after 1983 season for the draft pick that became Ron Faurot or another bust in the 1st round. Todd gets alot of flack but he wasn't a bad QB. He took some hits in the Raiders playoff game in 1983 to get us to the Mud Bowl that were positively vicious. The Raiders were trying to do to Todd what they did to Namath 15 years earlier. That was the Lance Mehl game.
Was 1980 the year they drafted Lam Jones? I remember Jimmy the Greek picking them for the SB, said Walker and Jones would be unstoppable. Jones sucked, and they ended 4-12. Todd was an enigma as a qb - he had a great arm, but could never, it seemed, hit a receiver in stride.
Yeah, they had 4 picks in the Top 59 or something like that and traded for SF's pick at #2. They wanted to take Anthony Munoz but the Jets medical staff overrruled them. Todd hit lots of receivers in stride, check out his throw for the GW TD vs. Oakland in the 1982 playoffs -- 45 yards in stride to the 2.
Todd was treated very poorly by alot of Jet fans and he used to get pissed alot. That being said, he was a very frustrating player cause he was capable of making the best passes you've ever seen and then throwing the big pick to erase all the good he did. The whole Serby story, the short version is that Serby had an informant with the Jets, who was supplying him with inside stories that were true. He was printing them, especially anything that was anti-Todd, cause he preferred Matt Robinson as the Jet QB. Todd obviously didn't like him because of that and one day when Serby confronted Todd, with another reporter, and tried to kinda make ammends, the conversation went the other way and Todd stuff Serby in a locker. Serby was out for a short while and then when he woke up, he had a busted nose and Gastineau staring in his face saying "you should get that looked at."
INFORMANT ? What is this, Spy vs. Spy from MAD MAGAZINE ?? He had a few guys who fed him information, like every beat writer (that's what Serby was back then) does. He ran with the information. Same stuff with Larry Merchant and Paul Zimmerman in the 1960's and 1970's when they covered the Jets and that guy Larry-who from the NY DN who Namath really hated.
The reason I use the word informant is that supposedly, Serby was coming across stuff that only certain people were privey to and that alot of the stuff he got,,, was considered out there,,,, but accurate. He was driving the Jets nuts cause they coudn't figure out for the life of them, where the heck he was getting his info.
Off topic, but this was mentioned earlier in the thread ..... I was hoping to find the video, but was able to find and article on the Gastineu/Slater incident that lead to the benches clearing. I was a ripe old age of 9 and can still remember yelling for my mom to come watch. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/classic/news/story?page=add_gastineau_mark
Todd was the next Joe Namath and from Alabama also. No better way to destroy a promising career than to take a guy about half a round above where he should have gone and then make him live up to the greatest player in franchise history.
I found this funny... The teams brawled and 37 players were ejected, leading to $15,750 in fines. Gastineau, who received a $1,000 fine
The teams brawled and 37 players were ejected, leading to $15,750 in fines. Gastineau, who received a $1,000 fine, said he appreciated the show of support by his teammates. "There were guys on our bench who might not have liked me much, but they all came out on the field," Gastineau said. "It was a good feeling to see them come out for me during the fight." But Rams offensive tackle Bill Bain said he thought many of the Jets were hoping to see Gastineau get pounded. "I loved it," Bain said. "I almost fell down on the field laughing." The good old days...
