The Dark Side of the Game by Tim Green

Author:Tim Green [GREEN, TIM]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SPO015000
ISBN: 9780446551007
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2008-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

WHY JERRY GLANVILLE IS GOOD FOR FOOTBALL

When I first learned that Jerry Glanville was to be the head coach for the Atlanta Falcons I told my wife I would have to get traded. I had no intention of playing football for a guy who drove a Harley and wore a black hat. I always wanted to be a good guy. It seemed Glanville and his team in Houston, complete with their Dome of Pain, were nothing more than a band of criminals.

But, like so many things in life, Jerry Glanville was not what he appeared to be. Well, that's not entirely true. He was, and is, an outrageous personality who really does live his life in a way that most people consider to be crazy. The man you may have seen in dark glasses and a cowboy hat wearing a long duster and a belt buckle the size of a manhole is … well, eccentric. And that's the real Jerry. There is no show for the cameras here. The man is as funny and delightfully zany at the dinner table as he is doing an interview on national TV.

So, why is he good for football? Because of that personality. Jerry Glanville is like the taste of curry pepper when compared to many of the NFL coaching personalities, which are more reminiscent of over-boiled noodles. He had two team buses during his reign in Atlanta, one for the guys who liked to fight, and one for the guys who didn't. He cited this rule to everyone who criticized his lack of team discipline and added further that, on the road, he insisted that no member of his team would be allowed to sleep with a dead woman or a live man. On weeknights, Glanville would do charity fund-raisers with the likes of Travis Tritt, Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Confederate Railroad. He'd almost always join in onstage too, with his raspy Texas accent. Not bad for a kid from Detroit. During the off-season, we could always catch Jerry on TV, running the NASCAR circuit, crashing into walls and burning up engines.

One summer, after missing two weeks of training camp with a contract holdout, I retained to the team to learn that I and Jesse Tuggle, our middle linebacker and also a holdout, would be taking the team to a bar called Fat Tuesday's. For the remaining two weeks of camp, Jerry crooned about how we'd all go to Fat Tuesday's on the last day of camp, which was a Wednesday. I think he loved the play on words as much as the idea of making us take the entire team out on the town. The bill that night came to three thousand dollars, and I wish I'd had a camera to catch the look on Jerry's face when the manager brought him the bill all tallied up on his credit card, which I had pilphered from his office.

But Glanville was more than a jokester, a prankster, a race car driver, and a country-western singer.

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