For the Love of the Game
Kevin Sedelmeier
Thursday June 12, 2003
But glamour is not the reason these players are here. In fact the af2 is perhaps the most unique league in all of pro sports, and that has nothing to do with its unprecedented, swift expansion. The league’s players must balance a busy life that often includes working a full-time job and then going to football practice. And players are not alone. Cheerleaders, too, typically have busy schedules. None of these athletes (cheerleaders included) are doing it for the less-than-lucrative income, either. For most players, it is the hope that they can move up to the next level: become an Orlando Predator, an Edmonton Eskimo, maybe even a Minnesota Viking. For some cheerleaders, it is the opportunity to continue their dance careers or simply the desire to be a role model for little girls in attendance. The Louisville Fire is not void of interesting stories about the off-the-field lives of players and cheerleaders.
While some players have the luxury of concentrating singularly on football during the season – Fire DS Arkee Thompson saved up to do so, and QB Josh Rogers is a personal trainer in the off-season - most other Fire players hold down jobs during the season. That sounds simple enough, but for players who live outside of Louisville, it’s not easy finding work knowing you will only be at the job for less than half the year. Some players are still in school. Lineman Greg Perdue has 18 hours left before earning his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky.
No one is more aware of the players’ busy schedules than Head Coach Tommy Johnson. “These guys work eight hours and then they come out here, and they’re already beat down and frustrated,” Johnson said. He added “If they feel like they’re coming into a boot camp after eight hours of work, then you’re not going to get the maximum performance out of them.”
Taxing himself for maximum performance on and off the field is something kicker Marc Samuel knows well. While Samuel has been in camp with the Buffalo Bills and has a very realistic chance of getting another look by the NFL, the opportunity to play in front of his family was too good to pass up. From Louisville’s Ballard High School and the University of Kentucky, Samuel is well known in the local football community, and well supported by his family who attend all home games and travel to road games as well.
While that’s a nice enough story on its own merit, it should be noted that Samuel lives in New York where he works at the law firm of Cravath, Swaine, and Moore LLP, and he attends Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. where he’s in the process of earning a double Master’s degree in Business Administration and Law. Yes, this is not a misprint. He flies in for each game. That means he must practice and stay in shape on his own, not an easy task for anyone. But with his solid performance on the field this season, it’s obvious he has done a good job of it. Somehow he’s managed to be part Matlock and part Jason Elam.
Still, it’s hard to say how many fellow attorneys are willing to volunteer to hold the football for Samuel’s PAT practice. Regardless of their tentative offerings to be his holder, his friends at the law firm – pardon perhaps the lamest pun ever committed to print – get a kick out of working with a pro football player. “They enjoy it,” Samuel said. “They think it’s cool.” But are they football fans? “I think they just like to live vicariously through me,” Samuel said with a grin. For all of the hard work, long plane rides, and stress associated with his busy schedule, Samuel is modest about the demands he’s under. He said his law work is “pretty intense” and expectations are high. But for a competitor like Samuel, he wouldn’t want it to be easy.
Like Samuel and Perdue, many of the cheerleaders are students as well. For cheerleader Kristin Keeling working for the Fire means balancing her time between two-hour practices, public appearances and charity work with the team, graduate school at the University of Louisville, substitute teaching, and part-time work at a pharmacy. On top of that, she commutes from Bardstown, Kentucky, to Louisville everyday. Even during this summer and for the remainder of the AF2 season, she’s taking 9 hours at U of L toward her Masters degree in Education.
So how does she do it all? “It’s busy and it sometimes stresses you out, but I like it,” she said before correcting herself. “I love it.” The former Colonel mascot at Eastern Kentucky University, Keeling is a seasoned veteran at getting the crowd going – which may be a challenge – as the Fire suffers through a four-game losing streak. “You feel bad when they’re not winning, but you still have to keep smiling and look pretty,” she said. “You have your happy face on all the time.” Turnover after turnover, the cheer squad has maintained a peppy countenance all season.
While Keeling’s particularly busy schedule may be a bit extreme, she’s not the only cheerleader whose days are filled with much more than leaning new routines. Up until just a few weeks ago when she left to pursue another job opportunity, Lindsey Mottley was a returning veteran from the 2002 squad. In the Spring semester, which ended in early May, she was taking 18 hours of classes at the University of Louisville and holding down a part-time job. With such an investment of time and effort, why did she do it for over a season-and-a-half?
“My favorite part of the job of being a cheerleader is putting that sparkle in a young girl’s eyes,” Mottley said. Having grown up around sports, she wanted to be a cheerleader for nearly as long as she can remember. “I remember how I used to feel when I look down and a little girl is tugging on my skirt to wave at me, grinning ear to ear,” she said.
As one of a handful of returning cheerleaders from last year’s team, was it tough to cheer for 2002’s 2-14 team? Not really, says Mottley. “When the crowd sees us having fun, most of the time they join right in. After all, we are cheerleaders.” And despite the new field configurations that enclose the end zones, leaving the cheerleaders to stand behind the wall and in the stands, the cheerleaders have continued to smile, dance, and make fans and future cheerleaders alike proud.
Maybe Arkee Thompson said it best. “Most people out here already have a degree and are working and trying to better their lives.” And while for many players, the chance of moving to the next level – like 2001 Fire receiver Brian McDonald with the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe – is what’s driving them, the time and dedication they offer for such nominal pay is unique to any professional sport.
Players and cheerleaders alike - they really do it for the love of the game.
Kevin Sedelmeier is a native Louisvillian. A graduate of the University of Louisville with a B.A. in Communication and M.A. in English, he works as a technical writer and has written fifteen screenplays and numerous short
stories. He lives with his wife Elizabeth, son Lukas, and their dog Springsteen.