The NFL is a high-pressure environment, with big money and big temptations ready to befall even the steadiest of people. Sometimes, they can’t handle the situation themselves and have to look for help … and people in the NFL are not used to looking for help. It can be quite a trial, but sometimes, as Ted Glover recounts, help can be found:
The coach has a problem, but he’s trying to get better
Scene: A dingy basement of what looks to be a Missouri Synod Lutheran church or maybe a VFW hall. In the room are about twenty or so people, sitting on metal folding chairs, sipping on bad coffee. A tall, lanky guy with a scruffy beard and nondescript clothing stands at a podium at the front of the gathering.
‘Thanks for making it today. I’m glad to see each and every one of you, and you are all welcome here. Would anyone like to come up and share their story?’
The gathered people shift uncomfortably in their seats, avoiding eye contact, some with their arms folded. After what seems like an eternity, a lone figure hesitantly stands, in jeans and a short sleeved purple golf shirt.
‘Hi, and thank you, come right up,’ says the man at the podium, as he slips off to the side, motioning the man forward. The man in the crowd shuffles to the front.
He looks fairly unremarkable, mid-60’s probably, with a weather beaten face. Of course, everyone who’s here is beaten, in some way. Everyone is broken, trying to heal. The man now at the podium is no different.
‘Hello,’ he says haltingly, almost afraid to continue.
‘It’s okay, we’re all friends here. There’s no judgement, and what we say here stays here,’ says a kind, matronly looking woman in the crowd, encouraging him to share his story.
The man smiles, ever so slightly. It’s his first smile in what…weeks, months? Years, maybe? He finds a little more courage.
‘Hello,’ he says again, a little stronger. ‘My name is Mike, and I’m cornerbackaholic.’
‘HI MIKE’ the crowd replies in unison, their greeting echoing off the peeling paint on the cinder block walls.
‘’Uh…so…it’s been one draft since I haven’t taken a cornerback in the first two rounds. And I gotta tell ya, it’s been the hardest draft of my life. But I’m moving forward, and I feel good.’
‘Mmmmm-hmmmmm’ says someone in the crowd.
‘It’s weird,’ Mike continues, ‘I never saw myself here, in this spot. Corners were just kind of a hobby for most of my life. I got introduced to them in high school, like I imagine a lot of you did. I was a quarterback, and I mostly avoided them, you know? But then I got to college, and I switched over to defense. I played linebacker, and just sort of got introduced to them more gradually. I guess that’s when I started my downward spiral, but I didn’t recognize it then.’
