END OF YET ANOTHER ERA
As I write these words, mere hours are left before the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell steps to the podium to announce Andrew Luck as the first player taken in the 2012 NFL draft, so setting over 200 players on the first step on a career in one of the most popular and intense team sports in the world. I (and Cousin Sal himself, Paul Mainwaring) have written at length about players to be taken, but today I want to write about a man who was selected in the 1996 NFL draft, who this week announced his retirement from the NFL after 16 seasons.
Brian Dawkins spent 13 seasons as the Free Safety for my beloved Philadelphia Eagles from the time he was drafted to the sad day in 2009 when he left Philly to take his still sharp skills to Denver. Dawkins is said to be a mild mannered, quiet person of the field. Watching him during several You tube videos of him just prior to games, I find this almost impossible to believe. The man was so fired up, it seemed hard to imagine any player DARING to lose on the same team as him. But this was his game day personality. He was the spiritual leader of the Eagles defence, the very heartbeat of one of the best defences NEVER to win a Superbowl.
Dawkins himself cites the highlight of his Eagles career was the moment of victory after the Eagles beat Atlanta in the 2005 NFC Championship Game, hereby finally securing a Superbowl berth. He said the look on the face of veteran Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson was worth all the hard work, the blood sweat and tears that they had all put in. Johnson died in 2010, and its fair to say the Eagles have not recovered from this loss on or off the field.
He was a player opponents had to account for. His positional sense and versatility was so good, Johnson was able to deploy him all over the field in a variety of schemes and positions. Teams playing the Eagles knew that Dawkins was still fit enough to take the field, he and the Eagles were not done.
My first experience of the Eagles was playing "NFL QB" on the much lamented SEGA Dreamcast with my friend Ian Mullin. I was a green rookie to the sport, and was just looking to pick up some names of players from my "new" team. I picked up some names alright, and those names are some of the greatest Eagles over the last 30 years. Trotter, Staley, Douglas...and Dawkins. The Dawk is the last of this group to leave the game. He does so with my thanks and eternal gratitude for all he did for the Eagles, and for Philadelphia.
POWERADE - A COMPLAINT
Dear Powerade
I don't drink your product. To be honest, I'd rather drink Listerine mixed with pepper. However, I know a good deal when I sees one, and when my work colleague Mike Parker offered me a label from a Powerade Multipack allowing me to claim a free Powerade Sports Bottle, I focused three seconds on the word "free" and happily took the label.
I went about the task of filling in the vital details, like my name and address, on your website, enduring several minutes of frozen screens as your sight seemed intent on digging in for the long haul, before finally reading a screen telling me that my new drink bottle would be dispatched speedily to me, and to remind me that I would not be able to claim more than three of your bottles in any six month period.
That was five weeks ago.
This is not the first time Ive been screwed over by a drinks company. I sent off about fifty Coke ring pulls in 1996 to claim a free Coke football. I look forward to this arriving in time for me to indulge in a kick about with my grandchildren, and who knows maybe I can take a refreshing drink from your drink bottle at the same time. But don't worry, I won't be holding my breath.
Should you ever arse yourselves to send me MY free bottle (you set the price, you can't blame me for it), I don't suppose I can entreat you to hand deliver it to my work, full to the brim with ice cold Dr Pepper? There's a drink that has NEVER let me down.
Love, Light and Peace
Neil Dutton
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