MCSPORTSFAN

2007-09-26T12:22:00.001-07:00

I am now offering a new consulting services where I teach young football players how to get recruited by a major football college and how to get recruited into the NFL. For more information, please see college football recruiting.

2007-09-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

Cheating in the NFL

By Martin Chase

Who would have thought it would come to this? What has professional sports come to with cheating? NBA, MLB, and Hockey have been caught cheating and now the NFL is joining the rest of the professional sports leagues as a sport that cheats.

As a former NFL player, I would always hear the saying, “If you're not cheating, you're not trying.” Pretty sad isn’t it? Well, I think the Patriots took that statement to heart and that is why they got caught. Unfortunately, cheating is much more common in the NFL than fans realize.

When I played in the NFL, there were many teams that I played against that by ”magic” seemed to know what our plays were. There were teams that I played against where I would ask myself, “How on earth do they know what plays we are running?”

You should know that cheating runs rampant in the NFL and it is not just the Patriots that are cheating. Yes, they got caught because they made their cheating too obvious. But make no mistake about it, it is a fact that all NFL teams cheat to some extent.

In my NFL career I was taught that a team has to do whatever it can do to get an advantage over the competition, and that cheating is considered okay as long as you don’t get caught. It is just a part of the game. But in my heart I knew that cheating was wrong. As professional athletes and professional sports teams, we are supposed to be setting a good example of the highest level of sports. But we are not setting a good example. We are not playing fair. Maybe you can say cheating is fair because everybody is doing it but I think it is wrong. I believe in fair competition and what is happening in professional sports with cheating is a disgrace.

Another huge problem caused by pro teams cheating is that it teaches our children that cheating is ok—as long as you don’t get caught. As pro athletes and sports teams, we need to set an example and teach kids that cheating is wrong.

Cheating is a black and white issue and there should be no grey areas. You cannot say cheating is okay for some things but wrong for other things. Cheating is always wrong and it cannot be tolerated. Cheating has a snowball effect. Kids learn that if they don’t get caught, cheating is okay. So, after cheating a few times on small things and not getting caught, they move up to cheating on bigger things. That is when the real problems start as children and young adults do not understand the consequences for their actions, and by cheating they are being a dishonorable human being. If you cannot be trusted to play fair, you should not be allowed to play.

I feel that teams that cheat need to be punished and punished severely. Besides being fined and penalized with losing draft choices. Your team should automatically lose the game too. Coaches caught cheating should be suspended without pay for the season, or even fired. There has to be a system in place where the consequences of cheating are so severe that teams will not risk getting caught. It is sad that it has to come to this but cheating cannot be tolerated.

***************

Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who now owns a popular NFL Merchandise website at http://www.mcsportsfan.com.

2007-06-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

The NFL and Domestic Violence
by Martin Chase

Violence is a trait of many NFL players. Let’s face it, football is a violent sport and it encourages violent behavior. Unfortunately, what football does not do is teach players how to behave non-violently to problems off the field, particularly when it comes to relationship problems.

This violent behavior begins when boys start playing football as children. The boys are taught to behave tough and aggressive by their coaches, teammates, and even their parents. Boys are taught to use their body and strength to tackle competing players. Making a good “hit” is encouraged. This positively reinforces boys to behave aggressively. The boys are taught to be strong, to be unafraid, and to be a man. The name of the game is to be tough, dominant and show no weaknesses.

Unfortunately, the boys playing football are not taught that this behavior is acceptable only on the field. As boys who play football reach adolescence and adulthood, they have learned how to use aggressive and dominant behavior to win. It is this behavior that can lead to domestic violence against women.

Football never teaches players how to commutate with a woman. Is this the fault of football coaches or should parents take responsibility? The correct answer is that both should take responsibility. If you are going to reward a child for behaving violently while playing football, you must teach that child how to control their behavior when not playing football. I believe that from childhood all the way through the NFL, football players must be taught how to control aggressive and violent behavior. They need to be taught that violence off the field is unacceptable, especially towards women.

The divorce rate among NFL players is very high. Players bring the violence and aggressive energy they have on the field home. After practice or a game, a player’s adrenaline is flowing and they may have a lot of extra energy. If the player was in a big game that his team lost, this can increase the likelihood of violence at home. When you take the environment of football where problems between players are sometimes solved in scuffles and pushing each other around, this behavior becomes second nature to players. In football, if somebody gets in your face, you push them away. However, there is a huge difference between pushing a strong 275 lb player out of your face and pushing a 130 lb woman out of your face. What seems like nothing between players can be deadly when used toward a woman, and much of the time, it is done as a reflex from years of being physical with other players. That is why it is so important that from childhood on, football players are taught how to control their behavior off the field.

The NFL does have programs to teach players how to behave off the field. The problem is that by the time a player reaches the NFL, it is almost too late to teach behavior control. By this time the player has spent more than have of his life being taught to be physical and aggressive. This behavior is now so deeply embedded in the player’s mind that it is very difficult to change. That is why it is so important that football coaches and parents teach these young boys how to behave off the field and to be gentle with women.

If you are a parent reading this article, please talk to your son about violence and that violent behavior towards other people, especially women is wrong. Yes, physical and aggressive behavior is ok on the football field with other players, but that is the only place it is acceptable. Off the field, players must be taught to control their aggressive behavior and use their mind to solve problems, not their body.

Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who now owns http://www.mcsportsfan.com, a popular NFL jerseys and nfl merchandise website.

2007-06-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

NFL PLAYERS AND MONEY
By Martin Chase

One of the questions people always ask me about being an NFL player is, “what is it like making so much money at such a young age?”

I have to say that it is very difficult to go from being young and having no money to being young and a millionaire because you do not know how to be financially responsible. It’s just like winning the lottery, and as you know from reading about lottery winners, most lottery winners go broke within 10 years after winning the lottery. Well, it is not that much different with professional sports players. The reason for this is most professional athletes, and lottery winners, were never taught money management skills. Going from being broke one day to being a millionaire the next day is a huge change in your life, mostly because once you have money, everybody wants you to give it to them, and most of the time you do.

I came from a single family home without a father, which is something many professional NFL players have in common. I am also African American and my family did not have a lot of money, which is also very common among NFL players. Because of this, I was never taught how to manage money responsibly and plan for my future. I went from being broke one day to being drafted into the NFL and becoming a millionaire.

A huge problem with being young and having a lot of money is the pressure by just about everybody including fellow players to spend a lot of money very quickly. When you are rich, everybody wants your money, especially your family and friends. My mother, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, etc. all wanted to borrow money from me. And of course I gave it to them. Then, you have girlfriends and wives who want you to buy them lots of expensive presents like cars, jewelry and clothes because you are rich and they want to show off to their friends. You also have charities, investors, and businesspeople all asking for your money—and you end up giving it to them.

But possibly the worst of all is the other players because when it comes to money it is the blind leading the blind. We all spend our money as if it will never run out because we are uneducated in financial responsibility. For example, for you to be cool and respected by the other players, you have to keep up with them. So, if one player buys a new SUV, you want to buy one too. I mean, you can’t be an NFL player and drive a normal car like a Honda Civic. You have to drive an expensive Hummer, Cadillac Escapade, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, etc.

You also have to have a huge expensive house. All the other players do and if you just live in an average house, they look down at you. So, we spend a fortune buying huge houses for ourselves and for our parents that we do not need. And of course there is the jewelry. We spend so much money on jewelry it is insane. It is nothing for a player to spend $100,000 a year or more buying jewelry, and that is just for us. That does not include all the jewelry we buy for our family, wives, and girlfriends. It is all extremely irresponsible. But, when you have so many people putting pressure on you every day to buy things and keep up with the other NFL players, it becomes much easier to say yes than to say no, even as you are watching all of your money disappear.

Another problem is as a wealthy NFL player, you are expected to flip the bill for everything. Whenever you go out to restaurant, you are the person who pays for everybody. And, when you go out with other players or your buddies, it is always to a fancy club where we go to the VIP section and spend thousands of dollars on fancy champagne and drinks—for everybody. I have known players who have spent over $25,000 in one night at a club. And then they go and do it over and over so they can be the “big man.”

Another problem NFL players have is women who are after us for our money and our status. And many of these women are gold diggers. If we were not rich athletes these beautiful women would probably not look twice at us. But now that we are rich and well known, women chase us constantly. This almost always leads to us marrying a woman we shouldn’t marry and then getting divorced after a couple of years and losing a large percentage of our money in the divorce. I made this mistake myself and it cost me dearly and still costs me.

In close, being a wealthy athlete is much more difficult than people think because there is so much pressure on us to spend our money as quickly as possible. Money magnifies problems, it does not eliminate them as most people think it does.

*********************

If you want authentic nfl jerseys and merchandise at the best prices, check out my nfl shop at mcsportsfan.com.

Martin Chase, #92

2007-06-24T09:08:00.001-07:00

Life in an NFL Locker Room

My name is Martin Chase and as a former NFL player, I spent a lot of my time in the locker room. As many people wonder what goes on inside an NFL locker room, here is a quick look.

As an NFL player, the locker room is our home away from home. This is where the team members become a family. This is where we bond and learn about each other’s different cultures, personalities, and view on life.

On an NFL team, there are people from many different walks of life. People are from different races, different parts of the country, they grew up with different values, different religions, and different cultures. Being able to get to know these people and learn about their life is one of the things I enjoyed most about the NFL. It was such a great learning experience to interact with so many different people.

So what do NFL players talk about in the locker room? We talk about the same thing everybody else does. We talk a lot about our wives, girlfriends, families, children, movies, music, our problems, and of course, a lot of joking around and talking smack. On every team there are a couple of guys who love to play pranks and keep everyone guessing as to what is coming next. It is a lot of fun.

Another fun thing to do is haze the rookies. Giving rookies a hard time is always fun and it helps build camaraderie. How do we haze rookies? Well, we like to get several team members together and go out for dinner with a rookie and then make him pay the bill. We also like to make rookies carry our equipment. To really embarrass rookies, we’ll make them get up in front of everybody and sing or dance. Sometimes we will give them a horrible haircut by shaving parts of their head. Sometimes we’ll shave off their eyebrows too. Embarrassing rookies is always good fun.

What is inside the locker room? The locker room is setup just like home to help players relax. There are couches, big screen TV's, video games, and an attached cafeteria.

The locker room is also a place where we come together as a team to support each other, like when we lose a game or a player gets hurt or in trouble. The locker room is where a team’s chemistry is created and it is that chemistry that makes a team great when they walk out onto the field.

If you want authentic nfl jerseys and merchandise at the best prices, check out my nfl shop at mcsportsfan.com.

Martin Chase, #92

2007-06-20T08:46:00.000-07:00

Moms and the NFL

My name is Cecil Martin Chase and I am a retired NFL player. One very important aspect of becoming an NFL player that is often forgotten is the importance of an athlete’s mom. I am the first to admit that if it was not for my mom, my dreams of becoming an NFL player would never have come true. In this article, I want to thank my mom for all that she has done for me.

When I was growing up, my mom was the one who always made my snacks for football practice. She is the one who bought my shoes and my football helmets. She is the one who made sure I was on time for football practice. If it wasn’t for my mom, I don't know were I would be in life today.

Let me tell you a little about my mom. She was a woman who came from big family of 12 brothers and sisters. She got married at the sweet age of 19 and two years later they had a wonderful son—me. As I grew older there was a strain in my mother’s relationship with my father, so they split up. As with all women, this was a very trying time for my mom. She was very hurt and confused and did not know how she would manage without her husband. But, like most mothers, she found inner strength that I did not know she had.

My mom pulled herself together and there was no turning back. She worked many hours to provide for us and to pay the bills. I wanted to start playing football at this time and even though we had very little money, she never said no to me. In fact, she supported me 100% and provided great encouragement to me. She was always there for me and motivating me to play the best I can. She would also make time to take me to practice and she always made sure I arrived on time.

My mom is the hardest working woman I know. Her never give up work ethic and positive attitude is what instilled my drive to never give up on my dreams and to work hard to achieve them. So, I want to take a moment to thank my amazing mom and all the wonderful moms out there that are supporting their kids and encouraging their children to follow their dreams and never give up.

Thanks mom. I love you.

Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who now owns
http://www.mcsportsfan.com, a popular NFL Merchandise website.

2007-01-23T11:16:00.000-08:00

The Importance of being a leader in Sports

By Martin Chase, retired NFL player

During my NFL career, I learned that leadership is a trait that all athletes have deep inside of them. Unfortunately, I found that most players do not know how to apply their leadership skills. It is the inability to apply leadership that sets the regular NFL players apart from the true greats such as LaDainian Tomlinson, Marvin Harrison, Peyton Manning, and Brett Favre. These fine players are all strong leaders. It is their powerful leadership skills that inspire their teammates to come together as a team and play at the best of their ability - even when they are losing.

Sports leaders are able not only to lead people in the right direction but to also give them confidence. A leader makes his teammates believe deep in their hearts that if you follow me, we will win. This requires a lot of responsibility and charisma on the part of the leader, but it’s also what separates good players from the Hall of Fame players.

As a young athlete, if you want to make it first to college sports and then to professional sports, you must develop your leadership skills. It is the strength of your leadership skills that will help separate you from the competition. College and Pro teams want leaders. Leaders win games.

As a young athlete, if you want to someday make it to the pros, you must work on developing your leadership skills everyday. You need to learn how to motivate people and make them believe in you. To build your leadership skills, here are some tasks you should do.

1. Be on-time for your classes at school and work hard to get good grades. This shows your teachers that you are eager to learn and to work hard. It also shows your coaches that you are eager to learn and work hard. So, always show respect for your teachers and coaches and they in-turn will show respect for you. This is the first step for becoming a leader. You must show others that they can trust and respect you.

2. Be a leader in everything you do. At school, help your classmates learn. Lead them to going to class on-time and working hard to get good grades. Help your community. And, help your teammates improve their skills on and off the field. The sooner you take the role of being a leader who makes smart decisions, the sooner people will see that you are a leader and they will follow you. Also, when people who have power see that you are a strong leader, they will give you special opportunities that other people and players will not get.

3. Show leadership by example in your sport. Work at learning your skills and the strategies of the game harder than anybody else on your team. One trait the true sports leaders all have in common is they are always the first to arrive at the sports facility in the morning and the last to leave at night. They become the best players and the strongest leaders by working twice as hard as everybody else. If you choose to work twice as hard as everybody else, you will receive deep respect from both your teammates and from your coaches. And, you will become a master of your sport.

4. Being a leader is even more important during the bad times than the good times. A true leader remains confident and motives his team members even when they are losing. It is during bad times that a leader’s true colors will shine and he will do everything he can to help his team be confident and driven to win.

Finally, understand that leadership is not something that is given to you. Leadership is something that you give to others.

Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who has played with the Giants, the Saints, the Redskins, the Ravens, and the Jaguars. Martin now owns and manages a popular
sports memorabilia website - http://www.mcsportsfan.com.

2007-01-10T14:08:00.000-08:00

How NFL Ego-Maniacs like Terrell Owens are Hurting the NFL

By Martin Chase

As a former NFL player, I know how players influence their teams both positively and negatively. What concerns me is the growing trend of players focusing on themselves instead of their team. This is having a negative effect on the NFL and even worse, it is having a negative effect on youth sports players who want to emulate the ego-maniac pro players.

As professional NFL football players, we all have different personalities. Most players have a positive and friendly personality and focus on helping their team. But, there are also players that have large egos and want the spotlight to always be focused on them. These are players like Terrell Owens and Randy Moss. As a former NFL player, I can tell you that ego-maniacs like Terrell and Randy are a cancer to their team and they always cause more damage than good.

However, what really concerns me is the impact these ego-driven players are having on youth. When young players in junior high, high school and college see players like Terrell Owens and Randy Moss in the spotlight and acting like spoiled children, they want to be like them. And to be like these players means focusing on yourself and acting like a jerk instead of focusing on helping your team. As these ego-maniac players become more and more popular, think of how this is going to effect professional sports. It is going to be a cancer that spreads through the NFL, tearing teams apart and making the NFL a circus instead of the greatest team sport of all time.

For the young people who are reading this article, I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to NOT behave like Terrell Owens or Randy Moss. Unfortunately these two players have gotten away with acting like fools because they are such incredible athletes and the best in the world. But, I can guarantee you that if they did not have the talent they have, they would be kicked off of their teams and not recruited to play for a different team. Both players and coaches HATE ego-maniac players.

One of the reasons why players and coaches hate ego-maniacs is that as the season wears on, a team will have many ups and downs. As a player, you need to support your team and do everything you can to help it during both the ups and the downs. Ego-maniacs love it when their team is winning because then they can claim they were responsible for their team’s success. However, when their team is not doing so well, you always see players like Terrell Owens blaming the other players and the coaches for their lack of success. Nothing destroys a team faster than a player blaming his teammates for the team’s lack of success. Just look at all the damage Terrell Owens caused with the Eagles when he was blaming Donovan McNabb for the team’s lack of success. Isn’t it ironic how Donovan McNabb is still on the team when Terrell Owens was suspended and then traded?

On the other hand, what coaches for college and pro teams are looking for are leaders like Brett Favre, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Marvin Harrison. These are the players who stand out and become the biggest NFL stars because they have a great personality, they always behave like professionals, they play to help their team, and they are positive leaders and role models for their teammates. If you want to emulate a pro athlete, emulate the leaders, not the ego-maniacs. You will go much farther in the NFL (or any other pro team), and you will be a positive role model for the young players who someday dream of playing in the pros and who want to be just like you.

Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who has played with the Giants, the Saints, the Redskins, the Ravens, and the Jaguars. Martin now owns and manages a popular
sports memorabilia website - http://www.mcsportsfan.com.

2006-12-15T11:24:00.000-08:00

How to improve your football skills as a Defensive Lineman

by Martin Chase

My name is Cecil "Martin" Chase and I played as a Defensive Tackle in the NFL for eight years. In this article I am going to provide you with techniques you can use to master your skills as a defensive lineman.

There are four core qualities that a defense linemen needs to posses. These qualities are strength, speed, intelligence, and a fiercely competitive nature. If you do not have these qualities, you need to practice them over and over until you master them. By mastering them, you will be attractive to college football scouts as well as NFL scouts.

Here are the reasons why you need to master the qualities of strength, speed, intelligence and a highly competitive nature:

1. You need strength to move past the opponents that are in front of you and who are trying to keep you from tackle the quarterback or running back.

2. You need speed to pursue and rush the quarterback and running back.

3. You need intelligence to react to different events that are happening all around you and you need to respond to them in a split second. If you hesitate, you’ll get burned.

4. Most important of all, you absolutely must have a fiercely competitive mindset. You must believe you are the best and no other player can stop you. A defensive lineman has to be a fighter and he needs to love competing against the man in front of him. He must take pride in physically defeating his opponents. He must understand that winning these battles is vital to helping his team win games.

A good defensive lineman must also be completely unselfish and willing to sacrifice his own body to help his teammates make plays. The defensive lineman also needs to be highly self-motivated. Defensive lineman rarely receive recognition for the key job they perform. Therefore, they must be able to motivate themselves to compete as the highest level possible. A truly great defensive lineman understands the importance of his role on the field and he must always play with pride and dedication.

By making these qualities your own, you will be well on your way to becoming an elite defensive lineman.

****************

Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who has played with the Giants, the Saints, the Redskins, the Ravens, and the Jaguars. Martin now owns and manages a popular
sports memorabilia website - http://www.mcsportsfan.com.

2006-12-13T13:06:00.000-08:00

How to become an NFL Player, Part 3
by Martin Chase

In my first two articles on how to become an NFL player, I discussed the work you need to do to in the class room, the community, and how to take care of your body to increase your odds of becoming an NFL player.

In this article I am going to discuss the specific football drill skills you need to develop to make you look attractive to college football scouts. For maximum results, I recommend that you work on these drills with a strength coach or a professional trainer.

Here are the drills you need to master:

* Vertical Jump - designed to test leg strength and lower-body explosiveness.

* Broad Jump - designed to show sluggishness, heavy-leggedness and lack of explosiveness.

* 225-lb. Bench Press - designed to test the upper-body strength of a player.

* 40-Yard Dash - times show how explosive a player is off the line and how he maintains it.

* 20-Yard Dash - times show how explosive a player is off the line and how he maintains it.

* 10-Yard Dash - times show how explosive a player is off the line.

* 20-Yard Shuttle - designed to test explosiveness, how a player bends and changes direction, and body control.

* 60-Yard Shuttle - designed to test explosiveness, flexibility, and body control; and a subtle test of endurance.

* 3-Cone Drill - designed to test a player's efficiency in changing direction moving left and right, explosiveness, balance, body control and mobility.

The most important skills to master are the 40-yard dash and the 3-Cone drill. The reason these two drills are so important is they help football coaches determine what positions you are best suited to play.

You should know that the speed players are completing these drills has been improving every year. This is because more and more high school and college players are working with professional sports trainers to help them maximize their performance.

Below I have listed the minimum times you need to have by position if you want to impress college football scouts. One thing to keep in mind for these tests is the size of the player. Smaller players should have an advantage over their bigger counterparts in regard to speed. If you are a big player, it says a lot about your athletic ability if you perform well in these drills.

40-Yard Dash:

QB: 4.7 seconds or faster
RB: 4.5 seconds or faster
WR: 4.4 seconds or faster
FB/TE: 4.7 seconds or faster
OL: 5.2 seconds or faster
DT: 5.1 seconds or faster
4-3 DE and 3-4 OLB: 4.8 seconds or faster
4-3 OLB: 4.7 seconds or faster
ILB: 4.7 seconds or faster
S: 4.5 seconds or faster
CB: 4.5 seconds or faster

3-Cone Drill:

QB: 7.1 seconds or faster
RB: 7.1 seconds or faster
WR: 7.0 seconds or faster
FB/TE: 7.2 seconds or faster
OL: 7.8 seconds or faster
DT: 7.7 seconds or faster
4-3 DE and 3-4 OLB: 7.2 seconds or faster
4-3 OLB: 7.1 seconds or faster
ILB: 7.2 seconds or faster
S: 7.1 seconds or faster
CB: 7.0 seconds or faster

In summary, to become a professional football player, you must master the skills colleges and NFL teams use to measure the quality of an athlete. If you want to make it to the NFL, you should work with a professional sports trainer to help you maximize your performance so you can achieve and exceed the drill speed times discussed above. Other athletes are doing this and for you to compete with them, you need to do it too.

************************

Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who has played with the Giants, the Saints, the Redskins, the Ravens, and the Jaguars. Martin now owns and manages a popular
sports memorabilia website - http://www.mcsportsfan.com.

2006-12-09T12:28:00.000-08:00

How to become an NFL Player Part II
by Martin Chase

In part one of my series discussing how to become an NFL player, I discussed how you need to work hard in school to get good grades and strengthen your mind. In this article I am going to discuss the things you need to do to strengthen your body so you can compete at the professional level.

Think of your body as a vehicle. If you have a vehicle and you do not take care of it, it will break down and be useless. It is the same with your body. For your body to become the vehicle you use to play professional sports, you must take very good care of it. And, you must start taking care of your body immediately. The longer you wait, the harder it will be for you to build the type of body you need to compete in professional sports, particularly in the NFL.

I was lucky and the idea to take care of my body came at a young age – when I was just entering high school as a freshman. To build my body strength and stamina, I began weightlifting, eating healthy food, and drinking a ton of water. Doing that was one of the keys to my success as an athlete in high school, college, and the NFL.

Now you may be thinking to yourself, “Why can’t I just take dietary supplements and sports drugs to build up my body?” The answer to this question is that dietary supplements in fact can help you, but you absolutely must stay away from drugs and steroids. They will destroy your body and you need to stay away from them at all costs, even if other players are pressuring you to take drugs or steroids. Don’t do it.

You also need to stay away from recreational drugs, smoking cigarettes, drinking a lot of alcohol and eating junk food. All of these things will hurt your body and kill your chances of making it to the NFL. To be the best of the best, you must build the best body you can, and you must do everything you can to protect it from harm.

In regard to your health, the first thing you must do is get your parents or an adult to help you with your decision to build your body and eat healthy. Once you do that, you need to see a doctor and get information on your physical condition and if you are healthy enough to take dietary supplements. You also need to make sure you are not allergic to any type of dietary supplements.

The second thing you need to do is see a sports nutritionist to help you plan your diet and help you develop correct eating habits for becoming a top athlete. Again, I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to eat healthy and drink a lot of water.

The third thing you need to do is to talk to your team coach and ask about what types of physical training you can do to become a faster and stronger athlete. If you do not have a coach, you should meet with a sports training coach at your local gym and discuss the things you need to do to strengthen your body to become a top athlete. Remember, it is not the job of your coach to make you improve your body. That is your job only and you must take full responsibility for turning your body into that of a professional athlete. Nobody will do it for you.

By following these steps, you will put yourself ahead of the competition and you will build your body into that of a professional athlete.

***********

Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who has played with the Giants, the Saints, the Redskins, the Ravens, and the Jaguars. Martin now owns and manages a popular
sports memorabilia website - http://www.mcsportsfan.com.

2006-12-09T12:25:00.000-08:00

Becoming an NFL player, Part 1, by Martin Chase

Becoming an NFL player was my dream since I was in junior high school, and I was one of the lucky few who actually made it all the way to the NFL. I have played for the New York Giants, the New Orleans Saints, the Washington Redskins, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

My life in the NFL was a remarkable experience. However, getting to the NFL was very difficult. In this article I want to discuss a few of the mental hurdles a young athlete will go through if they want to make it all the way to the NFL.

My preparation for the NFL began in high school when I realized that I had a chance to play Division One football. I attended an outstanding high school program at Eisenhower High School in Lawton, OK where I played against a rival school (Lawton High School) that has produced NFL talent including Michael Minter of the Carolina Panthers, Will Shields of the Kansas City Chiefs, Daly Gardner of the Miami Dolphins, James Trapp of the Oakland Raiders, and Jamal Brown of the New Orleans Saints.

Playing against the top athletes in high school really helped to raise my game to be the best it could be. As an athlete, your preparation for the pros starts when you decide you want to be the best athlete you can be for you—not for your parents, not for your girlfriend, and not for your friends. To be an NFL player you must have a burning desire to play with the best and you must do everything you can physically and mentally to make yourself able to compete with the best.

But being a great athlete is only half of what it takes to make it to the pros. Developing your mental skills is just as important as developing your physical skills.

First, you cannot play football if you have bad grades. The real work for becoming an NFL player starts in the classroom. For me, the class room was difficult and I had to work very hard to keep my grades up. But I understood that if my grades were bad, I would be kicked off the high school team. And, if I was kicked off the high school team, I would not be able to play college football, and college football is a requirement for becoming a pro player. Because of that, I worked very hard to keep my grades up.

If you want to become an NFL player, you must take your class work seriously to give yourself an opportunity to play college football. Here is a secret most student athletes don’t know. Colleges love smart athletes. By being both a great student and a great athlete, you greatly increase your chances of being recruited by a scout for a major college football team. Why you ask? Smart players make smart decisions on the football field and help win games. If you look at many of the greatest NFL players, many of them are not the best athletes. What they are, are the smartest athletes. When you play in the pros, the plays are very complex and you need to think very quickly. That is why it is so important to build your brain power just as much as your athletic skills. Accomplishing this is one of the first big steps towards becoming a pro player.

Another important part of being a pro player is how you present yourself as a person. Do you get along well with your fellow athletes and coaches? Are you a good member of your community? College and pro teams want cooperative team members, not spoiled athletes that cause problems, get into trouble, and are an embarrassment to the organization. An athlete that causes problems with his team members and gets into trouble with the law hurts a team. Problem players are quickly removed from competitive sports teams. Therefore, if you want to make it to the NFL, keep yourself out of trouble and be a model person.

In conclusion, being a great athlete is not enough to make it to the pros. You must work hard both on and off the field. Be a person that your team can count on and be proud of. If you do this, you will increase your chances of being recruited by a college scout and making it to the pros.

*************
Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who has played with the Giants, the Saints, the Redskins, the Ravens, and the Jaguars. Martin now owns and manages a popular
sports memorabilia website - http://www.mcsportsfan.com.

2006-11-30T07:25:00.000-08:00

Hello great people!

I'm back did you miss me?

We have a good one tonight folks.Baltimore ravens and Cinncinnati Bengal's . You let me tell you folks the Ravens defense is looking great and the bengal's offense is coming along too. So, that equals a great game. Mr Ray Lewis and foes will have their hand print all over this one. I take the Ravens by seven, taking their record to 10-2 and clinching a playoff birth.

Enjoy folks and check out my new team watches in my sports memorabilia store at www.mcsportsfan.com

2006-11-23T07:26:00.000-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYBODY AND THE TROOPS. HAVE FUN EATING AN WATCHING FOOTBALL .

2006-11-20T15:09:00.000-08:00

Well folks, how you think I did? Not bad, huh?.

RAVENS win, Dallas wins, Phl lost, NE win, Se lost, Clv lost, Hou lost, AZ win, Tbay win, Bears win, Mia win, KC win, Car win., and SD win.

We have one more to go folks Jax vs Ny Giants . Well, if you want to know about football and other sports, keep in touch and ask me anything.

Take care and check out my online store at www.Mcsportsfan.com

Martin

2006-11-18T19:53:00.001-08:00

2006-11-16T15:53:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody. This is Former NFL player Martin Chase of the New York Giants, New Orleans Saints, Washington Redskins , Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jagaurs.

I just retired this year and I' m still involed in sports but now from a business side. I just open my own online store MCSportsfan.com and I still keep in touch with the NFL.

If you want to know my views on the NFL, my picks for this week's games, or stories about the league and what people think they know, make sure to read my blog.

I will also discuss my life and the cool new items that I'm adding to my store.

So check me out!

Martin
MCSportsfan.com

2006-11-16T13:17:00.000-08:00

Hello from Martin Chase. This is a test of my first blog post.

I am a retired NFL player and I now own one of the Internet's largest sports merchandise websites. Check it out at MCSportsfan.com.