Driving Through Iowa

My brother called me last week as he was driving through Iowa. He had been listening to "Mike & Mike in the Morning" on ESPN Radio. They were discussing the Jets rookie quarterback, Mark Sanchez. Sanchez is out of USC and is the first rookie to start as QB (for the Jets Franchise) since Dick Jamieson in 1960.

Big deal, eh?

Well, it's a huge deal to my brother. And to me. And to the rest of my family. You see Dick Jamieson is my dad. We knew he played pro football and baseball. My mother kept scrapbooks with articles on his career. We always had a football card lying around the house, in the drawer next to the couch. He went on to coach, and to be honest, we know much more about his coaching career then his playing career. My dad was a very humble man, and didn't spend time talking about himself.

Dad died in 2001. So, for my brother to be driving through Iowa, and to hear this remote (and impressive!) fact about our dad, was a treat! To hear his name, and to learn more about him was a blessing for all of us. It also reminds me to try to write down some of the important and even the not so important events in my life, in case my children or grandchildren are ever interested, and I encourage you all to do the same for your families. There is so much I'll never know about my parents. But, at least we were gifted this little snippet, eh???

Broadway Joe? Pshaw. Dick Jamieson was the MAN!

(Below is part of an article that appeared in the NY Times last week, regarding the same information)

Sanchez to Start as Jets Quarterback

By GREG BISHOP
Published: August 26, 2009
In late March, at a private workout in Southern California, Mark Sanchez left an impression that raised the Jets’ interest level in him from serious to smitten.

Coach Rex Ryan had found his quarterback, and everything that happened afterward — the Jets’ trading up to draft Sanchez with the No. 5 pick, the quarterback competition, the rookie’s ascension to the top of the depth chart — started there. The Jets officially made Sanchez their quarterback Wednesday, the latest step in his rise to franchise cornerstone.

“I’m doing the right thing for this organization,” Ryan said. “That’s what my heart tells me.”
In reality, the Jets had decided on Sanchez long before they wrote his name on the depth chart with pen instead of pencil. They gave Sanchez every opportunity — and the richest contract in team history, with $28 million guaranteed — to win the job.

His opposition was Kellen Clemens, who always ends up on the wrong side of these quarterback competitions, behind Chad Pennington, Brett Favre and now Sanchez.

Despite Sanchez’s struggles against the Baltimore Ravens in his second preseason game Monday night, once Ryan was certain of his decision, he wasted no time in announcing it. Ryan delivered the news with typical confidence. He said he had solicited trusted mentors for advice but made the decision the way he made most important choices, with his instincts.

Barring injury, Sanchez will become the first rookie to start the opener at quarterback for the franchise since Dick Jamieson for the Titans in 1960. Not even Joe Namath started the first game of his rookie season, although he was starting by the third. And the last rookie quarterback to start even one game for the Jets was Matt Robinson in 1977.