Built Like a Linebacker!

That is something that every little girl hopes to hear, right? Of course not, but lucky me I not only heard it I was told it.

 When I was in the 4^th or 5^th grade my class was going on a field trip, so to make sure no one got lost and because there was no bus systems we were split into groups and each assigned a parent as our chaperone. Now I don’t remember who this woman was, but I will never forget how she tried to make small talk. We introduce ourselves and she looks at me and says, “ Wow you’ve got broad shoulders. You know you’re built a lot like my son; he’s a linebacker.”

Now, how is one supposed to respond to that? I knew that a linebacker was a position in football, but I had no idea what one looked like or if it was supposed to be a compliment or an insult. At the time I did know that a linebacker had to be someone strong and in that point in my life I was supper proud of how strong I was. My mom, my sister and me used to joke about the “ My child is an honor student” bumper stickers that my mom should get one and get another one that said “My other child will beat up your honor child.”; my sister being the honor student. So I took the woman’s statement as a compliment. But as I look back on it I’m not sure it was and when I went through that awkward becoming a teen-phase I would think back to that comment and it would make me sad. Not so much the linebacker comment, but that she compared me to her son.

But now I’ve overcome such things, kind of.

So what is a linebacker? A Linebacker or LB is a defensive player who lines up behind the and back from the line of scrimmage, basically the linebackers are a team's second line of defense. Their position gives them an advantage as they get too view the offense once the action starts. This gives them time to prepare to make decisions about what they perceive the offense is doing and what they, as the defense, need to do to stop  them from gaining yardage or scoring.

                              

There are different kinds of linebackers: strongside & weakside/ outside and middle/inside. So as I understand it the strongside linebacker is there to play a kind of one-on-one defense to an offensive player who posses a greater threat than normal, like a player with a lot of speed and good hands. It is the strongside linebacker’s job to keep this kid from getting the ball. Then there is the weakside linbacker and contrary to what one might think, the weakside linebacker is not weak. His job is to take the side opposite of the strongside, the less protected side, and attack the or shut down the quarterback. Then the middle linebacker is there to take down any of the receivers who might catch the ball. As I said they are the second line of defense if or when the receiver gets the ball it is the middle linebackers job to make sure this guy goes down as soon as possible.

So from that you learn that a linebacker must be strong, quick and fast-thinking and that they are doing their job when the ball doesn’t move very far from the line of scrimmage.

So am I really built like a linebacker? Maybe I was built like a fourth grade linebacker. But I am definitely not a College linebacker. I went and looked at the ALABAMA roster to see how much these guys weighed and what their heights were. On average these guys are 230-260 and while I don’t like to comment on my weight we aren’t  close and in height we are father off, as these “boys” range from the short 6-1 to the tall 6-6. Let’s just say that they are giant.

I am no Linebacker. And I definitely do not have the speed, but I will accept strong and fast-thinking.