SPORTS
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016
7A
Seahawks give rookies extensive
course in transition to NFL career
By TIM BOOTH
AP Sports Writer
RENTON, Wash. — Pete
Carroll stood at the front of the
auditorium just like he would for
any other meeting as the head
coach of the Seattle Seahawks.
But his words Monday were
brief, poignant and directed just
at his newest players. And they
had nothing to do with what
these rookies end up doing on
the ield.
“It’s so important to us to
help you guys igure out what is
coming,” Carroll said.
When the NFL did away with
its rookie symposium in Canton,
Ohio, it put the onus back on the
teams to organize three days of
rookie transition education after
the completion of their mini-
camps and before players head
off on their summer breaks. Seat-
tle took it a step further, creating
an education program that started
following the completion of the
Seahawks’ rookie minicamp the
second week of May and will
conclude with the mandatory
three days this week.
More formal program
The reason for such an
extensive program: The Sea-
hawks don’t believe three days
is enough to adequately pro-
vide rookies with the informa-
tion they need. It’s education the
team provided in the past, but
now in a more formal program.
“They’ve been with us since
May 9 so we had nothing but
time,” said Mo Kelly, vice presi-
dent of player development. “It’s
a redundancy type deal. They
can never hear it enough. We’ve
talked to them on inances, I
don’t know how many meet-
ings we’ve had so far, but guess
what? They’re still going to
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Former Seattle Seahawks’ Bryce Fisher, right, sits on the stage as he address rookies during
a panel discussion at the football team’s training camp Monday in Renton, Wash. The team
is holding a rookie symposium for the new players to give them information about the NFL.
make mistakes. They’re still
young men. They’re still grow-
ing up. Imagine if you were 21
years old with a lot of money in
your pocket. That’s the thing I
keep thinking about it is they’re
young individuals, they’re going
to make mistakes and we have
to be here to help them when
they make mistakes.”
Seattle’s program was
opened to the media Monday
and included a history lesson on
the franchise and a panel discus-
sion with former players Bryce
Fisher, Jordan Babineaux, Mar-
cus Trufant and Hall of Fame
offensive tackle Walter Jones on
the lessons learned and pitfalls
to avoid as a young player enter-
ing the league.
PhD in inances
Much of the conversation
revolved around inances and
the circle of friends and family
suddenly looking for money.
“Nobody thinks they have
to worry about managing that.
They think they have that under
SCOREBOARD
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TODAY
Junior State Baseball — Knappa
at Clatskanie (2), 3 p.m.
Baseball — Jon Gizdavich Me-
morial Alumni Tournament, Broad-
way Field, 1 p.m.
wraps. They go from the small
kid, the young one, to now
being the person in their family
that everyone turns to and asks
questions to,” Kelly said. “Now
they have to have a PhD in their
inances. Everybody is asking
them about spending money or
getting money from them. Deal-
ing with family and friends is
really, really tough because it’s
close to the vest. We can talk
about it, but until you live it and
be put in a situation like that it’s
tough to understand.”
That’s where the experiences
of former players proved import-
ant. All four came from differ-
ent backgrounds and entered the
league with different expecta-
tions, but their stories shared a
common theme. Yes, mistakes
will be made. But the ultimate
priority for these rookies is not
endangering their future.
“You have more to lose
now. So what are you will-
ing to bargain? That’s the ques-
tion,” Babineaux said. “What is
this position and this opportu-
nity that you guys have in front
of you worth to you? That means
a change in attitude. It requires
a change in lifestyle. And it
requires a change in really the
way you act. The choices that you
now have to make. Because what
you are doing now is investing in
your future and every choice and
decision that you make will be a
result of where you end up.”
Trufant’s recommendation
was to have someone able to
delect those requests, an inter-
mediary to work through and
keep the pressure off the indi-
vidual player. Jones, who earned
the most of anyone on the panel
during his Hall of Fame career,
told the rookies to start training
their families now on priorities.
“It’s going to be tough
because you’ve got people tug-
ging and pulling, that want
something,” Jones said. “But
you’ve just got to make sure
you’re taking care of the peo-
ple that you feel that’s in need or
you, say this is the person I want
to take care of.”
Harber K’s seven in
Timber Rattlers’ win
The Daily Astorian
GRAND CHUTE, Wisc.
— Conor Harber earned
Player of the Game honors,
and the Wisconsin Timber
Rattlers started the second
half of the Midwest League
schedule with a 2-0 win over
the Quad Cities River Ban-
dits at Fox Cities Stadium
Thursday night.
A trio of Wisconsin pitch-
ers held the River Bandits
to one hit. Harber got the
start and pitched ive no-hit
innings, with seven strike-
outs and two walks.
The seven strikeouts was
a new single-game high
as a professional for Har-
ber, the Astoria High School
graduate.
Quad Cities starter Jose
Hernandez pitched around
three doubles in his ive shut-
out innings, with ive strike-
outs and no walks for the
River Bandits.
The Timber Rattlers (35-
36 overall) broke a score-
less tie in the seventh inning.
Isan Diaz, who had two hits
and drew a walk, started the
frame with a single against
River Bandits reliever Elieser
Hernandez.
Diaz eventually scored on
a sacriice ly by Jake Gate-
wood for the only run the
N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A
Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500
Rattlers would need.
Wisconsin pitcher Nate
Griep entered the game in the
top of the ninth and retired
the River Bandits in order to
close out the victory. Griep
has converted his last eleven
save opportunities.
Jake Drossner tossed
three scoreless innings in
relief for the Timber Rat-
tlers and picked up the win.
He allowed a two-out single
to Myles Straw in the sixth
inning for the only hit given
up by the Rattlers.
Harber was named as the
“Uncle Ray’s Player of the
Game” for his performance.
Wisconsin and Quad Cit-
ies meet again tonight.
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