Author Brian Gushue Pays Tribute to Family and Football at Warwick’s Books
Brian’s opening remarks during his appearance at Warwick’s Books on March 22, 2022.
Thank you all for coming tonight, especially given that I wrote a book (The Grass is Always Greener: One Football Fan's Improbable Quest to Attend 500 NFL Games) about NFL football and we're about 6 months away from having any meaningful NFL action take place.
For me, football has always been a year-round concern, though in my playing days back in the late '70s and early '80s I would always make the supreme sacrifice this time of year and give it up for Lent.
The title, "The Grass Is Always Greener," reflects my long-standing belief that football is best played on a well-maintained grass field. I'm glad that primitive artificial surfaces such as Astro-Turf (fuzzy cement to me) have been replaced with more forgiving ones. Even so, more noncontact injuries occur on them than natural surfaces.
This book is largely a recollection of my football experiences, both playing the sport and watching it being played in person at its highest level. Much of the appeal for seeing football played live now is how it reminds me of the hours I spent playing quarterback with friends I grew up with in our neighborhood.
Before I get to any NFL remembrances, I want to say a few words about my parents, Janet Gerraty Gushue and William Gushue Jr. Without their love, guidance and support, my life would have been very dull and dreary. They were determined to make me as independent as possible, making allowances for my disability only where necessary. I reap dividends from their decision every day. Thanks, Mom and Dad!
Thanks also to Pro Football Hall of Fame QB Bob Griese, who inspired me to always do my best when playing football.
While this is a football book I do owe a debt to baseball, our national pastime. I can't remember the first time I heard of baseball fans trying to see games in every MLB park, but the idea instantly intrigued me. Imagine getting to travel all over North America, watching baseball games in new and fun surroundings.
I reworked this concept to include NFL venues and my preference for grass fields. So once I started having the means to do sports travel, I made a list of the MLB and NFL stadiums with natural surfaces and, to paraphrase Jackie Gleason, "Away I went!"
I soon discovered that with baseball stadiums, one game satisfied my appetite, while with football ones, I found myself wanting to make return visits. That's how the number 500 popped into my head, sometime in the late 1990s.
It's been quite a journey, and this book contains both the highs and lows of it, plus the occasional moments where things went sideways, such as the time my wheelchair went AWOL on me for a ride on the wild side in Green Bay. And what I did soon after attending Game 500. The perfect place for Game 501 of course, Levi's Stadium. I even wore a pair of the legendary jeans for it.
I've been fortunate to attend 3 Super Bowls, several other postseason games and hundreds of regular-season contests. The one constant I've found is that the NFL experience is meant to be shared. Thankfully, I've been able to do that most of the time with family members and wonderful friends, several of whom are pictured in the book.
And while I'm on the subject of support for achieving my goal, I must include mention of a four-wheeled friend, my manual wheelchair. It was a gift from my friend Wes Johnson in the mid-1980s and it has seen me through lots of memorable life experiences, not just football games. It's lasted as long as it has only because of the care given it by John Darby and his crew at Scooter Bug.
Even long-lasting mobility aids need to call it a day, though. John has graciously offered to help me find a replacement for it. And I'm happy to say I've found a nice retirement home for my wheelchair. The Pro Football Hall of Fame, where it'll join my 500-plus NFL ticket stub collection. There's no guarantee it'll be put on display there, but at least at the hall it'll be rusting comfortably, uh resting comfortably.
As many of you know, I now have a new goal when it comes to NFL football. Seeing each of the league's 32 teams play in person at least 25 times, or 100 quarters, which sounds cooler. I've reached that mark with 12 teams and hope to add three more during this upcoming season. What I like about this quest is it's a lot less expensive and just as much fun!
Lastly, I have few comments about the potential for the NFL returning to San Diego someday. I think it will happen. The NFL has a long history of giving cities/metropolitan areas who've lost an NFL franchise a second chance to host one of its teams. The last city not to receive another opportunity was Portsmouth, Ohio, which lost the Portsmouth Spartans to Detroit in 1934, where they became the Lions.
Snapdragon Stadium, nearing completion in Mission Valley, is scheduled to open for its first Aztecs football game Sept. 3. Once that happens, I think the city of San Diego should approach the Las Vegas Raiders and Arizona Cardinals about playing an exhibition game there in the summer of 2023 and in succeeding years, either against each other, or one of them playing another team. I would not approach the Chargers about such an opportunity. They say they're committed to the L.A. market so I recommend we take them at their word and focus on the NFL in general.
I've no doubt such exhibition games would quickly fill Snapdragon's projected 35,000 seats and show the NFL San Diego is very interested in being a league city once again. Snapdragon can be expanded to 55,000 seats, which should be sufficient to attract and house an NFL franchise.
For everyone who shares this hope I would preach one thing: Patience. The NFL won't return overnight but if San Diego takes advantage of the assets in its favor: New stadium, mostly ideal weather conditions year-round, previous host of a league franchise for more than half a century and the eighth-largest city in the U.S., it will happen sooner rather than later. I just hope I live long enough to see an NFL team play home games in Mission Valley again.
