Doug Flutie retired from the NFL earlier this week, and while it is my sworn mission to deride anything related to that school in Newton, I have to admit some grudging admiration in how he was able to build a 21 year career in pro football after being widely dismissed when he came out of college.
I attribute this to four things:
1. Flutie's tenure in the CFL. I love the CFL and its wide-ass (and long-ass) field. He gets points by association, even if he did get to spend another stint playing for BC (the Lions this time).
2. The drop kick. That was cool.
3. The whole fiasco in Buffalo where he was replaced because someone had a bee in their bonnet about Rob Johnson being the future of the franchise. Then Johnson proved what most of us knew - he was sadly indicative of the future of the Bills - and Flutie got to work on his tan in San Diego. I'm not sure why he gets bumped up in my estimation from this, but he does.
4. His non-football work, most notably with autism.
He's still on the hook for how the Hail Mary pass got that school into the national spotlight and its resultant position where the local media can't give them enough positive coverage, but outside of that, I think I'll miss him a little. Which is probably an appropriate amount.
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1 comment:
I too grudgingly admire the little man that could. This despite an even more personal reason for despising everything Doug Flutie:
1. He was from my birth town of Natick, MA, but since we moved to the town next door when I was only 5, we endured 4 painful years of Natick kicking Framingham's butt in football.
2. I'm not ashamed to admit I went to BC High (no direct affiliation with BC other than we play our Thanksgiving football game there). When you consider the public school option in Framingham, there really wasn't any reason to doubt this decision (and WE came first, with BC an afterthought 8 years after the High School got it's start). Therefore, I endured daily the fawning over Flutie every Monday during college football season. In fact, my Dad also was a BU grad and had the misfortune of working in an office filled with BC grads and Eagle bandwagon jumpers. Every Monday afternoon, Dad and I would take the train back to Framingham lamenting the fact that all we had heard for the last 8 hrs was "Flutie this.." and "Flutie that..."
3. My junior year of HS, I had to suffer the indignation of having to ask him for an autograph when we ran in to him in a local pizza joint and my then girlfriend began panting and drooling. Oh the humanity...
4. That same year, a road was built through a small forested area connecting two large malls on the Natick/Framingham border. The connector road was named in honor of Flutie. Can you guess what they called it? .................................................................................... Flutie PASS !! Aaaaaarrrrrggggghhh. I felt like knocking it over with my car every time I had to pass it.
That being said and for many of the same reasons you bring up, I have found myself coming to like this likeable munchkin of a quarterback, especially his work with autism. I'd have no problem raising a pint at the pub in his honor if you asked, but the thought of "FLUTIE PASS" still makes me cringe.
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