The little QB that could

Doug Flutie retired from professional football today, at the advanced age (for pro sports, anyway) of 43.



Although he never played for a team of which I was a fan, I've always rooted for Doug Flutie. Maybe it's because the Heisman-winning quarterback from Boston College and I are close in age (I'm just a year older than he), or maybe it's because we're close in height (the official stats always listed Flutie at five-foot-ten, but I saw him up close after an Oakland Invaders game back in the USFL's mid-'80s heyday, and he's no taller than my five-eight-and-change). Or maybe it's just that I liked his freewheeling aerial approach to the game. Whatever it was, I always got a kick out of seeing Flutie play, and these last few years when he really didn't play all that much, I always smiled at the knowledge that he was still drawing an NFL paycheck and holding down a roster spot.

Flutie enjoyed his greatest success in the Canadian Football League, where the more open style of play was best suited to his talents. His CFL teams won three league championships with Flutie under center, and he earned six Most Outstanding Player awards.

Relegated to a backup role with the New England Patriots last season, Flutie made the Sunday highlight reels when he converted the first drop kick for an extra point in the NFL since 1941. That's the kind of player Flutie was — he found unusual ways to overcome his limitations and make things happen.

I was always sorry that Flutie never had a chance to play for the 49ers during the glory years of the West Coast offense. It might have been his best avenue to the kind of NFL career that mostly eluded him. Joe Montana wasn't all that big a guy either.

Enjoy your retirement, Little General.