NFL Health Playbook features columnists with a different viewpoint of player health and safety from the youth level to pro football.
By Chris Golic, NFL Health Playbook columnist
When you look around America lately many of the images you see are hard to watch. As an adult I am saddened and troubled by the country's climate and our seeming intolerance of others who are different than us in some way be it race, religion, sexual orientation or political views.
As a parent, I am even more concerned about what these events are doing to young people today. What role is all of this playing in shaping them as individuals and a generation as a whole? As they are being bombarded with images of violence and hate, I feel like it is more important than ever to for all of us to come together and reinforce a message of unity and tolerance for our children in our actions and the activities our children are a part of each day.
When thinking about what to write, my mind led to the message Bill Curry has been delivering for many years. For those of you not familiar with Curry, he played football at Georgia Tech and spent 10 years as a center in the NFL. During that time, he learned about the game from legendary coaches and players the likes of Bobby Dodd, Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Bart Starr and Johnny Unitas. He played for two Super Bowl-winning teams, and after retiring, he went on to coach at Georgia Tech, Alabama, Kentucky and Georgia State.
For 11 years, Bill worked as a college football analyst for ESPN as well. During that time, my husband Mike had the privilege of working alongside of Bill in the broadcast booth. Mike's time with Bill not only left a lasting impression on my husband, but our family as a whole. The man really is a football treasure and we all feel that our lives are better for having spent time him.
Curry's message centers upon the football huddle and the impact it has on those who are a part of it. He talks of the huddle being a metaphor for life, place where all men are the same despite their obvious differences.
The huddle is a place that brings people together and is inclusive of all, blacks, whites, conservatives, liberals, country guys, city guys, slim guys and overweight guys. Bill talks about the miracle of team and its ability to change lives. How on each and every play players depend on the other guys in that huddle to succeed and that differences don't matter during their time on the field.
As a proponent for youth sports and the value it can bring to a young person's life, I feel football and the huddle are more important than ever in the world in which we live. Football gives young people the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than themselves in a world that, quite frankly, could use a little more uniting.
As parents, we have to find ways to offer our children experiences that teach them that while people might look different and think different, we really are fundamentally the same. We need to find ways to teach respect and love for one another, and sport is a vehicle that can deliver that message each and every day. I have seen what the huddle has done for men like Curry, my husband and my sons and the men they have become as a result of their time in the huddle
As Curry said: The huddle is what America is supposed to be, could be, might be in our best dreams. Maybe we all could use some time in the huddle.
Christine Golic is the NFL's Consultant on Youth Football and a member of the Heads Up Football Advisory Committee. Golic is the wife of Mike Golic, a nine-year NFL veteran and co-host of ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike in the Morning," and mother of two sons who played college football at Notre Dame and a daughter who is a swimmer at Notre Dame.
