Trav's Thoughts

**unable to load the Thursday 13 code properly into his blog, Travis just posts them, knowing that soon he'll have a brand new laptop and will be able to do all the cool things that other bloggers have learned to do**

So my 13 today is about football. But it’s about me and football. I haven’t thought of some of these things in a long time. Some I’m only now remembering. I had to give up the game 26 years ago, in the fall of 1980 after a devastating knee injury. But I loved – still love – everything about my experiences with the game I started playing when I was 7 years old. I only had 9 years to play, but it’s in me and it’s part of me forever.

I’m a football player – always was, always will be.


1. Gear – My first football helmet was too big and slipped over my eyes. My shoulder pads were almost as big as I was. There were lots of ties and buckles and straps. Hip pads, thigh pads, knee pads. When I got it all strapped and tied. . .I was so excited because I was gonna play football. I eventually grew into all that equipment. But that first time, putting it all on – a memory for the ages.

2. Tackling – It’s not as easy as you might think. You have to have good balance and keep your knees loose and your feet moving. Your shoulders need to be square to the ball carrier. You have to be aware of blockers in your path. And you have to keep your eye on the target. Then you power yourself into the hit, driving with your legs, hitting with the center of your shoulder pads, keeping your head up, wrapping up with your arms, and using all your strength to push the ball carrier through the ground. Yeah – that’s right. I said through the ground.

3. Practice – A lot about the game is muscle memory. You drill and you drill and you drill, and when you think you have it down, you drill some more just to make sure. Instinct drives a lot, but if you rely on your athletic ability and your talent alone, other guys will catch you up. Your technique has to be sound or you can get hurt.

4. Coaches – I was lucky. My coaches were all good men who taught me the right way to do things. And not just about football. They were my mentors and my heroes and my leaders. They taught me a lot about being a man.

5. Teammates – My teammates were my brothers. They knew me, and I knew them, like no one else could. We looked each other in the eye. We were responsible to and for each other.

6. Homecoming – The night of nights. We always got shanghaied on Homecoming Tuesday morning. The cheerleaders decorated our lockers with our names and numbers. The moms would prepare our team meal on Homecoming Thursday evening. The dads would square away all our gear in the locker room before the game. We won all of our Homecoming games.

7. Making big plays in a big game – I was fortunate to have my best game my senior year against our biggest rival. I had 9 solo tackles and assisted on a bunch more. I sacked the QB 4 times because they couldn’t block me on the safety blitz. I intercepted 3 passes and ran one back for a TD. I recovered a fumble. I felt light years faster than anyone else on the field that night. And we won the game, the only win I experienced against our rivals.

8. Rallies – I was a defensive captain my senior year and I got to make a little speech on Senior Day. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but we got the whole school roaring for us. We were coming off our biggest win in the history of the school against our biggest rival. I was feeling indestructible.

9. School Spirit – My high school did not have a great football program. My teams were 25-19 through my 4 years. We never went to the playoffs. But I always remember students going to games. Our marching band was one of the top in the state. They marched at halftime, and the pep band went to away games with us. We put students in the stands for away games too. And my coaches made us all go to band competitions, which we ended up enjoying so much that we went to a bunch of shows without being required to go. Funny – bunch of jocks wearing their jerseys and making a righteous noise for the marching band.

10. Recruiting – I had four scholarship offers from west coast schools. It’s nerve-wracking to have scouts in the stands and know that they came to watch you.

11. Senior Night – The last home game was the last game of my last high school season. Senior Night. I remember Mom proudly wearing my away jersey. She was so small standing next to me on the field. I heard my name over the loudspeaker, and then they introduced my mom, and she pulled the front of my jersey so I leaned down toward her. She whispered in my ear, “It don’t matter”. That’s what I always wrote on a piece of paper and tucked inside my spikes. She reminded me that night that it didn’t matter that my father was never there, and that he’d chosen never to see me play.

12. Pain – There aren’t any words I know to describe what it felt like to have my left knee caved in. I was lined up strong side, and my key was the full back. I knew it was a draw and I knew I was clear to force the play. Two seconds after the ball was snapped, the wide receiver came down from my blind side and went low. I never saw him because he wasn’t supposed to block me on that play. It was a draw – I know it was because I’d seen it all week in practice. There were barely two minutes to play in the game. Two minutes in my high school career. Two minutes until I had to start really thinking about my future – play football in college and get an education, or go into the Corps and get an education. Two minutes. I never saw the kid.

13. Sportsmanship – I knew it was over. No football in college. No Marine Corps. I knew. My left knee was in pieces and my right knee was dislocated. It took 15 minutes to splint both legs. My teammates were in tears, my coaches were in tears, I was in tears. The kid who hit me was on his knees not far from me and I could hear him sobbing and saying over and over that he was sorry. When they lifted me onto the gurney, he came over and put his hand on my shoulder. Plenty of guys play the game as if it were life or death. I had some of that mentality. But knowing that the kid was emotionally devastated by the play – well, that gave me something else to think about. I couldn’t blame him – not in the way I wanted to. My lessons of sportsmanship were too well learned.

I don’t mean this to be a downer of a 13. But this is all football to me. And I’m glad I can remember it again.