About Mike Vrabel

[justaprogressive]

Over the next 15 minutes, players wander in sporadically, each time with the guy in orange leaping forward to yell, "Be careful! The ground is a mess." Vrabel tells them things like, "Great job today" and "Thank you for what you did out there." Receiver Kayshon Boutte gets an especially long embrace. Boutte had a remarkable game-clinching touchdown catch on the day, and Vrabel pulls him in close to say, "I'm proud of you."

"I'm so grateful that you believed in me," Boutte says back.

But words aren't the main way that Vrabel expresses appreciation: He's all physicality. It's the style of affection shown through shoves, pulls and wrestling around rather than eye contact and compliments.

The warmth of the exchanges comes from a shared understanding of the bruising nature of what they have in common. In this case, it's football. But this kind of appreciation can also be seen between siblings at a family barbecue, two reunited Army buddies or a pair of jujitsu black belts who used to train together. This might be a sixth love language, because none of the accepted five manage to capture Vrabel's brand of Linebacker-itsu.

Vrabel has a variety of moves that he uses in the tunnel. Hugs. Handshakes. Back slaps. Half headlocks. Full headlocks. Sometimes he'll high-five and then smack his right hand onto a guy's chest, while at the same time squeezing his left hand on the player's back. He couldn't compact an actual car with that clamp, but a junior high kid would probably need to see a doctor afterward.

"He's still got a lot of muscle to him," cornerback Alex Austin says. "When he grabs hold of you, you feel it."

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/47850063/mike-vrabel-new-england-patriots-ritual-super-bowl

Much more. Really recommended.

[John1956PA]

1. Mike Vrabel is remembered fondly in Pittsburgh where he played for the Steelers for four years.

In 1999, he strip-sacked New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe in a playoff game.

As a side note, I will mention that I was watching the subsequent season when Drew Bledsoe left a Patriots game due to an injury. He would never return as the Patriots starting quarterback. His replacement in that game was Tom Brady.