TheWorkOfArt
Like the RawkusCrowd was chanting as Mr.JamesArthur“Art”Monk took the Podium, last SaturdayNight, on the Stage in Canton.Ohio, during the 4Minute StandingOvation, (the longest StandingO in the Hall’s history by the way) “It’s-about-time! – It’s-about-time!” It is about time. It’s been 13Years since 1 of the most prolific WideReceivers ever to have suited up & played the game of AmericanFootball retired…From my team, TheWashingtonRedskins. TheNFL has a policy of allowing a mandatory 5Years between the time a Player retires & when He can be eligible for the HallOfFame ballot, so 13Years retired, 5 mandatory years of ballot lockout, 8Years up for Vote by the HallOfFame voting committee, which is comprised of a selection of 44SportsWriters called the Board of Selectors, & 7Years unexplainably voted down by those “Selectors”…& on the 8th time around the MulberryBush, TheSelectors, I guess motivated by some sudden spontaneous Enlightenment, exercised executive football reasoning, accompanied by sound statistical sense & appreciation, to vote ArtMonk into EliteStatus, into the NFL Hall of Fame…#81, MisterLooseSleeves, the most productive member of the FunBunch, the SilentMaroonStreak that delivered the Goods on time over & over & over again, 15Years of clutch Reliability…& after delivering the Goods over & over, He didn’t go & stick his Mug in front of the camera & microphones afterwards to tell Us all how great He thought He & his Performance was, instead rarely saying anything, simply allowing his Hall of Fame performances Sunday in & Sunday out to act as his PressConference, as his Soapbox, his Bravado & Braggadocio…
ArtMonk is a thick inspirational Thread weaving in & out throughout the Fabric that I call my Life, my Adolescence to be specific…I can’t count how many times I announced to the opposing neighborhood team that they were up against Me, ArtMonk, & if you weren’t careful, I would beat You when You least expected it, with a perfectly run SkinnyPost, rubbing the Defender off with the prickly YardBush that marked the beginning of the EndZone…& so on 4th&10, down by 7, with my Mom imminently calling Me in for dinner, my 10Year old Imagination would slip into #81’s uniform, it would propel Me to step higher, to run faster & to leap farther, I would yank at my tshirt sleeves at the line of scrimmage to make them more loose, then go in motion, just as He did…HutHutHike!...Exploding off the line with my sleeves flapping against my chopstick arms, running a precise 25Yard PostPattern, waiving my left hand to the Quarterback when I separate from the 8Year old Cornerback, calling for the Ball, calling to win the Game, most of the time Nerf…most of the time not getting the Ball thrown my direction, most of the time not winning the Game…
When He quietly retired in 1995, he left the League as its ALLTIME LEADING RECEIVER in Catches with 940…Today, 2008, He stands #7 on that AllTimeList (notably, #12 in the AllTimeYardage list, too)…So, it came as a jolting shock to realize in 2000, the 1st year He was eligible to be voted in, that He was in fact passed over, instead handed the Indignity of Rejection, not able to establish the %80 threshold of the 44Person SelectionCommittee of SportsWriters to vote in the affirmative…Then, for the next 6Years, the same scenario unfolded, year after year, I would read in the margins of the WashingtonPost sports section, ArtMonk did not receive the necessary votes to be voted into the Hall of Fame, I couldn’t & still can’t believe the consecutive snubs, to what I thought was a surefire “1stBalloter”…& year after year, as ArtMonk witnessed 42 other NFL players get voted in after He became eligible for admission, ArtMonk remained stoic & silent, never spoke out against the NFL or the SelectionProcess, never leveled accusations against Anyone, never pointed a finger…He behaved consistent with how He had behaved as a Player for 15Years, & probably as He had all his Life; patient, dignified & classy. He waited his turn, & this Year, the Year of the Redskin, it happened, ironically enough with his Friend & Teammate DarrellGreen…
Another DataPoint of Note: I have always maintained that if I were to ever find myself in a position to name the Band I would be playing, I would have & still will call ourselves “TheArtMonks”…Since it is the name of a Band that will probably never be, it will instead be on the shortlist for my next tattoo, “TheArtMonks”, below my right elbow…I can just see it now…
Hey, what does yer arm say? TheArt…Whats?#%?
TheArtMonks…
TheArtMonks?#$?...What does that mean?
Oh, it’s the name of the Band I was never in...
Oh…What?%#?
Nevermind, leave Me alone…
EditorsNote.PostScript: Life has been jumping all over my back the past couple months, that is the general reason for my Inactivity, I have discovered certain Limitations about myself while in the Thick of it, in the Pocket of a Blitz, I discovered the point with which the Issues in my Life begin to paralyze or supersede or usurp other, unrelated parts of Myself, like writing, the past couple months, I rarely even thought about writing, the Blog, blogging…But as I begin to reach resolution on certain key hurdles, my urge to pound the Keyboard begins to rush back, the desire to participate in my own Life, the snatching back of Power…Like the Highlands releasing its Water & Energy down the fast flanks & faces of Itself onto the Plateau’s of thirsty arid Flatlands below…Reviving TheEarth like a WitchShaman…It’s the Return of the GulleyWasher.
“ Life can get all up in yo’ Ass…Baby, You better work it out…”
~ DeLaSoul
