Oh, to be young https://www.patriotsnefans.com/corey-vereen-jersey-c-1.html, instantly wealthy, and playing in the National Football League. Come the offseason, it’s time to harvest the abundant fruits of your on field labors – a chance to travel, have fun, and live life to its hedonistic fullest.
Stephen Gostkowski remembers what this time of year was once like for him. After the Patriots kicker’s rookie year, he had the wherewithal to do whatever he and Hallie, his college sweetheart, desired, and that’s exactly what they did for a while. Eventually, the pair married and produced three children. Offseasons remained busy, but for entirely different reasons.
One day, a few years ago, Gostkowski came to a sobering realization.
“You go from having something to do almost every minute of the day during the season to having almost nothing in the offseason, now that my kids are in school. I found myself with a handful of time in the offseason https://www.patriotsnefans.com/customize-jersey-c-92.html,” he recalls, “and getting dumber by the day. So, I wanted to do something about it.” For some, inspiration strikes much sooner.
Like many 18 year olds arriving on a college campus for the first time, the young offensive lineman was informed he needed to choose a major, pretty much right then and there. Rather than make such a momentous decision entirely by himself, he let fate help decide. After speaking with a handful of professors who taught communications, he chose that discipline.
It’s not that Ted Karras didn’t like or wasn’t good at school. In fact, he earned his undergraduate degree in only three and a half years, then enrolled in a master’s program to maintain his playing eligibility at the University of Illinois. He just never really had a passion for learning. Not the way he does today.
While sitting in a rookie orientation meeting in 2016, Karras heard a pitch that he knew would shape his offseasons for the next several years.
“After this,” he reveals, “I want to go to Harvard… I already started the application process.” “I wanted a new challenge,” adds Gostkowski, “to take advantage of these wonderful opportunities given to us as players.”
FREE RIDES Most NFL players – even those who don’t wind up earning long lasting jobs on rosters – will never have to worry about paying back college loans. Nearly every player who is good enough just to audition for a role in the NFL has come from a school that offered them a playing scholarship, what’s known colloquially as a “free ride.”
In the NFL Player Tuition Assistance Plan, Gostkowski and Karras discovered another irresistible opportunity to continue taking free rides. Both men are actively pursuing their Masters in Business Administration MBA as offered online by the University of Indiana’s Kelley School of Business, one of a number of “Qualifying Institutions” colleges and trade schools partnering with the NFL in the league’s tuition reimbursement program.
“Everyone’s wanting to pay for my school,” Karras continues, “so, I figure, as long as I’m playing and they want to pay for it, I’ll go to school.” Current NFL players can take courses toward associate, undergraduate, post baccalaureate, or graduate degrees, the associated costs of which e.g., tuition, books, fees are credited to the players’ accounts up to 20,000 each year. Retired players, like former Patriots long snapper Danny Aiken, are eligible as well, up to six years following the conclusion of their NFL careers, and can receive from 15,000 to as much as 60,000 in tuition assistance per year.
To earn the free ride in the NFL program, all enrollees must earn at least a “C” or equivalent grade in each class. Thus far, Gostkowski and Karras have managed to do so, thanks to a similar adherence to routine and concentration that’s required of them on the gridiron.
STUDENT ATHLETES At the University of Memphis in the early 2000s, Gostkowski majored in exercise science with a minor in marketing. He’d taken a handful of business related courses back then, but knew he needed help when he embarked on his MBA nearly a decade later. The first [online] class I took had calculus in it and I had to get a tutor,” he confesses, “because I hadn’t had calculus in 12 years. It was almost like reading Chinese.”
A more recent college grad, Karras is comfortable with the online education format, having taken a few courses that way at Illinois, even though the subject matter now is entirely new to him.
“It’s pretty all encompassing,” he explains. “This spring semester, it was more economics focused. I had a marketing class. I just took a final last night in macro economics – it was a little tough. But yes, we’re finishing up a semester now, and then in the summer, I’m going to take digital marketing, plus law and ethics in business.
“Last year, I went to Europe and I was doing classes from Portugal. That’s the great thing about online [learning], you know https://www.patriotsnefans.com/chris-hogan-jersey-c-91.html, you can log on an hour before you go to bed and kind of just organize yourself, get some assignments done, and do it at your own pace.”
Finding a rhythm is critical to a placekicker’s consistency on the field, and Gostkowski found it equally important as he began reorganizing his personal life to accommodate his MBA studies.
“In a sense, it was tougher to get into a routine about how to organize my time, but at the same time, it’s almost easier, too, because I’m not taking seven different classes at once. I’m not going out every night of the week like in college. I don’t have as many distractions, I would say. To take an hour or two per day while the kids are in school to read really isn’t that tough to do once you get into the routine of it.”
Once Patriots training camp opens in late July, neither player will have time to take fall semester courses, but they’re gradually earning their MBA credits. Both men are at about the halfway point.
“Two to four classes each offseason – just trying to chip away,” says Gostkowski. “There are times when I think, ‘Man, I don’t need to be doing this. Why am I doing this to myself?’ But to fight through that and come out and make a good grade, it feels worth it. Hopefully something good comes out of it one day.”
POST GRAD GOALS While football is still important to the players, continuing to educate themselves is proving as fulfilling a pursuit as chasing championships. At the same time, having a new and different challenge stimulates them both personally and professionally.
“I want to dedicate my whole entire self to my job and my teammates and my coaches in this organization,” Karras emphasizes. “Your whole year is judged based on 20 games, so, professionally you have to take that very seriously. So no, I don’t really miss [school in the fall], but I am excited when the offseason comes around. And you’re just that much more excited when football rolls around, yeah.”
Karras and Gostkowski aren’t the only Patriots taking advantage of the free tuition program. Left guard Joe Thuney is well on his way to earning his MBA, and long snapper Joe Cardona recently enrolled.
2500x1406 20180524 gostkowski cardona kn Photo by Keith Nordstrom “It’s cool to have someone else to talk to about it, with Thuney, Ted, and Joe,” admits Gostkowski. “There’s only so much you can talk about football. Anytime you can get into a conversation that’s not political, it’s a welcome change.
“With my job Darius Kilgo Jersey, I do two different things [place kicking and kicking off]. It’s the same thing over and over again. It was just nice to have a different kind of challenge and that feeling of butterflies. ‘Am I going to do good at this or not?’” Neither Gostkowski nor Karras is sure what they will do with their advanced degrees once their playing days are over. For the time being, they’re content to continue learning as much as they can without having to worry about the cost of doing so.
“I would have felt bad if I never took advantage of it. Going into my 13th year,” the kicker remarks, “I was ready for something new. If I find out that I’m not very good at it or can’t hack it in the business world, that didn’t deter me… there’s nothing wrong with furthering education and working your brain in a different way than you normally work it.”
Karras, meanwhile, continues to dream big.
“I’d like to go over to Cambridge and get a literature degree from Harvard… something a little bit more creative the next time around. I’m a big reader. I have a pretty large library at home. That’s probably the biggest thing I spend my money on is books. Actual books. It’s hard for me to read off a computer. I’ve written some stuff, but I’d like to be trained on how to do it.
“I want to play for as long as I can, but hopefully, something through school and the people I meet through that can carve a little path for the next step after football.”
GREEN BAY – Visitors coming to Green Bay the last week in July are advised to make hotel reservations and other plans soon.
That week is always busy, but this year has additional activities. It includes the Green Bay Packers annual shareholders meeting, the opening of Packers training camp, the four day Packers Experience celebrating the team s 100 years of football, and the EAA AirVenture convention in Oshkosh.
It looks like there are probably some hotel properties filling up and they are taking their inventory offline, said Brad Toll, president and CEO of the Greater Green Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau. It s not like we are sold out or anything, but it would certainly indicate it could be a pretty tight week. It usually is.
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Toll estimates 90,000 people normally come to the community that week, generating a 9 million economic impact. Both could be higher this year because of the Packers Experience, a four day football carnival that coincides with the first four days of training camp.
AirVenture draws hundreds of thousands of attendees who fill hotel rooms throughout Northeastern Wisconsin and the Fox Valley. It gets up here, absolutely https://www.packersgbstore.com/blake-martinez-jersey-c-53.html, Toll said. We always see a nice overflow from EAA into this area.
The Green Bay metro area has 4,420 hotel rooms, with another 160 — at Hotel Northland — expected to be added in fall.
The effect of the first nighttime Packers shareholders meeting is less certain. The gathering normally draws about 12,000 attendees, although it was only 7,000 last year, when the meeting was on a Monday. It is not known if the 7 p.m. start will mean fewer people coming to Green Bay on a day trip. If they are driving from one or two hours away, they might forego the meeting so they don t have to drive home late at night, although, the Packers normally limit the meeting to about one hour Montay Crockett Jersey, so it should be over about 8 p.m.
On the other hand, with training camp and the Packers Experience beginning the next morning, more fans might be induced to stay overnight.
Toll said the first couple weeks of training camp draw the most fans. Later in August, as school begins, crowds are smaller. during training camp in 2017. Photo Richard Ryman/USA TODAY NETWORK Wisconsin
Welcome to Straight from the ’Beek! Organized team activities OTAs are underway, training camp is right around the corner and you’ve got questions. So, let’s get to them. Just remember, all opinions here are mine unless noted otherwise.
And we’re off.
Frederich of Vienna, VA
Hey, Beek. I recently saw a ranking of historic Falcons quarterbacks which had Michael Vick at No. 4 behind Chris Chandler, Steve Bartkowski, and the one and only Matty Ice. Vick has had a lot of fan hype and highlights but was listed at 4 because of inconsistency and a short time with the team. I m not entirely sure about this ranking. What do you think about it? Agree/disagree?
Matt Hey, Frederich. I wish you had included the outlet’s name or a link that ranked the quarterbacks. Knowing the source the writer and the criteria always helps. Regardless, I have no problem with Nos. 1 and 2 – Matt Ryan the clear No. 1 and Steve Bartkowski – and I think you could make a strong case for either Michael Vick or Chris Chandler at No. 3. If the ranking was based solely on their time in Atlanta, I can see why someone might give the nod to Chandler since he led the Falcons to the Super Bowl in 1998. But Vick was certainly an incredible player who was a threat to score from anywhere on the field – and he did lead the Falcons to the playoffs twice. If pressed, I’d probably go with Vick at No. 3, but I honestly don’t have a problem with that ranking – wherever it’s from. Dave from Tucker, GA
An article on OTAs on Monday listed Justin Hardy as a player rehabbing an injury. When and what did he injure?
Matt Hey, Dave. I’m guessing you’re referring to the piece written by Kelsey Conway in which she outlined the five key storylines to watch as OTAs began Monday. In it she mentioned four players who have spent portions of the offseason rehabbing injuries and, yes, Justin Hardy was one of them. Hardy reportedly underwent “minor” shoulder surgery following the season. Peyton from Athens, GA
First off, rise up! I m excited for football to start again! My question comes from the linebacker position. I ve seen some reports that Atlanta wanted to bring in competition for Duke Riley because he wasn t great as a rookie. I understand that has to do with him learning the NFL and an injury. But do you think the Falcons could still be interested in adding Mychal Kendricks out of Philly? They were linked to him last offseason and even this offseason at times. Would it be worth trading a fourth rounder and possibly a later pick for a guy who would be an upgrade at outside linebacker?
Matt Hey, Peyton. I’ll talk about Duke Riley here because the Mychal Kendricks reports – at least this one from Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network – were and are pure speculation. There’s no question that this is a big year for Riley. While he did appear in 12 games and started six during his rookie year, a knee injury forced the speedy and athletic linebacker out of LSU to miss valuable time and game experience. I’m expecting Year 2 to be a much better one for No. 42, provided he stays on the field. What up, Beek. Good to see you up and running. With the kickoffs in the hot seat right now Tyler Renew Jersey, I wanted to know how you felt about the idea of eliminating it altogether. Also, what do you think about them punting the kickoffs? I just would hate to see that field position element taken away from the game, although I do understand them protecting the players. Stay up brother and thanks.
Matt Hey there, Pooh. It’s pretty clear the NFL intends to make kickoffs safer because, as it was pointed out at the last owners’ meeting in March, “it’s by far the most dangerous play in the game.” And I’m all for making the game safer, especially if it means changing the rules. Some of the proposed changes include
No running starts for the kicking team Receiving team must have eight of its 11 players within 25 yards of the line of scrimmage No blocking within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage No wedge blocks by the receiving team And I think all of those make sense https://www.falconsatljersey.com/marvin-hall-jersey-c-16.html, Pooh. And I hope they work and drastically cut down on injuries because I still think that a kickoff return for a touchdown is one of the most exciting plays in football – and I hate to see it go away. Wayne from Buchanan, GA
Waiting to hear about training camp dates! Any word on when this year’s training camp will be held? My brother and I are going again this year but need the dates so we can book our dates. We’re taking out RV to stay for the whole training camp.
Matt Hey, Wayne. Unfortunately, I don’t have anything official I can release yet https://www.falconsatljersey.com/taylor-gabriel-jersey-c-17.html, but traditionally training camp has started during or around that last week of July every year. As soon as we have the full set of dates, we’ll release the story here on AtlantaFalcons.com How do you feel about Ito Smith as a potential Tevin Coleman replacement? I love the way the kid runs and feel like he could potentially be better than Coleman in the long run, but I m not expecting to see much from him this year.
Matt Look, I get the excitement over Ito Smith since he was so productive in college. Smith is one of just 10 players in NCAA history to finish his career with at least 4,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards – he finished his four year career at Southern Miss. with 4,538 yards and 42 touchdowns on the ground while averaging 5.5 yards per carry https://www.falconsatljersey.com/anthony-dable-jersey-c-15.html, and he caught 140 passes for 1,446 yards and seven touchdowns. But ... I really do not see Smith replacing Tevin Coleman. Certainly not this year, Jonah. I still think that Devonta Freeman and Coleman are one of the most dynamic running back duos in the NFL. And wouldn’t be something if the Falcons could somehow find a way to keep that duo together? Never say never. And as far as Smith goes, I’m going to wait read tap the brakes and see how he performs in training camp and the preseason before forming any opinions.
On the first day of the NFL’s annual spring meetings Tuesday, a day when 31 of the league’s 32 owners chose silence or near silence on the league’s topic du jour — the national anthem debate — Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones held court for nearly 15 minutes at the Whitley Hotel and gave the closest thing to an update anyone would dare provide.
“I can assure you Sam Irwin-Hill Jersey, the issue’s getting the very best of every owner … with an eye first and foremost on our fans,” Jones said. “We know our fans want us to zero in on football, and don’t want to think about — or think we’re thinking about — anything other than football. That’s certainly my take of the spirit of the room.”
Jones repeated variations of that take, the tacit understanding being his — and several other owners’ — belief that fans are weary of seeing the ongoing protests about police brutality and social injustice during the anthem. The spectacle has contributed to the overall way politics has crept into football over the past few years, with many standing by the players’ right to demonstrate and others condemning their actions as disrespectful to the flag.
“I’m not trying to diminish issues of rights here, but the No. 1 thing is our fans, and I know our fans want us to zero in on the game, zero in on football https://www.cowboysdaclub.com/chris-jones-jersey-c-5.html,” Jones said. “They want to come to the game and get away from a lot of the other issues that are out here.
“So from my standpoint, I’m trying to figure out the very best way so that when somebody thinks NFL, https://www.cowboysdaclub.com/cooper-rush-jersey-c-6.html they’re thinking about who’s starting at quarterback and who’s going to come out hot in the third quarter. We’ve got to make sure that whatever we decide here, it’s oriented toward getting our minds on what’s going on on the football field.”
There are some ways to do that, and, boy, were some options discussed.
In one proposal that surfaced — which was subsequently confirmed by Yahoo Sports — the league would allow the home team to decide whether teams stand on the field for the anthem, with teams then potentially being assessed a 15 yard penalty for kneeling.
The idea was widely panned by the public on social media, and internally there appeared to be little momentum for that option, at least by the end of Tuesday.
Jones refused to speak on it directly.
“I can’t speak to any reports,” Jones said. “You had discussion in many areas, but there was nothing resolved as to a game type penalty.”
And when asked if discussed proposals could be characterized as “creative,” Jones remained steadfast in his belief there’s no simple solution. I don’t know that I heard any new ideas there at all, which doesn’t mean they’re not good ideas, but there’s no reinventing the wheel here — it’s pretty straightforward,” Jones said. “I didn’t hear anybody that had the answer. I’ll tell you that.”
One answer, at least on the surface, would be to institute a rule that mandates players stand for the anthem, similar to the NBA.
“It’s not that easy — we’ve got a lot of things we’re trying to balance,” Jones said. “We recognize, with our visibility and interest in our league, that this has taken a life of its own. We ask the world, ‘Don’t turn your head — look at us.’ So when we’ve got some issues we got to work through, we’ve got to realize that we’ve asked you to look now, so let’s do what we can do [to fix it].”
25.05.2018 10:41
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