Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
Yesterday my girlfriend Therese and I went to see "Invincible," the movie starring Mark Wahlberg as Vince Papale, the Eagles' special teams' standout (and South Phildelphia resident) who made the team as a walk-on in 1976 following Dick Vermeil's decision to conduct an open tryout at Veteran's Stadium.
The movie is spectacular...it evokes plenty of goose bumps, let me tell you!
And it reminded me of why I love pre-season football so much...it's like watching the NCAA Basketball Tournament because it is chock-full of Cinderella stories...
Yes, pre-season football. Back in Papale's days, NFL teams played six pre-season games...which is far too much as we all realize by now...even four games might be too much as it is...but, these pre-season football games are an opportunity for relative unknowns such as Vince Papale to show they can aspire to the highest levels of competition and persevere.
When I think back at all the late nights I have spent watching pre-season games live or on tape...I know that I was always feeding my constant fascination with discovering some hidden gem of a talent...some longshot rookie who seizes the day and the moment in the hope of making an NFL roster...oh, what an achievement that is...and oh, what a manifestation of the American Dream!
This year...I can't help but bristle with excitement when I think of our very own Cinderella, RB Diamond Ferri. As most of us know, Diamond Ferri was a last second addition to the Cardinals' pre-season roster when Roger Robinson, the NFLE leading rusher, was injured. When his signing was announced and posted on this board, the news was greeted in a rather familiar fashion as many of the posters deemed Ferri "trading camp fodder"...or "just another warm body."
Yet, we never really know. Do we?
It's amazing too at how small a world it is in sports circles...I mean almost all of us know of someone from our own high school leagues or college campuses who either made it to the NFL or came close..
In Diamond Ferri's case...I knew quite a bit about this kid...he played at Everett High School in Everett, Massachusetts...Everett is in the Greater Boston League, and I used to teach and coach at Arlington High School, a GBL rival of Everett's...and I used to coach against Everett's outstanding coach, John DiBiaso...who has won the Boston Globe's High School Division 1 Coach of the Year on three occasions, I believe.
I knew that Diamond Ferri had chosen Syracuse over my alma mater, Boston College, and I remember feeling more than a little disappointed that he did. That disappointment came to a climax when two years ago in BC's last year in the Big East, BC had to beat Syracuse at home on the last game of the season to win the Big East Championship outright...and for the game Syracuse decided to switch their starting FS Diamond Ferri over to tailback because the starter was hurt...and Ferri turned in an unbelievable performance, rushing to the tune of 140 yards and 2 TDs (against a BC defense that was then in the top ten of the country in rush defense) in a stunning rout of BC. Ferri also played spot duty on defense that afternoon and picked off a pass in the end zone. Man...and that was the way Diamond Ferri finished his career at Syracuse.
When Diamond Ferri was scooting for his 4th quarter TD versus the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first ever game at the new Cardinals' Stadium...I was ecstatic...at that point I thought that maybe Ferri would show enough to be considered for the practice squad...
Well, Diamond Ferri showed up big...very big...on special teams in the last pre-season game, making a couple of splendid bursts to the ball and delivering a couple of picture perfect tackles. And his timing couldn't have been better...the player the Cardinals were counting on to make these kinds of tackles, Jack Brewer, injured his shoulder in the game and was subsequently placed on the injured reserve.
Could it be? Diamond Ferri could actually make the Cardinals' roster?
And while Vince Papale's transcendence from the sandlots of South Philadelphia to Veteran's Stadium was against all of the odds...one still has to salute the undrafted college free agents like Diamond Ferri who come in as training camp fodder and run and tackle their way onto an NFL roster!
Oh, the pre-season! Oh, the American Dream!
The movie is spectacular...it evokes plenty of goose bumps, let me tell you!
And it reminded me of why I love pre-season football so much...it's like watching the NCAA Basketball Tournament because it is chock-full of Cinderella stories...
Yes, pre-season football. Back in Papale's days, NFL teams played six pre-season games...which is far too much as we all realize by now...even four games might be too much as it is...but, these pre-season football games are an opportunity for relative unknowns such as Vince Papale to show they can aspire to the highest levels of competition and persevere.
When I think back at all the late nights I have spent watching pre-season games live or on tape...I know that I was always feeding my constant fascination with discovering some hidden gem of a talent...some longshot rookie who seizes the day and the moment in the hope of making an NFL roster...oh, what an achievement that is...and oh, what a manifestation of the American Dream!
This year...I can't help but bristle with excitement when I think of our very own Cinderella, RB Diamond Ferri. As most of us know, Diamond Ferri was a last second addition to the Cardinals' pre-season roster when Roger Robinson, the NFLE leading rusher, was injured. When his signing was announced and posted on this board, the news was greeted in a rather familiar fashion as many of the posters deemed Ferri "trading camp fodder"...or "just another warm body."
Yet, we never really know. Do we?
It's amazing too at how small a world it is in sports circles...I mean almost all of us know of someone from our own high school leagues or college campuses who either made it to the NFL or came close..
In Diamond Ferri's case...I knew quite a bit about this kid...he played at Everett High School in Everett, Massachusetts...Everett is in the Greater Boston League, and I used to teach and coach at Arlington High School, a GBL rival of Everett's...and I used to coach against Everett's outstanding coach, John DiBiaso...who has won the Boston Globe's High School Division 1 Coach of the Year on three occasions, I believe.
I knew that Diamond Ferri had chosen Syracuse over my alma mater, Boston College, and I remember feeling more than a little disappointed that he did. That disappointment came to a climax when two years ago in BC's last year in the Big East, BC had to beat Syracuse at home on the last game of the season to win the Big East Championship outright...and for the game Syracuse decided to switch their starting FS Diamond Ferri over to tailback because the starter was hurt...and Ferri turned in an unbelievable performance, rushing to the tune of 140 yards and 2 TDs (against a BC defense that was then in the top ten of the country in rush defense) in a stunning rout of BC. Ferri also played spot duty on defense that afternoon and picked off a pass in the end zone. Man...and that was the way Diamond Ferri finished his career at Syracuse.
When Diamond Ferri was scooting for his 4th quarter TD versus the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first ever game at the new Cardinals' Stadium...I was ecstatic...at that point I thought that maybe Ferri would show enough to be considered for the practice squad...
Well, Diamond Ferri showed up big...very big...on special teams in the last pre-season game, making a couple of splendid bursts to the ball and delivering a couple of picture perfect tackles. And his timing couldn't have been better...the player the Cardinals were counting on to make these kinds of tackles, Jack Brewer, injured his shoulder in the game and was subsequently placed on the injured reserve.
Could it be? Diamond Ferri could actually make the Cardinals' roster?
And while Vince Papale's transcendence from the sandlots of South Philadelphia to Veteran's Stadium was against all of the odds...one still has to salute the undrafted college free agents like Diamond Ferri who come in as training camp fodder and run and tackle their way onto an NFL roster!
Oh, the pre-season! Oh, the American Dream!
