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Nice read on Michael Hoomanawanui from Peter May at the NY Times, and on how the "Patriot Way" occurs to outside players coming in:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/s...nawanui-eager-to-help-the-patriots.html?_r=0
Hoomanawanui has a little bit of similarity to Rob Ninkovich, who was profiled in a Grantland article recently. Uber-hard working, tough nosed, blue collar player. 5th round pick. Picked up off the scrap heap with little expectation, has worked himself in as a significantly role player and clearly passed Daniel Fells, who was a fairly significant off-season signing, on the depth chart. Like Ninkovich, a guy who just keeps working and exceeds expectations:
The phonetic spelling of his name also suggests lots of potential nicknames: "Oh-oh", "oh-mahn", for starters. Good kid. I hope the Pats can keep him for the future.
He said he always wondered. It’s human nature, perhaps, to look at the New England Patriots from the outside as a football voyeur. How do they do it? Will I ever be able to find out for myself?
In his first two seasons in the N.F.L., Michael Hoomanawanui played tight end for the anti-Patriots. He was on the St. Louis Rams, playing in just half their games. He was living out the meaning of his last name — “to be patient” — hoping for better things to come. A fifth-round pick from Illinois, he had 20 receptions for 229 yards and 3 touchdowns in two years.
Hoomanawanui headed to Hawaii after the 2011 season ended, to his ancestral home, not to the Pro Bowl. The Rams cut him last September — and Hoomanawanui’s world did a quick 180 in the next 48 hours. The Patriots were interested, his agent told him. Then Bill Belichick came on the phone, telling Hoomanawanui that they thought he could help them.
Hoomanawanui (pronounced Oh-oh-mah-NAH-wah-NEW-ee) quickly made his way to Foxborough, ready to do whatever he could for the Patriots. So far, life in New England has been all that Hoomanawanui had hoped, but dared not to expect.
“When you’re on the outside, you’re thinking what everyone else is thinking: why are they always great?” Hoomanawanui said after Sunday’s game. “What are they doing different that they have so much success? Well, when you get here, you quickly find out. It’s the Patriot way. You know, if something isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/s...nawanui-eager-to-help-the-patriots.html?_r=0
Hoomanawanui has a little bit of similarity to Rob Ninkovich, who was profiled in a Grantland article recently. Uber-hard working, tough nosed, blue collar player. 5th round pick. Picked up off the scrap heap with little expectation, has worked himself in as a significantly role player and clearly passed Daniel Fells, who was a fairly significant off-season signing, on the depth chart. Like Ninkovich, a guy who just keeps working and exceeds expectations:
“In those first couple years we had him, you would never had thought he’d end up where he did,” said Jim Pry, his position coach at Illinois. “But he kept at it. He worked harder than just about any kid I ever had. And by the time the pro scouts came around to see him, I’d just tell them to watch Michael run a corner route and then remember that he’s 270 pounds.”
The phonetic spelling of his name also suggests lots of potential nicknames: "Oh-oh", "oh-mahn", for starters. Good kid. I hope the Pats can keep him for the future.