Quarter-Life Crisis

Jeremy is Berning: Titans to follow Obama?s example

We may have just finished an exhausting election season, but now it's time to ramp up football season. The Tennessee Titans are a surprising dark horse if I've ever seen one. The infamous and annoyingly undefeated '72 Dolphins squad must have thought that they could break out the champagne early this year while watching Tom Brady writhe in pain on the Gillette Stadium greenway. But heading into Week 11, the Titans are a smooth 9-0 to lead the league.

Jeremy is Berning: The only investment you can count on: Pro sports

Say what you want about sports, but they'll come through for you when you need them the most. You can say it's just a game and you can shake your head at the die-hards in the facepaint and the full costume and without a shirt. You can disapprove of the billion-dollar stadiums and the tax-breaks and the miserly owners. You can even hate fantasy drafts, playoff beards and rally-caps. You just don't get it.

Jeremy is Berning

This piece represents the opinion of the author:

December 5, 2008

In less than a month I'll celebrate my 22nd birthday on the streets of Boston, probably all-too-literally, with some friends. I don't know what Matt Forte will be up to next week when he turns 22, but I'm fairly sure that it'll be cooler than heading to the Brookline Applebee's with two guy friends who will each eat their own appetizer sampler.

But that makes sense. After all, Forte can run the 40-yard dash in four seconds and it takes me five seconds to drive it in my beat-up 1998 Chrysler Concorde. Plus, Forte is currently averaging over four yards a carry as the Chicago Bears rookie running back. Believe it or not, the 10 NFL touchdowns Forte has recorded through 12 games this year makes him slightly more attractive to the ladies than my sweet biweekly sports column in the Orient.

Forte is only one of the many young NFL stars to emerge this year that make me question the direction my life has taken. The 2008 NFL draft class is already one of the best in recent memory and will go down as one of the best of all time if the same players contribute in future years. Many of this season's rookies have already played bigger roles than anyone had ever expected of them.

No one thought 22-year old Boston College grad Matt Ryan would lead the Atlanta Falcons to an 8-4 record in his first 12 games at quarterback, at least not anyone whose last name isn't Fitzpatrick, Fitzgerald, O'Hanrahan or the like. And no one without an affinity for Joe Biden and the Fighting Blue Hens of Delaware believed in 22-year old Baltimore Ravens signal-caller Joe Flacco?not even Orioles fans. Yet, Flacco has thrown for 12 touchdowns and has led the Ravens to eight wins thus far.

Denver Broncos wideout Eddie Royal may hit 1,000 receiving yards and he was a second-round draft pick. Though he's only seven months and eight days older, he has 757 yards and seven touchdowns more than I. I thought this year's crop of Bowdoin first years were young, being born in the '90s and all, but first-round draft pick and Carolina running back Jonathan Stewart was born in 1987. At least when (if) I get my first real job I'll be able to celebrate at a bar!

I'm a senior looking for a job and I can see that some of my peers have had success in (and on) the field of football. Maybe I'll give the Career Planning Center a call and see if they can hook me up. Maybe they have a contact with a NESCAC NFLer. Don't scoff, there's a Middlebury grad in the NFL right now, Ravens kicker Steve Hauschka.

Though Ryan and Flacco sounds more like a law firm than two of this year's NFL Rookie of the Year candidates, they were at least highly anticipated draft prospects and were both drafted in the first-round. In this wacky NFL season, even unheralded draftees have been making me feel bad about my own lowly accomplishments.

The NFL's current Mr. Irrelevant, former Idaho (yes, Idaho) linebacker David Vobora, is even getting in on the act. Vobora was picked last in the schoolyard kickball game that was the 2008 NFL draft, and yet even he has logged meaningful NFL minutes after he got his first start against Miami last weekend. Oh yeah, he's only 21 years old and he'll earn $285,000 this season alone, recession or not.

The debate over the NFL Rookie of the Year will be especially fierce this season and Ryan, Flacco, Royal and Forte will receive consideration.

This year's best rookie is an even more important honor than usual given the success of this season's rookie class. And in a year when Kurt Warner is a frontrunner for league MVP, if Matt Ryan can lead the Falcons to the playoffs he'll be in the hunt for even greater honors.

Finding a job, especially in this market, will be tough for all of us seniors, but I expected that. What I don't need is kids just out of college already making six figures and driving Escalades to rub it in my face. I guess at least I can take some solace in the fact that even if I'm working at Burger King next year, I won't have to worry about being knocked out by Ray Lewis.

Heck, keep the crown?I'll take the hits and the Escalade. I'll even give up my sports column.

Comments are permanently closed.