Trash talk? That's no recent invention, either. Most entertaining was Dolphins cornerback Lloyd Mumphord saying Redskins QB Billy Kilmer's weak arm might give him a chance to pick off a few, to which Kilmer retorted that if Mumphord liked catching his passes so much, he was welcome to try out next season for the 'Skins as a wide receiver.

Controversy? On the eve of the game, a handful of Dolphins, mostly backups grumbling over playing time, admitted this probably was their Miami swan song. Receiver Otto Stowe said when he talked to Shula, "I didn't say 'play me or trade me,' I just said 'trade me.' I don't want to play for Miami, period." After 1972-73, he didn't.

Weirdness, we got your weirdness: A couple of Redskins beating on their hotel TV because it couldn't pick up the UHF station that carried Sesame Street. ... A bar in Broward with a voodoo doll of Kilmer (proving that Allen needed to worry about his QB's protection). ... A nun named Sister Stephanie Distefano, from Akron, Ohio, boasting a 62 percent success rate, picking the Dolphins. ... And Allen hiring a "sun scout" to chart the angles of the rays hitting the Los Angeles Coliseum.