What does James Bond think of this?

In the glorious year of 1996, Penn State football went 11-2, despite having Wally Richardson as the quarterback. Wally was a terrible quarterback who would frequently throw the ball 10 feet over the receiver's head. Thank God for Curtis Enis and a solid defense, apparently.

Even more amazing is that he made it to the NFL. He was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the seventh round, and played two years with the Ravens and one with the Atlanta Falcons. He threw two passes in an NFL game, completing one for a whopping one yard.

Meanwhile...

Tomorrow, the 20th edition of Madden NFL football will be released. In recognition, IGN.com has written various stories about Madden history, one of them being "The Ten Worst Quarterbacks in Madden History." Topping the list is No. 14 himself.

1. Wally Richardson (Madden '00, Baltimore, 41 overall, and Madden '02, Free Agent, 38 overall)



We chose Wally Richardson for this job because he managed to stay in Madden for four years, getting worse each time, despite any evidence that he was a NFL quarterback with any hope of getting into a game. Richardson was most well-known for his time as a starter at Penn State, but in 1997, the Ravens drafted him in the seventh round. He didn't play in his rookie year, but in his second season, he got in and threw two passes. One was complete. It gained a yard.



Richardson never threw a pass in the NFL again. Despite this, he remained in Madden through the 2002 version (2001 NFL season), getting progressively worse, going down to a rank 38 overall rating. That bizarre mix of dire performance and staying power makes Richardson the worst quarterback in Madden history.

As for the James Bond comment, this is because when an article slamming Wally appeared in the HighAcres Collegian in the fall of '96, a angry student who identified him or himself as "James Bond" emailed the author and threatened bodily harm, if I remember correctly.

William Yurasko, the author of said article still owes his Wally jersey, which leads to the question, which jersey purchase was stupider: The Wally jersey owed by Will, or the Austin Scott jerseys purchased by Sam Basile and I. Bash Wally for his ineptitude on the football field, but at least he was never accused of raping anyone.

...

Yet.