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Thanksgiving Pairing Suggestion: Sides with a Pint
University of Washington offensive lineman Gregory Christine, a junior from an L.A. suburb, didn't come to school on scholarship. He's spent his entire UW career on the scout team, seeing just 13 snaps of game action. He was a third-stringer coming into fall camp. Yet Christine, that smiling guy pictured, who's paying for his college education with loans just like we did, will start at left guard for the Huskies on Saturday. Already he's our favorite walk-on since blonde returnerling Joe Jarzynka. Former walk-on now, as Steve Sarkisian announced yesterday that Christine will get a scholarship this year.
Glance at Christine's bio and you get an idea of the qualities that helped him shoot up the depth chart and win the starting job.
Smarts: He's a pre-science major.
Dedication: He was the scout team MVP last year.
Personality: In high school, he won his school's "Heart of the Seraphs" award for outstanding leadership, dependability, and hard work.
Said bio also gives you an idea of the qualities that didn't help Christine win the job: His size. Christine is 6'2", 286 lbs., which would make him the largest person at practically any gathering on Earth, but actually qualifies as undersized in the world of college offensive linemen. (Morgan Rosborough, one of Christine's backups at guard, is 6'6", 379--if Rosborough's nickname isn't "House of Morgan" then the Dawgs' definitely need to become better versed in American financial history.)
What's happening here? For one thing, the zone-blocking scheme instituted by Coach Sark and his offensive minions emphasizes speed and smarts over bulk. But mainly, Gregory Christine is pretty clearly one of those guys who works hard, does what the coaches ask, and has the intelligence to pick up a brand-new set of duties quickly.
Those thirteen snaps he got last season? "I’ve watched them probably 300 times," Christine told The Olympian. "I told myself when I walked on that field, 'This might be the only 13 snaps I play in collegiate football and I need to have a story to tell my kids,' and I tried to take advantage of it."
Gregory Christine, you are hard-working, decent, and you live life in the moment. You are the person we aspire to be. We will be rooting avidly for you, #61, on every one of the far more than 13 snaps you'll get on Saturday.
(Mind you, the Jerramy Stevens era proves we'd root for anyone wearing our favorite team's jersey. Still, let us continue to revel in purity and innocence for a few paragraphs longer.)
Players like Christine are the guys who'll pull Washington out of the football gutter. If the Huskies were a national power, he probably wouldn't see the field. But for a rebuilding team, help sometimes comes from unexpected places. See Washington basketball, where walk-on point guard Will Conroy helped begin a Husky hoops renaissance. Conroy--another hard worker with a great smile--became the school's all-time assists leader along the way.
If there's any fun in rooting for a winless team, it's the joy in watching players giving their all and improving from week to week. We didn't see that last year, but with players like Christine on the field, we think we'll be seeing it in '09.
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