I Forgot My Last Username Posted March 15, 2006 Posted March 15, 2006 From the centurions website: Quarterback Tory Woodbury will be writing a weekly diary for NFLEurope.com during his season playing for the Cologne Centurions in NFL Europe. This week Buffalo Bills allocated passer Woodbury describes his trip to Germany which he is writing on the flight over to Cologne. Here’s a little motto for you’ll to chew on as we get it started: Yesterday was history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift, that’s why it’s called the present. What’s happening everybody? Right now, I’m airborne above the Atlantic Ocean and headed towards you, so I hope you’re ready for me and my team. I can speak for the team when I say we’re excited to see different places, taste different food, and meet different people. It’s about to be on!! We had a 9:00 A.M. wake up call this morning, and left a successful training camp behind in Tampa to head over to the Orlando airport. For me, it was about relaxing and getting my mind ready for the flight. I think some guys are a bit nervous, because all of a sudden, the big day arrived. We’re leaving the comforts of our country (excluding the National players) and all of a sudden, we’re on the airplane. Crazy. As people were looking at us walking through the airport today, I was pondering what they were thinking. I think people have skewed perceptions of what athletes are like. Athletes are humans that make the same mistakes as anyone else, and are just like anyone else. They just happen to have been given a gift at athletics. So people are surprised if an athlete messes up, but we are just as vulnerable to mistakes as anyone else. I have just as much respect for a teacher, a doctor or any other professional. To save someone’s life as a doctor is something that I could not do, just like a doctor couldn’t step onto an NFL Europe field and throw a touchdown pass. But I don’t have to tell you which is more important. People forget that. OK I got that off my chest. Back to the airplane. For some reason – the luck of the draw I guess – I got my own row on a German airline called LTU. I have four seats to myself, and as soon as I get done with my diary, I’m about to lay out and enjoy the flight. We’re landing in Dusseldorf at about 6:00 in the morning, and then hopping a bus to Cologne. Coach Duggan wants us to stay up and try to get our bodies accustomed to the time change, so I’m going to do what I can not to shut my eyes. Once we arrive, they have a whole series of events planned for us. We don’t practice until Saturday, and that means I’m going to take the time to explore Cologne, to learn about the city and expand my knowledge. Not many people can say they traveled to a different country and stayed there for a while, so I plan on taking full advantage of it. This past week was a tough week because we lost a lot of players and close friends due to the cuts. We had to bring our roster down to 47 players from about 57 dudes, and that is never easy. But it’s also the nature of the business, having to let people go. We had so many guys that were good at one position competing for only a few spots, so the coaches had to narrow down it down to the best few at each position. I’ve been there before, getting cut. I wouldn’t even wish being released on my worst enemy. I’m going to work hard at keeping in touch with the guys we lost. We all realize that it’s a high-reward, high-risk business, and only a small percentage of players make it to the NFL. Yet and still, a lot of people want to be in our shoes right now, with the opportunity we have. I won’t be taking anything for granted. I tried not to worry about getting cut myself. I don’t think about the off-field transactions, I just let what happens off the field happen. I’m saying to myself, “If it is meant for me to make the team, that’s what will happen.” And it did. I try to tell some of the guys that they can’t worry about what happens off the field. I tell them just to stay focused on playing football, and everything else will take care of itself. You hear coaches say all the time that players need to carry themselves like professionals. You have to know that eyes are always on you, both on and off the field, and you have to treat people with respect. I try to let some of the younger guys know that as well. If you have a bad game, you can’t bring that negativity home with you. If you have a tough day at home, you cannot allow that to get onto the field. So after this little summary of how we bonded together in training camp, you won’t be hearing too much about training camp. If you want to know anything else, you’ll have to come up to me on the streets of Cologne and ask, because now it’s time to focus on Germany. But until we do that… Preseason was a lot like being in college again. We were constantly around each other, by rooming together, practicing together, going to meetings together, and hanging out together. You find out a lot of personal stuff about each other, and that’s helped me to already make some really good friends. I think that will help our product on the field, that we built friendships off the field. We all hung out together in Tampa. We’d pile 10 or 11 people in the taxi cab just as long as we could be together, because we knew that soon enough, we were going to have to go to war together. We’re going to be taking on some good opponents, and now we know that we have each other’s backs. I can’t wait for the first game, which is at Hamburg on March 18. I don’t think any team that we scrimmaged in Tampa prohibited us from performing. I have high expectations for this team, and from what I saw in preseason, we will be a force to be reckoned with. We have to treat every game as a playoff game, because there are only 10 games. By the time you start playing, the season could be over. Every game it really important here, because there are fewer games than any of us are used to playing. We want to, and plan to start fast. Getting that first win is the hardest, so once we’re able to get it, we should be off and rolling. OK, just a few more hours until Cologne. One more time on the motto before I take a nap, baby: Yesterday was history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift, that’s why it’s called the present. PEACE! Questions: 1) Why did he not attribute this to Marv? 2) Is he trying to suck up to Marv? By not only quoting him but saying that he will be taking a nap soon? 3) PEACE!
eSJayDee Posted March 15, 2006 Posted March 15, 2006 Marv wasn't the 1st to say it. When Marv used it in his acceptance speech or whatever, I looked up who originally said it. I don't recall whom, but someone else also found the quote attributable to another (3rd) person. So crediting Marv wouldn't have been appropriate.
Poeticlaw Posted March 15, 2006 Posted March 15, 2006 Marv wasn't the 1st to say it. When Marv used it in his acceptance speech or whatever, I looked up who originally said it. I don't recall whom, but someone else also found the quote attributable to another (3rd) person. So crediting Marv wouldn't have been appropriate. 630112[/snapback] http://www.inspire21.com/site/ecards/Today_gift.html Same quote by E. Roosevelt
I Forgot My Last Username Posted March 15, 2006 Author Posted March 15, 2006 NO CRAP!?!?! Elenor Fricken Roosevelt? Marv quotes Elenor Roosevelt? Thank you both for pointing out this enlightening fact.
Like A Mofo Posted March 15, 2006 Posted March 15, 2006 NO CRAP!?!?! Elenor Fricken Roosevelt? Marv quotes Elenor Roosevelt? Thank you both for pointing out this enlightening fact. 630406[/snapback] Man we NEED to sign someone SOON to stop the instanity!!
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