San Diego, I would not want to be you right now. I mean, I rip on Southern California whenever I am given the chance. It may be sunny in San Diego but the people are gloomy, and I am enjoying every minute of it. You get knocked out by the Rockies – I repeat – the Rockies! And then there’s, “Mar-ty! Mar-ty! Mar-ty!”
I figured there couldn’t be a better time for San Diego fans to bask in their misery while I talk a little about myself. I didn’t want to discuss what I was doing; I really didn’t think it was that relevant. Unlike O.J. in Vegas after a wedding reception, I like to fly under the radar, and stay pretty low key if you catch my drift.
But after the Kansas City Chiefs’ drubbing of the Chargers last weekend, I thought I’d give you a little view into my life. I can just imagine you reading this column right now. You’re probably sitting outside in 75-degree beautiful weather, and some Jessica Simpson wannabe just passed, too busy to notice you because she’s on her Blackberry listening to her iPod. Life doesn’t get much better, my friends.
That’s far from my life at the moment.
I’m sure many of you saw the HBO series “Hard Knocks” this summer. Well, I’m living it – not quite, but to an extent. I am not in beautiful San Luis Obispo this quarter because I am working for the Kansas City Chiefs. I’m grinding away in Arrowhead Stadium, with Herm Edwards upstairs devising the game plan, with Larry Johnson downstairs counting his money. This leaves me sitting trying to climb up that totem pole. I’m looking up, my friends, and I still see the bottom. Pretty sad, but you have to start somewhere in this league.
It takes a total team effort to make this ship move forward. From game days to off days, this is my life. The NFL is 24/7, high stress that just never ends. This is a dog-eat-dog world, and you better be strong-willed to make it in this profession or you will not last long.
This is a win-now league, and if you don’t, say goodbye. In this league of parity, winning has come to be expected of every franchise, especially this one.
Let me hit you with a little knowledge. Not one team that had a first-round bye in the playoffs last year has a winning record. On the flip side, not one team which picked in the top five of the 2007 draft has a losing record. Bottom line: everyone expects to win. With winning comes money, which is the bottom line in any business.
Players’ jobs and coaches’ jobs are on the line constantly. We started 0-2; the following Monday I saw a sheet of potential moves, and people lost their jobs. The next day they headed for the unemployment line. Thanks for going through training camp and preseason, but we’re going to need your playbook.
This is a business first, and a game second. From the moment you walk in the building this is obvious. Players may make a lot of money in the NFL, but they can be cut at any moment. This is a league that runs because of billion-dollar TV deals and multi-million dollar corporate sponsorships.
This league may be predicated on the product you see on the field, but doesn’t function without external factors keeping the wheels running.
Coach Edwards arrives around 4:30 a.m., when he works out to get his day going. He usually doesn’t leave until 9 p.m. This is not your typical American work day. Players and coaches eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at our facilities. From practice, meetings, walkthroughs, film study or lifting, it is football all day, everyday.
It seems like dinosaurs roamed the earth when the Lombardi Trophy from Super Bowl IV that resides in our hallway happened. This city is growing impatient for a winner, after every Sunday that passes.
Our weight room is filled with players who can lift a house and eat a cow, and they usually do. This weight room is a fraternity meathead’s dream, filled with supplements that have enough protein to feed an army. Coach Edwards ripped the cords out of the wall so our TVs stay blank. Television takes away from the task at hand. No personal records hang anywhere in the stadium or weight room, personifying this team game.
The quote “your habits form who you are” resides on the wall of our practice facility. In this franchise winning comes first, second and third. It won’t be pretty if winning doesn’t become a habit this season, that’s all I know. Thank God I haven’t graduated yet.