Another Ben Graham article

[jim boy]

FYI from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/08/sports/football/08jets.html

Jets' Punter Happy to Be Just a Face in the Crowd





By KAREN CROUSE
Published: October 8, 2005
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., Oct. 7 - Ben and Katie Graham strolled into a popular local Southwestern grill, slid into a booth and savored their anonymity as they snacked on chips and salsa. They had come for the catfish and barbecue and chicken-fried steak and smashed potatoes and gravy.

For Ben Graham, the Jets' 31-year-old rookie punter, and his wife, the comfort is in the food, yes, but also in the freedom they are afforded in the United States to enjoy the kind of quiet night out that would be unthinkable in their native Australia.

In Geelong, in the province of Victoria where Graham spent a dozen years playing in the Australian Football League, he was a lightning rod, the nearest thing the city had to Derek Jeter in New York. He was a onetime captain, a modest man with the strongest leg in the league, a homegrown talent on a team with a rabid following.

His renown is such that "60 Minutes Australia" has inquired about producing a story on his N.F.L. journey, and a journalist from a sports magazine, Alpha, is in New York to report an article on him.

Here, it is a different scene, a different story. When Katie is asked what her husband does by other mothers at school functions for the Grahams' daughters, Sophie, 6, and Rosie, 4, she says that people's faces brighten after hearing that he plays for the Jets. When they find out her husband is a punter, she says with a laugh, the reaction tends to be something along the lines of, "Oh, so he's the kicker."

Katie, like many people back home in Geelong, is learning the American game as Graham goes along. But even she knows the punter is not the same as the place-kicker. She used to correct people. Now she just nods pleasantly and, with apologies to the Jets' rookie place-kicker Mike Nugent, says, "Yeah, he's the kicker."

After the Jets' 13-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, Graham said, he received a voice-mail message from a friend in Australia. "I saw you had nine punts," his friend said. "Great game!"

Graham laughed. He knew better. His nine punts netted an average of 31.6 yards, and that was including a 57-yarder that sailed into the end zone for a touchback. It was his worst game, and it weighed on him. Graham, who leads the league in punt attempts with 26, said he went to bed that night and had a dream that the Jets had cut him.

In fact, the Jets regard Graham as one of the few bright spots in their 1-3 start.

"It's an amazing story when you think about what he's done and accomplished thus far," Coach Herman Edwards said. "And I just think the more he kicks in games, the better he's going to become."

At a practice this week, one of Graham's punts hung in the air for 5.6 seconds (4.9 to 5.0 is considered excellent), prompting the special teams coach, Mike Westhoff, to purr that it was the prettiest thing he had seen in his 23 years in the league. Nugent, who is in charge of timing hang time, called it a beautiful hit, almost a once-in-a-lifetime thing. "I don't know if it's a strength or a weakness, but I'm pretty blasé," said Graham, the oldest N.F.L. rookie to play in a season opener. "Sometimes it feels like none of this has sunk in."

Graham's father, Tony, who is in the midst of a one-month American holiday with his wife, Helen, has noticed that his son and daughter-in-law seem more relaxed.

"Being a sports hero in a town of about 280,000, they couldn't go anywhere or do anything without people stopping them," he said. "But now, because he's got his anonymity, it's refreshing for them."

Last week, on Graham's day off, he had breakfast with Katie at a diner near the house that they rent on Long Island. Katie had often been to the diner with the girls while Graham was away at training camp.

It was the day after a magnetic resonance imaging test showed a fresh tear in quarterback Chad Pennington's right rotator cuff. The demise of the Jets' season dominated the day's sports headlines in the papers being read by other diners.

The couple's waitress, a vivacious young woman named Rosie, engaged Graham in a lively conversation. Halloween would be here soon, she advised him. It was not too soon, she said, to start thinking about a costume.

The subject of football never came up. The Grahams lingered over their coffee, and still, nobody approached their table to weigh in on the Jets. "We don't have the constant, instant feedback on your career here like there was back home," Graham said.

They could not be sure their new life would fall into place this way, with Graham standing 10th over all in punting with a 44.7-yard average (and 38.8-yard net) and Katie making a cozy home out of their rental.

They enjoyed exploring New York as a family before training camp. But it can be an altogether different experience, to stop living like a tourist and start having to negotiate the mundane.

Katie worried how the girls would adapt to school. By the end of the first week, they were waving her off when she offered to walk them to their classrooms.

The girls look ahead, never back. "Mum," Sophie said recently, "it's going to be the most special day of my life when it snows on Christmas Day."

Graham navigated another passage on the road to Americanization on Tuesday, when he passed his tests to secure a New York driver's license. It was no small act of symbolism, Graham declaring semipermanence here.

"We've come a long way," Katie said. "It all fell into place. We're really happy."

 

[Sammy D]

Nice article & good to see Ben doing well...

he nearest thing the city had to Derek Jeter in New York

....That is going a bit far though!

 

[thehoff]

Screw Benny - Hope his leg falls off!

 

[Sammy D]

Screw Benny - Hope his leg falls off!

I knew I forgot something!

 

[tayls]

Good on him, cant help but feel happy for him, just to think he will only get better. We didnt miss him either.

 

[thehoff]

Good on him, cant help but feel happy for him, just to think he will only get better. We didnt miss him either.

Did'nt miss him. You've got to be joking. We missed the hell out of him.

 

[tayls]

Did'nt miss him. You've got to be joking. We missed the hell out of him.

Only when injuries hit. I reckon, but i dont want to get into an argument about it coz i cant be bothered. He is gone. Who cares about what ifs.

 

[chapmanmagic35]

He's doinbg very well!

There's a replay of the Jets match at 3pm tomorrow on Foxtel!

 

[Turbocat]

Screw Benny - Hope his leg falls off!

I wonder what the reaction to Tagih Kennelly is in Ireland. I can understand the feeling of rejection , that he left us in the lurch probably just like Kennelly left the club he left to come over here.

Have to say, Im a bit conflicted.To a degree I agree he left us when we just when we looked to have a side ready to do it but mostly he stayed at Geelong when we were down , played over 200 games, was our most duarable skipper since Bairstow and left when he probably had at the most 2 years left in him.

 

[thehoff]

I wonder what the reaction to Tagih Kennelly is in Ireland. I can understand the feeling of rejection , that he left us in the lurch probably just like Kennelly left the club he left to come over here.

Have to say, Im a bit conflicted.To a degree I agree he left us when we just when we looked to have a side ready to do it but mostly he stayed at Geelong when we were down , played over 200 games, was our most duarable skipper since Bairstow and left when he probably had at the most 2 years left in him.

Agreed. No doubting he was a great servant to the club, but i still hope his leg flies off during a punitng attempt.

Hopefully his leg achieve considerable hang time and averages better than his current less than average statistics.

 

[Sammy D]

Good on him, cant help but feel happy for him, just to think he will only get better. We didnt miss him either.

To say we didn't miss him is going a bit far. Jack Packenham* would testify how hard it is to replace Key Position Players I think.

He especially would have been handy at CHB when Harley/Mooney was missing early & midway through the season. Also he would have been handy pinch-hitting in the ruck at times also!

*Please Jack don't use this as an excuse for another Playfair rant

 

[Sammy D]

Have to say, Im a bit conflicted.To a degree I agree he left us when we just when we looked to have a side ready to do it but mostly he stayed at Geelong when we were down , played over 200 games, was our most duarable skipper since Bairstow and left when he probably had at the most 2 years left in him.

That in my opinion is why it is so annoying. He played in so many mediocre sides, why wouldnt he hang around to give it a good shake!

Instead he is sitting back enjoying his 1 minute of game time a week

 

[scottydeewah]

Instead he is sitting back enjoying his 1 minute of game time a week

Which he can do for the next 5 + years. At Geelong he would be retired now anyway, if he also didnt go down with injury.

Hope i can get to a Jets game when I am in the states. I asked a Jets fan today how much tickets were. HE laughed. Supposedly you cant buy them unless you go to scalpers or know season ticket holders. And people in the AFL complain about high prices and how it is getting away from the common man.

 

[Turbocat]

That in my opinion is why it is so annoying. He played in so many mediocre sides, why wouldnt he hang around to give it a good shake!

Instead he is sitting back enjoying his 1 minute of game time a week

Yes, 1 Minute and probably getting in his pocket what he got here for a 100. Im ignorant on the game but it appears he is doing well enough that he may have a very handy income stream that would all but be gone now if he had stayed.

The thing that ive all ways regretted about Ben was his time frame, If he had played in our hey day, Gazza and Barry and Billy and Toby etc, I feel he may have been the backman that we lacked and made the difference.He slogged on and played not only when our side was bad but our club was in danger of collapse. If he wishes now to try something else anmd set up his future , I cant really complain to strongly.

 

[scottydeewah]

Well said. If he had of left for another club and an extra few hundred thousand for a season different story. But he has gone to another sport to earn possibly 5m over 5 years and set himself up for a life after the AFL.

 

[catempire]

I'm disappointed Benny didn't stay on another year.

But then again, it wouldn't have provided the opportunity for Henry if he had stayed. What do you reckon Jack?

 

[Sammy D]

Yes, 1 Minute and probably getting in his pocket what he got here for a 100. Im ignorant on the game but it appears he is doing well enough that he may have a very handy income stream that would all but be gone now if he had stayed.

If it was to do with money, that simply makes it worse...does it not?

 

[lowbo]

better money, better future, better lifestyle. good on him, and good luck to him at the Jets.

 

[scottydeewah]

Anyone been to the Jets website, he has his own picture and his college is down as "Geelong (AFL)". It also says he got the most brownlow votes in 2001 - although it doesnt say what the brownlow is or that it was for Geelong. So Benny won a Brownlow!

I am probably going to see him play the NE Patriots on Dec 4th. Standing room - like KP!

 

[malvern]

Lets get over it.

He was a great player for the club. How anyone could be critical of him for pursuing a once in a lifetime opportunity is beyond me.

Good luck to him in his new career - I hope he is very successful.

Lets move on.

 

[Scarlett Fever]

Benny had already pushed his luck for long enough with the cats. How many blokes kick the footy as far when they retire as they did at their peak. One groin or debillitating hamstring and Benny's NFL career was up in smoke. He was lucky he didn't suffer leg injuries in his last few years as it was.