Andrew Bishop - Bethany College Alumni Football Experiment

Here is something you don't see every day...

In the summer of 2001, I took it upon myself to get my fat ass back into shape. I don't exactly remember how the thought entered my head, but I got the idea that if I was in good enough shape by the beginning of September, I'd ask Coach Kessinger if it would be alright for me to play on the Alumni Football team for the annual Bethany College Alumni Weekend Varity Vs. Alumni football scrimmage. Well, I ended up losing almost 30 lbs with the "let's see if I can play football" motivation constantly pushing me throughout the summer.




It all seems pretty tame to the uninformed, but there are a few things to consider here....

1. I'm a professional musician. A classical trumpeter to be exact.

2. The last time I had strapped on a set of football pads...I was a 14 year old seventh grader. I was now about to turn 28, and that my friends, meant that it had been half my lifetime ago since I played.

3. People were mortified, thinking that I was going to get killed.

But I knew that I'd be fine. I spent considerable time wondering what the best position for me to attempt to play would be. I knew I couldn't play anything on offense, because I had never actually played football at BC, and I would not know any play. I wasn't about to put myself in as a middle linebacker and get creamed (though I really wasn't all that worried about getting creamed in the first place). I knew I wasn't fast enough to play a corner or safety position, so I thought defensive end might work. I played it a few series in 7th grade...how different could it be? HAHA

I didn't want to use any equipment that might go to a more deserving alumnus, so I asked Coach Sandbo at the H.S. if I could use a helmet and shoulder pads from SVHS. (That's why I'm wearing a black helmet.) I'm wearing #26. I wanted to wear my brother's #28, but a fine fellow and badass Brad Schrader wanted his BC number, so I took 26. I also had a couple of buddies playing on the Alumni squad, Thayne Poole and Trinten Wille to name a few, that I charged with the task of making sure I had all the pads I'd need, as well as just making sure I didn't make a total jackass out of myself. Mission accomplished -- for the most part.

It turned out to be a great time. I had another friend who was on the alumni team (and whose wedding I had played) that was an all-american defensive end, and he let me take his place in a couple of series. Seven years later, I'm still pretty sure they we scared of me, and didn't want to run anything in my direction. ;-) This video is of the 2nd series I played. The digitizing of the video tape screwed up during the 1st series, so I cut it out.

The narration of this video is courtesy of my friends Travis Johnson, Mike Dreier, Phil Merz, and my sister Katie Grover. Pretty funny stuff!

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Andrew
• Bishop
• Bethany
• College
• Alumni
• Football
• Scrimmage

[seqjr]

Where is the Offensive film *lol*

[hotlipsab]

HA! I was inept enough at defense, dude. ;-)

[BradyB1995]

is that the belton pirates

[gordomarley]

man wat u talking about? You should have kept those thirty pounds if you was gonna play DE. you woulda knocked that tackle on his ass. All in all good job. what state is this, cause down in louisiana I have never seen alums playing HS, baddasss.