College Football

I'm waiting. This year should be fun for me. Forever, I was into spring practices, who looked good, surprise under classmen and who would rank as a preseason favorite. Thru work and home stuff I am out of the loop. It will be none of the "I knew that" or "Told you" but it will all be "Wow". I am really looking forward to it.

And a smid bit of college information for guys on here with young kids coming thru the football ranks. As off as this may sound, just about any kid that wants to play college football can indeed play college football. There was a kid here that just made national news for a D-1 program. He was not that good as a 9 year old. 35 kids, maybe ranked in the 20's. Started in middle school and was average at best. Freshman ball he was OK but not "hey, look out for him". Soph he played behind my son at ILB/OLB. Like a lot of kids my son discovered 'gas fumes and perfumes' at 16. The extra work stopped and he just played football. When the other kids were hanging out or working part time jobs this other kid was in the gym. He turned into an athletic freak almost overnight. He claimed that spot in the 11th and 12th grade. His gym work took him to a D-1 program as a preferred walk on. Three years later he is a starter. Great kid. Great family. He left high school with par to sub-par football ability. He has chosen hard work and dedication over hanging out etc. etc. He worked himself right onto the national stage. My son does not seem to have a lot of regrets, which is good, but I think he has some 'what ifs'. Maybe like most of us at some time or another.

Just babbling. Let your kids know they can get there if they really want to, they just have to really want to. And not just in sports, anything.

So with all that I am looking forward to Sept.

S

 

I'm sure it happens. Maybe a lot. I guess it is a little different when it happens to you. This is a good kid who worked hard and is reaping he benefits of that hard work. A great success story I think.

A pro football payer that won Superbowls with the Giants just bought a farm near here. Looking at him he fits the bill more as a dumb ol farm hick than a Superbowl champion. Even talking with him you would never see college grad, a master's degree and on top of that a primo athlete. He has blended in well with all the farm folks around here.

I guess we can get certain perceptions from TV and the media.

S

 

I agree. Along the lines someone with sheer talent and ability will match his physical attributes....and take his spot.

I can't quote it word for word but coming out of the Notre Dame baseball locker room there is a quote on the wall...in so many words....'if you choose not to work and practice today, and the kid down the road does, when you meet him on the field of play, you will lose/he will win'

The young man I speak of was the kid down the road.

I can't speak for all areas across the country and can't really speak to genetics but I can speak to the rural/semi-rural areas of NC. When I came along I saw the separation and then again with my kid. The majority of the young white kids that play ball work part-time jobs, a lot thru the season and a lot more in the of season. Few of the athletic/athletes that are black work during their high school years. This sounds somewhat racist/stereo/typing but it is not meant that way.

Here is my example. And I am not saying I was destined to be a pro or D-1 ballers and work got in the way at all. My best friend was black. From elementary school on we were inseparable. We even had the same last name. Our biggest heartbreak as kids was when we were separated for Midget/Little League football. I was ballin' but it was not with a ball.

We were even acorss the board. For every great run he made, I made one too. Tackle for tackle, sprint for sprint. We re-united in junior high (middle school these days). We were quite the tandem in the back field and were brutal on defense. Step for step we were equals. At 13-14 I am priming tobacco/farming thru the summer. He is palying ball. At 15-16 I am doing farm stuff during the off season, and working construction during the summer til tobacco was ready. He was playing ball, going to camps polishing his skills. Between the 10th and 11th grade there was separation. He was a step or so faster. Quite a bit stronger. By the senior year I am filling a role as the run of the mill average high school player. He is setting records and paving the road to the United States Naval Academy, two years later he transfers to the University of Virginia and makes all-ACC as a defensive back. If I could have loaned him my good knees he would been in the NFL. (sort of ironic)

Fast forward with my kid. He was the better of the two until 'gas fumes and perfumes' and working vs. balling year around. Soon there was separation as well. My son is hanging power lines and setting power poles. His friend is doin the D-1 thing.

It comes across in a negative light but not intended that way. Just an observation.

My apologies if it offends.

S

 

I'm a regular old white guy. I too went to public schools in the south and graduated high school in the late 80's. Our area is economically challenged. I lived in a not so well to do neighborhood. When I say 'farmed', we did not own the farm we worked on the farm. My Pops kept up tractors and farm equipment in the summer and worked construction in between. I fell in line with that lifestyle. I grew up thinking every one worked hard and struggled financially, both black and white.

My socio-economic peers feared the influx of Mexicans because they were taking the jobs my parents were working. Not some lip service politician's version of immigration. Looking back I farmed, framed houses, poured concrete and ate with the black folks in my little community. Sports and work tied us together.

Fast forward the majority of my son's friends were black, not because of work but by way of sports. Our Tahoe was the team bus for a long time. Now that he is grown I miss coming home to six or eight kids here on Friday night, white, black and Mexican, sleeping all over the house to be at the baseball tournament on Saturday morning.

A bit much information but just a little background to my 'observations'.

Sports can fix a lot of things.

S

 

I agree. My wife said he did not go after that fumble and it is the Super Bowl. I was like if we were in the back yard you go after that ball. Instinct should have over ridden any thought process. I would even give RG111 props on going back out when winning was there in front of him.

And the funny thing is people use the word quit all the time. In the dog world it carries so much more weight. When my wife said he didn't even try, he quit. I was like no he really quit. LOL

 

My son played up in baseball due to his birthday. He usually sat behind an older kid for the first year each time he moved up. We were in SC one Saturday and it was hot, I mean SC brutal hot. The kid in front of him got hot and could not continue. My boy caught the last three or four innings of that game and all of the next.

When the parents congratulated him afterwards for the gut check. One parent says, "Most kids give in or quit in that heat". And my son said at our house quitting is a bad idea". I am so glad that parent did not ask him to explain. LOL