Feature story on Wes Welker in Sports Illustrated

[JudyPatFan]

If this has been posted already, please merge.



Wonderful piece, laudatory and explanatory...using cultural references to start and end the analysis - here is the beginning:

Quote:

Part of genius is realizing that to look is only to begin to see. Someone looks at a block of marble and sees David. Someone else looks at a river and sees a boy and a man on a raft, one white and one black, floating through the purple twilight in a country facing the bargain that allowed it to grow but betrayed its ideals. Someone else looks at an ocean and sees a continent on the other side, real and solid, even though he has yet to step onto its shores. The eyes are the windows to the soul and all that rot, but they are something else as well. They are the engines of imagination. Geniuses see what isn't there but ought to be, damn well should be, inevitably will be. In this, seeing truly is believing.



Read more: It takes an audacious imagination for a - 12.20.10 - SI Vault

 

[upstater1]

Great piece of writing, Judy. Thanks. Everyone should read this. Adds a little more to the Welker story that's been gone over many times in the past.

 

[DarrylS]

Better than the average story.. well written piece, had heard this mentioned on the radio this week, but forgot about it until now.. thanks.

 

[mudslinger]

If this has been posted already, please merge.



Wonderful piece, laudatory and explanatory...using cultural references to start and end the analysis - here is the beginning:

Quote:

Part of genius is realizing that to look is only to begin to see. Someone looks at a block of marble and sees David. Someone else looks at a river and sees a boy and a man on a raft, one white and one black, floating through the purple twilight in a country facing the bargain that allowed it to grow but betrayed its ideals. Someone else looks at an ocean and sees a continent on the other side, real and solid, even though he has yet to step onto its shores. The eyes are the windows to the soul and all that rot, but they are something else as well. They are the engines of imagination. Geniuses see what isn't there but ought to be, damn well should be, inevitably will be. In this, seeing truly is believing.



Read more: It takes an audacious imagination for a - 12.20.10 - SI Vault

This is a Patriot type player for sure.
Great article!

 

[JMarr]

Good (long) read. Thanks for posting it. First article on Welker I've seen to give some real props to Mike Leach's offensive genius and how Welker really thrived in a pretty complicated spread offense in college. After Josh left, I had visions of BB hiring Leach as OC, but HC of Maryland is a pretty good gig I guess.

Lol:

Heritage Hall pulled off a remarkable string of upsets to win the Oklahoma state Class 2A championship. (In the title game Wes had 150 yards rushing and receiving and 75 return yards, intercepted a pass, kicked a 47-yard field goal, scored the tying touchdown and kicked the clinching extra point.)"

 

[Mainefan]

Unusually well written piece. Well worth the reading.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Thanks for sharing. I usually skip SI as they've gotten quite crappy over the years, but good to see they still have some interesting feature pieces.

I wish they (and others) did more of this type of long feature writing. I know it's not as popular with the shorter attention spans today, but you just can't get these types of insights and perspective in short columns.

 

[Patspsycho]

A bit melodramatic, but a good article. Thanks for the link.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

I still think it is near a medical miracle that Wes Welker is playing this season. It took me nearly two years to get back from an ACL,PCL, MCL mutilation.

And that rehab was pure torture.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Yeah a bit of an artsy spin to it. But still pretty informative and an overall good read.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Wes Welker: Do You See What He Sees?

Nobody does these kind of insight pieces justice like Charlie Pierce. And he really nails it on Welker. The first thing you notice on this guy is those eyes...

Wes Welker's eyes are blue-gray and wide. Their gaze is steady, and their focus is like something alive. It misses nothing in a circular field of vision that seems greater than other people's. Welker sees spaces that nobody else sees. He looks at a field where everyone seems to be colliding and sees a place to run. He looks at a game played by much bigger men and sees a place in which a man who stands 5'9" and weighs 185 pounds can create a kind of art. An old friend of his remembers a broken love affair and sees the words of a song, a deep blue tint on every syllable. Wes Welker looks at a noisy, crowded, violent profession and sees a career.

Watch him yourself. You can look at what he does, but you won't see what he's creating, not until after he's made it. Watch him dart 22 yards through the Indianapolis secondary early in a game in November. A linebacker, Pat Angerer, comes up to cover him. Welker is looking at Angerer, but he's seeing the play he's going to make. He dips inside and then breaks outside—sharp, quick moves of no more than a single step. Angerer goes altogether gelatinous. The passing lane, the space that Welker saw even before he left the line of scrimmage, opens up, and Tom Brady delivers the ball. Welker cantilevers a bit in the air and makes the catch for a touchdown.

"I came off the line, and Tom saw that I had a linebacker," Welker says later, reversing the terms of the football argument. Usually it's a defender who says he has somebody. Welker's art has its own syntax. "Tom saw what I was doing," Welker concludes, "and he just put the ball there."

It takes an audacious imagination for a - 12.20.10 - SI Vault

 

[ALP]

Re: Wes Welker: Do You See What He Sees?

very good read

though it might be difficult to see whether this guy is a football writer, or has a crush on wes

 

[weswelker#83]

Re: Wes Welker: Do You See What He Sees?

Great read.
#83 FTW
You got my 5 stars

 

[DaBruinz]

Re: Wes Welker: Do You See What He Sees?

Thread on this here:

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...ture-story-wes-welker-sports-illustrated.html

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Re: Wes Welker: Do You See What He Sees?

Just read the article this morning while I was on the throne . I like Charlie.

 

[JudyPatFan]

Re: Wes Welker: Do You See What He Sees?

DaBruinz Re: Wes Welker: Do You See What He Sees?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thread on this here:

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-...lustrated.html


Thank you, DaBruinz, for noting that I already posted this a few days ago - the first thread I ever started on this board!

Judy

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Re: Wes Welker: Do You See What He Sees?

DaBruinz Re: Wes Welker: Do You See What He Sees?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thread on this here:

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-...lustrated.html


Thank you, DaBruinz, for noting that I already posted this a few days ago - the first thread I ever started on this board!

Judy

Nice first thread! Sorry I duplicated it (though it's worth a bump - I'm amazed how few views really good pieces here get compared to some of the whiny or silly or troll baiting threads do...) but SI has it dated 12-20 and I didn't catch your thread so assumed this was from today. Mods please merge.

 

[Gwedd]

Re: Wes Welker: Do You See What He Sees?

An excellent read. Nice, refreshing, well-written article.

 

[DaBruinz]

Re: Wes Welker: Do You See What He Sees?

DaBruinz Re: Wes Welker: Do You See What He Sees?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thread on this here:

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-...lustrated.html


Thank you, DaBruinz, for noting that I already posted this a few days ago - the first thread I ever started on this board!

Judy

Welcome JudyPatsfan..

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

That Charles P. Pierce can write... well done.

Everyone loves an underdog story, like the 11th-hour scholarship to Texas Tech that was possible simply because another recruit backed out with homesickness, then the combine snub, then Miami lowballing him on a RFA tender.

Between Wes, Danny Woodhead, BJGE, and Mr. pick #199 TFB, Neal (college wrestler), Arrington, Guyton, Vollmer (picked out out of nowhere, seemingly), we have a heaping share of feel-good one-time underdog stories.