As I was trying to find a picture of Jim Meador yesterday, one of the places I looked was a big thick file called “Old Football.” It’s filled with things that don’t necessarily have a logical home elsewhere–lots of action shots of unidentifiable games and very old images. This type of thing, mostly:
In the entire folder there were only two images in color, so of course they caught my eye. Here’s the first one:
I was a bit surprised by it. I realize this is college rather than the NFL, but 1 is still an unexpected jersey number for our defender there. I flipped it over and was delighted to find it labeled: “Ndukwe Kalu.” (The picture isn’t dated, by the way and I also don’t know who we’re playing here. Anybody?)
One of the things most people probably would not guess about me is that I’m a serious devotee of sports talk radio. It’s the only thing I can listen to in the car that doesn’t end up with me filled with rage. I just get a kick out of it—the juvenile banter, the endless arcana, lunatic callers with bizarre axes to grind, statistics. And don’t even get me started on the commercials! I find the commercials absolutely riveting, a glimpse into the male psyche that’s hard to find anywhere else: ads for testosterone enhancers, weapon storage, hot wings and beer. I’m not even going to get into the terrible pathos of the ads for Valentine’s Day presents for wives and girlfriends. Anyway, my very favorite sports talk show, “In the Trenches,” is hosted by former Packer tackle Greg Koch, (who, sadly, is an Arkansas graduate)–and none other than N.D. Kalu! (Here’s his website.) Rare is the day I don’t hear at least twenty minutes of these guys and they are, for better or worse, entirely responsible for my growing appreciation of play at the line of scrimmage.
As I said to Mr. Rice History Corner just last night, you gotta love a man with a big cigar.
Bonus: This, by the way, is the other color picture from the folder.
