#or he's going to tie the owner's son to the football post at the school and leave him there overnight

[softquietsteadylove]

love the Thenamesh 10 Things (I Hate About You) AU, can we have some more

"Lookin' for someone, sweetheart?"

She knew it was a mistake to come here. Thena rolled her eyes, "the person in question is not you, if that's what you're implying."

"Well, you look pretty far from home," yet another metal shop monkey leapt down from working on the back of a truck to approach her. "You must be here for something."

"Nothing with which I need your assistance," she barked at them, but the garage boys were far less intimidated by her hissing and snarling than usual prep boys. She curled in on herself more but held her shoulders straight, her purse on her shoulder and a hoodie clasped in her hands in front of her.

"No?" the first one circled in closer, like a jaguar circling its prey. "Try me, sweetheart."

"Kind offer," she snapped at him, leaning away from his imposing body language (and odour). "I'll pass."

"How 'bout me, then?"

"What about me, princess?"

"Do not call me that!" She moved forward to hiss at that one right in his face. The rest of them laughed. She had walked too willingly into the wolf den.

"She's fiery, boys!"

"I'll be going, since none of you can assist me," she huffed, ready to turn up her nose and walk out."

"Not so fast, sweetie pie," the first one slapped his hand over the door frame, blocking her exit. "What kinda hosts would we be if we didn't even offer the lady some refreshments?"

"I do not want anything the likes of you enjoy."

"Not even a beer?" he laughed right in her face, back to encroaching on her personal space. "Cig? How 'bout the roofie special?"

"Leave her alone."

Thena backed up until she hit something solid, hands steadying her at the arms. She looked up, unsurprised to see the lower jaw of a familiar face. "Gil?"

"Back the fuck up, all of you," he directed the rest of the boys in the shop, still holding Thena by the shoulders. "She's not here for you."

"So, this is Gil's little princess, huh?"

"Come on," he whispered to her, refusing to dignify the animals' howls with a response. He led her out of the darkened garage and into the sun, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she scowled, adjusting her purse on her shoulder as soon as they were in the sun again. "I cannot believe they are offered employment."

"Well, they're not really," Gil answered her unasked question. "The owner does employ you if you're good, but mostly the garage is open for you to do your own work, if you bring your own parts and stuff. That's why they all hang out there."

Thena tilted her head, eyeing him, "I didn't imagine that was the crowd you ran with."

"I don't," he scowled at even the implication of it. He eyed her in return, "what are you doing here, anyway?"

Her back straightened and she huffed, "looking for you."

"Okay," he walked closer to her, his hand at her back, guiding her further still from the shady garage, "but why, Princess?"

Thena gripped the hoodie in her hands, "to return what is yours, of course."

"Hm."

"What?" she snapped at him, but he didn't even reach for the hoodie of his in her hands. "You did state that I could keep it last we met. Now I'm returning it!--or have manners of even that level escaped you?"

But Gilgamesh didn't rise to any of her snapping or sniping. He looked her over again, as if he could read her like a completely open book. "No."

"No?" she balked. "N-No?!"

"No, that's not why you're here," he chuckled, resuming walking whether she was following him or not. "You wouldn't go this out of your way for that thing."

Thena gripped it tighter and trotted a few steps to catch up with him. "Oh, and you know me so very well!"

"I know you pretty well by now, your ladyship," he chuckled right in her face. His teeth looked fine--maybe he hadn't smoked for that long before they met. "And that is not something you would do just to return some stupid sweater."

Thena twisted it in her hands, and Gil really didn't seem to care. She shifted on her feet and he raised his eyebrows at her. "I need a ride."

"Whassit?" he held his hand to his ear and leaned forward (bastard). "Can't hear you!"

She huffed, feeling the sting of indignity in her cheeks, "my car is in the shop and Sersi is at Dane's, can I please have a ride?"

"Oh, I see," he snickered, enjoying the idea of her being indebted to him already. "Your Highness needs a ride from li'l ol' Gilgamesh, eh?"

"Never mind," she growled, tossing his hoodie at his stupid wide chest, "I'll walk."

"Hey!"

Gil caught the hoodie against him with one hand, grasping her by the waist with the other. His face lost the gleeful smile he'd had a minute ago. "You're not walking all the way home alone."

She glared at him, making a point of wrenching herself away from him, "you've no need for the veil of chivalry. It is broad daylight, I'm sure I'll be-"

"You're not, Thena," he repeated, moving into her space again.

She gave him her most withering glare, "I don't need you."

He met her icy stare with his own, "no, 'cause you don't need anyone, right Princess?"

She pulled herself away from him again, wrapping her arms around herself, "forget it."

"Thena," he called after her, but she kept walking. "Thena!"

She huffed at herself; she knew she shouldn't have come looking for him. Not this time, and not that time on the beach either. So, why did she keep doing it?

"Thena, please."

She turned, maybe shocked because she wasn't sure if she could remember hearing 'please' from that mouth of his before.

"Please," he repeated, entirely serious and holding his arm out for them to cross the street, "Thena."

She sighed, adjusting her purse again. "Fine."

Gil waited until she was beside him again to even start walking. He hold the balled up hoodie in his hand, "you can keep this, y'know--if you want."

She eyed the hoodie she had actually been wearing in the comfort of her room for the past several weeks. "It's yours."

"Consider it yours."

"What if I don't want it?"

"Too bad."

Thena let him lay the thing over her shoulders again, trying to tell herself it wasn't familiar or comforting or nice and warm. "If you insist."

[west43rdstreet]

Henry Mark Newman.

Faceclaim: Jensen Ackles. Age: 31 years old. Birthday: 30th October, 1986. Hometown: Henderson, Nevada.  Sexuality: Heterosexual. Bisexual.

Current Occupation: Hired Guard. Aspirations: None currently. Pets: None.

Qualifications: - High School Diploma.  - Rank of Sergeant in the Marines. - Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (Raiders).

Biography: Henry or rather Mark, was born in the south of Nevada to Bradley and Helen. He hadn’t been planned, more of an accident waiting to happen. His parents were always moving around due to his father’s role in the RAF. Yet they’d been careless and Helen had fallen pregnant. Luckily, Brad was stationed in Nevada for two years and it gave them chance to start raising a son.

He was named Henry after his grandfather, but always went by the name of Mark. He prefers the name Mark, although he won’t tell his father that. There’s a lot of pressure placed on his shoulders from a young age. His father is strict, stern and treats his son more like another cadet than his own child.

Growing up, Mark moved around an awful lot. The backseat of a car was more like home than the countless states they went through or the Motels and Army bases they stayed near. His family didn’t settle down when they had a child, they took the inconvenience with them. His mother, he was much closer too. She did her best to offer Mark a life as close to ‘normal’ as she was able to. Thankfully, his father’s placement in Washington State was placed timely to him starting High School. He was able to play football, join band, have a girlfriend, he was starting to set his feet on the ground. Most of the time he’d avoided meeting people for anything other than casual hook ups, yet now he’d blossomed in High School and it was where he met his future wife, Chrissie.

Before he even finished High School, he knew where he wanted to go. He was set on joining the U.S Military and serving his country. He wanted to serve, he always had done. He’d grown up surrounded by the army, it was home to him. At seventeen, he’d enlisted and was pacing his way through training during his last year of High School. His parents were more than supportive on the matter.

The next chapter of Mark’s life rolled into one. He fell in love with his High School sweetheart and they become inseparable. He remembered his mother once telling him it was an echo of how her and his father had started. 

The Marines was where Mark found his place. He was a good soldier. Skilled and a strong leader. He was noticed for his commitment to his service, that was reflected in the honours he received and his quick rise in the ranks. He considered himself lucky, his partner was more than happy to travel around with him, she took the sightseeing and time to build a journalism career. Together they were able to make things work between them for a few years. It would be another five years when he reached the age of 22 did the two tie the knot. His tour overseas were supported through Skype calls and constant letters. Things seemed easier when it was just the two of them to worry about. 

That all changed when he turned 26. Almost nine years of service, time in America and across the other seven continents of the world, a new chapter of his life opened. Mark became a father to a little girl by the name of Charlotte. With that time came a change for Mark, not only with new responsibilities, he was assigned to the special forces within his branch. He was taken in to the recently named, Raiders, and served many years performing counter terrorism missions. This of course made home life tough. His now wife became pregnant again while he was 28 and the two had a son, Daxton. Mark’s military life was becoming hectic, as was his home life. Two worlds began to unbalance and became unmanageable, leaving things to fall apart for the man, very quickly.

Now Mark was never a bad father. As much as people liked to believe. He spent every opportunity on the phone, skyping or writing letters to his children. They became the centre of his world and he wouldn’t have it any other way. At home, he spent every moment with them and was the father they needed. He did his best to make it up to them for his time away, especially with his demanding schedule. Although, he was thankful he got to see them every few months.

With fourteen years in service to his name, Mark has certainly seen some gnarly sights. He’d had friends come and go and done unspeakable things himself. Those burdens begin to take their toll on a soul and at the age of 31, he was discharged from the military for an unfit mind-state. It was when coming back from his most recent mission, their truck his an IED. Mark came out better off than most of the men involved, Yet it became evident whilst at camp, after a PTSD episode and a medical examination, that he was no longer fit for service. 

Leaving the military after such a credible service with only some burn marks, scars and a whole list of wounds that couldn’t be seen. Mark knew he was leaving in better shape that a lot of his friends hand. 

Adjusting back to the real world had been tough for Mark. Post traumatic stress had already become a problem in his marriage, it was just something his wife hadn’t been able to cope with. They’d tried together to make things work. Mark had been to therapy, attended support groups, he’d done everything she asked but it still put too much of a strain on their relationship. After his discharge, he arrived home in the November of 2017 and it only took four months of him being permanently back at home before they were filing for a divorce. 

March saw Mark sleeping on the couch for a month while the family tried to cope followed by a four month long wait for a custody battle. The outcome wasn’t one he was too thrilled with. Mark accepted the deal of getting accompanied visits every holiday in the school calendar. He does miss his children dreadfully and his separation has been one where he and his ex still talk. Admittedly, there’s some resentment from him but they are civil for the children. 

This new chapter, away from his family, away from the military, left him with the decision of moving to New York, Getting a job and a fresh start seemed the best way to prove he was capable of being a fit father. The city itself was not his first choice, Mark had never visited before. However, with his children just out of state in Stamford, Connecticut it was convenient. He didn’t want to return home to his parents after they finally settled in Nevada, it was too far away from them.

New York was his next destination, a city that never sleeps. Much like him. 

Headcannons:

Mark is a father of two. A four year old son, Daxton (Dax), and a six year old daughter named Charlotte (Charlie). He’s a good father and sees his children when he’s able to. He is currently divorced from his wife and she has moved out of state meaning he doesn’t see them too often.

He has a hobby of writing and illustrating children’s stories. He creates books and stories himself and shares them with his children. He’s never considered it as a career, he does it to see the smile on their faces.

He has a very low opinion of himself. He doesn’t make friends easily because friends mean you lose them. He was once told by his Commander after a heated argument, that he was “dangerous and careless. You believe you have nothing to lose because nobody hates you more than you.” It’s was a reality check and has stuck with him since.

His only goal is striving to be a good father. His face lights up around his kids, like he’s a different person. They bring him great joy and he counts down the days to see them again. Usually it’s every half term during the school holidays. Mark cares very little about himself so the more he sees his children, the more his hard exterior, he’s build up, comes down.

Mark absolutely loves Football. He played in his school career, whenever he could with the family moving around so much. He’s always followed the Dallas Cowboys after stopping there as a kid. They stayed in Texas for six months and he fell in love with the location. Another favourable place is Washington State. He prefers nature over the bustle of cities.

He has a great obsession with planes, military planes to be specific. In his downtime he’s building a model Spitfire with his children. They currently have the body and one wing attached. There’s a splodge of red paint on the wing that his four year old accidentally added. It’s now been renamed as the Newman Edition. It’s waiting in his office for their next visit.

While growing up, Mark was an only child and didn’t make many friends with moving around so often. At the age of 11 he asked every day for a Dog, doing all he could to prove he’d be a good owner. For his 12th birthday he was gifted with Icarus. The two shared a friendship that lasted 15 long years. He was 27 when they had to part. Mark speaks with nothing but happiness when referring to ‘Rus’ and he will gladly speak of his best friend for hours. He loves being able to speak about him.

He has a hidden talent with the guitar. He’s a casual player and would by no means call himself a musician, it’s just a bit of fun in his eyes. He also loves a spot of karaoke if you can get enough beers down him.

His favourite meal is a cheeseburger with salty fries. He loves cooking and is happy to cook for guests, so if you ever want feeding then drop by!

Surprising to most, Mark is a huge bag of giggles. That’s the reward of breaking down that iron exterior he puts on as a front. He’s a kind and loving man. Sitting around with friends and a few beers just talking is one of his favourite ways to pass the time. He also has an infectious laugh.

Favourite Song: The Final Countdown - Europe. Favourite Quote: “Be bold enough to use your voice, brave enough to listen to your heart and strong enough to live the life you’ve always imagined.”

[viraljournalist]

Andy Reid's Super Bowl LIV win is the capper on a Hall of Fame career for Chiefs coach

New Post has been published on https://viraljournalist.com/andy-reids-super-bowl-liv-win-is-the-capper-on-a-hall-of-fame-career-for-chiefs-coach/

Andy Reid's Super Bowl LIV win is the capper on a Hall of Fame career for Chiefs coach

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — “MAN ALIVE!” Andrew Walter Reid bellowed from his toes as he marched through his Kansas City Chiefs locker room, glowing like a teenager who had just scored a date with the prettiest girl in school. Reid had just finished handing out credit for this epic Super Bowl victory as easily as one would hand out a business card at a job fair, even giving a shoutout to Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, the billionaire who fired him.

Man Alive! Those two shouted words on the way to his office said it all. Reid was letting it all out, all those seasons of chasing in vain that NFL grail that was finally, mercifully, in his hands. Reid ended his 20-year title drought by ending the Chiefs’ 50-year title drought by coming from behind to beat Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers 31-20.

After the game, still on the field, Reid kissed the Lombardi trophy and raised it to the South Florida sky, and then Andy did what Andy always does.

Andy said this wasn’t about Andy. He talked about his whirling dervish of a quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, and the executive who long ago saw Mahomes as a developing Mozart, Brett Veach. He talked about the Hunt family, his assistants, his players in Kansas City, his players in Philly. If Andy went long enough at his news conference podium, he would’ve gotten around to thanking his mailman, too.

But if Reid thought he was getting away with his selfless act, sorry pal, that was a no-can-do on this forever Sunday night.

This one was about the human teddy bear with a rainforest for a mustache, the guy who once put away a 40-ounce steak in 19 minutes.

This one was all about Big Red.

2 Related

“He’s one of the best coaches of all time; he already was before we won this game,” said Mahomes, the MVP of Super Bowl LIV. “But we wanted to get that trophy just because he deserved it. The work that he puts in day in and day out. He’s there at like 3 in the morning, and he leaves at 11 [at night]. I don’t think he sleeps. I’ve tried to beat him in, and I never can. He’s someone that works harder than anyone I’ve ever known, and he deserves it.”

The rifle-armed son of a former big league reliever, Mahomes said he had two goals when he became the starting quarterback of the Chiefs. One, to win the AFC championship and bring the Lamar Hunt Trophy back to the hometown of the late Chiefs owner who came up with the term “Super Bowl” for what has effectively become a national holiday.

“And the second-most important thing was to get Coach Reid a Super Bowl trophy,” Mahomes said.

Will this liberating triumph change Coach Reid? What do you think? This is a man who said he celebrated his AFC title game victory over Tennessee — which booked him a trip back to the Super Bowl for the first time in 15 years — by eating a cheeseburger and then going to bed. “I’ll have a double cheeseburger tonight,” Reid said Sunday. “Extra cheese.”

And why not? With this win, Reid finally proved that nice guys do indeed finish first, even if they have to wait a little while to get there. In the weeks leading up to his crowning career achievement, it was clear the 61-year-old Reid had already proven you can be almost universally admired and adored even if you don’t finish first once across two decades as an NFL head coach.

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

But man, it will be so sweet for this grandfather of nine, the son of a Los Angeles-based doctor (his mother, Elizabeth) and a Hollywood set designer and artist (his father, Walter, a Navy veteran of World War II), to never again answer for his inability to win the big one over 14 seasons in Philadelphia, and then over his first six in Kansas City.

No more questions about time management, about choking in the playoffs, about Dee Ford lining up offside against New England, about watching his Eagles treat a two-score deficit late in their Super Bowl loss to the Patriots 15 years ago as an opportunity to move at a pace better suited for a ballroom walk-through.

Just like in that crushing defeat in Jacksonville in February 2005, Reid’s team was down 10 points in the middle of the fourth quarter. Only this time his players ran a Showtime fastbreak through the league’s most ferocious defense, led by a visionary, Mahomes, who handles the ball and passes it the way few quarterbacks ever have.

“Keep going,” Reid told his players as they struggled to put points on the board. “We’re going to be OK. We’ve done it before; we’ll do it again.”

Reid was a prophet carrying an oversize dinner menu for a play card. So now the questions will not be about Reid’s failures. Instead, they’ll ask Reid about the night he became football’s champion, the night his 222nd career victory silenced all that noise about him being the sport’s most prolific winner without a ring.

Now they’ll ask Reid about the night he almost certainly sealed his future induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“Nobody deserves this trophy more than Andy Reid,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, son of Lamar, told the crowd and the Fox TV audience during the postgame ceremony.

“We got that ring for Big Red,” Travis Kelce said. “He acts like a father figure to everyone in the building, and you appreciate that. … We’re married together forever now.”

Many of Reid’s friends and colleagues had spent the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl being asked how they would react in the event that Reid finally won a Super Bowl. Some predicted they would cry. All predicted they would be choked up, and as happy for Andy as Andy was for his wife, Tammy, his sons, Britt and Spencer, and his daughters, Crosby and Drew Ann, and all those wearing Chiefs jerseys around them.

“Andy gave me a kiss right on the cheek when we won,” said Dave Merritt, his defensive backs coach and an assistant who won two titles with Tom Coughlin’s New York Giants. “As soon as it was over I thought about Andy’s family, his kids, his wife, his cousins, his brothers, everyone associated with him. Not only Coach Reid became a world champ, they all became world champs. I was so moved watching Andy on the stage with his family around and all that confetti coming down on top of them.”

REID’S FOOTBALL JOURNEY, which started in 1971 when an outsize 13-year-old famously wore a Rams uniform while competing in the punt, pass and kick competition, culminated at last on the biggest stage in sports. With the NFL celebrating an entire century of games, and with old haunts Bill Belichick and Tom Brady in the house for the ceremony, Reid was the right guy to lead the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl victory in a half-century. And San Francisco was a most appropriate full-circle opponent — Reid worked his first real coaching job at San Francisco State, where he sold hot dogs to help raise money for the now-defunct Division II program. He has come a long way, baby, and his generosity of spirit made him relatable, huggable and easy to root for.

Everything you need to know: • Box score | Mahomes wins MVP • O’Connor on Reid’s legacy win • Barnwell: How Chiefs came back • Graziano: Mahomes to the rescue More: Super Bowl LIV » | NFL coverage »

“Andy truly puts others before himself,” says his former VP of player personnel in Philadelphia, Jason Licht, now the GM of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “He’s been wanting to win this for everybody else before he wants to win it for himself, and he’s an unbelievable leader because of that. He’s one of those leaders that when things aren’t going well he takes all the blame, and when things are going good he gives credit to all the great work everyone else did. And that’s why everybody loves playing for him, and goes the extra mile for him.”

In the end, for Reid, it all comes back to trust and empowerment, and to letting his players breathe. In practice, his quarterback and receivers are permitted — if not outright encouraged — to close their eyes as they work on some creative pitching and catching. Mahomes says the everyday fun sanctioned by Reid “keeps us loose and ready to go on game days.” No wonder that the quarterback, at age 24, is already on record saying he wants to spend his entire career in Kansas City.

Reid is one of the brilliant offensive minds of his generation, or of any generation, and yet his belief in freedom of expression works on the defensive side of the ball, too. “This is my third program in the league,” Tyrann Mathieu says, “but I feel I can be myself here. … [Reid] wants us to be comfortable, relaxed, at ease.”

By all accounts, his insistence that his players stay true to themselves inspired them to play at the highest possible level, and doubled their affection for the coach who always looked as if he should be wearing a striped red and white jacket, red bow tie, and straw skimmer hat as part of a barbershop quartet.

“He tells them all the time in team meetings, ‘Let your personality show,'” says Britt Reid, his father’s linebackers coach. “I think that’s important. You can’t be someone you’re not. If you want to play this game to the best of your ability, you’ve got to be you.”

With a win over the 49ers, Andy Reid finally put an end to the questions over his big-game management — and secured a capper on his Hall of Fame career. Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports

Sometimes Merritt will head out to practice and find his defensive backs working on moves that have nothing to do with containing opposing receivers. “They’re dancing, the music is on, and they’re going crazy on the sideline,” Merritt says with a laugh. “But I can’t say anything to them because the head coach said, ‘Let your personalities show.'”

Britt says his father got his creativity from his own dad (Andy has a talent for drawing caricatures, including some of his youngest son, Spencer, a strength and conditioning coach at Colorado State), and his refined and calculating intellect from his mom, the radiologist. Those handed-down gifts have helped Reid coach his freewheeling Mozart at quarterback. Mahomes, Britt says, “has definitely reinvigorated him.”

Nothing against Mahomes’ predecessor, of course, as Alex Smith was a dignified winner in Kansas City who could not have handled the transition to the kid with any more grace. But Mahomes is a generational talent and an improvisational thinker who enables the artistic half of Reid’s beautiful football mind to dream up all kinds of exotic route trees in the middle of the night.

“The thing people don’t see about Andy is that this is still a kid’s game to him,” says Tom Melvin, Reid’s assistant for more than two decades and an alumnus of his offensive line at San Francisco State. “And during a play in practice, Patrick will throw the ball and before it’s caught he’ll go, ‘You like that throw, don’t you?’ He’s playing a kid’s game like a kid. So for Andy and Patrick, it’s just playtime now.”

It was playtime for all Chiefs during this championship run. The exclamation point was a fitting defeat of a team that suited up Dee Ford, the goat who allowed the GOAT, Tom Brady, to shake off what would’ve been a fatal interception last year and lead the Patriots to the AFC title. Sunday night, after winning the big game, Reid exonerated his former player for lining up where he did on the penalty, repeating for the 47th time, “It wasn’t Dee Ford, it was all of us. …We could’ve done four inches better.”

It was just Andy being Andy, taking on the burden himself to avoid making anyone — even a former player on the opposing team — carry a heavier load than he needed to.

FOR THE RECORD: Reid’s user-friendly practices shouldn’t suggest that good ol’ Andy is running the league’s answer to Club Med. He no longer has the GM responsibilities he had in Philadelphia, yet Reid still works absurdly long hours, even by NFL standards, and expects his assistants and front-office people to keep up. Licht said Reid slept in that office three or four nights a week in Philly, and it’s obvious that nothing much has changed in Kansas City.

NFL PrimeTime continues this postseason with extended highlights and analysis following the conclusion of each day’s playoff games. Watch on ESPN+

But Reid’s near-maniacal devotion to his craft, and to every imaginable game-prep detail, has never twisted him into an angry or paranoid mess. He can be stern with players and staffers when necessary, but Licht described him as a coach with “a relaxed California swag and chill way about him.”

“Andy can get along with anybody,” Licht says. “He has a way of coming into your office, sitting down, and realizing when somebody needs to get his mind off things. He’ll talk about anything and everything, and you love being around him. When he’s putting in all those hours, you just didn’t want to let him down and not be there in case he had a question for you. You didn’t want to miss the opportunity to have another five or 15 minutes of bonding with him.”

“The entire league wants Andy to win because of how he treats and leads his men,” says Dave Merritt, his defensive backs coach. Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Merritt sees the same man in Kansas City that Licht saw in Philly, and it comes as no surprise. “Leslie Frazier told me about him 20 years ago,” Merritt says of the former Eagles assistant. “He said, ‘Dave, if you ever get a chance to work with Andy Reid, don’t ever turn it down.'”

He didn’t, not after taking a call from Reid in the middle of a golf round and, by his estimation, completing contract talks between a pitch and a putt. Merritt’s experiences with his new boss are quite different from those he had in New York. Coughlin, he reminds, was an iron-fisted ruler who fined Giants for wearing the wrong socks in hotel lobbies. Reid responds to relatively benign rules violations more like a nurturing father.

“Another thing I learned is that Andy really trusts us to coach these players, and that gives you so much confidence as an assistant,” Merritt says. “With Tom Coughlin, we had staff meetings every day, sometimes twice a day, three times a day. I’ve never seen a coach operate the way Andy operates, where we go through the week and never have a staff meeting.”

REID’S STORY PROBABLY makes you feel good inside, unless you’re a fan of the 49ers or someone who lost a few bucks betting that their defense would win San Francisco its sixth Lombardi trophy. Who couldn’t feel good about an NFL head coach who still occasionally drives the Ford Model A his father bought after the war for $25? And besides, we all sorta needed a story like this at the end of a heartbreaking week in sports.

Andy Reid personally knew Kobe Bryant, another tough guy with Philly roots, and would talk about him here and there at the Eagles’ facility. “He would just say of Kobe, ‘That’s a good dude, man. That’s a good dude,'” Licht recalls. “People who know Andy know that’s high praise for him.”

Asked during Super Bowl week about the helicopter crash that killed the Lakers legend, his teenage daughter Gianna and seven other passengers, Reid predicted the Bryant family would “get back into the swing of life and do great things.” Just like the Reids did after one of their sons, Garrett, died of an accidental heroin overdose during training camp in 2012.

Later that year, Andy ignored friends’ suggestions that he should take a year off to regroup after the Eagles fired him. Instead, he immediately filled the opening in Kansas City, where linebacker Jovan Belcher had just killed his girlfriend before taking his own life in the team parking lot. Reid needed the Chiefs as much as the Chiefs needed him. Andy immediately added to his staff his second-oldest of three sons, Britt, despite his own past of drug and gun charges and jail time.

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Sunday night, Britt was on the winning Super Bowl side as a sober linebackers coach for his old man.

What a moment for Kansas City. What a week for the Reids. The Chiefs honored Reid at the start of Super Bowl week by wearing his cherished Hawaiian shirts and Air Force 1 sneakers, and they honored him again at the end of Super Bowl week by scoring more points than the 49ers scored.

“An-dy … An-dy … An-dy,” the Chiefs fans chanted in the final seconds of Sunday’s game. Reid was Gatorade-d by his players. It was all hugs and kisses and confetti from there.

“Hey, how about those Chieeeeeeeeeeefs!” Reid roared to the crowd during the ceremony as he wore his white championship cap. Tammy Reid had described her husband as “calm as a cucumber” in the lead-up to the game, and soon enough Reid was in his news conference already talking about a potential title No. 2.

“I’m really excited about it,” Reid said. “You get one, you want to go get another one.”

When he was done at the microphone, Andy loaded himself into a golf cart with Tammy, the woman he still calls his girlfriend, and headed for the locker room.

He will surely spend the coming days handing out credit to everyone who has helped him in his eight college and pro jobs, and way back to his time as a student-athlete and aspiring sportswriter at Brigham Young. Back then, Reid wrote columns for The Provo Daily Herald. All these years later, that young journalist inside the old coach knows exactly how this story needs to be written.

Above all, Super Bowl LIV belongs to a vital member of the Kansas City Chiefs. The one in Andy Reid’s mirror.

Source link

[wandashifflett]

NFL Legend Joins Las Vegas Raiders in Amazing Role: ‘It’s Pretty Special’

Ethan Miller / Getty ImagesFormer NFL and UNLV quarterback Randall Cunningham attends a news conference at UNLV’s Fertitta Football Complex on Dec. 13, 2019, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

By Bryan Chai Published July 11, 2020 at 1:07pm

Even the most ardent supporters of the NFL have to admit that the news cycle surrounding the league can be polarizing at the very least, if not downright depressing.

The 2020 version of the NFL has been rife with politics, two separate national anthems, Black Lives Matter paraphernalia and a disgusting amount of anti-Semitism.

That’s to say nothing of players getting into legal troubles or being attacked by the outrage mob for daring to support the American flag.

Given all of that, being able to report on a bit of hopefulness or good news when it comes to America’s eminent professional sports league is like a breath of fresh air.

And it doesn’t get much more hopeful or good than when Jesus Christ and faith enter the fray, particularly at a time when Christianity seems to be under absurd scrutiny.

TRENDING: ‘This Hurts’: Trump Family Tell-All Book Falsely Accused a Dead Man, His Widow Says

Former NFL MVP and First-Team All-Pro Randall Cunningham is back in the NFL, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Obviously, the 57-year-old former quarterback isn’t playing, but he has taken up arguably an even more important role — team chaplain.

The four-time Pro Bowler told ESPN that he has accepted a position as team chaplain with the newly minted Las Vegas Raiders, and his excitement seemed palpable.

“I’m elated, flabbergasted,” Cunningham said Friday. “I’ve already been in on some [Zoom] meetings with the team. I plan on spending a lot of time with the guys when it’s OK. I’ve talked with [quarterback] Marcus Mariota, [wide receiver] Nelson Agholor. What an amazing group of people [team owner] Mark Davis and [head coach] Jon Gruden have put together.”

Do you want to see more athletes be openly proud about their faith?

Although Cunningham is best known for his time as the quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings, as well as his short stints with the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens, his ties to Las Vegas actually run fairly deep.

The retired quarterback played three seasons — from 1982 to 1984 — for the UNLV Rebels, increasing his completion percentage and number of passing touchdowns each season. Cunningham, who is widely considered the best football player to don the school’s jersey, even punted for the team.

Cunningham’s collegiate exploits garnered him College Football Hall of Fame honors in 2016.

But it’s not just his football accomplishments that tie him deeply to Las Vegas.

RELATED: Ahead of Big Fight, UFC Star Defends Goya Foods: Actions ‘Speak Louder Than the #Woke Mob’

Cunningham eventually made Las Vegas his permanent residence late in his NFL career and even established his own church, Remnant Ministries, there.

Remnant Ministries’ statement of faith makes its beliefs clear: [T]here is one living and true GOD, eternally existing in three persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory; that this triune God created all, upholds all and governs all.”

It’s Cunningham’s bedrock of faith that had Davis describing him as “pretty special.”

“He’s going to take care of the guys in Las Vegas,” Davis told ESPN. “Jon had him address the team in a team Zoom [recently] and he did a really good job of setting the stage for the team in Las Vegas.

“When you talk to anyone in the community, everybody always talks about Randall. It’s pretty special.”

According to Cunningham, Gruden personally asked him to take on team chaplain responsibilities.

“Gruden asked me to be the team chaplain,” Cunningham said. “I have a responsibility to look after these guys in this town. And I accept that responsibility.”

Cunningham is far from the only legendary NFL figure who proudly espouses his faith.

Hall of Fame former NFL coach Tony Dungy recently had to set the record straight after CNN’s Don Lemon contended that Jesus did not live a perfect life.

Whether it’s Dungy or Cunningham, it’s good to know that even amid controversy, faith can still be prevalent in the NFL.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

from Rayfield Review News https://therayfield.com/nfl-legend-joins-las-vegas-raiders-in-amazing-role-its-pretty-special from The Ray Field https://therayfieldreview.tumblr.com/post/623457583081144320

[megadarkbouquettidalwavethings]

FA Cup: Rochdale’s schoolboy midfielder Daniel Adshead could face Tottenham

Daniel Adshead was the youngest player to feature on FA Cup fourth-round weekend – aged 16 years and 141 days

FA Cup fifth round: Rochdale v Tottenham Hotspur Venue: Spotland Date: Sunday, 18 February Kick-off: 16:00 GMT Coverage: Watch live on BBC One & the BBC Sport app from 15:35 GMT, live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sport and follow text updates on the BBC Sport website.

“When we travelled down to Millwall in the last round, he was doing his homework on the team coach.”

Rochdale boss Keith Hill is talking about the League One club’s 16-year-old midfielder Daniel Adshead, who could face Tottenham in the FA Cup fifth round on Sunday.

Born in 2001, the Manchester schoolboy became Dale’s youngest ever debutant – aged 16 years and 17 days – when he faced Bury in the EFL Trophy on 19 September.

Adshead, who has been linked with Arsenal and Chelsea, has since helped the club reach the FA Cup fifth round for only the third time in their history.

He is so young, child protection regulations mean he must get changed before and after games away from his team-mates.

And, no matter what the result on Sunday, he will be back at Gorton’s Wright Robinson College – where he is deputy head boy – on Monday.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know Dan’s got a great future in the game,” Hill, who gave England defender John Stones his debut for Barnsley in 2012, told BBC Sport.

“People forget he’s only 16. He’s making a lot of progress for someone still at school.

“He got on the pitch against Millwall in the FA Cup, he played 64 minutes against Doncaster in the third round, and he’ll probably be involved as a substitute against Tottenham.

“When he is involved with the first team he misses a few days of school, but when we travelled down to Millwall he was doing his homework on the coach.

“There are a lot of sharks in the football world. I treat Dan like I would do one of my own children.”

‘We hope to see Dan in school on Monday’

Adshead, who is preparing for his GCSEs, is surrounded by seasoned professionals – including 33-year-old defender Jim McNulty.

The former Brighton player said: “While the rest of the players are on the team coach wearing the latest headphones, Dan’s getting stuck into his school work.

“I wasn’t too aware that he has to get changed away from everyone else until there was a situation in a league game at Doncaster in December.

“Dan had made his league debut after coming on as a substitute. We lost the match and Dan was sitting there waiting to get changed. I said to him: ‘Dan, come on, don’t worry about it, get your head up, just get in the shower, and let’s go.’

“He said: ‘I’m not disappointed, I just can’t get in the shower.’ He explained why and I thought, ‘oh my word’. It actually dawned on me how young he is.

“He has to have his own room on away trips, he needs his own changing area and separate shower.”

Martin Haworth, deputy headmaster at Wright Robinson College – whose former pupils include ex-Manchester United and England midfielder Nicky Butt, said Adshead was due at school 15 hours after the Spurs tie.

“We’d hope to see Daniel back at school on Monday as long as he is in bed for a reasonable time – and not out celebrating,” he told BBC Sport.

“The beauty of it is Daniel wants to be in school. He likes coming to school and embraces school life. He’ll either be at football or in school because he’s successful at both.”

Henderson – ‘Rochdale’s Harry Kane’ This is Rochdale’s sixth game in this season’s FA Cup. They have beaten Bromley (4-0), Slough (4-0), Doncaster (1-0) and Millwall (2-2, 1-0) to get this far. Captain Ian Henderson, 33, has scored five of the 12 goals. Henderson, who played for Norwich City in the top-flight in 2004-05, has four goals in his past four appearances. Tottenham have progressed from 16 of their past 17 FA Cup ties against lower-league opponents, losing only to Leeds in the fourth round in 2012-13. They have not lost to a team from the third tier or below in the FA Cup since a 2-1 defeat at Port Vale in January 1988. Rochdale goalkeeper Josh Lillis was in goal when Harry Kane, then aged 17, made his debut for Leyton Orient against Dale at Spotland in 2011. “If I’m being honest, I don’t remember it,” he says. Lillis is the son of former Manchester City player Mark Lillis, who is assistant to John Gregory at Indian Super League team Chennaiyin. Dale have lost their past six FA Cup ties against top-flight opposition since beating Coventry City 2-1 in January 1971. They lost 3-1 at Wolves in their last fifth-round appearance in 2003.

‘Two worlds colliding’

Hill, a former defender who played under Kenny Dalglish at Blackburn Rovers, has been managing Rochdale for 10 years across two spells.

He is the sixth longest-serving manager in the EFL and was in charge when Harry Kane, then 17, made his league debut as a 73rd-minute substitute for Leyton Orient at Spotland in front of a crowd of 2,731 in January 2011.

“I don’t remember that game too well,” said Hill, who has described Sunday’s game as a “collision of two worlds”.

Hill said: “Poch and his staff are welcome in our management room afterwards. It’ll probably be a pie and a bottle of beer. I don’t often go out and buy expensive bottles of red wine”

While Spurs counterpart Mauricio Pochettino spent a reported £42m on defender Davinson Sanchez last August, the most Hill has spent on one player at Rochdale is £75,000.

“We are very astute with our money and we live within our means. That shouldn’t be overlooked. The football world is in massive debt,” he said.

On facing Spurs, the 48-year-old added: “It’s probably the biggest game in Rochdale’s history from a prestige point of view.

“It’s the haves against the have-nots.

“But once the whistle goes it won’t be about who has the biggest wage packet. For 90 minutes we are on a level playing field with Tottenham.”

Hill’s six-year-old son Sidney will be one of the mascots for Sunday’s tie.

“He’s very proud to tell everybody he supports Rochdale,” he added. “But everybody in his school playground doesn’t know who Rochdale are. They might do this weekend.”

Rochdale’s chief executive Russ Green handed out hot drinks to fans who queued in the snow to buy tickets for the Spurs match. The tie is a sell-out at the 10,249-capacity ground

‘I was told I wouldn’t play again’

Nine years ago, McNulty thought his career was over after a horrific injury resulted in the loss of a kidney. He is now preparing for the biggest game of his life.

McNulty was playing for Brighton against Crewe in a League One game on 28 February 2009 when a challenge left him “throwing out blood at an alarming rate”.

“I remember looking down at my white shorts and there was a red circle that was growing bigger and bigger,” McNulty told BBC Sport.

“I was told by a doctor after being rushed into hospital I wouldn’t play again. It was devastating to hear that. I broke down in front of my family.

“Later, the team doctor contacted some friends in the southern hemisphere, where this injury is a bit more common with rugby players. He told me not to worry and that I could continue my career.”

McNulty had two operations in an attempt to save his right kidney and another to “remove the mess that was left”.

He added: “Playing with one kidney doesn’t impact on me. It’s more a lifestyle thing in terms of regular check-ups.

“It probably affects hangovers more than anything else because my one kidney is working doubly hard to get that poison out of the system.”

Rochdale have relaid their much-criticised pitch before the match. Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino was concerned the previous pitch (left), which was heavily sanded following bad weather, would leave both sets of players at risk of injury. Rochdale’s players trained on the new surface (right) on Thursday.

Will Dale cause a major shock?

Rochdale defender Jim McNulty: “We recognise it’s a special game but we’ll treat it like any other in terms of preparation. We know all about Tottenham’s players from watching Match of the Day, but we’ll study them nonetheless.

“There’s been a few conversations amongst the players and how the Juventus game in midweek might help us out after the north London derby. Who knows?”

Match of the Day commentator Guy Mowbray: “It’s not only the inaugural meeting of the clubs, it’s undoubtedly the first time any team’s run of fixture venues has read Wembley-Juventus-Rochdale.

“Whatever happens, it’s Rochdale’s occasion to savour, although their chances have surely lessened with the laying of a brand spanking new pitch. The Spurs spies will have advised of Ian Henderson’s finishing and Matt Done’s wing play, But in these ties it’s usually the top-flight team’s temperament that decides matters – and unlike some (not all) Spurs sides of the past, this one doesn’t mind a battle.”

Rochdale’s Joe Thompson could face Spurs after battling cancer twice

Rochdale goalkeeper Josh Lillis: “Anything can happen… it’s the magic of the FA Cup. You tend to find teams that struggle in the league tend to do well in the cup competitions. I don’t know if it’s a mental thing or a break from the league. I imagine it’s a trophy Tottenham want to win because fans and owners crave trophies. Whether the big guns play, I’m not too sure. But whoever they put out it will be lovely to test ourselves against them.”

Mark Lawrenson, FA Cup winner with Liverpool: “Keith Hill has been at Rochdale for a long, long time. They are not doing particularly well in the league but this will be a massive day for them. However, I think Tottenham, whatever team they select, will have too much for them.”

Rochdale manager Keith Hill: “We want to play a certain type of football and want to be seen in a good light. We want the football world to see we are not just a small club and we do the right things.”

The post FA Cup: Rochdale’s schoolboy midfielder Daniel Adshead could face Tottenham appeared first on Breaking News Top News & Latest News Headlines | Reuters.