New Fan
POSTED BY: sonicj
UPDATED: Sunday, May 1, 2005 06:35
VIEWED: 4442
PAGE 3 of 3
Big Welcome to Sonicj and Becsthebeast. Yes we're all mostly friendly(like mostly harmless). This is the only site I visit with any regularity, due to the fine community of people here.
Good to see another person familiar with The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. And that result certainly fits you Zoid. Mine was INFP which is Intraverted iNtuitive Feeling Perciever (Questor). That might have changed a bit I think it was more than 10 years ago that I took it.
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'Lish:
I played in Texas, in the vicinity of Houston. That's important to note, as you'll see. When I was a kid and playing sandlot ball (we used to do that in the dark ages before computers), I loved playing wide receiver. Just running down the field, juking the opponent and then catching the ball. Very beautiful.
When I got into junior high and started playing in pads, nobody could much throw a ball; but, there were tons of good running backs, so offense was still pretty potent. When I got into high school, we ran a Veer offense (made famous by U. of Houston coach, Bill Yeoman). The Veer was (is?) an option offense, similar to the Wishbone, but with only two backs behind the QB, instead of three. The QB typically takes the snap and heads down the line toward the strong side (the side where the tight end is lined up). He then has the option to handoff into the line, keep it himself or pitch it to a halfback circling the end. On occasion, after he has faked the first option above, he will zip a little five yard 'in' pass to the WR (that would be me).
This generally means the wide receiver in a Veer is either blocking a CB or SS, or else trying to catch that 5 yd. 'in' route. Problem is, that 5 yd. 'in' takes you smack in to the lair of the most fearsome creature in all of sports (especially in Texas), the LINEBACKER. He will gladly -- jovially, in fact -- hand you your ass, if you stray into his domain. Many the times when I literally heard ringing sounds so loud I couldn't hear the crowd in the stadium, as I tried to pick myself up off the turf without staggering too much.
On defense, playing corner was tough, not because of the speedy receivers (remember, nobody much threw deep anyway), but because the corner has to keep that running back from getting to the outside on the pitch option. Gotta turn him back toward the middle of the field, where your LINEBACKER can get a shot at him. If the CB doesn't turn him and the RB gets to the sideline, he is gone.
When I got my growth spurt to 5'11" and 185 lbs. (sophomore year), they moved me to strong safety, a defensive back who basically lines up on the side the tight end lines up. Again, not much passing to defend, but now I had to 'read' for the dive or off-tackle run (option #1, above), or tackle or turn-in the QB on the keeper. Now, there were some good running QBs around, but the real b!tch of playing SS was the enormous running back coming at you off-tackle, looking like a bowling ball studded with butcher knives. Lest we forget, Earl Campbell, Thurman Thomas, Eric Dickerson and Craig James all played Texas high school football, among thousands of other similarly gifted RBs. I used to hate seeing some 6'1", 220-pounder come tearing through the line, right at me!
It's a very lonely, 'doomed' feeling. If you don't make the play, these guys were (again) just gone. Too much speed. Often, right before I threw myself into the path of these oncoming locomotives, I would think, "Why can't the linemen get some of these? Where the hell is a LINEBACKER when you need one?" I'd like to say that my natural talent as a vicious hitter would take over and I'd clean that 220-pounder's clock; but t'ain't so. My technique was to watch their belt (so I didn't get faked out of my jockstrap), and then -- at the critical moment -- throw myself into their legs. Not so much to tackle them, as to muck up their works until a LINEBACKER could get there and finish the job. Think 'human speed bump'. The net result was (as with making a catch on the 5-yd. 'in') picking myself up after having been run over by a Mack truck, while trying my best not to look like road kill.
So I guess, in answer to your question, no, it was not hard transitioning from offense to defense, since both were mostly about being knocked senseless by guys who were typically 30-50 lbs. heavier than me, running at full steam. Then, they'd laugh good-naturedly and pull you up, saying, "Nice tackle!" or "Nice catch!" It didn't help much.
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