kcxiv
10-20-2007, 10:37 PM
Posted on Sat, Oct. 20, 2007
Posnanski: Holmes completes comeback and will suit up today
JOE POSNANSKI COMMENTARY
The surprising thing was the anger. Yes, of course, plenty of people, most people, never thought today would happen, never thought that Priest Holmes would come all the way back and play NFL football again. No way, not after a severe injury left his body tingling, not after 24 months away from the game, not at age 34.
Stuff like this doesn’t happen, not outside of Hollywood and Hogwarts, and you couldn’t blame people for doubting Priest Holmes one more time.
That’s understandable. I never understood why people were angry at him.
They were though, plenty of people, enraged people, vicious e-mails, profanity-laced voice messages, angry at him for — well, for what? It’s hard to explain. They said he was being selfish. Hurting the team. But what’s selfish about testing your limits, pushing yourself, trying to do the improbable one more time? Doesn’t that come pretty close to the essence of sports?
“All the guy has done since he came back is work hard and do everything we asked,” Chiefs coach Herm Edwards said. Isn’t that the opposite of selfish?
Well, they griped that Holmes, who the Chiefs activated for today’s game at Oakland, was coming back to get glory. But Holmes already had glory — he had led the NFL in rushing, set a record for touchdowns, won a Super Bowl. If Holmes really is a glory hound, he sure has a funny way of showing it. He disappeared for the entire 2006 season. He did not do interviews. He did not take a TV job. He did not travel around signing autographs for money.
Money. Oh yeah. The angry people said he just wanted money. That was the big one.
“It just makes me so mad to hear people say that,” says Chiefs president Carl Peterson. “It really bothers me.”
Peterson wants to explain this part carefully. He really wants people to understand this. Two years ago, almost to the day, Priest Holmes got held up on a play in San Diego and then got clocked by Chargers linebacker Shawne "roidman" Merriman. Holmes still does not remember the next 30 minutes or so. Doctors, as they can be, were vague about his condition and uncertain about his future in football. They felt strongly, though, that he should sit out the 2006 season.
Peterson says he called up Holmes before that season began and asked: “Priest do you think you might want to come back next year?”
Holmes said he did not know, but he thought that he still had something left.
Peterson then made an offer. He wanted to keep Holmes on the roster. That way, Holmes would still be a member of the Chiefs and have a chance for a comeback. But Peterson obviously could not keep Holmes on the roster for his $3.5 million salary. So Peterson asked Holmes if he would take the minimum salary for 2006 and 2007 (in Holmes’ case this was no pittance — $710,000). Holmes agreed.
“That was my decision,” Peterson said. “As general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs, I thought it was worth that money to keep Priest Holmes a member of our team. It wasn’t Priest’s idea. It was mine. I still felt that he might come back, and I think I know the character of this guy. I thought that was well worth it. And it was a way to pay back our all-time leading rusher.”
Money? Nobody could really believe that Holmes would sacrifice his health and reputation for the NFL minimum salary — not a guy who just four years ago got a $10 million signing bonus. Ah, but there’s the rub. For some reason, people started saying that Holmes came back so he would not have to return part of that million-dollar signing bonus. And this, more perhaps than anything I’ve ever seen, enrages Carl Peterson.
“I know some people think I’m an ogre,” Peterson says. “I know some people think I’m a tyrant. But this is just ridiculous. Priest Holmes doesn’t owe the Kansas City Chiefs anything. That money is gone. I don’t mean it’s gone — he has saved it. I mean as far as the Kansas City Chiefs are concerned, it’s gone. He earned it.
“Do people really think I would go after a player’s signing bonus, someone who did as much for the Chiefs as Priest Holmes? Willie Roaf retired with two years left on his contract. Did I go after his signing bonus? Of course not. He was a great player who did great things for the Chiefs. Priest Holmes gave his soul to the Kansas City Chiefs. If people think I would try to hurt him in any way, they don’t know what I’m about at all.”
Peterson pauses for a moment and carefully considers his next words.
“Why can’t people just accept,” he asks, “that Priest Holmes is unlike anybody else?”
•••
Why were so many people angry at Priest Holmes for simply trying to come back and play a football game? Maybe it’s because they never really understood what any of this was all about. Maybe it’s because they have never really understood what he’s all about.
“He’s a weirdo,” one of Holmes’ teammates says, and he means it good-naturedly, but he also means it. Even they don’t understand Holmes. Where was he last season? Why didn’t he ever come around? Why does he change his cell number seemingly every 20 minutes? When Holmes showed up at training camp this year and was asked what helped him make the decision, he talked about seeing something in a dream. There were plenty of rolled eyes after that one.
No, people have never really understood Holmes, and that’s just the way he likes it. He’s a chess player, meaning he likes setting traps and throwing feints and holding some pieces in reserve and keeping everyone off-balance. “I’m never going to be predictable,” he says. “You expect me to go one way, and I’ll go the other. I want to leave every conversation knowing more about you than you know about me.”
In other words, he never wanted people to know exactly why he came back. Oh, he offered up some of his reasoning. He wanted to help the Chiefs win. He wanted to do something incredible to inspire people.
But people always suspected he was hiding something more — that’s where all the talk about money and glory came from — and Holmes was happy to let them believe that.
“In the end, this was my choice,” he says. “People aren’t going to totally understand.”
The only certain thing was that once Holmes made the decision, he was not going to turn back. Nobody should have doubted that. Holmes has spent his entire professional career making fools out of the doubters. He blew out his ACL at Texas but came back to be the best guy on the field during the Big 12 championship game. He went undrafted, but made the Baltimore Ravens on special teams.
He was not viewed as a viable running back candidate, but gained 1,000 yards when injuries opened up a chance to start. He was benched for a top draft choice, but he became a sensational third-down back and helped the Ravens win a Super Bowl.
He came to Kansas City in 2001 as an unknown free agent and led the NFL in rushing. He was told it was a fluke and then, in 2002, had one of the great years in NFL history. He badly hurt his hip and came back in 2003 to set an NFL record in touchdowns. He was on pace for another record when he blew out his other ACL. He came back again.
The day before every game — Holmes no doubt did this on Saturday in preparation of today’s Raiders game — he stands on the field, walks through his plays and visualizes exactly what he’s going to do. He explained this once: “Once I see it in my mind, I know I’m going to do it.”
“Was there ever any doubt that you would come all the way back?” astonished reporters asked Priest Holmes this week.
“Naw,” Holmes said.
•••
Priest Holmes is suiting up today. He will probably play at least a few plays. It boggles the mind. After his first practice on Wednesday, several of his teammates were still shaking their heads in amazement. “He was awesome,” Tony Gonzalez said. “Awesome. It was like 2003 all over again.”
Yes, it’s one of the most amazing sports stories in memory. Nobody knows how this crazy story will end. Nobody knows how he will perform. Nobody knows how his return will affect the team (and, especially, Larry Johnson). Nobody knows if he can stay healthy.
Still, it’s amazing. The angry doubters are left with their jaws open. And one last time, we ask, why were some people angry in the first place? Why were they fuming at Priest Holmes, one of the great athletes in Kansas City history, for trying to do this near-miraculous thing and play football again after two years away? I asked Holmes that question a couple of weeks ago. He shrugged.
“All my life,” he said, “people have wanted to tell me I couldn’t do something. I think some people just need that. They need to tell other people they can’t do it. I’ll tell you this: I’m not mad at them. I wish I could tell them, ‘Hey. You can do anything.’ ”
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chiefs/story/326282.html
Posnanski: Holmes completes comeback and will suit up today
JOE POSNANSKI COMMENTARY
The surprising thing was the anger. Yes, of course, plenty of people, most people, never thought today would happen, never thought that Priest Holmes would come all the way back and play NFL football again. No way, not after a severe injury left his body tingling, not after 24 months away from the game, not at age 34.
Stuff like this doesn’t happen, not outside of Hollywood and Hogwarts, and you couldn’t blame people for doubting Priest Holmes one more time.
That’s understandable. I never understood why people were angry at him.
They were though, plenty of people, enraged people, vicious e-mails, profanity-laced voice messages, angry at him for — well, for what? It’s hard to explain. They said he was being selfish. Hurting the team. But what’s selfish about testing your limits, pushing yourself, trying to do the improbable one more time? Doesn’t that come pretty close to the essence of sports?
“All the guy has done since he came back is work hard and do everything we asked,” Chiefs coach Herm Edwards said. Isn’t that the opposite of selfish?
Well, they griped that Holmes, who the Chiefs activated for today’s game at Oakland, was coming back to get glory. But Holmes already had glory — he had led the NFL in rushing, set a record for touchdowns, won a Super Bowl. If Holmes really is a glory hound, he sure has a funny way of showing it. He disappeared for the entire 2006 season. He did not do interviews. He did not take a TV job. He did not travel around signing autographs for money.
Money. Oh yeah. The angry people said he just wanted money. That was the big one.
“It just makes me so mad to hear people say that,” says Chiefs president Carl Peterson. “It really bothers me.”
Peterson wants to explain this part carefully. He really wants people to understand this. Two years ago, almost to the day, Priest Holmes got held up on a play in San Diego and then got clocked by Chargers linebacker Shawne "roidman" Merriman. Holmes still does not remember the next 30 minutes or so. Doctors, as they can be, were vague about his condition and uncertain about his future in football. They felt strongly, though, that he should sit out the 2006 season.
Peterson says he called up Holmes before that season began and asked: “Priest do you think you might want to come back next year?”
Holmes said he did not know, but he thought that he still had something left.
Peterson then made an offer. He wanted to keep Holmes on the roster. That way, Holmes would still be a member of the Chiefs and have a chance for a comeback. But Peterson obviously could not keep Holmes on the roster for his $3.5 million salary. So Peterson asked Holmes if he would take the minimum salary for 2006 and 2007 (in Holmes’ case this was no pittance — $710,000). Holmes agreed.
“That was my decision,” Peterson said. “As general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs, I thought it was worth that money to keep Priest Holmes a member of our team. It wasn’t Priest’s idea. It was mine. I still felt that he might come back, and I think I know the character of this guy. I thought that was well worth it. And it was a way to pay back our all-time leading rusher.”
Money? Nobody could really believe that Holmes would sacrifice his health and reputation for the NFL minimum salary — not a guy who just four years ago got a $10 million signing bonus. Ah, but there’s the rub. For some reason, people started saying that Holmes came back so he would not have to return part of that million-dollar signing bonus. And this, more perhaps than anything I’ve ever seen, enrages Carl Peterson.
“I know some people think I’m an ogre,” Peterson says. “I know some people think I’m a tyrant. But this is just ridiculous. Priest Holmes doesn’t owe the Kansas City Chiefs anything. That money is gone. I don’t mean it’s gone — he has saved it. I mean as far as the Kansas City Chiefs are concerned, it’s gone. He earned it.
“Do people really think I would go after a player’s signing bonus, someone who did as much for the Chiefs as Priest Holmes? Willie Roaf retired with two years left on his contract. Did I go after his signing bonus? Of course not. He was a great player who did great things for the Chiefs. Priest Holmes gave his soul to the Kansas City Chiefs. If people think I would try to hurt him in any way, they don’t know what I’m about at all.”
Peterson pauses for a moment and carefully considers his next words.
“Why can’t people just accept,” he asks, “that Priest Holmes is unlike anybody else?”
•••
Why were so many people angry at Priest Holmes for simply trying to come back and play a football game? Maybe it’s because they never really understood what any of this was all about. Maybe it’s because they have never really understood what he’s all about.
“He’s a weirdo,” one of Holmes’ teammates says, and he means it good-naturedly, but he also means it. Even they don’t understand Holmes. Where was he last season? Why didn’t he ever come around? Why does he change his cell number seemingly every 20 minutes? When Holmes showed up at training camp this year and was asked what helped him make the decision, he talked about seeing something in a dream. There were plenty of rolled eyes after that one.
No, people have never really understood Holmes, and that’s just the way he likes it. He’s a chess player, meaning he likes setting traps and throwing feints and holding some pieces in reserve and keeping everyone off-balance. “I’m never going to be predictable,” he says. “You expect me to go one way, and I’ll go the other. I want to leave every conversation knowing more about you than you know about me.”
In other words, he never wanted people to know exactly why he came back. Oh, he offered up some of his reasoning. He wanted to help the Chiefs win. He wanted to do something incredible to inspire people.
But people always suspected he was hiding something more — that’s where all the talk about money and glory came from — and Holmes was happy to let them believe that.
“In the end, this was my choice,” he says. “People aren’t going to totally understand.”
The only certain thing was that once Holmes made the decision, he was not going to turn back. Nobody should have doubted that. Holmes has spent his entire professional career making fools out of the doubters. He blew out his ACL at Texas but came back to be the best guy on the field during the Big 12 championship game. He went undrafted, but made the Baltimore Ravens on special teams.
He was not viewed as a viable running back candidate, but gained 1,000 yards when injuries opened up a chance to start. He was benched for a top draft choice, but he became a sensational third-down back and helped the Ravens win a Super Bowl.
He came to Kansas City in 2001 as an unknown free agent and led the NFL in rushing. He was told it was a fluke and then, in 2002, had one of the great years in NFL history. He badly hurt his hip and came back in 2003 to set an NFL record in touchdowns. He was on pace for another record when he blew out his other ACL. He came back again.
The day before every game — Holmes no doubt did this on Saturday in preparation of today’s Raiders game — he stands on the field, walks through his plays and visualizes exactly what he’s going to do. He explained this once: “Once I see it in my mind, I know I’m going to do it.”
“Was there ever any doubt that you would come all the way back?” astonished reporters asked Priest Holmes this week.
“Naw,” Holmes said.
•••
Priest Holmes is suiting up today. He will probably play at least a few plays. It boggles the mind. After his first practice on Wednesday, several of his teammates were still shaking their heads in amazement. “He was awesome,” Tony Gonzalez said. “Awesome. It was like 2003 all over again.”
Yes, it’s one of the most amazing sports stories in memory. Nobody knows how this crazy story will end. Nobody knows how he will perform. Nobody knows how his return will affect the team (and, especially, Larry Johnson). Nobody knows if he can stay healthy.
Still, it’s amazing. The angry doubters are left with their jaws open. And one last time, we ask, why were some people angry in the first place? Why were they fuming at Priest Holmes, one of the great athletes in Kansas City history, for trying to do this near-miraculous thing and play football again after two years away? I asked Holmes that question a couple of weeks ago. He shrugged.
“All my life,” he said, “people have wanted to tell me I couldn’t do something. I think some people just need that. They need to tell other people they can’t do it. I’ll tell you this: I’m not mad at them. I wish I could tell them, ‘Hey. You can do anything.’ ”
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chiefs/story/326282.html