|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
A real all-Proehl
Posted: Monday January 24, 2000 06:03 PM
Each afternoon during the hype-heavy days leading up to Super Bowl XXXIV, SI's David Fleming will do his best to cut through the S.B.'s B.S. and offer his take on the goings-on. This is Flem's first file in the series. The ball bounced out of his cradled arms for a split second and then Rams wideout Ricky Proehl reached up with his left hand and secured the touchdown pass that sent St. Louis to the Super Bowl. Written in black ink on the tape that surrounded what is now the most famous left wrist in all of Missouri, were the letters "G MA." It stands for Grandma. Back during the summer, Proehl was working out at a Rams minicamp when he got the call that his grandma, Muriel Proehl, was dying in a hospital back in Greensboro, N.C. She was 94 years old and had suffered a stroke. Then, after breaking her hip, grandma deteriorated rapidly. Proehl jumped in his car at 8 p.m. and headed east on I-64, driving all night to reach her, and talking to himself out loud as he drove. "Hang in there grandma," he said, "I'm coming."
Muriel Proehl had lived 90 years in the Bronx and had come to embody the kind of spirit and toughness her grandson has shown in his nomadic 10-year NFL career. "Her strength inspires me," he said. "I have always lived my life thinking if I could be half the person she was I'd be all right." Muriel had the kind of spirit that kept her grandson going each year when he had to prove himself all over again to another NFL GM. (His friends call him "Two-Month" because it usually takes coaches two months to realize Proehl can actually play the game.) Muriel had the kind of spirit that told Ricky he could win the game for the Rams -- even though he hadn't caught a touchdown pass all year long and was not the intended receiver on the big play. In fact, had Torry Holt and Az-zahir Hakim not been banged up Proehl wouldn't have even been on the field. No, none of that mattered. Apparently, Proehl and the Rams have a guardian angel in their corner. How else can you explain why several things went perfectly for Proehl's touchdown play, 585 H-Choice? First there was the TV timeout that gave QB Kurt Warner time to tell Proehl to watch for the safety to blitz. Why? Because when that happens the Bucs' cornerback usually squats on his coverage, expecting a short route like a hitch or a curl. "If the safety comes, make the sight adjustment and run a fade," said Warner. "Yeah," responded Proehl, "yeah, I got you." Then Rams tackle Orlando Pace read the blitz and, after chipping his man, slid over to pick up another rusher, giving Warner time to go deep, instead of to Marshall Faulk, his first option. And finally there was the spectacular catch. "We call Ricky 'Mr. Reliable,'" says tight end Roland Williams. "The over-the-shoulder, to-the-back-side-while-getting-pushed-out-of-bounds catch? Come on, that's the toughest catch in football." When Proehl began talking about his grandma In the locker room after Sunday's win, his eyes misted and he was so focused on her tale that he ignored a congratulatory pat on the back from coach Dick Vermeil. Proehl's dad, Kevin, who got the TD ball, had to tell his son to turn around and say hi to the coach. "I really think she held on that night just for me," said Proehl. "I looked at her and just said, 'Oh grandma' and she looked back at me and said, 'I'm dying.'" The next morning she passed away. She's buried in New York in the same cemetery, Proehl says, as Babe Ruth. "She was a fighter and a person who never gave up," said Proehl. "I think I'm like that. I think I've showed that." Standing by his locker, dressed in a new NFC Champion hat and matching t-shirt, let's face it, the guy is Mr. NFC title. After all he ran around the TWA Dome with the conference trophy after the game, saying later "I've seen guys my whole life holding trophies up and running around with them, but, I'll tell you what, that thing gets heavy real quick." Proehl then began to unwrap the tape with G MA written on it. He stopped for a minute when the people with him realized he was erasing his tribute to Muriel. "Don't worry," said Proehl, reaching into his locker. "I've got it written on my shoes too." Sports Illustrated staff writer David Fleming explores the sometimes weird and wacky side of sports every Thursday. Click here to send an e-mail to Flem, or address it yourself: flemfile@aol.com. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
| ||||||||||||||||
