Posted by Dr Fro 9:37 PM
My name is CCM, and I'm an alc....
Not really. My name is Dr. Fro, but I do sometimes live the charmed life of Mr. CCM. Last night I went to the Lombardi Award Ceremony in Houston. I had a lot of fun. The finalist were Brian Orakpo, James Laurinaitis, Rey Maualuga and Andre Smith. They all gave speeches as did their position coaches. Though unpolished, all four came across as sincerely grateful. We had good seats:
They let us come up to the front get autographs and stuff. Here's Rey:
James and Brian made a lot of jokes about each other (they play each other in a few weeks.) James also joked that last year, he lost out on the Lombardi and got his "butt kicked" in their bowl game. He was afraid Mr. Orakpo was going to pull that same double-double on him again this year (I hope so!). Then he made some jokes about going home with Miss Texas. More on that later.
The winner was Brian Orakpo:
He started out with a crack that hopefully the BCS isn't in charge of picking the award winner. He had plenty of nice things to say about UT, the Rotary Club, the American Cancer Society, The Front Line Kids, Coach Nolen (Lamar H.S.) He came across pretty well. Evidently, he's pretty smart: I think he graduated in 3.5 years with a 3.5 GPA. He certainly seems smart.
When the whole affair ended, most people left quickly as they were afraid of the snow and ice. Since I was staying at the hotel, and because I am CCM 2.0, I stayed for a couple drinks long after most people had left.
I was talking to a friend from high school when I noticed that nobody was talking to Brooke Daniels. So, I did.
She looks pretty excited to meet me.
On the way out, I ran into Mr. Orakpo. I was terrified that he might eat me, so rather than ask for a photo with him, I just got him to hook his horns for me: