FANCY FOOTWORK; FALCONS' ANDERSON ONCE DANCED AT MOORPARK.Byline: KAREN CROUSE Jamal Anderson This article is about the former Falcons running back. For the current Falcons defensive end, see Jamaal Anderson. Jamal Sharif Anderson (born September 30, 1972 in East Orange, New Jersey) is a former running back in the National Football League, with the was teasing two of his teammates about their dancing, or so the story goes. ``Fools, that's not how you do it,'' the Atlanta Falcons The boogie night in question did not take place earlier this season in Atlanta. It wasn't tight end O.J. Santiago or left tackle Bob Whitfield Bob Whitfield (born October 18, 1971 in Carson, California) is a former American football player last played offensive tackle in the NFL for the New York Giants. Whitfield prepped at Banning High School in Wilmington, California, where he was a team mate with Mark Tucker, Ed Lalau, who saw the first snippets of the touchdown dance that is currently all the rage General Public's All the Rage was released in 1984 by I.R.S. Records. Track listing
Long before he flaunted his fowl footwork for a Falcons team that bills itself as the ``Dirty Birds,'' Anderson was playing way off Broadway "Way Off Broadway" is the seventh sub-episode of Tom and Jerry Tales. Episode Summary In an effort for food, Tom runs to a man selling hot dogs, but accidentally steps on a slip of paper that he kicks off and the man finds. , at Moorpark College Moorpark College is a California-state funded community college located on a 134 acre (542,000 m²) property reclining on a hill in Moorpark, a town in Ventura County, California. . It was there, in 1990 and '91, that the running back showed off the moves and the moxie (language, music) Moxie - A language for real-time computer music synthesis, written in XPL. ["Moxie: A Language for Computer Music Performance", D. Collinge, Proc Intl Computer Music Conf, Computer Music Assoc 1984, pp.217-220]. that would metamorphose a moribund NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga franchise in 1998. ``Jamal used to try to teach us how to dance in his room,'' recalled Corey Tucker, the quarterback on the 1991 Raiders team that finished 10-2 and beat Pierce College In 2006 the Library won a national Excellence award. Academics Pierce College offers associate's degrees, mainly in the arts and sciences. There are also certificate programs in early childhood education, social services, dental hygienist, and others. in the Western State Bowl. Tucker, strong safety Melvin Nunnery and Anderson were inseparable that season and remain close friends. ``He wasn't that great of a dancer,'' Tucker said, laughing. ``None of us were.'' Tucker had forgotten how it was Anderson who reminded him of Seinfeld's Elaine Benes Elaine Marie Benes is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Elaine's best friend is her ex-boyfriend Jerry Seinfeld, and she is also good friends with George Costanza and Cosmo Kramer, although . Then he was watching highlights of the Falcons' 31-19 win over the San Francisco 49ers spas·mod·ic adj. 1. Relating to, affected by, or having the character of a spasm; convulsive. in the end zone twice. He paged him that same day and left a voice mail that was about as subtle as Anderson himself: ``What in the world is that dance you're doing?'' Anderson, 26, called him back and explained that every nickname needs a dance. After all, where would the Rockettes be without their kicking line? The former Woodland Hills resident takes credit for the choreography; raise your palms toward the sky, stick your thumbs in your armpits and flap them while breaking out into something that vaguely resembles Michael Jackson's moonwalk moon·walk n. A walk on the surface of the moon by an astronaut. intr.v. moon·walked, moon·walk·ing, moon·walks To walk on the surface of the moon. . But Santiago was the one who actually unveiled ``The Dirty Bird'' during the Falcons' win at New England New England, name applied to the region comprising six states of the NE United States—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The region is thought to have been so named by Capt. on Nov. 8. Anderson simply made it famous the following week against the Niners with his typically impeccable timing. The Falcons and 49ers meet again Saturday - Atlanta's first home playoff game since 1980 - with the winner advancing to the NFC NFC abbr. National Football Conference title game. It wouldn't surprise us if Niners safety Merton Hanks, who made ``The Chicken Dance'' famous, is having a recurring dream this week about being devoured by some stubborn salmonella wearing a No. 32 jersey and a sly smile. At the Georgia Dome on Nov. 15, Anderson ran over Hanks and, with Hanks riding piggyback piggyback 1. A broker trading in his or her personal account after trading in the same security for a customer. The broker may believe the customer has access to privileged information that will cause the transaction to be profitable. 2. , rumbled for a 10-yard touchdown in the second quarter to break a scoreless tie. Anderson's old pal Nunnery knew better than most that Hanks might as well have been trying to stop a tidal wave. Nunnery co-captained the 1991 Moorpark team with Anderson. They didn't go up against each other much at practice, which was probably just as well. ``I was one of the guys known for hurting people,'' Nunnery recalled. ``One time I did go up against Jamal and he ran me over. When that happened, everybody knew he was The Man.'' Anderson knew it way before everybody else and he wasn't shy about broadcasting it. With his father at his side, he walked into the office of Moorpark coach Jim Bittner unannounced at the start of the 1990 fall term and pronounced that he had come to the school to be a running back. Never mind that he had been an All-City linebacker at El Camino Real El Camino Real (Spanish for The Royal Road or The King's Highway) was the name of a series of pre-automobile highways linking the various New World colonies of Spain:
After Anderson left his office that day, Bittner chuckled at the kid's mettle. The inner confidence that things would happen for him ``is the thing that really set Jamal apart from other people,'' Bittner said. Too, there were the tree-trunk legs tapering to ballerina's feet that enabled Anderson to do pirouettes around people or plow them down with equal ease. Anderson shared the backfield with Bradley as a freshman and gained more than 1,000 yards as a sophomore, his current success none-too-subtly foreshadowed by a 64-yard touchdown run on a fake punt (that Anderson himself called) in the fourth quarter of a 63-3 blowout of archrival arch·ri·val n. A principal rival. Ventura College late in his sophomore season. ``We talk about that run to this day,'' Tucker said. ``It was something else. He ran over six people. I mean, he really punished them.'' Afterward, Bittner took a lot of heat. What could the coach say to the people who accused him of running up the score? That he didn't call the play, the kid did? That he left Anderson alone when he saw what he was planning to do because he thought, ``What can it hurt? They're going to tackle him anyhow.'' On the strength of that run, which looked just as impressive on the videotapes mailed off to colleges as it did in person, Anderson earned an athletic scholarship to Utah. Before he left he bragged to people that Salt Lake City was an intermediate stop to the NFL. ``Everybody thinks Jamal's cocky,'' Nunnery said. ``But he just knows what he wants to do and he's willing to work hard to get there.'' Last year Anderson, fresh off a 1,002-yard season, was shooting the breeze with Oprah Winfrey on a show that brought together some of the country's most eligible bachelors. At one point he boldly predicted he would run for more than 1,500 yards in 1998. So when he gained 1,846 yards, the ninth-highest NFL single-season total, on an NFL-record 410 carries it didn't surprise Nunnery one bit. ``Jamal likes to put himself on the line because it forces him to perform and he thrives on pressure,'' Nunnery said. ``If Jamal tells somebody he'll be the MVP (Multimedia Video Processor) A high-speed DSP chip from Texas Instruments, introduced in 1994. Officially introduced as the TMS320C80, it combines RISC technology with the functionality of four DSPs on one chip. of the Super Bowl and score three touchdowns, I fully expect it'll happen.'' Anderson's posturing could get to be a royal pain, except that his heart is so big it dwarfs his mouth. ``Jamal was always, like, a savior,'' said Tucker, who remembered walking out to the Moorpark practice field early in his freshman year and being accosted ac·cost tr.v. ac·cost·ed, ac·cost·ing, ac·costs 1. To approach and speak to boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request. 2. To solicit for sex. by a couple of big, beefy beefy, beefyness 1. in dog conformation, used to describe overdevelopment of musculature in the hindquarters. 2. in cattle, used to designate the desirable physical conformation of a beef animal, but an undesirable character in dairy cattle. teammates intent on taping his skinny frame to the goalpost. ``It was Jamal who came to my rescue,'' Tucker said. Not long after that, a teammate committed suicide. He was a great guy, Tucker said, but he never played in any games so a lot of people didn't bother to get to know him. Anderson had befriended him and he made sure everybody had a ride to the young man's funeral and that every player went to the family's house afterward to offer condolences. ``It was mandatory,'' Nunnery said, ``because Jamal made it so.'' This is what a warm, wonderful human being Anderson was, Tucker said: ``In goal line situations, coach Bittner would call one play and I'd audibilize and give the ball to Jamal just so he could be the one to score because he was so nice.'' Some seven years later, nothing has changed but the stage. ``It's kind of hard not to keep up with what he's doing when every other channel I click on, there he is,'' Tucker said. ``I'm like, yeah, I used to hand the ball off to that guy.'' The friendship of the three Moorpark Raiders is as smooth as a handoff, their conversation picking up right where they left off whenever Anderson hooks up with Tucker and Nunnery during his trips to the Valley to visit his parents James and Zenobia. Tucker and Nunnery won't be seeing Anderson until much later this year, probably not until after the Pro Bowl. But they know what to expect. ``Jamal's the same as he ever was,'' Nunnery said. ``Except we have to be a little more careful. We can't act a fool like we used to in public because people recognize Jamal now.'' RUSHING TO THE TOP Atlanta Falcons running back Jamal Anderson enjoyed his finest season in 1998. Here's how his numbers rank in the NFL: Category No. Rank Rushing Attempts 410 First Rushing Yards 1,846 Second Rushing Avg. 4.5 Fifth Rushing TDs 14 Second Total Yards 2,165 Third TOP 10 SEASONS NFL all-time single-season rushing leaders: Player Team Year Yards Eric Dickerson Rams 1984 2,105 Barry Sanders Lions 1997 2,053 Terrell Davis Broncos 1998 2,008 O.J. Simpson Bills 1973 2,003 Earl Campbell Oilers 1980 1,934 Barry Sanders Lions 1994 1,883 Jim Brown Browns 1963 1,863 Walter Payton Bears 1977 1,852 Jamal Anderson Falcons 1998 1,846 Eric Dickerson Rams 1986 1,821 CAPTION(S): 2 Photos, 2 Boxes PHOTO (1--Color) Atlanta's Jamal Anderson (32) was on the 1991 Moorpark College team that beat Pierce in the Western State Bowl. Alan Mothner/Associated Press (2) ANDERSON BOX: (1) RUSHING TO THE TOP (see text) (2) TOP 10 SEASONS (see text) |
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