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Timothy Faragher
English 1102
Dr.Blair
December 1, 2014
Reading between the Numbers
From fall of sixth grade until the winter of my senior year of high school I played
football, and during that time football developed into my passion. My teammates spoke English,
my coaches spoke English, and I spoke English. However, there is a secondary language to the
game that utilizes jargon, aggression, and instinct in order to communicate. This discourse is
taught and learned through experiences, practice, and time in the film room. The start of my
literacy in football ran parallel to the start of my academic literacy, because at the beginning of
both I was timid shy and oblivious; and the journey never stopped. I am constantly growing and
developing. The quote The education of a man is never complete until the day he dies by
Robert E. Lee is applicable to both football literacy and academic literacy.
When I first stepped onto the itchy, crunchy, patchy, scratchy grass at Bain Elementary
for my first practice with the Mint hill panthers I was football illiterate. I was oblivious to the
positions, routes, coverages, stretches you name it. Moreover, as a sixth grader I was timid, and
slightly nervous to be playing a full contact sport with kids inches taller and in some cases many
pounds heavier than myself. Not to mention, I was late and all of the other kids on the team were
starting practice. My dad told me to hurry over to the field house to get my pads, and practice
jersey. It was in that field house that I first met Coach Bob. Patrick good to meet ya bud, a
hefty individual with a booming voice and a whistle hanging from his trunk of a neck blurted

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out, heres your helmet and shoulder pads, go into to that room and pick out thigh knee and butt
Pads. Unfortunately for me, all of the size youth medium thigh pads were taken, so I trotted over
to join my teammates as my oversize thigh pads jumbled around, bumping into one another as I
ran. "File into a squad line", coach Moody yelled, as he continued to blow his whistle with the
enthusiasm of a drill sergeant on the first day of boot camp. I didn't know directly what squad
lines were, but the tone in coaches voice caused me to make a quick educated guess. I filed in
and started to emulate the foreign movements of the player in front of me. Some of the stretches,
in particular "C skip", which combined high knees, hurdles is particularly hard to master for first
timers. Later in my football career, particularly high school I loved watching freshman attempt
this stretch, usually with the rhythm of a broken keyboard, the ones you can set a back ground
beat to. By the end of the day I had had my first lesson in football jargon, via my first day of
practice.
One of the hardest parts about learning the secondary discourse of football, at least for
myself, was learning to rebuild instinct. What I mean by that is being able to run full speed into
an opponent also running full speed, and trust that your inertia is great enough to impose your
will upon the other player. During my time with the Mint Hill Panthers, and my middle school
team the Northeast Eagles, I never really became good at this. I mean I could make a tackle when
I needed to but my passion for the game was throwing touchdowns and making interceptions. A
touchdown occurs when a team successfully reaches the other teams end zone by getting one of
their players in the end zone while still carrying the ball; usually touchdowns can be ran in, or
thrown in by the quarterback to a receiver who catches the pass. Football language 101 aside, it
wasn't until high school that I became a hitter, and really started to use my aggression at will. I
discovered this phenomena after what was probably one of my least favorite football

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experiences. I was playing quarterback and moved high schools to a school with no senior class.
This meant our team would be small, but I would have a great chance of starting as a sophomore.
I felt I was the obvious choice at the quarterback position, but the head coach and I never really
got along; and since he doubled as the quarter backs coach, I found myself at second string
behind a freshman who was in my eyes half the player I was. Emotions aside the head coach
never played a down of quarterback in his life, and just wanted to be sure he go to pick the leader
of his team. Anyways, when he dropped me from first to second string for missing a week of
summer practice for a family vacation I was pissed to say the least. That same day at practice I
volunteered myself for "Oklahoma" drills. In this drill, which I'm pretty sure is illegal today,
there was about a 5x7 yard perimeter, where a running back, a defensive lineman, an offensive
lineman, and a linebacker/safety lined up. The defensive and offensive lineman were generally
there just to neutralize each other and create tiny hole for the running back to explode through,
the linebacker/safety would have to read the side the running back chose and tackle him before
he breaks the length perimeter, scoring a touchdown. I still had on my red quarterback jersey and
naturally had a football in my hand as I stepped into the drill at running back. I wanted to prove I
could be a running threat in a game, but more than anything wanted to take out my rage. Coach
Carlson made some remark about me being soft, and a "pretty boy" ( name often ascribed to a
quarterback, but is a player more concerned about how they look on the field than how they
actually play). A screeching whistle blew, and with a third of the team, and a handful of coaches
around me I bolted into the drill. The lineman crashed like the wake of two waves colliding, I
picked a side, left, then.... Crack! A loud "ooooooh" erupted from the spectators, I was the only
player in the drill upright. That got the coaches and players hyped up and so we ran the drill back
(did it again). This time coach Carlson had me go to the safety/linebacker spot. Another whistle,

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lineman crashing, I lurked watching the running back pick a side. whack! I got lower than the
running back and exploded through him, knocking him to the ground. Another "ooooooh" from
the crowd. I was still angry. I wanted to go again, but coach Carlson had me take a break; and let
new players have a turn. While I watched on the side of the drill, I realized through that
experience I had gained a crucial part of football discourse, and started to develop a new "field
instinct". Because I was second string quarterback, the defensive coordinator, Coach Carlson
asked if I wanted to play safety. When I returned from the field house I had traded my red jersey,
for a white one, and my single digit #3 was replaced by double digit #38.
The final component of football discourse is learning how to "read" the game. This can
only be achieved through countless hours in the film room, and great players spend an incredible
amount of time watching film to achieve this literacy (Horton, Gary). Merely having the
aggression instinct that allows you to make a hit doesn't win you football games. There are
"assignments", or responsibilities a player must carry out so that there isn't a weak spot in
coverage. On the offensive side of the ball, film highlights those weaknesses, and helps to create
"match ups" and "seams"(Posanski, Joe). Match ups and seams refer to player on player
advantages, and soft spots in the opposing defense. One of my main responsibilities as a safety
depending on what "coverage" or defense style we were in, was to "set the edge"; a term used to
describe not letting a play get outside of you, by forcing it back up the middle where there are
more players to help out. If we were in cover 2 my assignment was to cover one of the deep
halves of the field, and make sure no receivers got passed me. All of these tiny nuances in
football are what wins games, and they are learned through film. During my time playing at
Rocky River, I would spend at least an hour in film after regular classes let out. It was during this
time I developed another football instinct, more like an awareness to all of the components of the

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game, while on the field. Film was such an important aspect of the game that if a player fell
asleep in film he could have to "run the yellow" (laps around the whole field until coach stopped
you), or even loose your starting spot that week.
In conclusion, the secondary discourse of football is too complex for one paper, but I
have tried to narrow it down to three main components of jargon, aggression, and instinct. These
components can only be achieved through real time practices, experiences, and hours studying
film. In my case, I continue to learn more Football literacy and the secondary discourse even
though I don't play anymore. Merely watching football on television, and watching my friends
still playing in high school, gives me opportunities to grow, and continue learning the secondary
discourse. Every game I go to, I get a little taste of the excitement and passion football brought to
me while I was playing. And the same virtues of learning from experience, practice, and study
can be applied to my everyday life.

Horton, Gary. "Snippets From The Film Room." Snippets From The Film Room 227.26 (2003):
44. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2014.
Posanski, Joe. "Prose Football." Sports Illustrated 115.10 (2011): n. pag. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.

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