Meet The Author: Brian Gushue
Brian Gushue had a number in mind, and even if it was a mind-boggling figure, he went for it.
Gushue, a longtime newspaper copy editor with an enviable smile and a steely resolve, set out to attend 500 National Football League games. He accomplished it by crisscrossing the nation over four decades, despite battling cerebral palsy, which limits his mobility.
"Anytime someone goes for such a lofty goal, it's inspirational,'' Gushue said, "especially if the person pursuing it has some physical disability to contend with.''
Gushue chronicles his journey about following the NFL circus from city to city for years and years in his new book. His motivational, educational, and entertaining delivery shines in The Grass Is Always Greener: One Football Fan's Improbable Quest To Attend 500 NFL Games, which was published in December 2021.
It's a story that revolves around football, but it offers so much more than an offense's down-and-distance or the final score. Instead, readers snuggle into a seat next to Gushue as he gets cozy in yet another stadium for yet another game, which produces yet another yarn.
Just like the venues, no contests are the same. There is one caveat, though, in that Gushue turns his back to artificial turf.
To Gushue, a lush grass field adds to the beauty and significance of an NFL game day. Football competed on something that cows can't consume gives Gushue indigestion.
The jet-setting Gushue often attends up to three games in a hectic weekend, bouncing between locales like a Super Ball to watch those craving a Super Bowl. A chilly late-season game on a Saturday could lead to Gushue squeezing in another game in another place on Sunday. And if the schedule, airplane connections, and weather cooperate, Gushue finds his way to a Sunday night game.
"I love the artistry of the game,'' said Gushue, who has been featured in numerous articles and appeared on various sports shows. "There is unquestionably a violent part of the game, but there are also times when it seems like it is a well-choreographed script, almost like ballet.''
Those with two left feet would be challenged to keep pace with the ever-moving Gushue, despite his often being in a wheelchair. But his words are just as moving when comparing the electricity of a big game to something else that comes with plenty of sound and fury.
"I write about the gridiron and the outcomes, but football games are more than that,'' he said. "The fan atmosphere, and how the crowd gets into it at a venue is so important. When you go into a sold-out stadium for an NFL game, it rocks like a concert.''
Gushue has watched thousands of NFL players, but no one stands taller in his eyes than Bob Griese, the former Miami Dolphins great. With Gushue's parents being Dallas Cowboys fans in his youth, and in particular big boosters of their ex-quarterback, Roger Staubach, Gushue needed a quarterback to call his own.
It was a pristine match, Gushue and Griese, and the two formed a friendship that thrives to this day. Not only did Gushue get to see Griese play once, but he also attended his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction in 1990.
Griese got wind of Gushue's quest for 500 and the only quarterback to help lead an NFL team to a perfect season was part of a perfect ruse. During the Miami Dolphins' last visit to San Diego to play the Chargers, Griese surprised Gushue at his tailgate party.
For once, Gushue was speechless.
"I was absolutely on cloud nine,'' Gushue said. "He let me wear his Super Bowl VII ring and he signed the jersey I wore on the day of his induction. They say you don't want to meet your idols, but that was nothing but a memorable day for me.''
Memories are what ooze from Gushue's book as his devotion to the NFL, and his determination to stiff-arm his disability, led to him reaching his goal, appropriately, at the Green Bay Packers' iconic Lambeau Field.
"Don't let obstacles prevent you from pursuing your dreams,'' Gushue said. "If they mean enough to you and your heart, you should pursue them as much as you can.''
Gushue’s The Grass Is Always Greener is available from Amazon and wherever books are sold. He will discuss the book and hold a signing at Warwick’s in La Jolla, California, on March 22.
