Inside The Huddle

They hand me a small white paper capsule of smelling salt. I crack it and it turns blood red, the smell of ammonia floods my facemask, my eyes water and my nose is on fire, it’s game time. I’ve been preparing all week for this moment. This moment in time when every worry and concern goes away and my thoughts are only focused on one thing: Man, I love this game!

The Day Before the Game

Practices on Fridays are very short and crisp. The team gets out on the game field in just helmets and we run through personnel substitutions and a 15-minute practice script. Afterwards, Coach Eddie will call us up and in his notoriously ineloquent fashion tell us what he believes the keys to victory are. After a quick shower, we get on the buses and with a motorcycle police escort head to the hotel in Arlington. This bus ride is pretty relaxed, most of the team holding casual conversation with the person next to them. The ride back to Fort Worth tomorrow will be much different. After settling into my room at the hotel, I go downstairs for one of my two favorite meals of the week. As I walk into the banquet hall, the smell of home cookin’ fills the air. Knowing that lineman don’t like to sit around and wait on their food, they schedule us to be the first through the line. Passing the salad up to leave more room on my plate, I head straight for the pans of broccoli, mashed potatoes and buttered corn, steam billowing out from the water-warmers underneath. After piling on what we immature linemen affectionately refer to as colon scrubbers, now it is time for the main course. While I have the option to get lasagna or London broil, I stick to my roots and have my usual two legs and two thighs of fried chicken. Of course no Southern meal could be complete without a little slice of pecan pie.

Now that I have had my fill, it’s time to get down to business and start cutting my focus in and get ready for the game. At TCU we have what we call the “Video Test”. For this all the offensive players squeeze into a conference room; the occasional cough is the only noise breaking the silence. The coaches put up a picture of an offensive formation on the screen with this week’s defense lined up across from it. The quarterback will call a play and then, position by position, individual players will state exactly what their role and responsibility is for that particular play. This video test gives every player in there an opportunity to show his teammates that he is prepared to do his job tomorrow. In my case, I might say something like, “Two foot splits, two point stance,  shuffle setting with my tackle the five, to the backer, to anything outside, alert for any twist or loop calls from my center.”  The video test is great way to build confidence and trust in the offensive unit. After the tensest 45 minutes of my entire week is finally over, it is now time to try and get some sleep.

The Morning of Game Day

I never need the wakeup call to get me up on Saturdays. In fact it’s a relief to finally hear the phone ring after lying wide awake since seven when the sun first starts to creep through the curtains. I call my uncle, who played college football as well. It’s a call I’ve made every game day since my sophomore year in high school. Uncle Joe and I talk about the week of practice and what kind of defense we will be playing against. He always has a way to encourage and reassure me that I am ready and capable of performing well.

My roommate and fellow offensive lineman Jeff and I head down for breakfast, my other favorite meal of the week. The attitude is noticeably different than the casual dinner the night before. Most guys eat in relative silence and watch a highlight tape from the previous game. Afterwards we make our way out to an open area of the hotel’s parking lot and have an extended walk-through. At this walk-through, we will have a defense lined up and run 15 to 20 plays just to get our bodies and minds up and going. The other hotel guests stare at us from their windows; cars driving by often stop and watch. What we consider to be old hat has captivated all those who see it. We’re doing nothing but shuffle around a parking lot and these people can’t take their eyes off of us.

Pre-Game Meal

After what seems like an eternity of sitting in our rooms after walk-through, it is finally time for pre-game meal. We file in silently to the banquet hall; our choices are spaghetti, baked potatoes, or pancakes. I always choose spaghetti. The graduate assistants and hotel staff deliver our plates to us and we eat in absolute silence. Like most of my teammates, I have my headphones in and merely pick at my plate. My appetite nowhere to be found, I listen to the soundtrack from the movie Rudy. The music reminds me of my favorite football movie and makes me reflect on all the things that I sometimes take for granted. Oftentimes during the week of preparation I get caught up in the grind of practice and forget why I play this game. I forget about being a kid in elementary school who would wake up on Saturday mornings and would take forever putting my pads in my pants for a Tiger League game. I forget about the countless hours I would stay up at night in high school envisioning what it would be like to play college football.  Listening to that music is a real gut check and makes me appreciate the opportunity I have and all the time I spend worth it.

Towards the end of the meal I pick up a cluster of grapes and take one off the vine and pass it around the table. My fellow offensive linemen take one and continue to pass it around. This silent communion-like ceremony signifies to all of us as we look into each other’s eyes that I have your back and you have mine.

Coaches get up and will briefly describe our opponent’s schemes, stuff we have already heard in the week leading up, but this is a final time for everyone to get on the same page. Coach Eddie gets up and briefly addresses the team and now it’s time to go.

The Ride to the Stadium

As we get on the bus, I change my IPod to an a cappella worship playlist. Growing up in the church and being a firm believer in Christ, I use this time for meditation and prayer. I know that if it weren’t for the gifts that I’ve received, I would never be where I am now. On a day where so many other things are on my mind this is my chance to stop and focus on what is truly important and thank God for all that he’s done for me.

As we get near the stadium and start to see the first TCU fans tailgating, the excitement starts to take over me. I think about the first time I ever came to a TCU game and saw the players roll in. I whispered to my Dad, “I can’t wait for that to be me!” That memory from so long ago races back to me, and I realize just how fast life can go by and how precious these moments are.

           

The Locker Room

            Everyone gets ready in his own way. Some players like to be loud and rambunctious, letting their excitement and energy flow throughout the locker room. Some like to lie down and simply get their minds off the task ahead and take a nap for half an hour. Still others sit stone-faced, music blaring in their ears with a “thousand-yard stare.” I myself go through phases to get ready. Phase one is getting ready physically. Upon arrival at the stadium, I go directly to the hot whirlpools to loosen up my back and the rest of my body. Then I get taped and stretched by the athletic training staff.

 Phase two is getting ready mentally. For part of my pre-game preparation I walk around on the game field envisioning what it’s going to be like out there. What looks I might get from the defense and what I need to do on certain plays. I also use this time to take in all the sights and sounds, the little things that I might otherwise miss once the game starts. I close my eyes and let my other senses wander for a few moments. The smell is the first thing I notice. The crisp, fresh aroma of the grass floods my nose. The smell of concession food fills the air, especially from the Corn Dog Stand on the North-East Concourse. Next a game day symphony from in and around the stadium floods my ears. The soft tink tink tink of the wind markers hitting the goal posts supplies the rhythm. The dull roar of advertisement planes flying their banners overhead provides the chorus. Finally the occasional solo comes from hearing shouts of encouragement from the fans already trickling in the stadium.

Thirdly, and most importantly, I get emotionally ready. This process, which started days before and has continued to build, will soon come to a climax as I head down the ramp to the field. I look around the locker room at my teammates as we sit anxiously waiting on Coach Eddie to walk in any moment and tell us it’s time. I see it in their faces; they have been preparing themselves too. Maybe some use different techniques, but as I look into their eyes I can see we’re all thinking the same thoughts. We all remember what it was like growing up, before the pressure of Coaches polls and style points. We all remember our love for the game, and deep down that is what fundamentally still drives us. I look at my teammates and realize there is no other group of men I would rather run out in front of 45,000 people with than them. The time has come. Coach walks in the locker room and tells us to line up at the door. Shouts of uncontainable enthusiasm break the silence.

They hand me a small white paper capsule, I crack it, it turns blood red, the smell of ammonia floods my facemask, my eyes water, my nose is on fire, it’s game time. I’ve been preparing all week for this moment. This moment in time where every worry and concern goes away and my thoughts are only focused on one thing: Man, I love this game!