Now that we have seen the miraculous world champion New York Giants, maybe you’re ready for another story about Cabrillo grad MIKE SULLIVAN, this one by Kevin Gleason of the Mid Hudson Times Herald.
February 01, 2008
CHANDLER, Ariz. — The Giants keep bringing Mike Sullivan back to Army. Not that he needs tangible reminders to drift off to 1996, the last great Army football team, when Sullivan helped coach the nation's lovable underdog. Or to his days playing for Army and graduating from West Point and being a platoon leader for the 25th infantry division in 1990, "the best time of my life, besides this.''
This, as Sullivan puts it, is coaching the Giants. He's sitting at a table in the lobby of the Sheraton Resort, the Giants' team hotel off in the desert where coyotes roam. The Super Bowl is only days away.
Sullivan is in his fourth season as receivers coach. He wouldn't be here without help from Bob Sutton, Sullivan's boss at Army. Sutton hooked up Sullivan with Tom Coughlin in 2002, Coughlin's last year as the Jacksonville Jaguars coach, another thread between Army and the Giants.
Now Sullivan is helping America get acquainted with Army football. He brought an old Army teammate into the huddle: Greg Gadson. Lt. Col. Greg Gadson, Army all the way, who lost both legs from a roadside bomb in Iraq nine months ago.
Sullivan asked Coughlin about the possibility of having Gadson talk to the team before a game. Gadson spoke to the Giants the night before the Washington game in Week 3.
Army came back from a 17-3 halftime deficit to beat the Redskins 24-17, and Gadson became part of the team.
"He has a great bond with so many players,'' Sullivan says. "I'm humbled to say he's my friend.''
Gadson called Sullivan a week before being deployed in Iraq in April. "I'm so proud of you,'' Gadson told his teammate, his friend, his brother. "Good luck.''
Sullivan shakes his head. He visited Gadson at Walter Reed after his injuries. He found a man working the hospital ward motivating other patients. Because that's what Gadson did as an Army linebacker. Why stop now?
"He was one of those guys who could play at a lot of Division I-A schools,'' Sullivan's saying. "Just a very, very competitive, relentless player. Off the field, he was a guy who would always be there to help somebody else.''
He'll be here today to join the Giants, to bring Army to the Super Bowl. Coughlin says he'll leave it up to Gadson on when he wants to address the team. There's a distinct possibility Lt. Col. Greg Gadson, Army Class of '89, will deliver a pre-game speech hours before the Giants and Patriots kick off in Super Bowl XLII.
But there's even more than Gadson that keeps bringing Sullivan back to Army. These Giants embody the intangibles of the '96 Army team. The chemistry. The focus. The leadership.
The '96 Cadets talked only about that week's game, nothing long term. They had a saying — "1-0 each week'' — that was hokey and incredibly effective. They didn't so much beat teams as they tortured teams, putting opponents in late-game surrender mode with the nation's best running game.
Army finished 10-2 and played in the Independence Bowl. Who knew Army would go more than a decade without another winning season, 11 years and counting, never mind a bowl bid.
"It's one of those things where, if you have that type of attitude,'' Sullivan says, describing the 1996 Cadets and the 2007 Giants, "you always have a chance.''
The Giants get their chance on Sunday. They will bring a little bit of Army onto the field with them. A little bit of Army at the Super Bowl.
Maybe, Sullivan's saying, folks will hear the Gadson story and root for the Giants, 11 years from Army's unexpected ride, another lovable underdog.
kgleasonthr@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment