Wabbit season

One of the things I love about sports are the stories that, when you first hear them, you can't quite decide if they're true or not- the kind that seem to develop around and add to the legend of great players. I always remember hearing the tales of Jerry Rice developing his incredible hands from hours spent catching bricks while working with his brickmason father. Jerry Rice seemed almost superhuman as a kid, and that story added to the legend.

Eric Adelson has done a good job tracking down another of those stories, one well known to any college football fan, especially in the SEC.

I think I like the piece because it takes me back to a time when I accepted such tales as the Gospel rather than with the cynicism born of one who has seen too many agent-spun marketing campaigns. Because I first heard of the Glades players in the cane fields as a youngster, I accepted it without question. It's nice to finally read a first hand account.

The image of the father trying to chase down the rabbit and calling for help really stuck with me. I could go much more in-depth, but the simplest commentary is aging sucks.

I wish I could still play my dad one-on-one and know that, no matter how hard I played, he would still find a way to beat me in the end.