The Athletic ($?) on JJ & hockey's influence
I hope this Athletic article (by Adam Jahns) isn't paywalled.
I knew JJ McCarthy had played hockey but didn't realize the extent of his playing and passion for it. Including the fact that his last game was in youth hockey playing at Yost.
Sidebar, I remember Harbaugh was such a big fan of Dylan McCaffrey in part because he excelled at multiple sports.
Guys like JJ and Dylan are the rule, not the exception when it comes to excelling at multiple sports. As I mentioned in a completely unrelated thread about a year ago, I recall that my IM basketball teams in the mid-80s would inevitably lose out to the teams with football players as those guys were amazing basketball players as well. Seems nuts now that those guys were allowed to play IM basketball...
I was on a pretty decent intramural basketball team until we went up against one with Mel Owens, Calvin O'Neal and some other linebackers. When they are 6'4" - 6'6", built like a UM linebacker and in top physical shape ... You get the idea. I think Mel was a Freshman (I was at orientation with him, big dude, but nice) and Calvin was a senior (and team captain that year).
I played basketball with football players once. As you point out, they're good athletes. They also outweighed me by a gazillion and were scary.
April 23rd, 2024 at 10:24 AM ^
I'm from a small town. I went to watch an IM basketball game around that time. It was the first time I'd seen Division One athletes up close. My friend's team had a couple of defensive backs (Dave Arnold, if I recall correctly, was one) and it was amazing to see what they could do on the court.
April 23rd, 2024 at 10:07 AM ^
The article mentions Harbaugh's eyes lighting up when he got a report on JJ's toughness in hockey.
April 23rd, 2024 at 10:28 AM ^
Dylan should have switched to WR like his brother Luke, who is going to be drafted this weekend.
when FSU was on the way to winning the NC in 1993 i remember an interview with Bobby Bowden where he said that for defense the recruited players that played multiple sports but mainly basketball. and if anyone remembers that early 90's D that FSU had they had some freak athletes...
For me, hockey and football are the two best sports on the planet, followed by snow-skiing.
April 23rd, 2024 at 11:27 AM ^
I'm going to add -- that after they get too old to play contact sports, they should take up curling.
The trouble is that as men age, they have less hair to curl.
April 23rd, 2024 at 10:24 AM ^
Feels like somehow I should make a a negative comment, degrading his abilities just to be trendy. Got to win the Internet.
OK here goes…he’s too good to be true.
April 23rd, 2024 at 10:34 AM ^
hopefully not katya kuropas' account
The way to phrase this is that you just don't understand the hype about his hockey ability.
April 23rd, 2024 at 10:33 AM ^
Worked for me on Chrome. Thanks for sharing!
April 23rd, 2024 at 12:05 PM ^
Great article pointing out some skills that translate across sports. JJ showed amazing spatial awareness getting off several passes before crossing the line of scrimmage. The similarity to staying onside in hockey isn't an accident.
Another good (and free) article on JJ
https://sny.tv/articles/giants-j-j-mccarthy-nfl-draft-connor-hughes-feature
when i was coaching 9u travel baseball back in Windsor, we played in a tourny in Burlington, ON and the coaches up there were telling us that kids that were playing baseball and hockey had to make the choice at that age on which sport they were going to play full time... it was mainly the hockey coaches that were forcing that to happen. the baseball coaches were not happy because they were losing a bunch of good players to hockey...
The #1 problem with youth sports is the adults.
April 23rd, 2024 at 10:20 PM ^
We had 2 parents that stood out from all of the others...
One was a dad of our 2nd best player, he never really stirred the pot but he always had something to say. He did know what he was talking about so we gave him a little slack...
The other was a mom, and for the love of God she never stopped complaining about anything and everything. Then she would get in the ears of other parents and it would make for some interesting post game conversations...