Today in sports history

Happy 40th birthday, retired NFL quarterback Doug Pederson.

Who can forget the eight games Pederson started for the Browns in 2000, our boys' second year after expansion, after Tim Couch got hurt playing behind a practically nonexistent offensive line. Original backup Ty Detmer had been injured in the preseason and was not available. Pederson had been the starter for much of 1999 in Philadelphia, while the Eagles waited for Donovan McNabb to mature. The nine games he started in '99, added to the eight he started in '00, are the only NFL starts Pederson would ever make. And it's no wonder. For his career, he threw 12 touchdowns against 19 interceptions, and completed just 54.8 percent of his passes. The Browns went 1-7 with him under center. After he and fourth-stringer Spergon Wynn both got hurt, wide receivers Kevin Johnson and Dennis Northcutt played quarterback in the last game of the season, Chris Palmer's last game as the Browns' coach. The Browns lost 24-0 to the Tennessee Titans, in a game we Browns fans will remember for a long time.

Still, a lot of failed quarterbacks would trade places with Dougie-boy. He was on an NFL roster for 12 seasons, 1993-2004. I don't have any idea how much money he made in those 12 seasons, but I'm pretty sure it's more than I've made in my journalism career. The last four of those years, he only played in mop-up duty for Brett Favre in Green Bay, but he was also the holder on place-kicks. Six of the 12 years of his career, he didn't throw a single pass the entire year. But he could still call himself an NFL quarterback, which not many people can say.