[BostonCard]

A few years ago (the Sun bowl season, to be precise), Harbaugh hosted a pancake breakfast for fans with kids.  I took my son Charlie there (he would have been 5 at the time).  Here's the e-mail I sent out afterwards to a bunch of my buddies/Stanford fans.  The e-mail was dated Dec. 20, 2009, so the event occurred during what would have otherwise been a winter break, in the midst of practices for the Sun Bowl:

I had a great time with Charlie at the pancake breakfast.  I had the, er, luck, to sit with Andrew Luck, Jeremy "patch" Stewart (i.e., potentially next year's backfield), and Thomas Keiser.  All three of them were great kids.  Andrew was the most at ease in the group, despite the fact that he was repeatedly getting requests for autographs and pictures.  Still, came across as a great, down-to-earth guy.  His right hand was still in a splint, though he said it was getting better every day.  He had the finger pinned - they still haven't taken the pin out.  I sat next to Stewart, who was a bit shier, but a nice guy.  Like Toby, he's an MSE (Management, Science and Engineering) major.  He will try to get a redshirt for this year, though he reported that he's actually ahead of his graduation schedule, so if it came to be, he might get a masters.  MSE might be the least rigorous of the engineering majors (the intellectual descendent of the old industrial engineering, somewhat derisively nicknamed "imaginary" engineering), but MSE majors still have to go through the engineering core, and take the relevant math and science courses which are not easy.  To be able to do that and devote time to football is nothing short of extraordinary.  To take 21 units during a football season as Toby did is an unbelievable feat.  Stewart still had his foot in a boot.  He suffered a high ankle sprain and a broken foot (bummer), but he expects to be out of the boot in the next couple weeks.

I got to speak to Tom Keiser the least, but like everyone else, he was decidedly polite and friendly.  I learned that Keiser actually played lacrosse before football.

Everyone is very excited about the Sun Bowl, as you might expect.  They are working hard; after what essentially amounted to a forced public relations stint (as I said, they were all great, but I wouldn't have blamed them if what they really wanted to do on a Sunday morning was sleep in!)  They had film and meetings starting at 11:30, so a full work day.  As [father of player] alluded to, there is a very limited Christmas break, and apparently, the only people who can go anywhere for Christmas are those who live within a 1 hour flight "because of logistics", which basically means all of the California players, and that is about it.  Kind of a bummer, especially for guys like Luck, who could probably make it to El Paso easily from their home (Luck is from Houston and Stewart from Louisiana).

Anyways, it was a great experience.  Only downside was that the track house and bookstore didn't open until 11, so I didn't get a chance to do some late Christmas shopping.

BC

[BostonCard]

A few years ago (the Sun bowl season, to be precise), Harbaugh hosted a pancake breakfast for fans with kids.  I took my son Charlie there (he would have been 5 at the time).  Here's the e-mail I sent out afterwards to a bunch of my buddies/Stanford fans.  The e-mail was dated Dec. 20, 2009, so the event occurred during what would have otherwise been a winter break, in the midst of practices for the Sun Bowl:

I had a great time with Charlie at the pancake breakfast.  I had the, er, luck, to sit with Andrew Luck, Jeremy "patch" Stewart (i.e., potentially next year's backfield), and Thomas Keiser.  All three of them were great kids.  Andrew was the most at ease in the group, despite the fact that he was repeatedly getting requests for autographs and pictures.  Still, came across as a great, down-to-earth guy.  His right hand was still in a splint, though he said it was getting better every day.  He had the finger pinned - they still haven't taken the pin out.  I sat next to Stewart, who was a bit shier, but a nice guy.  Like Toby, he's an MSE (Management, Science and Engineering) major.  He will try to get a redshirt for this year, though he reported that he's actually ahead of his graduation schedule, so if it came to be, he might get a masters.  MSE might be the least rigorous of the engineering majors (the intellectual descendent of the old industrial engineering, somewhat derisively nicknamed "imaginary" engineering), but MSE majors still have to go through the engineering core, and take the relevant math and science courses which are not easy.  To be able to do that and devote time to football is nothing short of extraordinary.  To take 21 units during a football season as Toby did is an unbelievable feat.  Stewart still had his foot in a boot.  He suffered a high ankle sprain and a broken foot (bummer), but he expects to be out of the boot in the next couple weeks.

I got to speak to Tom Keiser the least, but like everyone else, he was decidedly polite and friendly.  I learned that Keiser actually played lacrosse before football.

Everyone is very excited about the Sun Bowl, as you might expect.  They are working hard; after what essentially amounted to a forced public relations stint (as I said, they were all great, but I wouldn't have blamed them if what they really wanted to do on a Sunday morning was sleep in!)  They had film and meetings starting at 11:30, so a full work day.  As [father of player] alluded to, there is a very limited Christmas break, and apparently, the only people who can go anywhere for Christmas are those who live within a 1 hour flight "because of logistics", which basically means all of the California players, and that is about it.  Kind of a bummer, especially for guys like Luck, who could probably make it to El Paso easily from their home (Luck is from Houston and Stewart from Louisiana).

Anyways, it was a great experience.  Only downside was that the track house and bookstore didn't open until 11, so I didn't get a chance to do some late Christmas shopping.

BC