Chris
01-09-2006, 09:11 PM
http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_3382006
If it's about Jake it's Broncos related aye?
Plummer's true grit lies beneath his scruffy looks
Had Jake Plummer come along at a different time, it wouldn't be difficult imagining him driving a decorated Volkswagen bus, wearing a tie-dyed shirt, sporting long hair and a scruffy beard, picking up buddies across the country on his way to Woodstock.
No, that wouldn't be a fair vision.
It would ignore one of Plummer's primary traits. As the 31-year-old quarterback of the playoff-bound Denver Broncos, Jake "The Snake" Plummer hasn't missed a meaningful snap in two seasons. He was hobbled during training camp with a strained knee, yet participated in every workout - morning and afternoon.
Plummer is spirited, but he works.
It would be more fitting to picture him in a pickup, wearing bluejeans, an unbuttoned flannel shirt draped over a T-shirt, with long hair and scruffy beard. He'd work all day, perhaps in a Boise, Idaho, lumberyard, knock down a few beers afterward with his buddies, then wake up the next morning and do it all over again.
His dad works in the lumber business, and has all his life.
"I have customers in various parts of the United States, and they always want to bring up the beard and the hair," Steve Plummer said from his lumber brokerage office in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. "They say, 'He's such a nice-looking kid; why doesn't he cut that off?' I say, 'I don't know; I don't ask him."'
Plummer's appearance can mistakenly convince people that he shouldn't be taken seriously. Outwardly, he may come off as a nonconformist who suffers fools poorly. Inwardly, he is a complex individual who leads by falling in line for the sake of the team, reaches out to kids and ailing seniors, and spends lavishly on Christmas presents for his offensive linemen while shunning a fancy sports car for himself.
Plummer the player, who has led the Broncos to a first-round bye and a second-round playoff game Jan. 14, he says, is fair game. Plummer the person he'd rather keep private.
"If you don't realize you're week-to-week in this business, you're kidding yourself," he said. "A lot of people are in my boat right now, but if we go out in the next game and we lose, it's going to be, 'Why is he here? Why do we have him here?' "
Hair talk "cracks me up"
The fascination with his hair and beard amuses Plummer. Amuses and bewilders him. He just led the Broncos to a 13-3 record. He threw 18 touchdown passes against just seven interceptions this year, passed for 7,455 yards the past two years, and led the Broncos to the playoffs each of his three years here.
Yet, whenever the name Jake Plummer comes up in coffee-shop conversations, the hair and beard are raised right away. Only if the talk lasts past the cream-and-sugar stir might the subject turn to how Plummer has done a nice job cutting down his interceptions this year.
From afar, the beard and hair, bluejeans and T-shirts might look like an act of defiance: This is me, like it or not.
"Maybe, somewhat," Plummer said. "But if anything, it just reminds me that life is funny. That my beard and long hair could be of significance to someone else, that people in a downtown office building could be standing by the water cooler talking about it right now, that's just funny, man. Cracks me up."
Should Plummer happen to lead the Broncos to two more wins and Super Bowl XL in Detroit, beards and hair flowing past white collars may become epidemic inside Denver's office buildings. And just so the suits understand, a quarterback doesn't have to carry a clean- cut, GQ appearance to lead a bunch of football players.
Not inside the locker-room walls at the Broncos' Dove Valley headquarters and training facility he doesn't.
"With Jake, it's funny because what you see is what you get," said Broncos running back Mike Anderson. "He puts on no airs. I love the guy. I'd go to battle for the guy every day of the year."
Broncos tight end Stephen Alexander has played with several quarterbacks in his well-traveled, eight-year NFL career. What he likes about Plummer is how he leads without yelling.
"That's one thing that's nice about this team, is we've got a lot of guys who lead by example," Alexander said. "Not a lot of rah-rah guys who talk."
Great article on Jake. Gotta love his character even if I think pocket passers are better for my heart.
Now...I'm American, but I lived all of my life outside of the country until last year. I just so happen to have very similar length hair to our great QB and I constantly get the more conservative people I meet mouthing off with the "Cut your hair! Ra ra ra!" line.
Could someone explain to me the short hair cultural phenomenon we have over here? I don't understand it and it's both confusing, funny and straight up scary at the same time.
If it's about Jake it's Broncos related aye?
Plummer's true grit lies beneath his scruffy looks
Had Jake Plummer come along at a different time, it wouldn't be difficult imagining him driving a decorated Volkswagen bus, wearing a tie-dyed shirt, sporting long hair and a scruffy beard, picking up buddies across the country on his way to Woodstock.
No, that wouldn't be a fair vision.
It would ignore one of Plummer's primary traits. As the 31-year-old quarterback of the playoff-bound Denver Broncos, Jake "The Snake" Plummer hasn't missed a meaningful snap in two seasons. He was hobbled during training camp with a strained knee, yet participated in every workout - morning and afternoon.
Plummer is spirited, but he works.
It would be more fitting to picture him in a pickup, wearing bluejeans, an unbuttoned flannel shirt draped over a T-shirt, with long hair and scruffy beard. He'd work all day, perhaps in a Boise, Idaho, lumberyard, knock down a few beers afterward with his buddies, then wake up the next morning and do it all over again.
His dad works in the lumber business, and has all his life.
"I have customers in various parts of the United States, and they always want to bring up the beard and the hair," Steve Plummer said from his lumber brokerage office in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. "They say, 'He's such a nice-looking kid; why doesn't he cut that off?' I say, 'I don't know; I don't ask him."'
Plummer's appearance can mistakenly convince people that he shouldn't be taken seriously. Outwardly, he may come off as a nonconformist who suffers fools poorly. Inwardly, he is a complex individual who leads by falling in line for the sake of the team, reaches out to kids and ailing seniors, and spends lavishly on Christmas presents for his offensive linemen while shunning a fancy sports car for himself.
Plummer the player, who has led the Broncos to a first-round bye and a second-round playoff game Jan. 14, he says, is fair game. Plummer the person he'd rather keep private.
"If you don't realize you're week-to-week in this business, you're kidding yourself," he said. "A lot of people are in my boat right now, but if we go out in the next game and we lose, it's going to be, 'Why is he here? Why do we have him here?' "
Hair talk "cracks me up"
The fascination with his hair and beard amuses Plummer. Amuses and bewilders him. He just led the Broncos to a 13-3 record. He threw 18 touchdown passes against just seven interceptions this year, passed for 7,455 yards the past two years, and led the Broncos to the playoffs each of his three years here.
Yet, whenever the name Jake Plummer comes up in coffee-shop conversations, the hair and beard are raised right away. Only if the talk lasts past the cream-and-sugar stir might the subject turn to how Plummer has done a nice job cutting down his interceptions this year.
From afar, the beard and hair, bluejeans and T-shirts might look like an act of defiance: This is me, like it or not.
"Maybe, somewhat," Plummer said. "But if anything, it just reminds me that life is funny. That my beard and long hair could be of significance to someone else, that people in a downtown office building could be standing by the water cooler talking about it right now, that's just funny, man. Cracks me up."
Should Plummer happen to lead the Broncos to two more wins and Super Bowl XL in Detroit, beards and hair flowing past white collars may become epidemic inside Denver's office buildings. And just so the suits understand, a quarterback doesn't have to carry a clean- cut, GQ appearance to lead a bunch of football players.
Not inside the locker-room walls at the Broncos' Dove Valley headquarters and training facility he doesn't.
"With Jake, it's funny because what you see is what you get," said Broncos running back Mike Anderson. "He puts on no airs. I love the guy. I'd go to battle for the guy every day of the year."
Broncos tight end Stephen Alexander has played with several quarterbacks in his well-traveled, eight-year NFL career. What he likes about Plummer is how he leads without yelling.
"That's one thing that's nice about this team, is we've got a lot of guys who lead by example," Alexander said. "Not a lot of rah-rah guys who talk."
Great article on Jake. Gotta love his character even if I think pocket passers are better for my heart.
Now...I'm American, but I lived all of my life outside of the country until last year. I just so happen to have very similar length hair to our great QB and I constantly get the more conservative people I meet mouthing off with the "Cut your hair! Ra ra ra!" line.
Could someone explain to me the short hair cultural phenomenon we have over here? I don't understand it and it's both confusing, funny and straight up scary at the same time.