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Meet Coast Guard Cadet Coy Spooner, who takes the service’s mantra to heart as a cancer survivor and on his mission to capture wrestling championship
“He is one tough S.O.B, and he holds himself and those around him to a very high standard. His success is attributed to his ability to learn, adapt, grow, change and overcome any obstacle that is in his way.”
NEW LONDON — Coy Spooner, First Class Cadet, got on a call with the hierarchy at Coast Guard Academy and was presented two possible courses of action.
Course of Action A, he could return on a limited basis, academics only, no wrestling and not to be regimental commander as planned.
Course of Action B, he could take a one-year leave to complete recovery from his cancer, Hodgkins lymphoma.
But Spooner, who had already passed every test, including the challenge he’d given himself — running a marathon, and then immediately rowing the same 26-mile distance — rejected both.
“I’m going to propose Course of Action C,” he told them. “I will return with no restrictions and do everything I said I was going to do. I will come back and I will guarantee you I will do well in school, I will be a good R.C, I will have above a 285 on the physical fitness exam and I’ll be a wrestling team captain.’ I was like, ‘give me the opportunity, don’t try to shield me from something I could fail in. Give me the challenge. Let me prove it to you.’”
The Brass relented. Course of Action C, it would be.
What Spooner, 6 feet 4, an imposing figure with a vibe to match, sets out to do, says he will do, he does. By Jan. 6, eight months after he and his mother, Dionne, who had traveled from Arizona to be with him, got his diagnosis, Spooner had left cancer flat on its back and returned to the mat to begin winning matches again. He started with a come-from-behind 5-3 victory in the 197-pound match over Mauro Pellot-vazquez of Alvernia, who was ranked third in NCAA Division III, and won two more at the Manganaro Duals in Pennsylvania.
Spooner’s sights are set on the Division III championship he was denied in the final match a year ago, and has overcome every opponent since.
“We talk quite a bit about stoicism and adversity on our team,” said Coach Guard wrestling coach Kevin Bratland. “Headlined by Ryan Holliday’s book, The Obstacle Is The Way. The ability to embrace adversity and forge yourself into a better version of yourself. … Coy believes the obstacle is
— Coach Guard wrestling coach Kevin Bratland, on Coy Spooner
will be either fining or suspending Kelce at some point, is it not?
Reid cannot set a precedent that this behavior is acceptable. He cannot healthy scratch Toney for being an unreliable distraction and then laugh off Kelce’s behavior.
Reid seemingly intimated consequences during his Tuesday press conference, too.
“He [Kelce] and I have talked and that’s not a big deal. I wouldn’t anticipate other players doing that,” Reid said.
Social media’s vitriol has become so selective, however, and the media’s coverage so soft, that it took until Wednesday for Kelce and his brother Jason to finally explain it was 100% wrong.
“You crossed the line. I think we can both agree on that,” Jason Kelce, the Philadelphia Eagles center, told his little brother on the “New Heights” podcast.
“It’s definitely unacceptable,” Travis Kelce said. “I can’t get that fired up to the point where I’m bumping Coach and it’s getting him off-balance and stuff. So Big Red, sorry if I caught you with that cheap shot, baby… If he would have cold-cocked me in the face right there, I would have just ate it and been like yeah let’s f---in’ go.”
Credit to both Kelces for not pretending this was something else.
They did say the physical shove of Reid was accidental and that Travis’ motivation was to help the team win. Travis Kelce said he loves Reid and owes his future Hall of Fame career to him, and that the two already have made light of the situation.
“Coach Reid knows how much I love to play for him, how much I love to be a product of his coaching career,” he said. “I’m not playing for anybody else but Big Red. If he calls it quits this year I’m out there with him.”
Reid, who called it a “cheap shot,” said: “He was really just going, ‘Put me in, I’ll score, I’ll score.’ The part I love is he loves to play the game and he wants to help his team win. It’s not a selfish thing … As much as he bumps into me, I get after him. And we understand that. He just caught me off balance.”
Still, if Beckham was out of control for attacking a kicking net as a Giant, why is Travis Kelce’s behavior treated as nothing more than a blip on the radar when he literally attacked his own coach?
The CBS national broadcast caught the incident on camera, but the broadcast team of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo severely underplayed the moment. Romo calmly explained that Travis
Kelce wanted to be in the game, since he’d been out and on the sideline when Isiah Pacheco had fumbled on the previous play. Nothing to see here.
This week, Tom Brady was doing some cleanup on aisle five on Siriusxm’s “Let’s Go!” show, as well.
“I don’t mind seeing it, because I was a part of a lot of those things,” Brady said. “Emotions are so high. You are definitely not centered and balanced. You’re not in a meditative state at that point. You are fully determined to go out there and to win. I think a lot of things that are said during the games, people should just let them fly off their back.”
Sure, take the word of a deified former player whose sideline outbursts also were underplayed and attributed to a fiery, competitive spirit. Easy to say for someone whose ‘Q’ rating buys enough capital with the media and public that his actions often weren’t called for what they were.
Even Pat Mcafee said on ESPN’S “Pat Mcafee Show” that the Kelces’ explanation of the incident on their podcast “puts it to bed.”
“That puts it absolutely to bed,” Mcafee said. “There’s a lot of people I think that have never been on team sports or around uber-competitive people that had a certain takeaway from it. And I don’t think Travis Kelce would do that again if he certainly was in the situation. I think he would not want that to become — I don’t want to say a story, but it was. It was one of the stories of the Super Bowl. But it is something that potentially happens, especially on the biggest stage.”
No one is calling Travis Kelce a bad person. He made a mistake in the heat of the moment. But that’s what it was: It was diva wide receiver behavior. And there’s nothing wrong with saying that.