Brian and the Magical Technicolor Dream Jersey

Brian and the Magical Technicolor Dream Jersey

      Football has always had a place among my peer group growing up throughout the late 80’s and early 90’s. Despite that vast majority of us being smokers and not in particularly great shape we would assemble every Sunday morning at 9am at the legendary Veteran’s Park in Fairfield, Connecticut where the real football was played. A rotation of 20 or so individuals with a combined 7 years of organized football experience and no protective gear would clash for these epic tackle football games. Tattoos, long hair and an NFL officially licensed jersey of their favorite player was the uniform worn for the unsung sports heroes known as, us. 

     What made our group unique was we each had our own team. My Brother and I were Seahawks fans, Dave a Giants fan, Matt a Redskins fan, Chris a Bears fan, Mike a Bills fan, John a 49ers fan, Vic a Chiefs fan, AJ a dolphins fan, and Pete a Cowboys fan. There was one however,  that stood taller than all the rest. One that was special. What made Brian special had nothing to do with the fact that he had Down Syndrome. He was set apart by the fact that Brian loved ALL the teams.  His Sunday garb represented the last 5 superbowl champions. Most people claim allegiance to one team, not Brian. Brian would show up every sunday with a Steelers jersey, A Giants jacket, packers hat, 49ers gloves and Raven’s sweatpants. We often jested about Brian and the Magical Technicolor Dream Jersey, all 30 NFL teams on one convenient shirt just for Brian. You wouldn’t expect to find a kid with Down Syndrome out on the football field with a bunch of rough around the edges metalheads acting athletic, but there he was every Sunday without fail and we loved him. 

Because of his limitations, Brian had no athletic ability to speak of. That didn’t matter. Brian was happy just to be on the same field with us, “normal kids” and we understood that. Each week we would set aside time to let Brian score a touchdown. It was always a long run filled with dramatics. I look back now and I giggle because I don’t know if we realized that we put more effort into giving Brian a great experience each week than we didn’t playing the game for real. AJ was the best quarterback for Brian. He would hike the ball and plant in Brian’s chest and then grab his shirt and pull him yelling “this way Brian!!” and pull him in the right direction. Once underway, Brian would begin to rumble down the field on his own. Those of us playing defense would dive futally at his feet or be knocked out of the way by the armada of blockers in front of him. It would take about 10 minutes for Brian to make it to the endzone, nearly being tackled at least 16 or 17 times. The celebration was always epic. Cheers would ring out for Brian to spike the ball. Brian would rear back and throw the ball straight into the air. About as far from a tradition spike as you could get. His own, unique spike. 

     It sounds like sympathy and I guess it was but I don’t think it was sympathy for Brian really, it was sympathy for ourselves. Most of us were young men just trying to get by in life. Those on the feel either didn’t make it to college or like myself had gone for a bit and didn’t cross the finish line. That’s not to say that we were losers. Everyone out there stayed a good and decent person where it counted and most of us ended up above the bottom. But those things are a matter of perspective. There are many people that society labels as successful that are complete degenerates. Brian saw every one of us as heroes and held us in high esteem. Brian was loved and looked after and even though most of the time Brian just stood still, it was noticed if he wasn’t there and he was missed. 

     One Sunday a group of kids from a different park suggested we play against each other but when the time came there weren’t enough kids to play an “Us vs.Them” game so we intermingled and just made two teams using everyone. It didn’t take long for a couple of the outsiders to be jerks to Brian. One of the guys threw the ball and Brian didn’t really try for it. The ball  just sailed past him. Brian had on a #11 Giants jersey on that day and the guy yelled at him saying “#11 you got to try for it man!” A few minutes later seeing Brian standing by himself he threw the ball to Brian again with same result. This time he was more forceful, he told Brian that he sucked and that he couldn’t play. Brian broke down crying. “Are you kidding me right now? He’s gonna cry? How old are you #11?” Chris, one of our regulars playing on the opposite team, walked off the field and lit a cigarette. “Brian, come over here and fill in for me. I’m sitting out”. Chris was followed by Matt who said. “He’s good enough for two, I’m out.” I would love to embellish this story and say I was first but I was about the sixth person to walk off the field. One by one we all left the field. Brian tears stopped and a look of anger and determination painted his face. He had Down Syndrome yes, but in that moment he knew that he had friends and they had his back. My older brother Matt, the largest and most intimidating of the group, calmly walked over to the outsider that had been harsh with Brian and simply and calmly said. “You guys might wanna just leave. Pretty sure the hits are gonna be hard if you stay.” And so they left without incident. 

     Play resumed as it always had. To smooth things over, Brian scored his amazing touchdown early and all was right in Sunday afternoon world again. God has always had my back and I have felt his presence constantly but there are precious few times in my life where I have seen the very hand God live and in person and realized it. This is one of the times. On routine pass play, I had my friend Matt, the opposing quarterback, dead to rights. Everyone was covered and he had nowhere to throw the ball. Right before I tackled him in the backfield, he noticed Brian standing there as always. In desperation Matt threw him the ball. Almost as if his shirt had velcro on it the ball just stuck to Brian’s chest. He had no AJ to lead him, no blockers in front. Brian’s hand covered the ball and he turned up the field. Brian was a fairly portly kid and his running strides were more side to side than front to back. Most of us were astonished that he caught the ball and started running in the right direction. I peeled off of where I had been chasing Matt and closed on Brian quickly. My Brother also had a fast angle on him. As i reached out to grab his jersey and pull him down, something unexplainable happened. His legs start to break into a regular stride. One in front of the other. Brian became a hot rod and someone hit the gas. He started to pull away from me. I had a front row seat. I heard my brother say “Brian what the F….!!” I cracked up and stumbled, crashing into the ground taking my brother out with me. People on both teams were screaming and cheering. Brian flew down the sideline but he had one man to beat, John. Brian ducked in, then out and ducked back in again completely faking out John and then jumped into the endzone. He got to his feet, reared back and threw the ball straight into the air. Brian’s patented spike! 

     Whether or not Brian knew all those touchdowns he scored were manufactured for him is unknown to me. I suspect he knew. But that one was special. He earned that one. He talked about it all the time and it always made us smile and it never got old. 

     The games lasted for years until it was no longer worth it to beat ourselves up and miss work. Some of them had kids by then and priorities changed. But to this day I can’t drive past that park without thinking of those great games we had and the day Brian scored the “Real” touchdown. Not too long ago we celebrated my friend Matt’s 50th Birthday, the kid who threw the magical pass to Brian. He had a nice party and many of the people invited date back to those games. It was a surprise party. When I arrived with my best friend Dave, Matt’s older brother the first person I saw sitting down was none other than Brian. I hugged him tight and then he shook my hand and said “It sure is good to see you, Corb” and hugged me again. The party was set up by Matt’s Girlfriend Mandy. To my knowledge Mandy never knew Brian. The tales of Brian and his role not only in the games, but in our lives must have reached her ears.