Get Your Head In The Trenches - jmik58's Blog

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jmik58's Blog

Get Your Head In The Trenches Stuck

Posted on May 22, 2012 at 02:01 PM.

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"Hello O.S. My name is Justin and I have a football consumption problem."

[Reciprocate monotone welcome here]

"Wait, wait, wait. I'm not here to fix the problem."

[Light applause, general scoffing, mumbling about another sports blogger]

"What did I get myself into?" he thought to himself while speaking about himself in the third person.

"Where did they get this guy from?" an experienced veteran of high importance asked above the council.

"I...I, uh...I'm..." he paused to think before shrugging his arms. "I'm from the trenches," he stated succinctly.

All of the members in attendance perked up in their listening booths. Their change in demeanor encouraged and empowered him. The ice was broken. He was one of them.

And so it began:

"I'm here because I truly love the game of football. 'Love?' you might ask. Well, yeah. In a commitment kind of way, I do. I give the game of football my attention. It completes me. It helped define me as a young child with dreams. It helped shape me as a young athlete in preparation for life's obstacles. And it helped me give back by having the opportunity to coach for several years.

Baseball has been good to me in many of the same ways, but the daily mental and physical grind associated with football is something that no other sport has been able to affect on me.

I learned the ropes as a lineman, and thus why I come from the trenches. And let it be known; that will be the last time I use "ropes" in a positive light in reference to football. As most linemen know, ropes are evil. When is the last time a lineman had to pick his feet more than six inches off the ground anyways? The speed ladder. Now that is something I can do.

I've also been treated well in life by my beautiful wife and three wonderful boys. I bring the lineman mentality into my style as a husband and father. I strive to be soft-spoken, hard-working, inquisitive, creative, and humble. I also hope to recover a fumble for a touchdown from time to time, but I realize there are four other trench-dwellers who feel the same way when they see the pigskin laying in the painted area.

I'm a thinking man's man and can be quite contrarian if I believe in an idea. I'm good with people and bad at shortstop. I know that analysis, synthesis, and evaluation are the highest forms of understanding. And I know you can put a cat in an oven, but that doesn't make it a biscuit.

So let me finish by saying that I'm very excited about the opportunity to share myself with you through the glorious avenue of football. I look forward to many days of grunting -- or conversation as the adults put it -- about the one thing we love.

Welcome to the trenches."

Justin is a staff writer for Operation Sports. You can find him on the forums under the username jmik58. Follow him on Twitter @long_snapper.

Comments

# 1 jhogan3132 @ May 22

Well done sir, well done.

# 2 Steve_OS @ May 23

Welcome aboard! Now get me some more links... :P

# 3 cgalligan @ May 23

Very nice intro. I will be following your thoughts / ideas on Football, Baseball and everything in between

# 4 jmik58 @ May 23

@jhogan3132 @cgalligan Thank you both very much. I look forward to some great football/baseball/whatever-ball discussion with you all in the future.

@Steve_OS I was thinking I should talk to you about two things: 1. I stop stalking you with "Other Stuff"...or 2. I just add it to the job description. I think that's what happens when "Other Stuff" becomes a part of my daily routine. Some drink coffee, I go for some O.S Other Stuff.