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EZ SU THE SIDELINE
More Than a Game Views of high school sports from photographer Toni L. Sandys
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MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2010
WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS Columnist Tracee Hamilton will take your questions about the Redskins-Packers game in First Things First at 9:30 a.m.
WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS At noon, The Post’s Cindy Boren and Dan Steinberg dissect which sports figures are hot and cold in Washington this week with the D.C. Sports-o-meter. Who are your choices?
NORMAN CHAD Couch Slouch
Sibling revelry
he following is a reenactment of real events. Thenameshavenot been
changed because,well, this columnis about these very people: Along time ago inwesternNew
York,Diane andGordon Gronkowskiwere building a family.Whenthey got pregnant, Diane asked her husband, “Do youwant a boy or a girl?” “Iwant a tight end,”Gordonanswered. And onJan. 21, 1985,Danwas born. Awhile after, they againgot
pregnant.Diane againasked Gordon, “Do youwant a boy or a girl?” “Iwant a fullback,” he answered.And onDec. 26, 1986, Chriswas born. Afewyears later, they again
got pregnant. “Do youwant a boy or a girl?” she againasked. “I want another tight end,” he answered.And onMay 14, 1989, Robwas born. Meet theGronkowskis. DanGronkowski is a 6-foot-5,
255-pound tight endwiththe DenverBroncos. ChrisGronkowski is a 6-foot-2,
245-pound fullbackwiththe DallasCowboys. RobGronkowski is a 6-foot-6,
TONI L. SANDYS/THE WASHINGTON POST NorthwoodHigh School juniors proudly display the SpiritWeek Shield for homecoming. It had eluded them the past two years.
That’s the spirit at Northwood 6
Homecoming week includes a heated competition among all four classes
It’s early Friday afternoon and the
stadium atNorthwoodHigh School is nearly full, even though it is still six hours before game time. This week is homecoming, and there’s more at stake than the game. Another rivalry has been in full swing since SpiritWeek began Monday. Every day, freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors competed for points in various events, with the final points to be awarded during the pep rally. A shortened bell schedule made it possible for the entire student body to assemble in the bleachers for two final events. “It takes a little bit of instructional time
away,”Northwood Athletic DirectorMarco Fuggitti said, “but the school community really rallies behind athletics.” For the Class of 2012, spirit has always
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run deep. The year they were freshmen, they almost pulled an upset and won the SpiritWeek shield. A fewpoints shy of a win, they lost the homecoming week competition to the sophomores. Last year, as sophomores, again they lost to the same class, then juniors. “There’s no such thing as a threepeat,” beamed juniorHassan Soarkati, 17, as he held aloft the plywood shield. “We’ve always come in second by a fewpoints, but this year we really pulled through and beat them,” junior class treasurer Carter Stinson, not pictured, said. “It’s amazing.” Heading into the pep rally, no one was quite sure who had the lead. The first
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only from Comcast. DIGEST GOLF
Slocum takes McGladrey with 60-foot putt Heath Slocum won the PGA
Tour’s newMcGladrey Classic on Sunday in St. Simons Island, Ga., by knocking in a 60-foot birdie putt from behind the 16th green just as his challengers were fad- ing away. Slocum closed with a 2-under-
par 68 at Sea Island Golf Club, making a bogey on the final hole for a one-shot victory over Bill Haas. Slocum was in a three-way tie
for the lead when Robert Allenby went into the hazard on the 18th hole and made double bogey, and David Toms three-putted for bo- gey on the 16th in the group ahead. Slocum was trying to lag his putt toward the front of the green when it banged into the pin and disappeared for birdie. Haas at least secured a spot in
the Masters next year by moving toNo. 18 on the money list. . . . LeeWestwood is set to replace
Tiger Woods at the top of the rankings Oct. 31 after saying he does not expect to play again until November because of an ankle injury. The Englishman will climb to
No. 1 if he does not return before the end of the month andWoods follows through with his inten- tion not to play again until the HSBC Champions onNov. 4-7. . . . PGA champion Martin Kaymer
closed with a 6-under 66 at St. Andrews in Scotland to win the Dunhill Links Championship,
healed properly. “I am likely out for the year
making him the first European Tour player in 21 years with three straight victories. Kaymer’s streak began with his
playoff win at Whistling Straits in the PGA Championship. The 25- year-old German then won the Dutch Open last month. . . . In Tokyo, Hideki Matsuyama
closed with a 4-under 67 to win the Asian Amateur and earn a spot in the Masters as the first Japanese amateur at AugustaNa- tional.
SOCCER Kheli Dube scored in the 73rd
minute to lead the New England Revolution to a 2-1 MLS win over theDynamo inHouston. The win ended a five-game
winless streak for New England (8-15-5) and snapped Houston’s two-game unbeaten streak. . . . Defender John Terry will miss
England’s Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro on Tuesday because of a back injury. The Football Association said
that Chelsea captain Terry has returned to his club after being assessed by England’s medical staff. The FA said he is not fit to play in a game and that no extra call-ups will bemadeto the squad “at this time.”
TENNIS Serena Williams might miss
the rest of the 2010 season be- cause her injured right foot hasn’t
now,” Williams said in a posting on her official Web site. She said she “re-strained” her footbyover- training. If Williams is out for the rest of
the season, it would be a blow to the WTA Championships later this month, as well as for the United States when it plays Italy in theFedCupfinalnextmonthin San Diego. Williams pulled out of theGen-
eraliLadies Linz tournament that beginsMonday in Austria, saying she felt pain while training in Florida on Saturday, and a scan showed her injury hadn’t healed properly. She has been sidelined since
July after cutting her foot on bro- ken glass at a restaurant, shortly after winning Wimbledon. Wil- liams had surgery later in July. . . . In Tokyo, top-ranked Rafael
Nadal overpowered fifth-seeded Gael Monfils, 6-1, 7-5, to win his first Japan Open title and re- bound from a surprise semifinal loss in Bangkok last week. Nadal roared out in the first
set, breaking Monfils in the sec- ond and sixth games and keeping the Frenchman off the net with deep, well-placed returns. Monfils took back some of the momentum early in the second set, delivering strong serves and crosscourt returns. But the left-handed Spaniard
fought back in the 11th game, breaking serve with a long return shot just out of reach that puthim ahead, 6-5. He then held serve to
KIYOSHI OTA/GETTY IMAGES
Top-ranked RafaelNadal digs out a volley during his 6-1, 7-5 triumph over GaelMonfils in the titlematch of the Japan Open in Tokyo.Nadal broke serve at 5-5 in the second set before serving out thematch.
win thematch.
RUNNING Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya
pulled away from Ethiopian Tse- gay Kebede with a final sprint to capturehissecondstraightChica- goMarathon in 2 hours 6 minutes 24 seconds. Liliya Shobukhova of Russia
also repeated, quickly erasing a 24-second deficit late in thewom- en’s race. The win all but assured Wan-
jiru of the World Marathon Ma- jors series championship and the $500,000 that goes with it, which Shobukhova locked up after a personal-best 2:20:25. . . . Kenya’s John Korir won the
Boston Half-Marathon, finishing the 13.1-mile course in 1:02:21.
MISC. NewJerseyNetsownerMikhail
Prokhorov presented his team to the Russian public in Moscow, meeting many of the players for
the first time and reiterating a vow to turn them into a champi- onship team in five years. The Russian tycoon, who took
over ownership inMay, hosted an exhibition where Nets including Jordan Farmar and Devin Harris participated in training drills with local kids aged 8 to 18. . . . In Rome, Brazil won its third
straight men’s volleyball world title with a 3-0 shutout of Cuba. —From news services
on
allmetsports.com More high school coverage
E-mail suggestions for future More Than a Game topics to
sandyst@washpost.com.
264-pound tight endwiththe NewEnglandPatriots. Three brothers, all intheNFL
event, a 4x100 relay race, was won handily by the seniors. The second event was a football toss. A collective sigh of relief came from the bleachers, where the juniors were sitting, as the last senior dropped the ball. All that was left was one junior and one sophomore. The sophomore won. A hush went through the crowd. Juniors clasped hands and huddled in the bleachers waiting for the final results. Almost as soon as they were announced,
a sea of red stormed the field. The juniors, who had been designated to wear red for the final spirit day, emptied the bleachers and celebrated in the middle of the field. Before heading back into the building,
the juniors flipped the shield over. “Property of 2012. Don’t you wish you were one two,” it read. Last year, as a prank, the juniors had stolen the shield from the senior class adviser’s classroom and had written the saying on the back. “We need to go shake his hand and say thanks for the nice competition,” they joked.
at the same time, providing a nationinneedwithits greatest multiple-sibling dominance since Alec,Daniel,Williamand StephenBaldwinwereHollywood near-heavyweights inthe 1990s. More than300 sets of brothers
have played pro football, but the Gronkowskismark the first time three siblingshave beeninthe NFLsimultaneously sinceBrian, Gary andRichBaldinger overlapped from1986 to ’92. Brother acts go back to the earliest days of pro football— RedGrange playedwithhis brotherGarland onthe 1929-31 ChicagoBears, and before that, JimThorpe playedwithbrother Jack onthe 1921Oorang Indians. (Footnote I:TheOorang
franchisewasnicknamed the Indians because the teamwas composed entirely ofAmerican Indians, as opposed to the current WashingtonNFLfranchise, whichhasnothing to dowith Indians and uses a term— Redskins—that is offensive to manyNativeAmericans.) But themother of all sibling
acts inpro footballwas theNesser Brothers. In1921, theColumbus Panhandleshad five,maybe six, Nesser brothers onthe roster.* TherewasTed,Phil, John,Fred, Frank and perhapsAlNesser, plus Ted’s sonCharlie. *The precisenumber of
brothers is unclear, due to conflictinghistorical accounts.To pinit down, I’d suggest checking withPeterKing ofNBCand Sports Illustrated;whatever numberhe gives you, just add or subtract two and you’ll probably have a ballpark figure.Oh, and if hementionsBrettFavre is retiring, I’d justwalk away.
(Footnote II:TedNesserwas
player-coach, so therewas a teensy-weensy degree of nepotismatworkhere.And, to be honest, brotherly lovemight’ve turned to brotherly bickering whenthe 1921Panhandles stumbled to a 1-8 record.) TheGronkowskis—whose
fatherwas anoffensive guard at Syracuse andwhose older brother Gordie Jr. played baseball at JacksonvilleUniversity—all attendedWilliamsville (N.Y.) NorthHighSchool.Danwent to Maryland,Chriswent to Maryland but transferred to Arizona andRobwent toArizona. Danwas thenext-to-last player
picked inthe 2009NFLdraft, by theDetroitLions, andwas traded to theBroncos this year.Hehas four career catches for 17 yards. Chriswas undrafted and
signedwiththeCowboys.Hehas one carry for eight yards and three catches for 13 yards, including a one-yard touchdown receptioninhis first career start inWeek 2. Robwas a 2010 second-round
draft pick by thePatriots,withsix catches this season, including two for touchdowns. As good as theseGronkowskis
are onthe gridiron, it could get evenbetter. They got pregnant yet again.
“Do youwant a boy or a girl?” “I want awide receiver.”AndGlenn was born. GlennGronkowski is a 6-3, 215-
pound senior atWilliamsville North.Two Saturdays ago,hehad 11 catches for 194 yards and four touchdowns; last Saturdayhehad a touchdowncatch, a fumble recovery for another score and three interceptions. I believeMel Kiper Jr.has projectedhimas a fourth-round pick inthe 2015 NFLdraft.
Ask The Slouch Q.HowdoesFox justify the
viewer discomfort caused every Sunday byTony Siragusa? (Matt Gross;Albany,N.Y.) A.AsWestley toldButtercup in
“ThePrincessBride”: “Life is pain,Highness.Anyonewho says differently is selling something.” Q.Who ismore of a slouch, you
orRandyMoss? (Geoff Stoner; Spokane,Wash.) A. Sure, Inever get up off the
couch, but Inever take a play off whilewatching anNFLgame. Q.Do you agree that rooting
for theNewYorkYankees is like rooting for the dealer in blackjack? (M.R.Anderson;Deer Park,Tex.) A.Yes, and ineither case, it
feels as if you’re playing against a stacked deck. Q.Whenyourwife ishoping
for a late bedroomrally, does she play “Day-O” onthehome sound system? (PaulMika;Naples,Fla.) A.Pay theman, Shirley.
You, too, can enter the$1.25Ask The SlouchCashGiveaway. Just e-mail
asktheslouch@aol.comand, if your question is used, youwin$1.25in cash!
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