10/18/2007 10:08:10 PM

Father Time

It was nice to see Rob Hitchcock in the locker room this week for a number of reasons. He is one of the true, great, and personable characters of the league and really has a football presence about him. Another thing is that you always know what you’re going to get with a guy like Hitch. You’re not going to be shocked watching film the day after the game to see him clothesline some poor returner, or bury his helmet in a running back’s chest as he tries to get to the outside because you’ve seen him do it so many times. You don’t play on the same team for that long without being extremely good at what you do in this league, and Rob has been one of the best safeties in the game for a very long time.
Recent years have brought him a little closer to the line of scrimmage however, due to the same force that will factor in for every single one of us – time is not an opponent that can be outrun. To me it seems like a lifetime ago that I caught a middle screen pass at McMahon Stadium in my rookie year, broke a couple of tackles and headed for the end zone only to be leveled by Hitchcock. I remember seeing him out of my periphery, but thinking that I had outrun his angle…I was mistaken. His closing speed right before impact is what impressed me most once I watched the tape the next day, you could tell right away that this man had been knocking people on their hindquarters for quite some time.
Hitch will be turning 37 in a couple of weeks and in light of Sean Fleming’s retirement announcement compiled with Shannon Garrett and Milt Stegall’s continually elevated levels of play, and Sean Millington coming back into the fold as an Argo player at age 39 – I really have no idea anymore what is a good age to hang up the cleats. I’ve always said that I don’t want to be a slave to the game, that I want to leave on my own terms before I’m driven out by the powers that be. Not every player shares this view however, I’ve heard several guys say that they’ll have to be dragged away from the game kicking and screaming. I suppose it comes down to the individual player, what the game means to him, and what he can see his life becoming in the game’s absence.
I honestly, can’t see myself playing this game past the age of 35, not necessarily because I don’t think that my body will hold up. I’ve never had a major surgery, (knock on wood) and I take very good care of myself. For me, I just think that by then the game will have slowed down to the point of not being as fun or challenging as it once was. I remember how fast things happened in my first two years in the league, it seemed like I only had one speed, and it still seemed to not be fast enough to keep pace with the activity level around me. The next three years weren’t a lot better, but I did notice some changes as I understood coverages better. However, the last two years have slowed for me tremendously – to the point that I really have to smile when I play now. I understand why things are happening around me now, why the offensive line is changing the protection vs. a dime substitution, why every defence has holes in it – and more importantly…how to get to them. In another six years I can only imagine how slow the game will be for me, and how slow it must seem to guys like Hitch and Shannon. To watch Shannon call out receivers routes from the sidelines at practice gives me some inclination. I remember discussing this very thing with Mike Morreale last year and he was saying that the key is to get to the point where the game is at a standstill for you, while you’re still athletic enough to capitalize on it.
When the game itself is posing great challenges for you with its speed, physicality and unknown nuances it’s very easy to motivate one-self to try to overcome and achieve. The offseason facility becomes somewhat of a fortress of solitude, as you try to better understand and prepare yourself for what the coming season brings. If all of those things that were previously unknowns become “known’s”, the only thing left to play for, is the physical competition itself really. This would seem to be somewhat lopsided if I as an elder statesman at that time am constantly up against young wide-eyed defenders. Alas, I bet that’s where father time kicks in and trumps the “game knowledge” advantage with “age related physical deficiencies” thus, keeping the challenge level as high as ever. Actually, that sounds like a cruel hoax to me.
All I know is that my hat is off to all of the aforementioned players, as well as the others throughout the league that are playing in the plus side of 30 years of age. That’s a whole lotta snaps fellas and I certainly am not going to be the one to say you should hang up the cleats. I say if you can contribute, a team will pay you accordingly, and you still enjoy what you do – then do it as long as your heart’s content. The shelf life on this job is short enough as it is, without people outside the realm of the game trying to make it even shorter in my humble opinion. ©

KP8