Posts Tagged ‘nfl’
Demaryius Thomas’ Mom Will See Him Play in the NFL for the First Time This Week
Denver Broncos Wide Receiver Demaryius Thomas’ mom will see play in the NFL for the first time this week. Why does this matter? Well, it’s a nice story. It’s also one of the rare times that parenting and fantasy football intersect. Since I do both of those things, I had to write about it.
Stay with me. There’s a point here. I promise.
English: Demaryius Thomas, a player on the Denver Broncos American football team. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
From FantasyPros.com:
Thomas will face the worst secondary in the NFL and will be playing with a little more on the line. Peyton Manning is fully aware that this will be the first time Thomas’ mother will see him play in a professional football game, and he will make it a special day. I am going bold here in predicting two touchdowns for Thomas this weekend.
Emphasis added.
I will admit that my heart likes the analysis. Read more »
JJ Watt Gives Soon-To-Dad The Good News
How does an All-Star @JusticeWillett law clerk tell her husband they're expecting? She enlists All-Galaxy @JJWatt! pic.twitter.com/XnNgth1hRl
— Justice Don Willett (@JusticeWillett) July 16, 2015
H/T to ThePostGame
Mixed Feelings About James Harrison And Participation Trophies (UPDATED)
NFL player James Harrison does not believe in participation trophies. Even if they’re for his own kids.
James Harrison and coach Keith Butler can be see in the background. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Via ProFootballTalk:
Anyone who’s ever watched Steelers linebacker James Harrison play football knows that he’s an intense competitor who wants to win at all costs. So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that Harrison is passing along that intense competitiveness to his sons.
That’s a good, but imperfect, description of what Harrison did. Here’s the post from Harrison’s Instagram:
In general I agree with the notion that we have gone too far in the direction of “attaboy” awards for children and for adults. So while at first I might be inclined to join the chorus of “yay! Go James Harrison!”, in this specific case I think returning the trophies puts Harrison’s kids in an uncomfortable situation socially. Granted, their father is a professional football player, and a well-known one at that. (He’s not Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, but most NFL fans know who James Harrison is.) That makes it easier. And I would never presume to tell someone that they should go against their personal family values, even if that person isn’t someone who can throw me across a room with his pinkie. (That doesn’t mean I think people can beat their kids, or do other harm to their children in the name their individual “family values”.)
However. In this specific case, everyone gets a trophy. I admit those trophies look a lot bigger than the crappy ones that we got “just for playing” when I was young. But youth sports often have a participation trophy, or certificate of completion, or something along those lines. This analogy isn’t perfect, but if a player is injured, he still gets paid, right? The backup quarterback of a Super Bowl winning team still gets a ring, even if he never played a single down. (I know the analogy isn’t perfect. If you have a better one, let me know and I’ll post it.)
Maybe you’re a good player on a crappy team. In my case, I was a crappy player on a great team, at least my first year in youth baseball. The team was so good we won the championship. I didn’t do much to contribute, but I got a HUGE trophy. Should I have given it back because I didn’t do enough to earn it?
This is in no way a commentary on James Harrison’s parenting skills. (And not only because he could hurt me if he wanted to.) I don’t know what kind of father Mr. Harrison is, and I’m glad to see that he is, at minimum, an involved one. But while I agree that “sometimes your best is not enough, and that should drive you to want to do better” I’m not sure it follows that participation trophies are given out because kids “cry and whine until somebody gives you something to shut u [sic] up and keep you happy.” That certainly wasn’t the case when I played, nor was it the case when my own children played.
The truth is, part of life IS about showing up. Maybe the answer lies somewhere in between. Kids who never missed a game or a practice without a legitimate medical reason get a trophy, while kids who only bothered to show up every other game get bupkis. That won’t happen, but it would be a happy medium.
UPDATE: Albert Burneko wrote a piece on this topic for Deadspin that is less restrained than mine. (H/T Whit Honea.)
Source: James Harrison won’t let his sons accept participation trophies (ProFootballTalk)
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Tim Brown Happy His Son Is Happy
Former NFL great Tim Brown made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame after 6 years of eligibility. What’s he most happy about? The fact that his son is happy.
Tim Brown, meet @81TimBrown! #PFHOF15 pic.twitter.com/0nqbBme47w
— Pro Football HOF (@ProFootballHOF) August 9, 2015
On the first night of the NFL Pre-season, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, Brown was interviewed by Paul Burmeister, who asked him how it felt to make it to Canton and what’s been his favorite part of the festivities.
Paul Burmeister: What’s been the most memorable part of the weekend?
Tim Brown: My son came up to me, he’s only 12, he didn’t see my career, but after the ceremony, at the enshrinement last night he came up to me and he said, Dad, you’re cool, you’re cool Dad. So to me, that was big time.
What can I say? I love stuff like this. Fathers and sons. Even a football legend like Tim Brown is happy that his son thinks he’s cool. This is one of those rare times when I can honestly say I know how a pro athlete feels.
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Father-Son Coach Team at Baylor
We’ve written about father and son quarterbacks, now we have fathers and sons coaching college football at Baylor.
English: An American football game between the 1952 Houston Cougars and the Baylor Bears at Rice Stadium in Houston. Pictured are Houston’s M. “Buddy” Gillioz (#77), J.D. Kimmel (#78), and Roland Johnson (#80), and Baylor’s “Cotton” Davidson (#19). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
(The above photo is old, but it does have the Baylor Bears in it. Public Domain for the win.)
“There’s obviously added pressure there,” said Kendal Briles, who will also be quarterbacks coach in his eighth season working for his father.
Pressure? Gee, ya think? NFL football is high stakes, but I think college football can be even more intense. Although whatever they do, it’s unlikely the Briles will screw up as royally as Shanahan and Son did in Washington.
Source: Baylor Coach Makes Father-Son Bet – NYTimes.com
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Mike Francesa Says Parents Should Relax About Fandom
Remember when I wrote about raising kids to be fans of perpetually bad sports teams? (If not, I helpfully linked to the article for you. I’ll expect a thank you note in the mail.) Today on WFAN, Mike Francesa took a caller to task about the same issue. Basically, he told the caller, a father and fan of the Jets (I think it was the Jets) that parents should relax about fandom.
(Note: the image above has nothing to do with the story except that it is a sports image, and neither person appears to be relaxed.)
The WFAN host’s point, which I basically agree with, is that people take this whole “I’m raising my kid to be a fan of a perpetually bad sports team” thing much too seriously. Or, as Aaron Rodgers put it — RELAX.
Francesa went on to describe some of the favorite Yankee teams of his childhood, which he described as not being very good but he loved them anyway.
I am also a Yankee fan, and here’s where I have to respectfully… not exactly disagree with Mr. Francesa, but add to his point. When the Yankees lose, it doesn’t hurt the way it does when the Mets lose. The same is true for the Giants and the Jets. Even when the Jets WIN, fans find it painful. The first two years that Mark Sanchez was the Jets’ starting quarterback, which were also the first two years’ of Rex Ryan’s tenure as head coach, they made it to the AFC Championship Game. That’s one game away from the Super Bowl. I watched those games, and the ones that preceded it, with a lifelong Jets fan. You know what? Even the games they won, I could feel the tension. There’s always a sense that something bad will happen. I don’t know why, but I’ve seen it firsthand and discussed it with other Jets fans. They agree. Barring another Super Bowl win (and it is worth noting that the Jets at least HAVE a Super Bowl win in their history, something many other NFL teams do not), I don’t know that it will ever not be at least a little bit painful to be a fan of the Jets.
Does that mean raising your kid to be a Jets fan is somehow bad parenting? Of course not. That’s silly. In my experience kids pick up on fandom naturally — if you’re a Jet(s fan) you’re a Jet(s fan) all the way, and your kids prob’ly will be the exact same way.
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End of Game Super Bowl Fight Totally Classless
I don’t use words like classless often, because the word is judgy in a way that I don’t like to be. I’m not against being judgmental; I’ve said many times that accusing someone of being judgmental is, in fact, judgmental. But what happened at the end of the Super Bowl tonight was absolutely classless.
The San Francisco 49ers’ Super Bowl XXIX trophy on display at the 49ers’ Family Day at Candlestick Park. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Seattle Seahawks had lost the game, largely due to what basically everyone is referring to as the #WorstCallEver. (For those who weren’t watching, that refers to throwing a pass that was intercepted by Malcolm Butler instead of giving the ball to Marshawn Lynch at the goal line.) The Patriots were backed up into their own end zone, trying to avoid a safety, which would have given the Seahawks one last chance to win. The ‘Hawks jumped offsides, the Pats got five yards, and were a kneeldown away from victory.
Then this happened.
That’s just not cool. I’m sure the players were pissed off. They lost the Super Bowl. I’m not going to pretend I know what that feels like; I have one career sack and it was in high school during the Junior/Senior football game. (For the record, sacking the quarterback was really fun.) There are hamsters with more athletic ability than I do. Hell, there may be pieces of furniture with more athletic ability than me. But if by some chance I ever found myself on the losing end of a big game, even the biggest of all big games, I really, truly hope that I would show more class than these guys did. Good sportsmanship.
What does this have to do with parenting? Kids watch these games. Much like I prefer to avoid using the word classless, I also mislike the phrase “think of the children.” But here, I’ll say it. It’s not about being a role model. It’s about not acting like a big baby when you lose. Not throwing punches. No temper tantrums. Behave yourselves, guys.
For the record, here is a tweet from Seahawks star player Richard Sherman.
Thank you God for giving us the opportunity…. That's all you can ask for….Thank you everyone for the support all year
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) February 2, 2015
See? That’s classy. And Sherman was far from happy. Can I get a gif? Yes. Yes I can.
Super Bowl Fight! Super Bowl Fight! (Gawker)
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