Monday, February 09, 2009

Football And Baseball

There is something different about football players. Basketball players don't have it. Baseball players certainly don't have it. I guess it is a kind of humilty born in the trenches, born in the fact that players suffer through two-a-days, suffer through constant bruises and collisions.

Football players have a respect. A friend told me that football teaches: "If you attack something like a crazy man, there's no time to worry and it's so much fun." But the craziness is tempered by the humilty that comes with getting knocked on your ass, by the humility that you need teammates to be successful. A quarterback without a line or recievers or running backs might show flashes, but he'll never win.

Yeah, there are great players, special players who deserve a degree of cockiness. But no fan can really see your face when you're on the field. I am not saying there aren't assholes who play football, but even T.O. cried for Tony Romo once. And the majority of players know they are one unlucky injury away from being released or not walking right again.

I think this is why nobody really cares about steroids in the NFL. I don't know A-Rod. I never will. I really don't care what he took. But I don't like him that much. He just doesn't seem humble. Neither does Roger Clemens. Neither did most of the baseball players I knew.

My dad always said that some guys just needed their ass kicked. To me, A-Rod just needs his ass kicked once or twice.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

whether you can run or catch or whatever kind of deion sanders move you want to do, it all comes down to who can hit the hardest b/c he can put your ass out of the game. You can be a star and an old boy from crozet can bring you back to ground level real quick when you least expect it. When that happens, we're all even. There is a respect amongst football players and I appreciate you acknowledging it. It's the hitting. The goal line stance and no td mentality.

ggm

Wannabe Bastiat said...

A professor told us that he played one play of football. He was a punter. He punted. He watched the ball. Then he was knocked on his ass. He quit. He is now a professor who wants his son to study math instead of playing elite soccer. I question whether he really has that "goal-line stand, no TD" mentality.