Harleys and the press
G'head. Say the word "motorcycle" to me. Swear it, I'll scream.
Never thought the press would get this nuts. Never. Man, they asked Coach Cowher about it in his press conference - and he met with me too, tried to discourage me from ridin'. He didn't criticize me or nothin', but he's definitely uneasy, and I'm sorry for that. Riding a Harley helmetless is my choice. I don't make risky decisions, okay? It's a Harley. I'm not doing wheelies on a damn Harley. And I'm not off-roading. I'm ridin' road and I obey the speed limit. And, m'sorry, if I skid pavement, a helmet ain't gonna help much anyway. So I'm gonna keep riding. And Coach respected that decision, told me to be careful, that was that.
Okay, no, that wasn't that at all. The damn press grilled my teammates. My teammates! Like they have any say in me ridin' a bike. And, readin' the paper, nice to see they published all the ones who were like, "Oh, Ben better be careful" or, "No, I don't ride a bike, my cousin died" or, "It's too risky, I'd never do that!" Thanks, boys, appreciated.
So yeah, this has just been nuts. I mean, NFL.com even decided to print how much my bike was worth ($20,000, for anyone who REALLY wanted to know, because everyone apparently does.) Anyone wants to read about it more can go here cause I'm sick of talkin' about it, much less typin' it. Today I was playin' hallway soccer with J-Peezy (yeah, since Battle of the Gridiron Stars the boy has taken up soccer) and I was like, "Look, I ain't wearin' a helmet," which at least the press boys found amusing. Junior called me "the rebel child" and the newspaper's title yesterday was "Ben To Be Wild." I kid you not. Okay, I said I was done talkin' about it, but really, I just think that is too damn funny. Cause I'm the craziest person ever.
Exasperating news, part 2: steroids. Now, ain't nothin' like baseball, but we're gettin' reeled like nobody can remember. Cause of the new steroid testing, and baseball, and then fingers were pointed that the Steelers started it in the NFL. Not us, the 1970s Steelers who won all the championships. Cause those boys have so much to do with us, you know? So yeah, our team is getting most of the steroid questions. Which is ridiculous. Look, we test positive, we get suspended for 4 games, which is 1/4th the damn season. That's a lot of money. This is our jobs. We need that. I can't even take frickin' Nyquil cause too much'll show up on a drug test and they're goin' nuts over steroids, which AIN'T in our league? Seriously.
On to better news - the Kentucky Derby! My first year bettin' on the Derby. My family's always been a horse family - my Mom bred horses, so I got to know em pretty well. I sorta stopped when she died and my grandparents moved to Florida, but I can still ride real well. Anyhow, it's how my grandparents make a lot of money, bettin' on horses, because Grandpa was a breeder too and he knows a lot of those guys still in the business. Anyhow, horse named Giacomo won today, and I'd called Grandpa and asked him who he liked, and that was one of the horses suggested. So I'd bet on Giacomo, Afleet Alex and Spanish Chestnut. 100 bucks a pop. Afleet Alex finished show, so I made a few bucks off that, but Giacomo? $5130 payoff. And the grandparents are partying tonight too, bet 5K on the horse and their payoff was like $100,000.
This led to much drinking and carousing, as you can imagine, so it's been a real good night, I think. Bunch of us were together for the Derby (most of the boys had bets runnin' on Bellamy Road, Steinbrenner's horse, lost bad, which...amused me, yeah.) In character as the team's new wild child, I yelled that (since I'm so crazy, an' all) I was buyin' everyone hookers and then going skydiving. Not only skydiving, the Harley will go with, and it'll have its own parachute. Yeah!
Really, though, minicamp has been AWESOME, even though it's been rainy and we've had to practice inside. Everyone's back in town, and Heath Miller's workin' out with us, too. Man. Kid really does have amazing hands. I love throwin' to the boy. Told the kid to just relax, I'm sorta wondering if I had the same deer-in-the-headlights look he's got when I was a rook last year (and I know I did, man, last year I was terrified, didn't even wanna speak.) But he'll be good, you know? Real good. Cowher ain't been easing up on us, though, first thing he did was make all the rookie O-linemen run this blitz drill, which had me cringing, cause they were gettin' killed. (For those boys that don't know, the O-Line is primarily responsible for keepin' the big, bad linebackers away from my throat, so I was cringing the whole time. Lucky those boys won't be starting this year.)
Pranks've started, too - so I ride an H2, right, and I always got my stereo pumped loud. Well. So after practice on Friday, I get into the H2, start the car, stereo starts right up. CD's in. What comes blastin' out but New Kids on the Block, "The Right Stuff" or whatever the hell that damn song was, to which I get about 100 press and maybe 50 fans turning and looking amused at me. And there's Peezy, one of those big, bad linebackers, laughin' his ass off. I don't feel so bad though, the rookies had to dance to that.
Mother's Day is tomorrow, last practice of minicamp. Just makes me think of last year, sorta.
Okay, so last year I was the brand new rook, no friends, no no one, no nothin', and there's all this minicamp hullabaloo about this dude named Plaxico Burress. Now, everyone was nice enough, I mean real nice, I came outta camp feelin' good, ain't the point. Plax had skipped minicamp cause it fell on Mother's Day (like this year) and he felt it was more important to be home with his brothers than to go to camp. Cause his Mom had just died the last year, so. But Coach Cowher was madder'n hell. Threatened to fine Burress, and let me tell you, nobody gets fined around here, nobody even gets threatened with fines round here, cause his wrath is enough, so he was serious.
Well. Met up with him after minicamp, and I didn't say nothin' to him but, "I don't condone what you did, but I understand." And then walked away, and the guy's curious as hell, so he runs after and asks what the hell I mean. So I tell him. My Mom died too, you know, it wasn't last year, but I was 8, so I was old enough to remember, Mother's Day's always been important to me too. Anyway, we ended up talkin' all night? And soon after he ended up movin' in with me. Didn't live with me all the time. He helped with the rent and hung out, but he had a house with a fiancee, too. So it was nice. Sorta like a pal who was always over.
He wasn't offered a contract this year, I begged, knew it wouldn't do no good. He went to the Giants. And I'll miss him, but I'll be fine. I think Cowher's kinda pleased, though, tell you the truth. He made mention today - in his motorcycle spiel - about "who I hung out with", and I could just tell that was a vague reference to Plax. Cause yeah, Plax gets in trouble, and yeah, I've almost been cuffed a few times hangin' out with Plax tryin' to keep that boy from doin' somethin' stupid. But you know, Peezy got shot up two years ago "hanging out with the wrong people", and I've never even seen a gun when I'm with Plax, so I don't think it's such a great argument. People - teammates - have told me I've been a GOOD influence on the guy, so. Cowher can just relax, cause I'ma keep ridin' my cycles, and I'ma keep hangin' with Plax, and I'll keep riding motorcycles WITH Plax, and that's that.
Never thought the press would get this nuts. Never. Man, they asked Coach Cowher about it in his press conference - and he met with me too, tried to discourage me from ridin'. He didn't criticize me or nothin', but he's definitely uneasy, and I'm sorry for that. Riding a Harley helmetless is my choice. I don't make risky decisions, okay? It's a Harley. I'm not doing wheelies on a damn Harley. And I'm not off-roading. I'm ridin' road and I obey the speed limit. And, m'sorry, if I skid pavement, a helmet ain't gonna help much anyway. So I'm gonna keep riding. And Coach respected that decision, told me to be careful, that was that.
Okay, no, that wasn't that at all. The damn press grilled my teammates. My teammates! Like they have any say in me ridin' a bike. And, readin' the paper, nice to see they published all the ones who were like, "Oh, Ben better be careful" or, "No, I don't ride a bike, my cousin died" or, "It's too risky, I'd never do that!" Thanks, boys, appreciated.
So yeah, this has just been nuts. I mean, NFL.com even decided to print how much my bike was worth ($20,000, for anyone who REALLY wanted to know, because everyone apparently does.) Anyone wants to read about it more can go here cause I'm sick of talkin' about it, much less typin' it. Today I was playin' hallway soccer with J-Peezy (yeah, since Battle of the Gridiron Stars the boy has taken up soccer) and I was like, "Look, I ain't wearin' a helmet," which at least the press boys found amusing. Junior called me "the rebel child" and the newspaper's title yesterday was "Ben To Be Wild." I kid you not. Okay, I said I was done talkin' about it, but really, I just think that is too damn funny. Cause I'm the craziest person ever.
Exasperating news, part 2: steroids. Now, ain't nothin' like baseball, but we're gettin' reeled like nobody can remember. Cause of the new steroid testing, and baseball, and then fingers were pointed that the Steelers started it in the NFL. Not us, the 1970s Steelers who won all the championships. Cause those boys have so much to do with us, you know? So yeah, our team is getting most of the steroid questions. Which is ridiculous. Look, we test positive, we get suspended for 4 games, which is 1/4th the damn season. That's a lot of money. This is our jobs. We need that. I can't even take frickin' Nyquil cause too much'll show up on a drug test and they're goin' nuts over steroids, which AIN'T in our league? Seriously.
On to better news - the Kentucky Derby! My first year bettin' on the Derby. My family's always been a horse family - my Mom bred horses, so I got to know em pretty well. I sorta stopped when she died and my grandparents moved to Florida, but I can still ride real well. Anyhow, it's how my grandparents make a lot of money, bettin' on horses, because Grandpa was a breeder too and he knows a lot of those guys still in the business. Anyhow, horse named Giacomo won today, and I'd called Grandpa and asked him who he liked, and that was one of the horses suggested. So I'd bet on Giacomo, Afleet Alex and Spanish Chestnut. 100 bucks a pop. Afleet Alex finished show, so I made a few bucks off that, but Giacomo? $5130 payoff. And the grandparents are partying tonight too, bet 5K on the horse and their payoff was like $100,000.
This led to much drinking and carousing, as you can imagine, so it's been a real good night, I think. Bunch of us were together for the Derby (most of the boys had bets runnin' on Bellamy Road, Steinbrenner's horse, lost bad, which...amused me, yeah.) In character as the team's new wild child, I yelled that (since I'm so crazy, an' all) I was buyin' everyone hookers and then going skydiving. Not only skydiving, the Harley will go with, and it'll have its own parachute. Yeah!
Really, though, minicamp has been AWESOME, even though it's been rainy and we've had to practice inside. Everyone's back in town, and Heath Miller's workin' out with us, too. Man. Kid really does have amazing hands. I love throwin' to the boy. Told the kid to just relax, I'm sorta wondering if I had the same deer-in-the-headlights look he's got when I was a rook last year (and I know I did, man, last year I was terrified, didn't even wanna speak.) But he'll be good, you know? Real good. Cowher ain't been easing up on us, though, first thing he did was make all the rookie O-linemen run this blitz drill, which had me cringing, cause they were gettin' killed. (For those boys that don't know, the O-Line is primarily responsible for keepin' the big, bad linebackers away from my throat, so I was cringing the whole time. Lucky those boys won't be starting this year.)
Pranks've started, too - so I ride an H2, right, and I always got my stereo pumped loud. Well. So after practice on Friday, I get into the H2, start the car, stereo starts right up. CD's in. What comes blastin' out but New Kids on the Block, "The Right Stuff" or whatever the hell that damn song was, to which I get about 100 press and maybe 50 fans turning and looking amused at me. And there's Peezy, one of those big, bad linebackers, laughin' his ass off. I don't feel so bad though, the rookies had to dance to that.
Mother's Day is tomorrow, last practice of minicamp. Just makes me think of last year, sorta.
Okay, so last year I was the brand new rook, no friends, no no one, no nothin', and there's all this minicamp hullabaloo about this dude named Plaxico Burress. Now, everyone was nice enough, I mean real nice, I came outta camp feelin' good, ain't the point. Plax had skipped minicamp cause it fell on Mother's Day (like this year) and he felt it was more important to be home with his brothers than to go to camp. Cause his Mom had just died the last year, so. But Coach Cowher was madder'n hell. Threatened to fine Burress, and let me tell you, nobody gets fined around here, nobody even gets threatened with fines round here, cause his wrath is enough, so he was serious.
Well. Met up with him after minicamp, and I didn't say nothin' to him but, "I don't condone what you did, but I understand." And then walked away, and the guy's curious as hell, so he runs after and asks what the hell I mean. So I tell him. My Mom died too, you know, it wasn't last year, but I was 8, so I was old enough to remember, Mother's Day's always been important to me too. Anyway, we ended up talkin' all night? And soon after he ended up movin' in with me. Didn't live with me all the time. He helped with the rent and hung out, but he had a house with a fiancee, too. So it was nice. Sorta like a pal who was always over.
He wasn't offered a contract this year, I begged, knew it wouldn't do no good. He went to the Giants. And I'll miss him, but I'll be fine. I think Cowher's kinda pleased, though, tell you the truth. He made mention today - in his motorcycle spiel - about "who I hung out with", and I could just tell that was a vague reference to Plax. Cause yeah, Plax gets in trouble, and yeah, I've almost been cuffed a few times hangin' out with Plax tryin' to keep that boy from doin' somethin' stupid. But you know, Peezy got shot up two years ago "hanging out with the wrong people", and I've never even seen a gun when I'm with Plax, so I don't think it's such a great argument. People - teammates - have told me I've been a GOOD influence on the guy, so. Cowher can just relax, cause I'ma keep ridin' my cycles, and I'ma keep hangin' with Plax, and I'll keep riding motorcycles WITH Plax, and that's that.