An English teacher at the University of Virginia provides a thoughtful reminiscence about both the pros and cons about playing football based on his experiences as a soft, shy boy growing up in a blue-collar Boston suburb in the 1960s.
鈥淲hat was I doing going out for football? Why was I trying to join the team that the year before had gone undefeated and won the Greater Boston League title? I鈥檇 always been drawn to the game and happy to play at the park. Slow as I was, I loved running with the ball. Heavy as I was, I wasn鈥檛 always easy to tackle. But this wasn鈥檛 going to be a slapdash affair with my buddies. Now I was placing myself under the iron law of the coaches. I鈥檇 be blocking and tackling in ways that scared me to think about.
鈥淏ut there were no doubt deeper reasons for me being in that locker room with all those guys tricked out in white on that first day. Somewhere in me there had to be the memories of Sunday afternoons with my father. Somewhere there must have been the image of Jim Brown, the perfect football player and perfect man. But more important were surely memories of Y.A. Tittle, the guy who had built himself up a brick at a time. I needed some building up then 鈥� I needed it badly."
