All of you read last weeks post (ok I know TWO of you did), in which we reviewed the career of wide receiver Yo Murphy.
Through no real contributions of his own, Yo went to the Superbowl, the CFL’s Grey Bowl, the NFL Europe championship, and whatever the hell the XFL called their big event. A ring for each finger, (a thumb isn’t a finger it’s a thumb) yet the only reason anyone recognized his name, was because of the fact that it was on one of the pages of my awesome KC Chiefs daily calendar.
Yo is now the head coach of a team in the lingerie league. If you bet his rings will wind up on an episode of Pawn Stars, in my opinion you’d have an excellent chance of winning. The name Yo Murphy, who appears to be a great all around guy, is destined to fade into the foggy fields of NFL nothingness.
For sure, playing in the Superbowl can be a historically significant experience, no doubt. But as we all see in Yo’s situation, well it can also wind up not meaning a damn thing.
It makes me wonder if Tony has regrets.
Tony put up stats for the Chiefs like no other KC tight end. Hell no other KC player. I personally do not rank him as the greatest end of all time, but like Ted Williams once said about his hitting career , Tony certainly “deserves to be mentioned when the topic comes up”.
The patience Tony showed with the Chiefs season after season, failure after failure, makes him deserve to be mentioned when the topic of the Biblical Job’s trials come up now that I think of it.
So a couple of seasons ago Tony threw in the towel. He wanted out of KC. And Carl Peterson (controversy here ) finally honored his wishes.
Flash to 2011 as Tony again walks off the field with the dejected look I saw year after year through my Buschnells. But this time he walks off with less fans in the stands, and at his age certainly less bargaining power for the future. In Atlanta, Tony I’m sure is well thought of, but he isn’t the hero he used to be in KC.
So here we sit. I think Tony has no better chance of getting his ring in Atlanta than he did in KC. I bet he won’t get one at all.
When his career is over, he will pick the KC jersey for his hall of fame induction. Hero’s have a way of returning to heroland, so he will probably return to KC, open up Tony G’s Brazilian Restaurant, Cafe, or well you get the idea.
He will stand outside of Arrowhead in the Alltel booth next to Priest Holmes, sign autographs, hold babies, and as the time slips by people will forget how he left us when the team was down. Most of us will maybe. Some of us won’t. I won’t.