Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Burbank Post Four, Obscurity Part Three: Clarence Love

As I mentioned at the tail end of the Ohalete post, Ohalete was at least lucky enough to get a few cards to call his own. Clarence Love, however, was not so lucky. His only licensed card release is courtesy of some background lurking on Chad Johnson (Ochocinco)'s 2004 Ultra #67:
See, Love was on that weird Madden cusp where he was good enough to make it into the game but he was never good enough to actually be more than a 5th defensive back, and those are the kind of guys I always had on my team (plus Clarence Love is a pretty cool name, kinda reminded me of Dude Love or Spooney Love). Originally drafted by the Eagles in 1998, Love was in and out of the league throughout his four-year career, as 1998 was spent with the Eagles, 2000 with the Ravens, and 2002-2003 with the Raiders. His best statistical season may have been 2002, where he had 13 tackles in 11 games with 3 starts, which likely included this nice hit on Ed McCaffrey.

His final season in 2003 was a good one, as his Raiders made it to the Super Bowl (Love previously won the Super Bowl with the Ravens in 2000). While the Raiders were destroyed 48-21, there were some team high points, including a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown by Eric Johnson. Love wasn't directly involved in the block or the touchdown, but he was on the field, and so he shows up in several photographs from that moment.

And that was it for Love. They say to go out on top, and he might have done just that had Rich Gannon not thrown five interceptions. But he can still say he played in the Super Bowl in two of his four seasons, which is nice. The only unfortunate aspect is that Love never got to be on his own card, even a Topps Total dual or triple card. But at least he got to be a lurker on Chad Johnson's card, a card that will sit in my PC for a long time. Maybe someday I'll make Love and Kywin Supernaw each a Custom Card since they never got any love from the card companies.

5 comments:

  1. How about a customized GSNHOF set?

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  2. Ooo I like it. I've added Earthwind Moreland to the list as well, so maybe we've got ourselves a start here!

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  3. Love was on the Ravens' Super Bowl XXXV team. Each player and coach has a brick in the ground at Baltimore's Inner Harbor with their name and position on it, and he has one too along with a ring. I'm going to guess that winning the Super Bowl with the Ravens was a bigger highlight than losing one with the Raiders. He's a nice guy too. I got the chance to know him while he was here. Lost touch after he went to Oakland. Glad I could find out what happened after he left.

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  4. I can't believe I left out the ravens super bowl win! Thanks for reminding me and offering a little more info on the guy!

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