Joe Cocker "Mad Dogs & Englishmen," after the Noël Coward song of the same name. Cocker's music evolved into a more bluesy type of rock, compared to that of the Rolling Stones. During the ensuing Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour (later described by drummer Jim Keltner as "a big, wild party"), Cocker toured 48 cities, recorded a live album, and received very positive reviews from "Time" and "Life" for his performances. However, the pace of the tour was exhausting. Russell and Cocker had personal problems; Cocker became depressed and began drinking excessively as the tour wound down in May 1970. Meanwhile, he
Memphis Mad Dogs eschewed "Hound Dogs" in favor of "Mad Dogs," ostensibly through a name-the-team contest. The Mad Dogs hired Pepper Rodgers, a Memphis native, as their first head coach. Rodgers was familiar to Memphis pro football fans as he was the head coach of one of the city's previous pro football team, the Memphis Showboats of the USFL; the Mad Dogs had also hired Steve Erhart, the Showboats' general manager, in the same capacity. The team's mascot was a black Labrador retriever named Alien, who was known for charging the field and retrieving the kicking tee following each kickoff. The Mad Dogs