AJ McCarron Is Now My Favorite Quarterback Because I Am My Mother's Son

[Kwai San]

BLM - thanks for sharing - not an easy thing to do on this site with some of the "individuals" and their attitudes and what not.

 

I too was SHOVED into religion at an early age, Southern Baptist no less.....as a result, I like you am not overly religious right now either. 

 

I really think AJ is going to amount to more than what most folks here believe.  The kid is motivated and WANTS to be a starter - he seems to have the tools.

 

I am glad to know what to do with the religious artifact as I have a Jesus statue that a well meaning friend gave me when I was trying to sell a piece of property, I will be damned in hell if I didn't tell you that 2 days after it was given to me the property had an offer and 2 months later we closed on it.  It was on the market for 7 months with no offers and very few tire kickers.......I have held on to that statue just not knowing how to get rid of it.......being near lake Ontario now gives me an idea......thanks!!

 

GO BILLS!!! 

Edited March 25, 2018 by Kwai San

[JoeF]

3 hours ago, BadLandsMeanie said:

Wow thanks for all that information JoeF. 

And I have to say I didn't for an instant expect that anybody on the board here would say the rosary!

Are you networked in to the rosary people? I was hatching a plan to tell them about AJ and get them praying for him.

Like his soul and family and important stuff, and that he wins. 

 

 

BLM...not tied into the rosary sect of the church   Probably should be.  I am usually hoping I don't have "sudden old fart death syndrome" while I am doing cardio, but want to make sure I have all my acts of contrition and hail Mary's in case I do...

 

It would be a good idea to have your mom's rosary folks praying for AJ.   Look what its done for Sister Jean and Loyola Chicago. 

 

BTW, Sister Jean made me laugh today when a reporter asked, "What did you give up for Lent?"  She said "losing"..

 

Final note..Most people think Saban is an arrogant SOB...Everyone I know who knows him says Miss Terry runs the show/family/external activities and allows Coach to solely focus on football. He is fiery but loyal to a fault.  McCarron might just be his personal favorite..but he would never say that publicly.

 

A couple of years ago -- McCarron was publicly critical of Alabama's offense (after he graduated)..Nick blasted him but in a "dad" sort of way.  They are very close...

 

 

Edited March 25, 2018 by JoeF

[Buffalo716]

20 minutes ago, BadLandsMeanie said:

 

Thanks 716. I like it that your house is that way. It felt like we were the only ones back in the day  

Oh dear I hadn't thought if that angle Lfod.

Thanks Last Guy I appreciate it.,

 

Hahaha nope and I'm sure there are lots like us!

 

i don't think you can look in a direction in my house without seeing a crucifix, a rosary, the blessed Virgin Mary, or infant Jesus hahah

[BigDingus]

Some of the strangest superstition I've ever seen in my life, but hey, thanks for posting!

[BadLandsMeanie]

2 hours ago, Enemarty said:

Well, I really enjoyed that.  I love it when a nice read can take you back to your ten year old self visiting grandma in the early 1970s.  Now all I need is the odor of a nearby smelting plant and the memory will be complete.  

Thank you for saying so.  Maybe if you eat certain things, you could provide the smelting plant odor?

2 hours ago, Binghamton Beast said:

Whatever the case may be, it was an entertaining read, BLM.

 

Sometimes I wish you had all the posts you made over the years in a book.

 

I’d buy it.

Thanks pal. You have always been very encouraging to me and I appreciate that.

2 hours ago, jkeerie said:

Great read, BLM!  I can certainly relate, growing up in a Catholic home.  I also prayed the rosary in my youth and when I was in basic training (AF), my training instructor ordered me to pray the rosary so that it would rain and we wouldn't have to participate in parade the following day.  A half hour before parade was to start, it poured.  My TI never looked at me the same after that.   I don't do the beads anymore.    I also can understand your reluctance to simply discard religious artifacts.  Weren't we taught it was sacrilegious?

 

I just lost my Mom a couple of months ago.  (In fact I just put her Infant of Prague and statue of Mary in a box on the shelf for now, not knowing what I'll do with them.)  She really loved football and she and I especially enjoyed watching the college games together.  Her favorite team was Notre Dame...no surprise there.  RIP to both of our moms.

 

I think McCarron can be good.  He certainly was good in college.  I'm not ready to dismiss him out of hand just because he hasn't been a starter in this league before.  Maybe things are lining up the right way.  You just never can tell.  So I really appreciate your post...your thoughts...your memories...your hopes.   So much shared!  It made me laugh out loud.  Thank you!  I think I needed that today!    

 

    

 

 

 

Thanks very much jkeeri. My condolences for your mom. And yes we were taught something that it was bad to toss it away I am not sure sacrilegious was it but it was something like that. Same as with an old flag as I understand it. You arent supposed to just toss it.  Infant of Prague! Thats it. The one with the little globe and a robe on. I love the rain man story! Thanks very much.

1 hour ago, yungmack said:

Great piece of writing, BLM. I'm old too, maybe older than you, and grew up as well in a "wayside shrine." A full on immersion into Italo-Germano-Irish Catholicism, with bleeding hearts, bleeding sides, bleeding heads, ascending bodies, descending angels and the BVM over all. Catholic school too. And all of it before Vatican II so a completely different, highly mystical Catholicism.

 

BTW, as far as McCarron's Catholicism is concerned, it used to be and still might be true that, like with Orthodox Jews, people with tattoos cannot be buried in consecrated ground. But as far as tattoos of bloody Christs and saints and rosaries go, it's pretty common among Latino gang members in Southern California.

"Italo-Germano-Irish Catholicism, with bleeding hearts, bleeding sides, bleeding heads, ascending bodies, descending angels and the BVM over all." Best description ever yungmack! lol. 

[Augie]

1 hour ago, BadLandsMeanie said:

If you had read the middle 90% you would know that I was saying McCarron is classy.

 

 

I'm not!     No soft target here "Augie"

 

 

But seriously if you want, I could probably write a children's version for ya.

 

You have to admit, that was LONG, even without the “disclaimer”. I don’t need a “children’s version”, I got the point in 10% of the words. 

 

[SF Bills Fan]

Best post. I get it. This was is one of those cosmic things where a sequence of events align and it's eerie and doesn't seem like it could possibly be coincidental. Ive had it happen- you feel like the universe designed this and it means something. 

 

This rosary thing will now be all I can think of when I see Mccarron out there. It was his wife before  but she is now #2 to the rosary thing. 

[Bing Bong]

3 hours ago, slaphappy said:

If they win the super bowl I will be in the market for a rosary made of plastic beads.

God is willing Loyola to an Elite 8, that 90 YO Chaplin is my new favorite person.

4 hours ago, Bobby Hooks said:

I’m surprised any of these follow-up  posts were able to fit on the first page . 

I admit I was being an *** he had a disclaimer and everything, I admitted it earlier, but still not Bad Lands good side, perfectly understandable. Just offseason clowning.

8 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

You have to admit, that was LONG, even without the “disclaimer”. I don’t need a “children’s version”, I got the point in 10% of the words. 

 

haha did you read it?

[BadLandsMeanie]

8 minutes ago, SF Bills Fan said:

Best post. I get it. This was is one of those cosmic things where a sequence of events align and it's eerie and doesn't seem like it could possibly be coincidental. Ive had it happen- you feel like the universe designed this and it means something. 

 

This rosary thing will now be all I can think of when I see Mccarron out there. It was his wife before  but she is now #2 to the rosary thing. 

Wow. That has to be the first miracle! =)

 

Great post thanks.

[Bing Bong]

1 minute ago, BadLandsMeanie said:

Wow. That has to be the first miracle! =)

 

Great post thanks.

you had to expect some flak, I went back and read it, great post.

[BadLandsMeanie]

11 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

You have to admit, that was LONG, even without the “disclaimer”. I don’t need a “children’s version”, I got the point in 10% of the words. 

 

Well, I think you didn't. because the disclaimer said, it is long. It said, feel free to skip it. It said, you will miss out on no important information.

 

But still you thought it good and right to hop in here and make a remark that it was too long and you skipped 90% of it.

 

Why?

[ColoradoBills]

3 hours ago, BadLandsMeanie said:

Wow thanks for all that information JoeF. 

And I have to say I didn't for an instant expect that anybody on the board here would say the rosary!

Are you networked in to the rosary people? I was hatching a plan to tell them about AJ and get them praying for him.

Like his soul and family and important stuff, and that he wins. 

 

Thanks BLM, for the childhood memories.  Your Mother and my own would have been very good friends.

My Mother is 85 and still a rabid Bills fan.  She calls me most Sunday mornings during the season and I will miss

that when it's gone.  She is still praying for a SB win before she "goes".

 

Don't know if you had this planned (or realized) but isn't next week Holy Week with Easter coming.

Got to mean something!

[Augie]

34 minutes ago, PetermanThrew5Picks said:

 

haha did you read it?

 

Well, he tried to scold me because it was so long I admitted to reading about 10% total from the beginning and the end.I was just responding to someone who also commented on the length. If he said feel free to say skip over it, and I said I did, what’s the problem?  It was still plenty to get the point. It’s not always what you do but how you do it. That was the first time I’ve ever used the “Ignore” feature. Let’s be grown ups when possible. 

Edited March 25, 2018 by Augie

[Bing Bong]

5 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

Well, he tried to scold me because it was so long I admitted to reading about 10% total from the beginning and the end.I was just responding to someone who also commented on the length. If he said feel free to say skip over it, and I said I did, what’s the problem?  It was still plenty to get the point. It’s not always what you do but how you do it. That was the first time I’ve ever used the “Ignore” feature. Let’s be grown ups when possible. 

no I totally agree, I read 0%

[3rdand12]

5 hours ago, BadLandsMeanie said:

*** Disclaimer***

 

There is no football in this at all. No stats, no useful information, no insight, and nothing about the draft. It is just coincidences that happened to me lately that seem weird to me. Feel free to skip it you won't miss any important or relevant football information.

 

And it is very long so please do skip it if you want I assure you that you will miss nothing.

 

***End Disclaimer***

 

Anybody with sense wouldn't go posting this stuff about themselves because it is on the weird side. But I never have had that kind of sense when it comes to my Bills posts before, and it is too late to start now.

 

In the last few days AJ McCarron became my favorite NFL quarterback. I think he will be good and I think that for mostly superstitious reasons that I don't believe. I know it is just weird, very unlikely coincidences and I don't believe that they mean anything. Except that I do.

 

 

It all started back in February I was trying to get rid of some extra stuff around the house and going through old storage boxes. And I come across some of my mother's old religious items that I didn't even know I still had. It is a few old, broken, items of junk actually and she passed away over 20 years ago.

I had no intention of saving this stuff.

 

Now my mother was very, very Catholic. Too Catholic if you ask me. Growing up I think we had more religious stuff around our house than many churches. Statues (Several Jesus's, a couple Marys, even a Joseph, and crosses, pictures, etc. Some of the statues even had super fancy little outfits.

 

And we even had a special Risen Jesus statue she put out for Easter. It was 2 feet tall at least. We had a Mary statue in the yard. And the collection kept growing after we kids left the house. We found I bet 100 or 200 rosaries that she made herself because what you do is, make them and send them to the missions overseas.

 

When I was a toddler we had a life size statue of St Jude with glass eyes in the attic. My grandfather had got it from a church somewhere and we were storing it. I don't know what they did with that thing after a while, but I was very glad when it was gone because I was absolutely terrified of it. Just knowing it was up there freaked me out.

 

Now when she died we are all sentimental about all this stuff you know because the emotions are so new but after not long we had to figure out what to do with the stuff. I myself had no need for a baby Jesus all decked out in a sequined outfit, or really any of that kinda stuff. My brother has some of the statues or whatever and the rest we gave to her friends as mementos or whatever way we could pawn it off on people.

 

So what I have here in the box is the broken or damaged stuff we couldn't get rid of. Now if you were raised like I was you know that you can't just put that stuff in the garbage. You have to burn it, bury it, or sink it in water. Things like that which are more respectable. And why I wound up with it still is because I couldn't do that at the time and I put it in a box with other stuff and it just got forgotten about.

And where is it now? I still couldn't get rid of it because the ground was frozen and covered with snow!

 

It's still here! And I don't even go to church. But I am not putting it I the garbage because I am my mother's son.

 

So until the ground thaws I have here: A plastic Baby Jesus statue with no head. A plaster Mary statue with no base on it. Two “scapulars”.

 

A scapular is a cloth thing that shows you are devoted to Mary. It started off in the Middle ages pretty much as a front and back apron that you tied with a sash. It had a use, but was also a symbol. Well over time that became these ones which are shrunk to the size of a postage stamp. So you have these little cloth postage stamp sized things , sort of like a front and back medal with a string between them, except they are made of cloth. You are supposed to wear it under your shirt.

 

Then two rosaries made of plastic and string. In case you don't know a rosary is a Catholic prayer bead made in a circle with a crucifix on there, and you pray your way around it. It amounts to 56 Hail Mary's and 9 Our Fathers or close to that.

 

Anyway this stuff took me back in my memory to all about who she was especially when it came to Catholicism and even more especially when it came to her being very devoted to Mary. She said the rosary every day. Went to church every day. There was a bumper sticker on her front door that said “Pray The Rosary” and so on. She was in a group of rosary ladies too.

 

So that stuff is on my mind and also I don't want to forget about that broken stuff again. I want to bury it when the ground thaws. But also I hadn't really thought about how she was in that way, for a long time. The physical objects bring it back.

 

So that was a few weeks ago. Next, I work in a residential setting. So there are a few TVs and one near the office and I hear whatever this or that person is watching in there regularly.

 

Somewhere around the beginning of the month some guy starts tuning in some channel that has people saying the rosary on it. If you haven't heard the rosary said it sounds kind of like chanting because they say the same prayers over and over again. I haven't heard that in ages. It really took me back because when we were kids my mom and dad made us come in at 7 PM weekday evenings, maybe not all the time but a whole lot of the time, and say the rosary. There was a radio program and we would say it along with the radio people.

 

So picture being nine years old and in the summer and outside having fun and it is, “Sorry guys gotta go and pray the rosary or I will get killed”. I remember waiting and waiting and looking forward to when we got back around to the cross on there which means it was over and I was free again. It takes about 20 -25 minutes.

 

I must have done that hundreds or even thousands of times. I was never the kind of person who would get any comfort or benefit from that. All I got was bored, and I certainly pretty much never did it after I got old enough to not have to.

 

So I remembered all that and how, almost militant my mom was about Mary and the rosary being included in the faith which apparently there is some disagreement over.

 

Anyway in 9 years working were I do I never, ever, once heard anyone play the rosary on a TV or radio. Starting around the beginning of May I been hearing it about 3 or 4 days a week which I have not done for about 45 years when I was a kid at home. But now see, I am at work. Can't get away from it. So I gotta listen. Just like when I was a kid. Life is funny sometimes.

 

 

Except now I can tune it out mentally, I don't have to say it, and I don't have to be bored. But I did think it was an odd coincidence that I find this old stuff of mom's and then right away here comes the rosary. I haven't seen the religious items in 10 or 20 years or so and haven't listened to the rosary in 45 years. Now in the span of two weeks or so I get both. So I thought, I should say hi to mom in the way people do when somebody is gone. I have done that a few times lately.

 

Mostly I have been focused on free agency and the draft like every other right thinking person in Western New York. We didn't get anybody of note in the QB competition we wound up with McCarron who I only remembered as part of the Cleveland Browns fiasco where they inexplicably forgot what time it was and didn't send the trade papers in on time. And that mistake also made it so the Browns still needed somebody and we were able to trade away Tyrod to the Browns.

 

Well they say Beane wasn't really looking for McCarron in particular, and McCarron was kind of limited in his options and so on the 14^th we wound up with him because it fell that way.

 

I took a quick look on google and really I saw a guy with very extensive and maybe not so great art-wise giant tattoos all over his chest and shoulders. Beach, bikini girls, trophy wife. Ok, I get the picture. I was kind of surprised that Beane would pick him to mentor whoever we were drafting because he looked like a party kid to me. Then my QB guru friend told me we got the best of all the veteran quarterbacks going around, except for Garopolo. I said better than Cousins? He said yep.

 

So that was nice. But that was about it for me looking into this guy. Until the Jets moved up to pick #3 a week ago and all of a sudden it looks like we might get squeezed out of a top QB pick, possibly. So I am worried ya see. And I decided to look a bit deeper into McCarron because now he might be way more important to us.

 

I started to read and it says “AJ McCarron is a devout Catholic...”

 

I say whaaa? Party boy is a “devout” Catholic?

 

Then ...“McCarron was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama. He attended Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School from kindergarten to fourth grade”

 

I won't even start with what “Our Lady of Lourdes” meant to my mom.

 

AJ McCarron who made friends with a gravely ill 3 year old little girl called Starla Chapman while he and his family were delivering Christmas presents to the pediatric hospital that had saved AJ's life years before. She gave him a bracelet that said “Just Trust”. He wore it on his throwing hand a week later in the Championship game on national television (they won). She is his God daughter now.

 

 

So what is he doing with all the gangsta tattoos all over his chest? (Sorry I am old(er). Tattoos like that make me think biker, party boy, gangsta). It didn't fit.

 

I'm blowing up the photos to look and there is a big Jesus face on there about the size of a dessert plate. It also says Ma, Pops, God In Control, all kinda stuff like that in the big tapestry of a tattoo he has.

 

And then I saw that there is a Giant Rosary that goes from his shoulders to halfway down his stomach.

 

That last part with the rosary freaked me out. If you look at that tat the cross on his stomach is the cross on the rosary. The beads are all woven into the design of the tat.

 

I'm older like I say, but is it normal for a youngster to have a giant rosary tattooed on his chest?

I know people use them as ornamental. But not like this. I personally never saw anyone do that before in my life.

 

Now if anyone is still reading, I obviously don't expect you to believe that any of this means anything.

I don't believe it myself really. But it is not easy being in my skin to ignore it because like I say, I find the rosaries and stuff of my mom's that I thought I got rid of 10 or 20 years ago. Then I am sitting listening to the rosary most every day which I have not heard in 45 years.

 

And then here comes AJ McCarron with a giant rosary tattooed on his chest right when I have actually, literally, been losing sleep over what will happen in the draft.

 

My mom didn't follow football closely. She only cared about football and the Bills because she knew that I did.

 

I think maybe Brandon Beane wasn't especially aiming for AJ McCarron to be a Buffalo Bill. But I think maybe my mom was.

 

And there is zero doubt that if my mom was going to have a favorite QB, it would AJ McCarron.

 

I don't wanna do it. I don't wanna do it I tell ya! But I gotta.

 

 

AJ McCarron is my favorite NFL quarterback now, because I am my mother's son.

 

GO BILLS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I  run the same kind of thoughtfulness through my meat grinder brain.

1st, i am not of religion per se.

2nd I Moms know sh+t. don't' doubt Moms. ever. My Moms passed long ago and i am still learning Her wisdoms.

 Holy Mary Mother of ...   now and at the hour something something

I just recalled i used to listen to this break at 7 pm each night on 1370 AM WSAY. which was an underground rock/etc channel in the seventies.
        Everything means something

 and it is not always immediately realized. Good on you for keeping your mind active and tying past to present.

I do think highly of this effort from you !!
 and i also have some feeling AJ might be something more than at first assumed by most.
 Thank you for the letter and allowing yourself to be  critiqued for being honest and true .

your crayzie of course, but you are not alone.

Go AJ Mc

Go Bills ! 

Edited March 25, 2018 by 3rdand12

[BadLandsMeanie]

1 hour ago, Kwai San said:

BLM - thanks for sharing - not an easy thing to do on this site with some of the "individuals" and their attitudes and what not.

 

I too was SHOVED into religion at an early age, Southern Baptist no less.....as a result, I like you am not overly religious right now either. 

 

I really think AJ is going to amount to more than what most folks here believe.  The kid is motivated and WANTS to be a starter - he seems to have the tools.

 

I am glad to know what to do with the religious artifact as I have a Jesus statue that a well meaning friend gave me when I was trying to sell a piece of property, I will be damned in hell if I didn't tell you that 2 days after it was given to me the property had an offer and 2 months later we closed on it.  It was on the market for 7 months with no offers and very few tire kickers.......I have held on to that statue just not knowing how to get rid of it.......being near lake Ontario now gives me an idea......thanks!!

 

GO BILLS!!! 

 

Thanks Kwai! Oh and Jesus did hang around with fisherman. So he likes the water

 

1 hour ago, JoeF said:

 

 

BLM...not tied into the rosary sect of the church   Probably should be.  I am usually hoping I don't have "sudden old fart death syndrome" while I am doing cardio, but want to make sure I have all my acts of contrition and hail Mary's in case I do...

 

It would be a good idea to have your mom's rosary folks praying for AJ.   Look what its done for Sister Jean and Loyola Chicago. 

 

BTW, Sister Jean made me laugh today when a reporter asked, "What did you give up for Lent?"  She said "losing"..

 

Final note..Most people think Saban is an arrogant SOB...Everyone I know who knows him says Miss Terry runs the show/family/external activities and allows Coach to solely focus on football. He is fiery but loyal to a fault.  McCarron might just be his personal favorite..but he would never say that publicly.

 

A couple of years ago -- McCarron was publicly critical of Alabama's offense (after he graduated)..Nick blasted him but in a "dad" sort of way.  They are very close...

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing the Sister Jean joke Joe.  Thats a great one made me laugh! And I like hearing background info about McC and Saban.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Buffalo716 said:

 

Hahaha nope and I'm sure there are lots like us!

 

i don't think you can look in a direction in my house without seeing a crucifix, a rosary, the blessed Virgin Mary, or infant Jesus hahah

 

That's funny and you stirred another memory for me. As a young man we had a few drinks and, .. etc at my friends house when he parents were at the cottage from time to time. He would always go and turn his parents statues and religious pictures around so they couldn't see what we are up to. 

1 hour ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

Thanks BLM, for the childhood memories.  Your Mother and my own would have been very good friends.

My Mother is 85 and still a rabid Bills fan.  She calls me most Sunday mornings during the season and I will miss

that when it's gone.  She is still praying for a SB win before she "goes".

 

Don't know if you had this planned (or realized) but isn't next week Holy Week with Easter coming.

Got to mean something!

 

They would havebeen friends!

 

And Easter, Easter..hmm. It must mean something! I know, I will make some Easter eggs and decorate them like footballs. Same shape. That way I will be ready to celebrate in case something happens!

 

 

47 minutes ago, 3rdand12 said:

I  run the same kind of thoughtfulness through my meat grinder brain.

1st, i am not of religion per se.

2nd I Moms know sh+t. don't' doubt Moms. ever. My Moms passed long ago and i am still learning Her wisdoms.

 Holy Mary Mother of ...   now and at the hour something something

I just recalled i used to listen to this break at 7 pm each night on 1370 AM WSAY. which was an underground rock/etc channel in the seventies.
        Everything means something

 and it is not always immediately realized. Good on you for keeping your mind active and tying past to present.

I do think highly of this effort from you !!
 and i also have some feeling AJ might be something more than at first assumed by most.
 Thank you for the letter and allowing yourself to be  critiqued for being honest and true .

your crayzie of course, but you are not alone.

Go AJ Mc

Go Bills ! 

 

Thanks 3rd you are kind. And we listed on the same station! WSAY. It was such an odd contrast they would stop with the rock and on with the rosary lol. I thunk they had the slogan "Be big. Be a builder" on that station but I never did know what it meant exactly.

 

[dollars 2 donuts]

@BadLandsMeanie

 

as one Catholic board member to a board member son of a Catholic who sounds pretty darn special, thank you.

[BadLandsMeanie]

 

[NewEra]

I love your posts BLM.  Keep being you.  

[Stanley Lombardi]

Thanks.  I don't quite know why, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post.