BGO
07-01-11, 04:00 PM
This picture here fits in the Stuff That Was Buried In Files At Redskins Park category, while the information in the quotes falls into the Old But New To Me category. This is a multi-purpose blog post. Also, the image is from Nate Fine Photo; click to enlarge.
http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.redskins.com/media/2011/07/monkdraftday.jpg (http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.redskins.com/media/2011/07/monkdraftdaylg.jpg)
That's a picture of the post-draft press conference from 1980 -- from left to right it's Art Monk, general manager Bobby Beathard, head coach Jack Pardee, and Mat Mendenhall -- and I was originally going to post this item simply because I think the photo is awesome. The team should've made a sign like that for Ryan Kerrigan this year, using just as many different fonts. Also: SIX pennants!
But then I dug into the Washington Post archives to see if the guys pictured here had said anything interesting during the presser, and I was pleasantly surprised. The post-presser article is written by Donald Huff, and it contains a few things worthy of note 31 years later.
First of all, most of the early attention is focused on second-round pick Mendenhall, who had overcome a ruptured appendix and whom (of course) Beathard claims the team considered picking in the first round. (Mendenhall would go on to a disappointing career and can currently be found as one of the options on the "Worst Redskins DE Of All Time" poll (http://www.hogshaven.com/2011/7/1/2254291/whos-the-worst-redskins-de-of-all-time) over at Hogs Haven. That's what you get for spelling Matt with only one T.)
Appropriately for a guy whose quiet demeanor would become his defining characteristic, Monk is barely mentioned on the first page of the article and doesn't get quoted until the SIXTEENTH graf of Huff's story. (That's three from the end.) AND his first quote is about changing positions from wide receiver to running back. ("I like receiver. But if it meant helping the team, I could still play running back," Monk said.)
But it was the two paragraphs about Monk's school choice that were the most interesting to me: Huff writes:
Monk, who once considered becoming a decathlon athlete, said he nearly attended Maryland.
"My mother made all the trips with me," said Monk, who is from White Plains, N .Y. "We were down to Maryland and Syracuse. I was leaning toward Maryland but my mother said it would be best if I went to Syracuse."
While it's hard to disagree with how things turned out for Monk -- posterity in Canton, Ohio, is obviously superior to a few semesters at College Park -- it's tough for me as a Terps fan not to imagine what might have been. Then again, I suppose he could've gone to the decathlon and we all would be worse off for it.
Art Monk Almost Went To Maryland (http://blog.redskins.com/2011/07/01/art-monk-almost-went-to-maryland/) originally appeared on Redskins Blog (http://blog.redskins.com) on Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).
Permalink (http://blog.redskins.com/2011/07/01/art-monk-almost-went-to-maryland/) | Email this (http://blog.redskins.com/forward/19981755/) | Linking Blogs (http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&fc=1&url=http://blog.redskins.com/2011/07/01/art-monk-almost-went-to-maryland/) | Comments (http://blog.redskins.com/2011/07/01/art-monk-almost-went-to-maryland/#comments)
More... (http://blog.redskins.com/2011/07/01/art-monk-almost-went-to-maryland/)
http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.redskins.com/media/2011/07/monkdraftday.jpg (http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.redskins.com/media/2011/07/monkdraftdaylg.jpg)
That's a picture of the post-draft press conference from 1980 -- from left to right it's Art Monk, general manager Bobby Beathard, head coach Jack Pardee, and Mat Mendenhall -- and I was originally going to post this item simply because I think the photo is awesome. The team should've made a sign like that for Ryan Kerrigan this year, using just as many different fonts. Also: SIX pennants!
But then I dug into the Washington Post archives to see if the guys pictured here had said anything interesting during the presser, and I was pleasantly surprised. The post-presser article is written by Donald Huff, and it contains a few things worthy of note 31 years later.
First of all, most of the early attention is focused on second-round pick Mendenhall, who had overcome a ruptured appendix and whom (of course) Beathard claims the team considered picking in the first round. (Mendenhall would go on to a disappointing career and can currently be found as one of the options on the "Worst Redskins DE Of All Time" poll (http://www.hogshaven.com/2011/7/1/2254291/whos-the-worst-redskins-de-of-all-time) over at Hogs Haven. That's what you get for spelling Matt with only one T.)
Appropriately for a guy whose quiet demeanor would become his defining characteristic, Monk is barely mentioned on the first page of the article and doesn't get quoted until the SIXTEENTH graf of Huff's story. (That's three from the end.) AND his first quote is about changing positions from wide receiver to running back. ("I like receiver. But if it meant helping the team, I could still play running back," Monk said.)
But it was the two paragraphs about Monk's school choice that were the most interesting to me: Huff writes:
Monk, who once considered becoming a decathlon athlete, said he nearly attended Maryland.
"My mother made all the trips with me," said Monk, who is from White Plains, N .Y. "We were down to Maryland and Syracuse. I was leaning toward Maryland but my mother said it would be best if I went to Syracuse."
While it's hard to disagree with how things turned out for Monk -- posterity in Canton, Ohio, is obviously superior to a few semesters at College Park -- it's tough for me as a Terps fan not to imagine what might have been. Then again, I suppose he could've gone to the decathlon and we all would be worse off for it.
Art Monk Almost Went To Maryland (http://blog.redskins.com/2011/07/01/art-monk-almost-went-to-maryland/) originally appeared on Redskins Blog (http://blog.redskins.com) on Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).
Permalink (http://blog.redskins.com/2011/07/01/art-monk-almost-went-to-maryland/) | Email this (http://blog.redskins.com/forward/19981755/) | Linking Blogs (http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&fc=1&url=http://blog.redskins.com/2011/07/01/art-monk-almost-went-to-maryland/) | Comments (http://blog.redskins.com/2011/07/01/art-monk-almost-went-to-maryland/#comments)
More... (http://blog.redskins.com/2011/07/01/art-monk-almost-went-to-maryland/)