{"id":62693,"date":"2018-04-10T09:22:43","date_gmt":"2018-04-10T09:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=62693"},"modified":"2018-04-10T09:22:43","modified_gmt":"2018-04-10T09:22:43","slug":"doyel-andrew-luck-tossing-big-literature-references-little-footballs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/sports\/doyel-andrew-luck-tossing-big-literature-references-little-footballs.html","title":{"rendered":"Doyel: Andrew Luck tossing big literature references, little footballs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doyel: Andrew Luck tossing big literature references, little footballs<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Andrew Luck didn\u2019t say anything, so don\u2019t ask.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, hang on. The Indianapolis Colts\u2019 quarterback did speak on Monday, and he did say something. He said lots of things, fascinating and delightful things, sounding every bit the introspective, mostly private, occasionally bare-my-soul Stanford graduate he is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Luck blamed himself at least partially for his rehab setback last fall, saying he went too fast, saying he skipped steps, but the best moment Monday was when he looked down at his right shoulder and started yelling at it \u2013 narrowly edging the times he quoted Hemingway, referenced Hayward (Gordon) and used the word \u201cgovernor\u201d in a way most of us, even those who use words for a living, wouldn\u2019t dare.<\/span><\/p>\n

When\u2019s he coming back? Will he ever again be the Andrew Luck of 2014? Listen, thought I made this clear: He didn\u2019t say anything. So don\u2019t ask.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, come with me inside an auditorium at the Colts complex on 56th Street. You\u2019ll have to avoid all the construction that has pulled up so much earth that I\u2019m thinking this had to be farmland once. Because in some places \u2026 the smell. Phew. No, Andrew Luck\u2019s shoulder isn\u2019t the only major project at 56th Street, where the steel beams and girders of an enormous expansion are in place. What\u2019s the expansion going to look like? Don\u2019t ask me. It\u2019s a lot like Andrew Luck: a shell of whatever’s coming.<\/span><\/p>\n

Enough about the construction. Sit here in the auditorium, where Colts Vice Chair Carlie Irsay-Gordon has introduced the 35th anniversary patch the Colts will wear this season above their heart \u2013 aww! \u2013 commemorating the franchise’s 1984 move from Baltimore. The patch is on a blue No. 13 jersey worn by a mannequin. We\u2019re sitting in this auditorium, waiting for Luck and making lame T.Y. Hilton jokes, when there he is:<\/span><\/p>\n

Andrew Luck, overhearing us and smiling at us and joining in, because that\u2019s what he does.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought T.Y. would give me moral support,\u201d Luck says as he steps to the podium, giggling that giggle of his, and we\u2019re off on an adventure where Luck says the same stuff he\u2019s said before, that\u2019s he\u2019s \u201cimproving daily\u201d and \u201cnot skipping any steps\u201d and convinced he will \u201ccome back better than I was \u2013 better quarterback, better teammate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Told you: He didn\u2019t say anything. Not about the shoulder. Nothing comforting, anyway, though he did say he understands the frustrations of Colts fans tired of this ordeal, and frustrated by the lack of information forthcoming.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI understand it, and I\u2019ve been a fan,\u201d Luck was saying. \u201cI\u2019ve watched teams growing up and didn\u2019t understand why someone wasn\u2019t out there and where they were and why they couldn\u2019t give me more information on it \u2026 I appreciate their patience. I do appreciate the perspective people have. Shoot, I sit here and watch the (injured Boston Celtics forward) Gordon Hayward saga. I sit in the seat of a fan.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But then he said:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs you guys know, I\u2019m fairly private by nature and I\u2019m not going to share much. Just because you\u2019re not sharing doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re not doing things in the 21st century \u2026 I understand maybe the frustration, but I would just ask for patience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A lot of patience, is what I would suggest. Luck says he hopes to be back for the start of training camp in August, but that sounds ambitious given that he\u2019s still not throwing an NFL football, more than four months after returning from rehabbing in The Netherlands and heading to California to work with throwing guru Tom House.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tight end Eric Ebron and defensive lineman Henry Anderson meet reporters as the Indianapolis Colts prepare for offseason workouts. Clark Wade\/IndyStar<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow small is that football you\u2019re throwing?\u201d I\u2019m asking Luck, and now I\u2019m raising my hands and putting them together to show him a football the size of softball. \u201cWhen I was a little kid I had a plastic one about that size \u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere you go,\u201d Luck says, cutting me off.<\/span><\/p>\n

Really?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A little plastic one, I repeat.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s plastic,\u201d he says. \u201cMight be a little nicer than that. Yeah, little ones and weighted balls and\u201d \u2013 he pauses \u2013 \u201cI don\u2019t think you need to get into the minutiae.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah we do, I\u2019m telling him. Do your hands. Show us the football.<\/span><\/p>\n

Luck, just the nicest guy in the world, does it. He cups his hands the size of a softball.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what he\u2019s throwing. Is that bad news? Could be, but here\u2019s some good news: Luck is big, and he\u2019s ripped. Whatever’s going on with his shoulder, it\u2019s not stopping him from lifting weights. He says he weighs 237 pounds, and he looks every ounce of that in a tight blue T-shirt \u2013 size: smedium \u2013 that shows biceps and shoulders and pecs, oh my.<\/span><\/p>\n

Luck wouldn\u2019t give a timetable for his return (though he says he has one) or put a percentage on his recuperation, but he did say his goal is to be 100 percent for the start of training camp in early August.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t anticipate you guys seeing me doing too much out there (until August),\u201d he said, \u201cbut I really want to be ready for training camp without the governor on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Without the … oh, the governor. You know: A device for maintaining speed regardless of changes of load, as by regulating the supply of fuel or working fluid. That’s a definition I didn’t get from Dictionary.com. Maybe.<\/span><\/p>\n

He wants to play football without the governor on? Well, Stanford\u2019s gonna Stanford, but that wasn\u2019t Luck\u2019s most Stanford moment of Monday. It came when he was trying to explain again, for the third or fourth news conference in a row \u2013 they\u2019re starting to run together \u2013 why he\u2019s certain he\u2019ll come back better than ever.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve continued to build a foundation, a strong foundation I can build off,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel stronger. I feel more fit. I think that in turn has helped me mentally to feel way more confident in myself and not look at my shoulder and say, \u2018Why are you failing me?\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Luck glares at his shoulder for effect. Now he looks up to blank stares from the media.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou know,\u201d he says, \u201cHemingway and \u2018The Old Man and the Sea\u2019 \u2013 when he\u2019s fishing and his arm gives out. Whyyyyy!?!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Now Luck is looking down at his shoulder and smiling at it. He was just kidding earlier, you cute little shoulder. He didn\u2019t mean it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Listen, don\u2019t tell this to Luck\u2019s shoulder, but here\u2019s how that literary reference turns out: Hemingway\u2019s Old Man is named Santiago, and after interminable months of physical effort and emotional soul-searching, Santiago catches an enormous marlin. He straps it to the side of his small boat to sell as meat, but sharks pick at the marlin\u2019s carcass. By the time Santiago finally reaches shore, he\u2019s pulling nothing but a giant fish head and some worthless bones.<\/span><\/p>\n

Got that info straight from the Andrew Luck Book Club. Hey, at least his latest State of the Shoulder address wasn\u2019t referencing another Hemingway novel:<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/columnists\/gregg-doyel\/2018\/04\/09\/doyel-andrew-luck-tossing-big-literature-references-little-footballs\/498747002\/<\/span><\/p>\n

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