By Ronald N. Guy Jr.
Another NFL season has ended. March Madness is over a month away. The NHL playoffs seem a far off oasis. The
NBA hasn’t reached its All-Star break.
Pitchers and catchers have made travel reservations, but none have yet reported
to spring training.
Oh baby it’s cold outside…and for sports fans the
post-Super Bowl psychological swoon is biting hard. If only B.B. King or Muddy Waters had of put sports
fans’ blues to song.
Perhaps it’s best they didn’t. An anthem would validate the unbecoming
sympathy grab and distract from what the uncluttered sports calendar is: an
invitation to reflect.
And with that…February thoughts from Atlanta,
post-Super Bowl LIII...
The first thing that comes to mind is African American
History Month. And the first name? Jackie Robinson: the most important player in
MLB history and arguably the most important athlete ever. Robinson would have turned 100 years old on
January 31. In April 1947, he
courageously took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers to become the first
African American to play in the major leagues.
The racist vitriol that Robinson endured – verbal
assaults, hate mail and death threats - is shameful. But he kept playing – with uncompromising dignity
and exceptional skill. Opinions changed
and other African American players soon followed – Willie Mays, Hank Aaron,
Frank Robinson and Ernie Banks, to name a few.
Eventually (a word too often used to describe the pace of social
progress), the Supreme Court found school segregation to be unconstitutional in
Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 ended
segregation in public places and made discrimination based on race, color,
religion, sex or national origin unlawful.
Robinson isn’t the lone impetus behind this progress, but he gave us a
strong nudge toward a better America in Brooklyn in 1947.
I thought about Robinson, and the influence one
exceptional person can have, when contemplating the latest Pro Football Hall of
Fame class and the Super Bowl participants.
As something of a Hall of Fame induction speech junkie, I’m fascinated
by this one common component: a coach, teacher, parent, guardian or spouse,
without whose influence said player may not have played a down in the NFL.
Two stories that stick with me have local
connections. During his induction
speech, former Kansas City Chief defensive back and Washington coach Emmitt
Thomas talked about his mother’s death when he was eight and credited his grandfather
with being the reason he made it – in life and football. The other is former ‘Skins offensive lineman
Russ Grimm. While attending the
University of Pittsburgh, Grimm, then a linebacker, was “encouraged” by head
coach Jackie Sherrill to move to offensive line after several players graduated. Grimm didn’t initially like it, but stayed
the course and became the very best player on the most famous offensive line in
NFL history – The Hogs.
As for the Super Bowl participants, there are two
profound “if my career hadn’t intersected with this person” stories. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are both future first
ballot Hall of Famers. Could one have
been successful without the other? Sure,
but together they are the greatest coach and quarterback ever.
The Rams may have something similar brewing. Three years ago, under then head coach Jeff
Fisher, rookie QB Jared Goff was 0-7 as a starter and posted a putrid 63.8
quarterback rating. He was the next
great quarterback bust. In two seasons
under current head coach Sean McVay, Goff’s quarterback rating has been over
100 and he’s been to two consecutive Pro Bowls.
We all have our extraordinary people, the ones we
would lavish with accolades and credit during our own “Hall of Fame induction
speeches”. We also have the opportunity
to be that extraordinary person, the one that enables something grand, for
others (and to receive credit in their “Hall of Fame speeches”). That hardly makes us worthy of a Jackie
Robinson comparison, a man who influenced a nation and millions of people, but maybe
by positively impacting one life and one person and making the world just a
little bit better in the most modest way, we keep his spirit alive.
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