A football model for staying grounded

Hearing one too many reports of football stars whining about the indignity of their multimillion-dollar contracts set me on a course for a field at Starbuck Middle School.That's where the Racine Threat practice twice a week.I didn't go there for their benefit, but for mine - to stay grounded.Otherwise, the weirdness of those reports starts to wear off. Then you start to think things like, "Come on, if that other dude's worth $10 million, this guy's getting shafted at $7 million." It's all relative, right? Yeah, relatively silly. I'll pass on the brainwashing, thanks.To step back, I fired up my pseudo-truck and went to a Threat practice Wednesday night. Coach Brett Beaugrand had invited me to check it out. - NFL Football -
Yeah, I could've gotten the same cleansing from the Racine Raiders, but we know about them already. They're a local institution. Something about the Threat, whose league is two levels below the Raiders, seemed like the right prescription.In case you missed the story one of our sports writers did last fall, I'll recap. The Threat are a semi-professional football team made up of Racine-area players who dig the game but typically didn't play much beyond high school.As I watched from the sideline, I didn't have to wait for a PR schmoe to sweet-talk players into talking to me. Nose tackle Angel Ortega generously offered to hold me for ransom if I didn't put his name in the paper. - NFL Football -
Guess he takes the team nickname seriously.He's the guy who went house to house, piling up the cash needed to rent a bus to take them to a game in Green Bay last season. Was the charter pilot sick that day? On most other road trips, the players just carpool. Always a sure sign of status, I asked them what car they drive. Some guys did drive classics. Nobody said, "Depends on the day."I gravitated toward defensive back Kerry Cook's broken-down '93 Ford Escort. Or defensive tackle Rudy Villarreal's multicolored '97 Dodge Stratus, which one guy called "the Flintstone car. - NFL Football -
"Must've done something else with their signing bonuses.Which amount to the same as their salary: zero. The guys reminded me they pay for their own jerseys, helmets and stuff, about $100 each for equipment."And nobody's represented by Drew Rosenhaus," said John Anderson, uniform guy and all-around utility player who started the team under a different name several years ago.Don't know of Rosenhaus? He's the slick agent who convinces his millionaire clients they're victims in some vast pigskin conspiracy to underpay them, then negotiates till they're slightly less whiny.Starbuck Middle School is way off his turf. - NFL Football -
"My brother's pretty much the QB, so I don't have to do any negotiating," Max Adrian said between Threat drills.Yeah, Ben Adrian did win the league MVP award, so I suppose he's earned some clout. Didn't get him out of having to help print the playbooks."If you give me five seconds every play, of course I'm gonna look good," he said.His offensive line will appreciate that. The pros can provide an unlimited supply of quotes about unselfishness, too. - NFL Football -
At least he stayed away from, "We've just got to go out and execute," or "I'm taking it one game at a time."After practice, Beaugrand asked the defensive players to come back for a quick session later in the week. One guy complained it'd be tough to cram it into his schedule, between his three jobs.How about when stars spout off on TV about putting their bodies on the line? The Threat are on their own for medical insurance. Lloyd's of London isn't on call, waiting to respond to that torn knee ligament.They're not dreaming of NFL careers. Except maybe for tailback David Williams.I'm not suggesting the networks scrap their NFL deals and flock here. A day after that practice, I was hoarse from cheering at Lambeau Field - too rabid an NFL fan to stay away longer.Still, my visit to the Threat did the job. - NFL Football -
It helped clear up the boundary between fantasy and reality. Next time a pro rookie cries disrespect or a star defends his tantrum, I'll recognize when they cross that boundary.

Mike Moore