Posted on 01/27/2009 6:13:42 PM PST by Dysart
TAMPA -- The way Jake Plummer figures it, maybe the planets are aligning just right for his old team. His brother Brett told him the other day: "Can you believe it? We've got a black president, and the Cardinals are in the Super Bowl. Miracles do happen.''
"And,'' Plummer said Monday from his beloved Idaho, "a pilot just made a perfect landing in the Hudson River. Maybe it's all an omen. Maybe it's good news for the Cardinals. I hope so.''
Speaking from Sandpoint, Idaho, in a rare interview since he disappeared from football two years ago, the man the Cardinals drafted to get them to a Super Bowl talked about how incredible it was that the star-crossed franchise finally got there. He talked about quite a few other things: the Bidwills, the sport (handball) he's now passionate about, Pat Tillman, his odd post-Denver courtship by Jon Gruden, and his new job -- at least for now -- delivering meals-on-wheels to senior citizens in Sandpoint, a town of 7,500 in Idaho's northern panhandle, 50 miles from the Canadian border.
Plummer, 34, sounded great. There was no bitterness about anything; he sounded perfectly content -- volunteering, for now, to help the elderly and trying to get better at handball. Lots of athletes leave the game and squander their money because they can't get used to moving into the next phase of their lives at 35. Plummer has no idea where life will lead him, but he doesn't sound bothered by it at all.
Plummer did not watch the NFC championship game. He didn't see the team that made him its poster child a decade ago make the first Super Bowl in its history.
"I caught the highlights,'' he said, "but I had a handball tournament in Seattle.''
His reaction?
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsillustrated.cnn.com ...
“Ex-Cardinal”.....is that like “Ex-Pope” only not so hot?
Skiing at Schweitzer Basin, skydiving at Athol and golf at Couer d’Alene...he picked a darn fine area to live.
Neil Lomax is another famous Cardinal. I wonder what he’s up to?
Jake the Snake deserves the respect of all Steelers fans for shutting down the despised New England team in the 2006 playoffs and making sure we didn’t have to play them.
“..the Cardinals are in the Super Bowl.”
Led by the reincarnation of Johnny U. Hell, the guy even has a similar haircut.
Yep. Love that part of Idaho myself. Sounds likes he has a nice life and I’d sure like to join him, but not sure about the whole handball thing. He’s even takin care of the elderly and lookin out for the chillen. Good on him.
Sandpoint BTT. I haven’t seen Jake at the local WalMart, where the elite meet to greet...
Led by the reincarnation of Johnny U. Hell, the guy even has a similar haircut.
Better arm, better testimony.
This your neck of the woods? Lucky dog. I only drove thru Coeur d’Alene once on my way to Seattle, but was taken with the place and wanted to hang around-have a better look see. I remember it well; it was 5ishpm and I could well ascertain it was rush hr but it wasn’t bad at all. I have some pics somewhere I never uploaded, crossing a long bridge, the picturesque lake off to my left... Now I do have a friend from my hometown who has found her way to $un Valley and plan to visit her ASAP, and I’ll make a point to get back up there for a more proper survey. I felt a little envious of Plummer reading the article. That doesn’t happen much.
bump
Sarah Palin lived there for awhile. Manhattan it ain't. ;-)
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