Long snapping a football.
Gentlemen,
This post is somewhat lengthy but please bear with me and take what I say here to heart. These thoughts came to me last Friday during my son Charley’s high school football game.
In order for the upcoming Rally to be both successful and a positive experience for all participants, it will be helpful for our members to understand a critical but unappreciated part of football. One that nobody ever pays any attention to, until it goes wrong.
For the last two years, in addition to baseball and his studies, Charley has worked with a specialty football coach five days a week, for an hour each day. During that hour, he and about a dozen other players, train to long snap the football. The next time you watch a football game and a punt must be executed, watch the center hurl a high-speed, perfect spiral pass between his legs 15 yards directly into the hands of the waiting punter. When he long snaps that football, the center is not looking at the punter, he is looking at the defensive lineman who is going to try and mow him down the minute that football moves. So that 15 yard pass between the legs is done blind, by feel. During field goals and points after touchdown, the long snap is 8 yards into the hands of a holder who must get it down instantly and spin it so the laces face the goal posts for the kicker. Total elapsed time from when the football starts to move in the long snapper’s hands to the time it has left the kicker’s foot and is in the air must be less than two seconds. A good long snapper can consistently hit a dinner plate at those distances and with velocity equal to that of a quarterback’s forward pass.
During last Friday’s game against a tough opponent, my son’s team came back from a 14 point deficit with a touchdown in the final seconds to tie the game. A successful point after touchdown would win it. Charley weighs 158 pounds. Two defensive linemen, both of them 250+, lined up right over the top of him. He knew he was going to get smoked trying to block them the minute he snapped that ball to the holder. His teammates informed him before the play in no uncertain terms that they would kill him if he blew that snap, in addition to the ridicule of 4000 students and parents screaming their lungs out in the stands. I prayed. Charley made a perfect snap, the holder got it down, and the kicker got it done. Game over and a most exciting win.
So what the hell does this have to do with the upcoming rally???? Keep following. Absolutely nobody at that game other than me paid any attention to the kid who long snapped that football. No matter how perfectly that position is played, it never gets any attention. If a long snapper does his job, nobody will ever know his name. But if he ever snaps it over the head of the punter or the holder, the ball is almost always picked up by a defensive linemen who runs it downfield for six points. The long snapper cannot be a hero, he can only be a goat when things go wrong.
Those of us participating in the driving events at the upcoming Rally, are just like those football long snapper’s. I don’t care how fast or aggressive you drive, nobody will ever know your name, UNLESS…..something goes wrong. You cannot be a hero, but you can be a goat. Some highly trained professionals like Mark McGowan will be in attendance. No matter how good you are, he, and his fellow professionals, are probably much better.
Last year, in Texas, during the Club Shelby Road Rally, a few members pushed the limit way too far with catastrophic results. Two brand-new GT500s (one Super Snake) went off highway and one of them rolled half a dozen times. Both cars were destroyed. One driver was critically injured but survived.
During last year’s track event in Las Vegas during the lead-follow warm-up, the driver in front of me slowed way down to put some space between him and the car he was following. I wasn’t paying attention. When the driver in front of me sped up I blindly followed trying to catch up. At the end of the straightaway in front of all my friends I was going way too fast to make that turn and slid off the track backwards at about 80 mph into the infield. Most incompetent and embarrassing for me, and although I didn’t hit anything, if there had been a barrier there, I would’ve destroyed my car. Stupid.
Think about all the good times we’ve had the last three years at these Rallies. The good fellowship, the laughter, the stories, and the cocktails. None of those fine memories include admiration for someone who pushed the limits of safety or sanity in their GT. In three years we’ve only had one car damaged at a driving event. Let’s make that the last one. Self-control is most important this year because we have assembled, with all the high performance Ford GT modifications for the mile, the most powerful gathering of supercars for an enthusiast rally in the history of the world. Think about that. A number of our members are pushing 1000 or more horsepower in cars with no traction or stability control. Personal responsibility and gentlemanly behavior is a must for this gathering to be successful.
The Texas Mile is one venue where we can all let it rip with relative safety. The road rally is not a race track, drive within your comfort level. Texas International Speedway will probably have some corners with barriers that must be treated with great caution and other corners without barriers where it’s safer to push closer to your personal limits.
In any driving event, if you’re not comfortable, you’re in danger. If you’re trying to keep pace with another driver whose skills or equipment exceed yours, it probably won’t end well. Our good friend Daniel never participated in driving events. Medical conditions made him uncomfortable with aggressive driving. Despite this, Bony had more fun at these Rallies than any of us.
Daniel had one major concern about our annual Rallies and he shared it with many of us. It was that somebody, in some event, would push beyond his own capabilities resulting in a death or serious injury. That would be the end of this great annual tradition. There are no trophies to be won, no purse to be had, no glory to attain. Nobody knows, remembers, or cares who had the fastest track time or who hit the highest speeds during the Road Rally (Highest speed at the mile is :thumbsup and we WILL remember that! :cheers).
In short, nobody at this upcoming rally can impress anybody with their driving prowess, especially on public roads, but everybody at the upcoming rally is capable of being the goat, of ruining the event, and putting an end to future Rallies.
Let’s have a good time gentlemen, enjoy the company of your fellow members, and conduct ourselves at all times such that everyone of us can assemble in the bar at the end of the day and toast our good fortune.
I’ll see you in Texas. :cheers
Chip
Gentlemen,
This post is somewhat lengthy but please bear with me and take what I say here to heart. These thoughts came to me last Friday during my son Charley’s high school football game.
In order for the upcoming Rally to be both successful and a positive experience for all participants, it will be helpful for our members to understand a critical but unappreciated part of football. One that nobody ever pays any attention to, until it goes wrong.
For the last two years, in addition to baseball and his studies, Charley has worked with a specialty football coach five days a week, for an hour each day. During that hour, he and about a dozen other players, train to long snap the football. The next time you watch a football game and a punt must be executed, watch the center hurl a high-speed, perfect spiral pass between his legs 15 yards directly into the hands of the waiting punter. When he long snaps that football, the center is not looking at the punter, he is looking at the defensive lineman who is going to try and mow him down the minute that football moves. So that 15 yard pass between the legs is done blind, by feel. During field goals and points after touchdown, the long snap is 8 yards into the hands of a holder who must get it down instantly and spin it so the laces face the goal posts for the kicker. Total elapsed time from when the football starts to move in the long snapper’s hands to the time it has left the kicker’s foot and is in the air must be less than two seconds. A good long snapper can consistently hit a dinner plate at those distances and with velocity equal to that of a quarterback’s forward pass.
During last Friday’s game against a tough opponent, my son’s team came back from a 14 point deficit with a touchdown in the final seconds to tie the game. A successful point after touchdown would win it. Charley weighs 158 pounds. Two defensive linemen, both of them 250+, lined up right over the top of him. He knew he was going to get smoked trying to block them the minute he snapped that ball to the holder. His teammates informed him before the play in no uncertain terms that they would kill him if he blew that snap, in addition to the ridicule of 4000 students and parents screaming their lungs out in the stands. I prayed. Charley made a perfect snap, the holder got it down, and the kicker got it done. Game over and a most exciting win.
So what the hell does this have to do with the upcoming rally???? Keep following. Absolutely nobody at that game other than me paid any attention to the kid who long snapped that football. No matter how perfectly that position is played, it never gets any attention. If a long snapper does his job, nobody will ever know his name. But if he ever snaps it over the head of the punter or the holder, the ball is almost always picked up by a defensive linemen who runs it downfield for six points. The long snapper cannot be a hero, he can only be a goat when things go wrong.
Those of us participating in the driving events at the upcoming Rally, are just like those football long snapper’s. I don’t care how fast or aggressive you drive, nobody will ever know your name, UNLESS…..something goes wrong. You cannot be a hero, but you can be a goat. Some highly trained professionals like Mark McGowan will be in attendance. No matter how good you are, he, and his fellow professionals, are probably much better.
Last year, in Texas, during the Club Shelby Road Rally, a few members pushed the limit way too far with catastrophic results. Two brand-new GT500s (one Super Snake) went off highway and one of them rolled half a dozen times. Both cars were destroyed. One driver was critically injured but survived.
During last year’s track event in Las Vegas during the lead-follow warm-up, the driver in front of me slowed way down to put some space between him and the car he was following. I wasn’t paying attention. When the driver in front of me sped up I blindly followed trying to catch up. At the end of the straightaway in front of all my friends I was going way too fast to make that turn and slid off the track backwards at about 80 mph into the infield. Most incompetent and embarrassing for me, and although I didn’t hit anything, if there had been a barrier there, I would’ve destroyed my car. Stupid.
Think about all the good times we’ve had the last three years at these Rallies. The good fellowship, the laughter, the stories, and the cocktails. None of those fine memories include admiration for someone who pushed the limits of safety or sanity in their GT. In three years we’ve only had one car damaged at a driving event. Let’s make that the last one. Self-control is most important this year because we have assembled, with all the high performance Ford GT modifications for the mile, the most powerful gathering of supercars for an enthusiast rally in the history of the world. Think about that. A number of our members are pushing 1000 or more horsepower in cars with no traction or stability control. Personal responsibility and gentlemanly behavior is a must for this gathering to be successful.
The Texas Mile is one venue where we can all let it rip with relative safety. The road rally is not a race track, drive within your comfort level. Texas International Speedway will probably have some corners with barriers that must be treated with great caution and other corners without barriers where it’s safer to push closer to your personal limits.
In any driving event, if you’re not comfortable, you’re in danger. If you’re trying to keep pace with another driver whose skills or equipment exceed yours, it probably won’t end well. Our good friend Daniel never participated in driving events. Medical conditions made him uncomfortable with aggressive driving. Despite this, Bony had more fun at these Rallies than any of us.
Daniel had one major concern about our annual Rallies and he shared it with many of us. It was that somebody, in some event, would push beyond his own capabilities resulting in a death or serious injury. That would be the end of this great annual tradition. There are no trophies to be won, no purse to be had, no glory to attain. Nobody knows, remembers, or cares who had the fastest track time or who hit the highest speeds during the Road Rally (Highest speed at the mile is :thumbsup and we WILL remember that! :cheers).
In short, nobody at this upcoming rally can impress anybody with their driving prowess, especially on public roads, but everybody at the upcoming rally is capable of being the goat, of ruining the event, and putting an end to future Rallies.
Let’s have a good time gentlemen, enjoy the company of your fellow members, and conduct ourselves at all times such that everyone of us can assemble in the bar at the end of the day and toast our good fortune.
I’ll see you in Texas. :cheers
Chip
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