From football to basketball, college to pros, it’s a weekend sports feast. Your guide.
Saying thanks often comes with a high price
Nothing quite says “thank you” in the NFL at Thanksgiving time than the sight of huge unopened boxes and crates scattered about locker rooms across the league, usually waiting at the feet of appreciative offensive linemen.
No one can say when it began, but for decades starting quarterbacks and star running backs have been giving over-the-top gifts to the men blocking for them.
Now, this kind of holiday cheer radiates far past the locker room. Professional athletes devote a lot of personal time – and donate financially – to causes great and small throughout the year. Some of these charitable efforts receive public attention, and many others happen quietly, without fanfare.
For example, the Cardinals participated in two of these events this week. One was at the Phoenix Rescue Mission as team President Michael Bidwill led the team’s 16th annual “Feed the Hungry” campaign; another was a Patrick Peterson-led initiative to serve meals to those in need at a Tempe elementary school.
So, there’s giving back to the community, and giving to those who have your back on the football field. And since they are pro football players, they do it in a big way.
The presents, which start rolling in between now and Christmas, range from custom suits to state-of-the-art big-screen TVs, from personalized snowmobiles to luxury cars.
Yes, cars. After the New England Patriots completed the first 16-0 regular
season in NFL history, Tom Brady rewarded all five starting linemen with Audi Q7 SUVs, valued at the time at around $50,000.
“Yeah, I saw that,” Cardinals left guard Alex Boone said. “Must be nice.”
OK, so most of the gift giving isn’t quite that ritzy, although there often are cases of one-upsmanship. Rolex watches and flamboyant barbecues usually suffice. Still, this annual tradition always has its moments and lately, it’s not just offensive linemen and tight ends on the receiving end.
Just last Friday, for instance, Cardinals veteran safety Antoine Bethea supplied each of the team’s defensive backs and a few select other players, assistant coaches and equipment-room attendants with a giant Bumpboxx. It’s the world’s largest retro Bluetooth boombox speaker, and there had to be at least 20 boxes of them.
“We’ve got a good group of guys, a tight group, and we do things for one another, so I figured I’d just get something for the guys,” Bethea said. “I brought one in the locker room and a lot of guys, they liked it, so I said, ‘I’ll get you guys one.’ ”
Peterson, who doles out gifts throughout the season – whether it’s red, signature Ralph Lauren shower towels or the latest Xbox – was impressed with Bethea’s gesture. Peterson, though, said he has something really special picked out for his holiday gift-giving surprise.
“Nobody outdoes me,” he said. Most of the time, it’s just the thought that counts.
“You know what this is about? It’s just another way to say, ‘Thank you,’ ” Boone said. “It’s like ‘Hey, you just took all those shots for me. I appreciate you guys.’ It’s like a respectful thing to do. I don’t think it’s expected from running backs. I feel like if a running back didn’t give me something, I wouldn’t be upset.
“Now if a quarterback didn’t, I’d be a little ticked.”
Back when he won the league’s MVP award following his 2,097-yard rushing season for the Minnesota Vikings in 2012, Cardinals running back Adrian Peterson presented each of his starting offensive linemen personalized snowmobiles.
“Yeah, every player had their name on it and their number and the Vikings’ logo,” he said. “They were pretty sweet. It’s important to give back, you know? It’s just a way to show a little extra appreciation and just to show the guys, even the unknown or the unseen and the unnoticed, when it comes to the running backs, they’re the guys you really count on the most.”
When Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith played for the Cardinals, he surprised his blocking mates by placing a key to their own Hummer in each of their lockers. Smith, who used to drive a Hummer, had the Cardinals’ linemen jumping up and down like little kids.
Until they realized Smith actually got them radio-controlled toy Hummers.
“Oh man, that’s cold,” Peterson said, laughing. “I wouldn’t play with their hearts like that.”
Before he was released by the Cardinals earlier this season, running back Chris Johnson talked about buying diamond watches for the men who blocked for him during his 2,000-yard season for the Tennessee Titans in 2009. The watches came with an inscription and a personalized thank you from CJ2K.
“They were cool,” he said. “I don’t actually remember the exact amount of each of them, but I was still on my rookie contract so I know it wasn’t real wild. But I spent some money on them.”
Nobody bought anything for him that season, but that was fine with Johnson, who bought one of the watches for himself.
“My present,” he said, “was getting to rush for all them yards, getting Pro Bowls, getting a new contract, all that good stuff. If you rush for 1,500 yards, yeah, maybe one or two of the offensive linemen might get some money in a new deal for having a good year, but the whole offensive line is a part of it. Everybody on the offensive line isn’t going to get a new deal, so you’re giving them something for doing a good job for you.”
Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer always takes care of his linemen. Over the years, whether it was in Cincinnati or here in Arizona, he has spoiled them with all sorts of gifts such as glitzy watches, custom hot tubs and expensive fly-fishing equipment complete with waders.
“One of the things I remember here lately, he bought us all crossbows,” tight end Jermaine Gresham said. “It was all the bells and whistles, too. Nothing cheap. I’m talking top-of-the-line stuff, man. That’s just Carson. He takes cares of the people who take care of him. He’s always been like that.
“He’s one of the most giving people that I know. He’s not selfish. Far from it. He’s been blessed 10 times over and he spreads it around to everybody. It just speaks volumes about the person Carson is. Personally, I like him more as a person than I do as a football player because he actually cares about you and he’s genuine. A lot of time, you don’t get people who are genuine. But Carson, he’s through and through a great guy.”
So is Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who also likes to bestow trinkets on his teammates. During his profile “Larry Fitzgerald: A Football Life,” which recently aired on the NFL Network, it was revealed that every year around this time, he arranges to have the entire coaching staff fitted for exquisitely tailored suits.
“I’ve been doing that forever,” Fitzgerald said, adding most people aren’t aware of all the long hours coaches put in every single day. “I mean, (assistant head coach) Tom Moore is here at 4 o’clock in the morning every morning figuring out new innovative ways to feature guys like myself and Adrian. It’s a lot of hard work those guys put in trying to find and develop plays to help us win.
“You just want to do right by those guys because they don’t really get the accolades.”
When David Johnson was on his way to his All-Pro season a year ago, the Cardinals running back purchased top-ofthe-line smokers for each of his blockers. Center A.Q. Shipley, a self-described grilling connoisseur, called it “easily the best gift I’ve ever gotten.”
“What’s so cool about the thing is you can use it as a smoker, you can use it as a grill, you can use it as an oven and you can even use it as a pizza oven,” Shipley said. “I’ve gotten watches and stuff before, but that thing is just awesome.”
This year figures to be especially awesome for all of the Cardinals’ players, but especially members of the Oline. That’s because they are now on their third different starting quarterback with Blaine Gabbert filling in for the injured Drew Stanton, who had been filling in for the injured Palmer.
“Yeah, I already told them, ‘This is going to be the best Christmas ever,’ ” Boone said, smiling. “All three of those guys have got to buy gifts now.”