Lucky or Good?

I’ve never believed in luck. What is luck anyway? A football that takes a funny bounce? A baseball that takes a bad hop? A ball that just barely catches the out of bounds line? If those events go your way, you’re lucky. If they go against you, you’re unlucky, right? Nope. Those things are going to happen every game,that’s just sports.

The year was 1966. We were playing a sophomore football game at Glen Oak Park in Peoria, Illinois against Spalding Institute. I didn’t start that day and was getting limited playing time. I played a little corner and a few plays at running back. It was about the middle of the third quarter and we were trailing 14-0. Spalding had been running a little counter play that was killing us. I remember our coach just kept yelling at our linebackers “Stay home! Stay home!” He was so frustrated and started looking up and down our sideline. He looked at me, grabbed me, and spat out the words, “Grant! Get in at linebacker and STAY HOME!” I asked no questions and hustled in.

Now you have to remember from some of my previous stories that I was bit undersized for linebacker (5’4”, 120 lbs.) but Coach knew I would hit and not back down. I had never played nor practiced linebacker but I figured what the heck, “I’ll line up where I would in a sandlot game, find the ball and tackle the ball carrier.” That’s what you do on defense, right? But I remembered the “stay home” part and I would delay just a bit before getting on my horse and running down ball carriers. Finally, they ran a counter back to my side. Now, you tell me, was I lucky or was I good? I saw the ball going away but I delayed a count or two. Just as I was getting ready to pursue a ball carrier came right back at me from the other way. No one blocked me and I was just kinda standing in the seam that he had been hitting on the counter all day. He was so shocked to see me he almost fell down by himself. We collided and went down in a heap. I was as surprised as he was that we had come face to face. Coach was screaming on the sidelines, “That’s how you play the counter”, over and over. All my teammates were hitting me on the helmet and back congratulating me on such a fine play. Heck, the guy RAN INTO ME! They tried one more counter later but they couldn’t run it.

Yeah, we ended up losing that game 20-0 as we did most of our games. Coach gave me a pat on the back at the end of the game and just kinda chuckled. And I’ll ask again, “Was I lucky or good?” I don’t believe in luck and I really don’t think I was that good. I’ll just say I did what I was asked to do and then just played football. I tackled the ball carrier. Chiefpigskin.com

Teach 'em Young

Ever go shopping with your wife and she ends up in the shoe department? For my lady readers, I’m sure you love shopping for shoes. It really does look like a lot of fun sending that salesperson to the back room multiple times looking for more sizes and colors. But seriously, for us guys it can be kind of boring. My wife shows me tons of shoes and I like them all. Really. So I usually find a comfy seat and relax while she goes through countless pairs of shoes. Sometimes I observe something interesting and sometimes I just kind of blank out.

Anyway, this past weekend we were doing a little shopping and we ended up in the shoe department again. This time as I was relaxing I noticed a man and his young daughter doing the same thing I was. He was waiting on his wife and the little girl, about three or four years old, was playing off to the side. I heard the dad say something to her in Spanish. She looked over and he said something else in Spanish. Now that’s not unusual since I hear Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc. quite often. But what was cool was that she then answered in perfect English. He then rattled off a few long sentences in Spanish so fast I could barely separate the words. She promptly gave him a long answer in English again. I just sat there for the next five minutes or so listening to them converse in two different languages. This little girl was totally fluent in two languages. How cool is that? I guess dad was also but I was more impressed with the daughter.

There was a time many years ago that I was one of those guys saying, “This is America. Speak English.” But I’ve softened my stand on that attitude. Yeah, learn to speak English but go ahead and speak another language if you know it. Most of the world speaks more than one language and we should too. I now wish my wife and I had taught our kids Spanish when they were very young but we didn’t and we have no excuse. My wife’s second language is Spanish and we missed a great opportunity. All I can say is, “Learn from my mistake and teach ‘em young!” You won’t be sorry. Chiefpigskin.com

Disappointing, But Not Tragic

I’m so disappointed. I’m not really a big race horse fan but I do enjoy the Triple Crown. I mean, it’s history. It’s USA sports history and I like that. But just today, Friday the 8th of June, I'll Have Another's bid for the first Triple Crown in 34 years ended shockingly in the barn and not on the racetrack Friday when the colt was scratched the day before the Belmont Stakes and retired with a swollen tendon. "It's been an incredible ride, an incredible run," trainer Doug O'Neill said. "It's a bummer. It's not tragic, but it's a huge disappointment."

I’ll say. But I’m glad they are taking care of the horse and not pushing him. It seemed this horse had a chance to win the Triple Crown since he was bred for distance and that’s just what Belmont is. A grueling one and a half mile race, the longest of the three races. I haven’t seen a Triple Crown winner since 1978 when Affirmed beat Alydar by a nose in the most exciting race I’ve ever seen. Affirmed, ranked the 12th greatest racehorse of all time beat the great Alydar by a nose to win the Belmont Stakes. I can still remember them coming around the final turn neck and neck. Halfway down the home stretch Alydar took a lead by a nose. As they charged to the finish Affirmed got even, then got his nose in front just as they passed the finish line. It was breathtaking. Affirmed and Alydar went 1-2 in all three races. It was history.

The year before Affirmed won ‘em all I had the privilege of watching Seattle Slew, ranked the 9th greatest horse of all time win the Triple Crown. Slew overcame a number of obstacles to win all three races proving him to be one of the greatest racehorses of all time. That made two years in a row that we had a Triple Crown winner and we haven’t had one since.

But in 1973 I witnessed probably the greatest race horse ever. He ran a Kentucky Derby record of 1:59.4 that still stands to this day. He then turned around and won the Preakness to put himself in position to win the Triple Crown, the first in 25 years. But he had to win the Belmont, a distance race, and Secretariats’ pedigree was for speed. It was doubted he could beat Sham in a longer race. As the Belmont started Secretariat broke out at a record pace and stayed on it. No horse could maintain this pace for a mile, let alone a mile and a half. As Secretariat rounded the final turn he had a 10 length lead over Sham. Instead of slowing down he thundered down the home stretch like a machine, widening the lead to 15 lengths, then 20, then 25, and as he crossed the finish line he had won by an astounding 31 lengths, setting a Belmont record that also stands to this day. Secretariat’s performance was horse racing legend. I didn’t realize at the time I was witnessing the greatest horse ever, but I do now.

So you see, I was hoping Saturday June 9th was going to be one of those special days in American sports history. I was hoping I’ll Have Another was going to prove himself to be one of the few “super horses” and that I would get to watch history again. But it was not to be as a swollen tendon took away that chance. He’s still a heckuva horse, but is he great? We’ll never know. Chiefpigskin.com

Players Promise Fiercer Pro Bowl

According to a report out of New York NFL players promised that the Pro Bowl will be more competitive. Uh huh, last year’s was the worst ever so anything will be an improvement. But once again I doubt if I’ll be tuning in. Evidently the NFL will hold the Pro Bowl in Honolulu next January 27, a week before the Super Bowl.

Commissioner Roger Goodell had made it clear cancelling the all-star game was a possibility after “uninspired play” of this year’s 59-41 AFC victory. I thought it was a done deal but it looks like I was wrong. I saw highlights of the game and it was embarrassing. It was clear that after a grueling sixteen game schedule and then four playoff rounds the players were beat up and tired. And that was the players not too injured to play. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the players don’t want to risk injury following a brutal schedule in a meaningless game. But, once again it appears that television revenue wins out.

So, following discussions between the league and the player’s union, the NFL announced that Aloha Stadium would host the Pro Bowl for the third straight year. As much as I love football I haven’t watched this game in years. Anyone out there feel like I do? For more exciting high school football just log on to Chiefpigskin.