Long time coming for Chris, Howie
HOUSTON — Howie Long is rooting tomorrow for his son, Patriots defensive end Chris Long.
If in turn that means the former Raiders DE from Charlestown, who is now with Fox Sports, is also rooting for the Patriots, so be it.
“I’m not sure I’ve wanted something more for someone than I would like for Chris to have the opportunity to win a Super Bowl,” said Howie, who won a ring with the Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII. “Particularly given the journey that he’s been on, it’s somewhat of a Homer’s Odyssey thing. No cyclopses, but he’s certainly had his share of challenges over the course of eight years. As I’ve said to him, you know, the important things that I’ve always tried to relay to him is: you never cheat your teammates, you never cheat the team. You never cheat the game. And he’s never done that.
“In my conversations with him, it always comes back to the same thing, why are you playing? And the answer was always, to win.”
That, of course, is why Chris ended up with the Patriots. The Falcons pursued him, too, Howie said.
Long has three boys: Chris, Kyle, who’s a guard for the Bears, and Howie Jr., a staffer for the Raiders. So it’s all football, all the time in their household, right?
“You might find this hard to believe, but my boys and I… (have) probably had five conversations with them about my career,” the elder Long said. “We don’t talk about it. They like to be around people that I played with. Because then they can get more information than they get at home. I’ve never really felt like it should be about me.”
Howie said that Chris in particular doesn’t need much talking to. Howie described his advice to Chris for this week simply: this is a business trip with some fun mixed in. Enjoy it, relish it.
For Howie, nerves will be there tomorrow.
“An extraordinary moment for us and I’m not quite sure how I’ll react to it,” Howie said. “As a player, you know you’re nervous, you’re anxious, you’re excited — and then you get hit and it’s football. Unfortunately, as a broadcaster, and just a dad on the sideline I don’t get hit so the nerves don’t go away.”
Tom Brady’s words about his father, emotional words, rang true for Howie as well.
Howie recalled a New Year’s Eve when he was with the boys, up late at night after the ball dropped.
“Howie Jr. and I were sitting down, and Howie’s 6 feet, (180) — he’s normal,” Howie said. “And Kyle (is) 6-7, 325 and Chris is what he is, and it’s probably 2 o’clock in the morning, New Year’s morning. And they’re in the kitchen and they start talking about their game from the previous year. And things become a little more animated.
“And Howie and I are sitting there thinking: one, it takes me five minutes to stretch and get loose. And Howie’s not physically equipped to deal with it. How are we going to break this up if it comes to that?
“But when they’re together in many ways, it’s almost like they’re 12 again. Anyone who has boys — it’s hard to really understand that, and the relationships between fathers and sons. I think the most poignant moment I saw so far this week was Tom Brady talking about his dad. I get it. You know, that’s a special relationship.”