Before I apologize to Nolan and the rest of the forum, I want you all to listen to a little story and maybe you will understand better my reaction to Nolan's post.
1982... I was a senior in high school. I was a full-time player on the varsity soccer team and part-time field goal kicker on the football team. Our football team sucked big time, were never in any close games, so I only kicked when it didnt interfere with the soccer schedule. Early November 1992 we had a football game scheduled against an out of conference, cross-town team. Out of conference games meant squat except to fill the seasons schedule....but this one game in particular meant something to an opposing player. He was a star QB and for this one game there were about a dozen college scouts in the stands. The game was played at their field. The previous day and up to about 2 hours before gametime the area got more rain than I can ever remember as a kid growing up. Had the temps been about 10 degrees cooler, the weathermen said we would have gotten about 2 feet of snow and the game would have been cancelled. This particular field was in such bad shape that your feet sunk in up to the ankles everywhere you stepped. Now my high school was a catholic high school...no scholarship, low budget, 2nd rate equipment. Our coach did not want the game played but the other coach forced the issue with the league mainly because he wanted to showcase his star QB (who subsequently blew out his knee 2 weeks later and was done playing football for years anyway). So the game was played as scheduled and as usual the star QB shined and we were getting our weekly ass kicking. We were down about 30 points going into the 4th quarter. The field had gotten worse, more dangerous to walk on, forget run on....the star attraction was on the bench, the scouts were all probably gone too for all we knew...so instead of calling the game the referees let the game finish. 4-5 minutes left and our starting running back tries to make a cut...loses his footing, blows out his knee. Ok, sad enough, injuries like that happen all the time in football...part of the game right?? well on this particular play, as he was going down, he was nailed in the side by the other team's MLB. Our RB's foot was soooo far in the mud that when he was hit, he had no leverage and the shot spun him like a top around his spine. 3 disks in his lower back crushed.....he had a number of surgeries to try to repair the damage but it never relieved the constant pain he was in. Well the pain got more unbearable for him and nothing was being done to help his condition. To make a long story short.... our running back committed suicide a few months later because he could no longer live with the pain he was in. Now I dont blame the doctors, I dont blame the middle linebacker, I dont blame anyone except the other team's coach. The reason I can remember this like it happened yesterday was that this particular running back was my best friend growing up in high school and had the other coach not been so pigheaded and listened to the logic my coach was giving him about how dangerous and unplayable the field was, my best friend would still be here.
Fast forward to last nights game.....I was watching the pregame and introductory shit on tv and when all this happened it brought a tear to my eye. I saw my coach doing what Billick was doing. I saw the other coaches and players listening to reasoning and all I could think was why couldnt this happen the same way 18 phucking years ago!!! The entire 15 minutes that i watched the coaches and players brought back memories and feelings that I havent felt in alot of years...and it made me very very angry at what happened 18 years ago......There was no reason for that high school game to be played...none whatsoever.
When I read Nolan's initial post in the football forum and heard him say that Billick is an embarrassment or a disgrace, I couldnt believe my eyes. Billick isnt a pussy...he isnt a nambee pambee... he was looking out for the better good of his players. It was an exhibition game!!!...a meaningless football game!!!...absolutely nothing at stake!!!...nothing!!!...except the safety of few dozen players.
So with that said and my blood pressure back to normal, I want to apologize to Nolan, Jack and the rest of the forum for my comments. I do respect other people's feelings and opinions, because I have them too. But this one particular opinion had a special effect on me. I shouldnt have written what I wrote. I did stick my foot in my mouth...and for that too I apolgize. Just try to understand where I was coming from. Thats all I ask.
From now on I will make sure I wait a day before I post a response to anyone's opinions in the general forum.
Thanks for listening.
1982... I was a senior in high school. I was a full-time player on the varsity soccer team and part-time field goal kicker on the football team. Our football team sucked big time, were never in any close games, so I only kicked when it didnt interfere with the soccer schedule. Early November 1992 we had a football game scheduled against an out of conference, cross-town team. Out of conference games meant squat except to fill the seasons schedule....but this one game in particular meant something to an opposing player. He was a star QB and for this one game there were about a dozen college scouts in the stands. The game was played at their field. The previous day and up to about 2 hours before gametime the area got more rain than I can ever remember as a kid growing up. Had the temps been about 10 degrees cooler, the weathermen said we would have gotten about 2 feet of snow and the game would have been cancelled. This particular field was in such bad shape that your feet sunk in up to the ankles everywhere you stepped. Now my high school was a catholic high school...no scholarship, low budget, 2nd rate equipment. Our coach did not want the game played but the other coach forced the issue with the league mainly because he wanted to showcase his star QB (who subsequently blew out his knee 2 weeks later and was done playing football for years anyway). So the game was played as scheduled and as usual the star QB shined and we were getting our weekly ass kicking. We were down about 30 points going into the 4th quarter. The field had gotten worse, more dangerous to walk on, forget run on....the star attraction was on the bench, the scouts were all probably gone too for all we knew...so instead of calling the game the referees let the game finish. 4-5 minutes left and our starting running back tries to make a cut...loses his footing, blows out his knee. Ok, sad enough, injuries like that happen all the time in football...part of the game right?? well on this particular play, as he was going down, he was nailed in the side by the other team's MLB. Our RB's foot was soooo far in the mud that when he was hit, he had no leverage and the shot spun him like a top around his spine. 3 disks in his lower back crushed.....he had a number of surgeries to try to repair the damage but it never relieved the constant pain he was in. Well the pain got more unbearable for him and nothing was being done to help his condition. To make a long story short.... our running back committed suicide a few months later because he could no longer live with the pain he was in. Now I dont blame the doctors, I dont blame the middle linebacker, I dont blame anyone except the other team's coach. The reason I can remember this like it happened yesterday was that this particular running back was my best friend growing up in high school and had the other coach not been so pigheaded and listened to the logic my coach was giving him about how dangerous and unplayable the field was, my best friend would still be here.
Fast forward to last nights game.....I was watching the pregame and introductory shit on tv and when all this happened it brought a tear to my eye. I saw my coach doing what Billick was doing. I saw the other coaches and players listening to reasoning and all I could think was why couldnt this happen the same way 18 phucking years ago!!! The entire 15 minutes that i watched the coaches and players brought back memories and feelings that I havent felt in alot of years...and it made me very very angry at what happened 18 years ago......There was no reason for that high school game to be played...none whatsoever.
When I read Nolan's initial post in the football forum and heard him say that Billick is an embarrassment or a disgrace, I couldnt believe my eyes. Billick isnt a pussy...he isnt a nambee pambee... he was looking out for the better good of his players. It was an exhibition game!!!...a meaningless football game!!!...absolutely nothing at stake!!!...nothing!!!...except the safety of few dozen players.
So with that said and my blood pressure back to normal, I want to apologize to Nolan, Jack and the rest of the forum for my comments. I do respect other people's feelings and opinions, because I have them too. But this one particular opinion had a special effect on me. I shouldnt have written what I wrote. I did stick my foot in my mouth...and for that too I apolgize. Just try to understand where I was coming from. Thats all I ask.
From now on I will make sure I wait a day before I post a response to anyone's opinions in the general forum.
Thanks for listening.
