Team Captains.

[Kibitzer]

As I watched the NY Giants lose the Peyton Bowl, I noticed that Eli had a strange black and gold "C" on his uniform and I thought he snitched it from Hines Ward. Not so. A little research taught me that his "C" not only meant that he was a (not the) team captain, which I had suspected, but it was gold because he has held this title for five years or more.

Let me help you understand the arcane ways of the NFL. In their fetish for regimentation, they stole an ice hockey tradition ("C" on the jersey sweater of the captain), then embellished it. So a captain gets a white "C" and four little white stars to start with. Then as he establishes tenure, the stars turn to gold, year after year. Once all the stars turn gold, voila! Eli Manning.

Most, not all, football teams have at least one captain for offense, defense and special teams. (But not the NY Jets, since Santonio Holmes screwed it up for everyone, but that's another story for another day.)

For as long as I know, hockey players have a "C" for the captain and at least one "A" for an alternate captain.

Baseball has a checkered history about this. In the very early days (early 1900's) teams had no coaches, so team captains did double duty as players and in the "coacher's boxes."

I remember when Manager Bobby Bragan named D ick Groat to be captain of the Pittsburgh Pirates (1950's) that it was a novelty. It seemed to be a big deal when George Steinbrenner named Derek Jeter to be the Yankees' captain; he still is and I am certain that Cashman and the Steinbrenners have had no conversations about A-Rod succeeding Derek.

When Jason Veritek was Red Sox captain, he wore that "C" on his shirt, an uncommon baseball practice. Only three bb teams now have captains: Yankees (Jeter), White Sox (Konerko) and Mets (Wright).

It is traditional for basketball teams to have captains. The first one at what is now UConn (then Connecticut Agricultural College) was Marjorie Monteith, also top scorer in the 1902 undefeated season. They went 2-0 by beating Willimantic High twice.

Geno doesn't seem to attach much importance to this. I remember distinctly that Renee was the captain. And I have a fuzzy recollection that Mel Thomas got the honor as a junior. I think Kelly and Caroline did the honors last season and my guess is that Bria and Stef will in this rising season.

 

[UcMiami]

I think you are wrong in saying Geno and the coaches do not attach importance to the position and typically Uconn has had two or three captains each year. And they function in a few ways - impose organization and discipline amongst the players during non-regulated activities like the pick-up games, provide leadership and support to the rest of the team, and probably most importantly provide communication both ways for the team/coaches on team as opposed to personal issues.
I think Geno ultimately assigns the captaincies but not in a vacuum and the team is involved in the decision - not going to have a Santonio Holmes situation at Uconn.
On pro football teams a lot have 4 or 5 captains - Patriots have a DL, LB, and DB (Wilfork, Mayo, McCourty) captain as well as ST (Slater) and Brady, and I think an OL (Mankins?)

 

[Kibitzer]

I think you are wrong in saying Geno and the coaches do not attach importance to the position and typically Uconn has had two or three captains each year. And they function in a few ways - impose organization and discipline amongst the players during non-regulated activities like the pick-up games, provide leadership and support to the rest of the team, and probably most importantly provide communication both ways for the team/coaches on team as opposed to personal issues.
I think Geno ultimately assigns the captaincies but not in a vacuum and the team is involved in the decision - not going to have a Santonio Holmes situation at Uconn.
On pro football teams a lot have 4 or 5 captains - Patriots have a DL, LB, and DB (Wilfork, Mayo, McCourty) captain as well as ST (Slater) and Brady, and I think an OL (Mankins?)

I could be mistaken about Geno assigning a low priority to this issue. And I could not begin to name the UConn captains since, say, 2000 except for Renee.

The NO Saints have three co-captains on defense; I think that is tops.

 

[winlots]

KIB - Terrific post with alot of very interesting stuff there....enjoyed it all. (( Groat was the star for Duke basketball and in his senior year when I got my scholarship offer from the Dukies. I still have that letter; it actually says that the quite modest scholarship amount "will increase as my basketball ability increases." That's how they are able to motivate all those great waiters they produce down there. ))
Was curious as to how many hot dogs you might have put away during those two games back in '02 when the CT Aggies were putting away the high school team.

 

[jsloanjr]

Does it really matter who is the captain this season.......They have 10 Captains and they all lead by example.....GO UCONN!!!!!!

 

[Kibitzer]

Was curious as to how many hot dogs you might have put away during those two games back in '02 when the CT Aggies were putting away the high school team.

I am not sure that the hot dog as we now know it was invented by 1902 and I am certain that I wasn't.

 

[Phil]

Past captains can be seen by looking at the rosters on Wikipedia articles, for years in which an article exists:

For example
2001–02 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team
2002–03 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team
2003–04 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team


If anyone finds that any of these entries are incorrect, please let me know

 

[VAMike23]

Past captains can be seen by looking at the rosters on Wikipedia articles, for years in which an article exists:

For example
2001–02 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team
2002–03 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team
2003–04 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team


If anyone finds that any of these entries are incorrect, please let me know

Interesting stuff -

I had forgotten (if I ever knew) that Maya--as a sophomore--was a Captain along with Renee on the 2008-09 squad.