espn.com: Yes, he can ... (excellent article on RG3)

[Califan007 The Constipated]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/page/Mag15yeshecan/why-washington-redskins-qb-robert-griffin-iii-voice-generation-espn-magazine?src=mobile

Hats off to skinsnut1823 for pointing it out in another thread...thought it was too good to keep buried there, though.

Some highlights:

In the fall of 2009, just when Briles and the fans in Baylor Stadium were starting to dream big, Griffin went down. Anterior cruciate ligament. The whole Baylor community took it hard (overnight, the stadium was half-empty, Griffin says), but Griffin took it to heart. He personalized the injury, made it his fault. "I saw how many people I let down," he says. "My head coach cried. My offensive coordinator cried. My offensive line coach cried."

Then he saw, beneath their sorrow, a genuine concern for him. "Not even worried about the season -- worried about me as a person & I saw that in their eyes."

It broke his spirit. It lifted his heart. Until that moment, Griffin says, he'd never embraced football. He'd always played full speed, all out, but he'd never cherished the game, not until it was taken from him. "I didn't love football before I tore my ACL. When I came back, I loved it."

There are many connections between that Baylor injury and the one Griffin suffered last season against Seattle. Same knee, of course. Same threat to his career. But there's also this: When Griffin woke in the operating room, he once again saw his entire football family with tears in their eyes. The family members were different -- Dan Snyder, Redskins owner; Bruce Allen, general manager; Tony Wyllie, head of public relations -- but Griffin's feeling of gratitude was the same. "It's tough for professional athletes to trust anyone in this business," he says. "When the owner of the team, the general manager of the team, the PR director of the team, they're all there, that's how you know: I can trust these guys."

Of course, Griffin's real family was there too. Father, mother and his fiancée, Rebecca Liddicoat, holding his hand, kissing him. They'd all watched his surgery from the viewing room, and they looked traumatized. Only one person, however, had watched every minute; only one person was that strong. Griffin's mother. When Griffin saw her crying, that's when he fell apart. "What no one knew was, at the time of my first surgery I told my parents, I promised them: I'll never do this to you again. I'll never have a serious injury again and have you guys go through this emotional turmoil."

Thus, the first words he spoke as the anesthesia wore off: "I'm sorry."

As for blame, guilt, accountability, all the things DC fans want to know about -- Didn't they realize what was at stake? -- the buck stops with Griffin, he says Trumanesquely. Whether it's the quality of the sod at FedEx Field (which, that fateful day, had the consistency and texture of greased hay marinated in runny manure) or the decision-making of his coach, Mike Shanahan, Griffin isn't throwing anyone or anything under any manner of moving vehicle. "One thing [shanahan] stressed to me," Griffin says, "is we have to be a close group. We can't let people outside penetrate that and create a rift. Have we talked about the season, the sequence of events that happened over the last four games and the playoffs? Yes. We have. That's something you handle internally."

But Kirk Cousins, the Redskins' talented backup, who relieved Griffin in the Baltimore game and again in the Seattle game, recalls eavesdropping on an intense sideline conference between Griffin and Shanahan: "Robert, you're clearly limping, you're not at full strength, do you think you need to come out? And I'm not quoting anybody, I'm just paraphrasing. And Robert's attitude was: I'm okay. I understand there's a limp, but I'm going to be okay. I brought us this far, I want to finish this thing."

Cousins adds: "I think it was tough for Coach Shanahan to tell him no. And it was tough for Robert to back down. Both of them were in a tough spot, each guy's word against the other."

[O.S.F]

Yes. That was a great read, and was very well written.

[SWFLSkins]

Truly enlightening as to the character of Robert Griffin III, I would go to war with that guy any time.

[drtdrums]

A few interesting nuggets in there.

[SittingBull]

hard to believe this is the same writer goaded into saying RG3 is letting his entourage ruin him earlier today.

[jpillian]

I thought the whole "letter to President Obama" angle was incredibly clunky. However, the primary source material -- the interview(s) that went into it -- was really enlightening and well worth the read. If you're an uber-fan of RG3, this is a gread read.

[Braxford]

This article and RG3 in general remind me of what Portis said once about Gibbs (paraphrase): He makes you want to run through a brick wall for him. That is a testament to Gibbs and Portis. I think RG3 brings forth the same feeling from his teammates and others around him because they know that he will run through a brick wall with them and for them. Just like Gibbs would run through a brick wall for his players.

[CapsSkins]

Did not like the slight against the Skins and the way the author glosses over figures like Charlie Taylor and Doug Williams.

[Skins4Life6388]

"As for blame, guilt, accountability, all the things DC fans want to know about -- Didn't they realize what was at stake? -- the buck stops with Griffin, he says Trumanesquely. Whether it's the quality of the sod at FedEx Field (which, that fateful day, had the consistency and texture of greased hay marinated in runny manure) or the decision-making of his coach, Mike Shanahan, Griffin isn't throwing anyone or anything under any manner of moving vehicle. "One thing [shanahan] stressed to me," Griffin says, "is we have to be a close group. We can't let people outside penetrate that and create a rift. Have we talked about the season, the sequence of events that happened over the last four games and the playoffs? Yes. We have. That's something you handle internally."

After reading this article, and especially this paragraph and the ones that follow it...how can the media, or anyone for that matter, try and drum up controversy? He says NOTHING even potentially inflammatory in this story.

[Taylor703]

Good read but god the ESPN comments section is dreadful.

[Skins4Life6388]

Good read but god the ESPN comments section is dreadful.

I made the bad decision to venture in to the comments section. Their are a lot of ****ty people in the world. Some of the stuff written was awful.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

After reading this article, and especially this paragraph and the ones that follow it...how can the media, or anyone for that matter, try and drum up controversy? He says NOTHING even potentially inflammatory in this story.

Because out of nearly 6,000 words written in the article, one of them was "you" lol...that word trumps the other 5,999 words put together.

[Boss_Hogg]

HATERS = Having Anger Towards Everyone Reaching Success

[bedlamVR]

Got to say the article was maybe overly long but the comments that seem to be following RGIII articles anywhere seem to attract the lowest common denominator - it is kind of sad really

[LD0506]

Long, rather florid and strained early on but a good read nonetheless.

[skinsnut1823]

Thank you Califan007 for the props. With that being said I've followed this guy about as much as any other diehard fan since joining the team. I'm not a big college follower so my history of Robert begins last year. Having read and heard of Roberts life leading up to last year I think this article while wordy, does a nice job giving you a character profile while shedding more light on the fateful nite in DC. While the mediots will try to shred morsels of controversy off everything Robert does. He treads his comments and actions with the precision of a guided missile. He also backs up everything he says.

I say forget the Seattle game and focus on what RG3 is, and that's rehabbing the knee.

[TheGreek1973]

Whether it's the quality of the sod at FedEx Field (which, that fateful day, had the consistency and texture of greased hay marinated in runny manure)

There is no question in my mind the field had a lot to do with his injury. Don't forget where AP injured his knee last year and in the same game Chris Clemons had a knee injury. Lets hope the changes to the drainage and the new sod make the field safe to play on because its crazy to think as rich as we are we don't have the best playing field in the league.

As for RGIII please make sure he is 100% and the knee has 100% strength before he even sees the practice field. We can't afford to have this excellent young man out of the game of football at 25. he is our future, leadership qualities along make him invaluable let along his incredible QB skills. If handled right I feel confident he can play 13 - 15 more years and he well retire ranked top 5 all time.

Hell with our current draft and RGIII 100% in 2014 I say we are the favorites. Let this year be as a training ground for the final push next year. Don't start him until 8th 9th game into the season. Put him on PUP and bring him in when he is ready, health wise and practice wise.

[martytheman]

This is what op considers well written??

Maybe from a grammatical perspective, but i found it painful to read.. it grovels in the most smarmy, whiny way possible.

*eta at least the first half. The 2nd half is not as bad.

All that whiny Mr. President garbage is pretty lame.

[ZRagone]

Fans and nonfans, red states and blue, are rocking the red-and-yellow because they see in Griffin things that aren't quite there, at least not yet.

I won't lie. I read the paragraph with that line and screamed in my head "BURGUNDY AND GOLD YOU DOLT! WE'RE NOT THE CHIEFS!"

Imagine, Mr. President, years from now. Griffin runs for governor of Texas. Who would bet against him? Highly educated, devoutly Christian, a native son, a Hall of Fame quarterback in the most football-crazed state in the union. It may seem high-flown, horse-before-the-cart kind of thinking, but if it's not in the back of Griffin's mind, why, I ask you, would he have learned Latin? Latin.

Won't lie. I can totally see it.

Aside from the clunky and boring "letter to Obama" angle, I enjoyed the article.

[WhoRUSupposed2Be]

Good article... suggest ESPN 980 gets ahold of this which they probably will.

[nightbird]

Sorry, I found this to be very disappointing, considering the author's pedigree.

The whole letter to Obama technique was just so contrived and smarmy, it got in the way of what this is supposedly about.

I'm a huge fan of long-form magazine writing, and I was looking forward to this, but it's a let-down overall.

[CrypticVillain]

I won't lie. I read the paragraph with that line and screamed in my head "BURGUNDY AND GOLD YOU DOLT! WE'RE NOT THE CHIEFS!"

I'm not going to lie, I wanted to stop reading after I read that sentence. My pointer was by the X and everything.

And I guess frenemy is a real word now.

[Inigo Montoya]

tons of good information about RG3... terrible article written to the pres, which made no sense. I had to skim because I got tired of the "dear or see mr. pres" crap.

[Rex Tomb]

After reading this article, and especially this paragraph and the ones that follow it...how can the media, or anyone for that matter, try and drum up controversy? He says NOTHING even potentially inflammatory in this story.

The whole ride home yesterday, for basically an hour, you have Czaban and Pollin doing their best to do just that. "I'm not saying there's a rift..." they kept saying, "but there definitely COULD be one...". Now I remember why I never listen to those morons.

[newday]

Wow. Amazingly well written. That it was about RG3 and President Obama is a plus, but awesome writing style!