I first heard the expression, "I told you I was sick" at Harper College. The head football coach John Eliasik, gave me the slogan for a gravesite and it really stuck in my head. Can you imagine putting that on a grave? The guilt of the remaining family would be incredible. Gosh, was he really that sick? And he must have had such a grudge not to put his name on the grave.
Wait, I really wanted to tell my favorite Eliasik story here. Recall, I'm from DC where egos are really out of control. Well, coach Eliasik had a giant-sized ego but he was fun.
So I pull into his office as sports information director (1989-1998). I was there to interview him for a press release. Football was kind of fun to cover at Harper because there were good players and the coach was crazy.
So then phone rang. I sat down. Eliasik answered and here it goes.
"What you are quitting,'' he asked the person on the phone.
"Well this is what I want you to do. Do you have a mirror in your house? I want you to go to the mirror and tell yourself five times, that you don't have the guts to be a football player. And then come back and talk to me."
Yeah, right, I'll do that and then drown myself in the bath tub, you nut case. Oh, that's what I would say.
How many curse words did I count during my time covering this coach? Let's go with 12,245.
A grave site gave you an idea for a story?
ReplyDeleteMe too: while passing by Villanova University, my (ex) wife and I noticed a cemetery.
She and I are both Rutgers graduates, and she asked me, "How come Villanova has a cemetery and Rutgers doesn't?"
I replied, "Rutgers students graduate on time."