Post by zzoshop on Aug 22, 2012 6:25:22 GMT
Andy Reid's family pride always on display despite challenges of parenthood
When I think of Bethlehem, I think of winding my way through lush hillsides on the campus of Lehigh University, one of my favorite NFL training-camp sites and2012 nike football jerseys . I think of peanut-butter balls at Deja Brew and honey-whiskey shots at Starters, where last summer I celebrated my birthday with several Philadelphia Eagles players by making prank phone calls to Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley, who briefly believed he was being traded to the New York Giants.
Andy Reid during Eagles training camp last week. (Getty)And I think of the flimsy, beige folding chairs that Philly public relations director Derek Boyko typically sets up long after practice so that Andy Reid and I can have a conversation.I'm always a little worried at first that the folding chair will be conspicuously overmatched by Reid, who is not a small man,that man wear thegoogle jerseys. And I'm inevitably heartened that the interview, at some point or another, turns semi-casual, and Reid and I will exchange stories or talk about our shared L.A. upbringings or discuss that which is more important than football: In a word, family.
As someone who has heard Reid talk about the challenges of fatherhood ¨C and as someone who has experienced that great joy and responsibility for the past 16 years ¨C I was deeply saddened to learn that the coach's eldest son, Garrett, was found dead in his Lehigh dorm room Sunday morning. Garrett, 29, had been working with the Eagles as an unofficial camp assistant to the team's strength and conditioning coach, and the cause of death has yet to be determined.
Garrett, like his younger brother Britt, has struggled with substance abuse in recent years, with incarceration among the legal consequences. Reid took a 39-day leave of absence five offseasons ago so that he could join his wife who like thecheap Nike nfl jerseys , Tammy, in coping with their sons' struggles. In a profession in which men are typically tethered to their respective team facilities for most of their waking hours (and, in some cases, their non-waking ones), this was somewhat of an extraordinary gesture.
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