Celek reunion party won’t be all hugs and kisses
PHILADELPHIA » Each summer the rallying point for the extended Celek family is a lake in Michigan so stunning its visitors applaud it. You might be able to fit 30 people in the vacation home.
The go-to place Sunday is Lincoln Financial Field, where about 50 Celeks and friends will gather to cheer Brent, the 32-year-old tight end of the Eagles, and his 29-year-old brother Garrett, a tight end with the San Francisco 49ers. Even the rain forecast throughout the day won’t dampen this campfire story for the next summer reunion.
“Yeah, I’m excited,” Brent said. “It’s real cool. I think my family, there will be a few people coming into town for this game. So it will be fun for them, another game for me. I don’t really know if there’s going to be any times to line up against him. If that was the case, it would be a little bit different story.”
That actually could be the case, Brent conceded, as the brothers play special teams. Brent also revealed, upon interrogation, that Garrett sent him a text suggesting he keep his head on a swivel Sunday.
“I don’t know if that works or not,” Garrett confirmed in a telephone interview about the special teams get-together. “But if it does, I might, you know, run up to him and give him a little shot in the chops.”
It won’t be the first time the Celeks have gone toeto-toe. Growing up, Garrett said they regularly played basketball, baseball and football against each other before moving on to LaSalle High School in Cincinnati.
“I have a lot of fond memories of endless nights where the two of us were just playing against each other,” Garrett said. “As brothers, he’s always had my back. When we were kids we didn’t get along but you’re brothers. But once we matured we became really close. I would say the reason why I’m in the NFL now is because of him. I think he’s a leader, a tremendous leader and I’m always trying to work hard and model my life after his.”
Brent Celek (6-4, 261) has had a solid career with enough highlights to fill a book. A 2007 fifth-round pick out of Cincinnati, he’s played in 166 games with 127 starts. Brent has three receptions worth 19 yards starting 5 of 7 games this season but 388 catches — fourth on the all-time Eagles list — worth 4,887 yards (12.6 average) to go with 30 touchdowns in his career.
Brent led the Eagles with three touchdown catches in the 2008 postseason, including two in the NFC title game. In 2010 his 65-yard TD play kick-started the 3831 walk-off win over the Giants at the Meadowlands, where DeSean Jackson took a punt to the house on the final play.
“That was an amazing game,” Brent said. “You’re taking me back, bro. That was great. That was a lot of fun. But what we’ve got going on now (tops the list). We’ve just got to keep it going.”
The Eagles (6-1) have emerged as NFC favorites after winning five straight games with quarterback Carson Wentz. Celek likes how it feels, not necessarily how it sounds.
“Like everything in life, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” Brent said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Garrett Celek (6-5, 252) played at Michigan State and walked on to the Niners, earning a job from then head coach Jim Harbaugh. Garrett has 61 catches for 715 yards (11.7 average) and seven TDs in his career, a lot of the production coming last season. This year he has five receptions for 37 yards and, what’s that, one more TD than Brent?
“For me personally, every game I’m trying to show what I can do,” Garrett said. “I’m going out and doing my best regardless of what our record is. This is the time where coaches are looking at you and seeing what you’re made of.”
Brent is proud of his brother for keeping his head up, working hard and being a good teammate. The oldest of five siblings, Brent said he’s close to all of them and feels “like another parent.”
Garrett is everything Brent hoped he would be. That includes faster, in terms of foot speed but not so skilled in basketball.
“He might be a better basketball player, or he might have been,” Brent said. “He’s not now. If we went head to head right now, I would dominate him for sure.”
To which Garrett replied, “Uh, in what?
“Ping-pong maybe, but other than that, no,” Garrett said. “He thinks he’s good at basketball but he is not. He just dribbles up and down the court and takes a couple shots here or there. Other than that, that’s all the effort he’s going to give.”
Trash talking aside, Brent and Garrett will get together and exchange jerseys after the game just like Jason and Travis Kelce did when the Eagles played the Chiefs.
Many of the Celeks attending the game will wear half-Eagles, half-Niners jerseys. If the younger Celek gets into the end zone, here’s a heads-up: Watch the celebration.
Whatever happens, there’s always the summer, the lake and solitude.
“It’s beautiful,” Garrett said. “It’s what I look forward most to, just because the whole family is together. He has a house there and my grandparents have a house there. We used to ski but now we kind of fish, go sit out in the boat and really enjoy the water. When we’re together we don’t talk much football. We just talk about life, really.”
And life Celeks. is good for the