Behind the Curtain....of Me.

Most of my friends consider me an “old school” guy when discussing all things sports. My childhood hero was Walter Payton and my Dad always made a point to make sure I noticed when he scored a touchdown – he just handed the ball to the referee. It wasn’t about “me”; it was about the team and winning. Die to self. All the old school clichés. I bought in hook, line and sinker.

However, in the mid-80’s, the flamboyance of athletes was starting to take shape. And as a high school student I was very impressionable. As someone who devoured any sporting event that was on television (we only had the three channels because we lived out in the farm lands and didn’t have cable television) the influences were abounding. Front and center were the Miami Hurricanes, the bad boys of college football. My disdain for them ran deep. Anyone and anything that spit in the face of “true sportsmanship” was my sworn enemy. The U, as they called themselves, were #1 on my hated list.

Knowing this, the fact that one of my all-time favorites athletes is Michael Irvin, is completely backward. In spite of most of our opinions aligning in one direction, there are anomalies that exist. Here is my chance to let you behind the veil as to why this specific one occurs. Some others, like being a pro wrestling fan, thinking Jose Canseco was a flat out stud, and rooting for Alabama football are stories for another time. This time it’s all about The Playmaker.

I stumbled across “The Road to Canton: Michael Irvin” last night on the NFL Network and I was hooked. It brought back all the memories of why I liked Mike (pun intended) and gave me even more information on the man and his triumphs and tragedies. My fondness for Irvin didn’t start until he became a Cowboy. As mentioned earlier, I couldn’t stand the Miami Hurricanes so my partiality towards Irvin didn’t start there. So how did it happen? I need to give you more back story. My older brother and I loved to compete against each other. Surprise, I know. So much so that we tended to take opposite ends of major college rivalries just to compete with each other. The most intense was USC-UCLA where my brother was a Trojan fan and I was a Bruin fan. UCLA happened to have a quarterback when I was in college named Troy Aikman. I have been, and always will be, a mark for Troy Aikman. He’s even one of my favorite analysts on television now that he’s retired. The Dallas Cowboys drafted Aikman number 1 overall in 1989. Obviously my affection for Troy carried into the professional level. And that’s where I began to learn about Michael Irvin.

Charisma. It’s a characteristic that draws us to people. Michael Irvin had it. My fascination with a player who would woof and talk smack seemed oddly fun. Maybe it was the little part of me that wanted to have the chutzpah to do that myself. To be good enough to talk smack, then back it up with my play. Before I saw it all as preening and arrogance, but now I saw it differently. Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t like self-aggrandizing athletes. For me, it was just different with Michael. He was the Triplet I was drawn to even though I had been (and still am ) a huge Troy Aikman fan.

As I learned more about Irvin, through books like “Boys Will Be Boys” and through NFL Films and all the media attention paid to those Cowboys, I grew fonder for Michael. My two favorite trait about Michael as a player were one, that he was the hardest worker on the team. Jeff Pearlman recounts this in his book, “Boys Will Be Boys” and reiterates here. In the NFL Network special teammates would be astounded at how Irvin could spend all night partying, and then come to practice the next day and point at every teammate and ask “Who’s going to outwork me today?” That’s fantastic. The second was when Jimmy Johnson became the coach of the Cowboys. They had worked together at Miami so Johnson had an instant ally in Irvin. And Michael let JJ know in no uncertain terms, which players needed to go. Michael, to me, was all about winning and being the guy everyone looked to in those tough times to lift them up. He must have been the greatest teammate.

Yes, I do understand that Michael had his demons. Something else he taught me was the valuable lesson of forgiveness. It’s difficult in society now to forgive. Fans still call Kobe (and I include myself in this) a rapist. I’m working on it. But Michael has owned up to his transgressions; and has vowed to make himself, and his sons, better people from it. Just watch the greatest Hall of Fame speech of all time and you’ll see what I mean.

There you have it, the clincher – the Hall of Fame speech. Brings me to tears every time. And those are the reasons why Michael Irvin is one of my favorite athletes of all time.

Behind the curtain of me.

Until next time,
Shawn