Life doesn't necessarily become easy when you make it to the NFL out of the 'hood:
Finding others are green with envy
Young Falcons face demands of 'friends'
Matt Winkeljohn - Staff
Friday, September 28, 2001
Flowery Branch --- A few days ago, Kynan Forney got a delayed confirmation
that he'd made it in the NFL.
''I had one of my friends I hadn't talked to in about a year call me up and ask me
for money,'' said Forney, the Falcons' rookie right guard. ''It was kind of like he
wasn't asking me. He said, 'Hey, I need you to do this.' It was more like he was
demanding.''
Forney and other young players, including rookies Alge Crumpler, Jay Feely,
Matt Stewart and second-year tackle Michael Thompson, are playing significant
roles with the Falcons. They also are learning there's more to pro football than
remembering assignments.
There are life decisions coming from all angles, and many are more serious than
deciding between the house or the apartment.
Nobody knows better than Thompson, who grew up in a gang in Savannah. He
continues to pay for his childhood. And some of his former friends want him to
pay in a big way.
''I had some friends in Savannah who were getting killed, and I was getting calls
like, 'You need to come home; we need to avenge our friends,' " he said. ''I grew
up rough; I made a lot of wrong decisions about who I hung out with when I was
younger.
"Friends from my 'hood call and say, 'We need 10 G's. [$10,000],' and it's a big
thing if I don't give it to them. I was getting threats last year during training camp
that they were going to come up [to Greenville, S.C.] and retaliate, but that was
something I handled."
Thompson, who started two games as a rookie and split time with Travis
Claridge at right tackle in the season opener at San Francisco, handled it by
paying to move his family to Atlanta.
''I go home, I might do a little charity work, and I fly right back out,'' he said. ''The
friends I do have in Savannah that I might want up here, I just fly them up and
back.''
Other rookies have concerns, though not as serious.
Feely, the team's kicker, graduated from Michigan in 1999 and spent two years
as a financial adviser in his hometown of Tampa Bay. He opened an office for the
Minneapolis-based Wealth Enhancement Group.
Once Feely made the team, he had to make a decision. ''I had to close my office
down in Tampa. I'm having to let my client manager go,'' he said. ''It was tough
calling her.''
Former Falcons wide receiver Billy Johnson is the team's director of player
programs. He counsels players.
''I tell a player to look at where he is now, and where he came from,'' he said. ''If
they can honestly make that assessment, and say, 'I've got something that's
going to be short-lived, I've got to make it while I can,' their chances of lasting
longer improve.
''People who try to pull you back . . . they're not friends, they're mere social
acquaintances. They'll come off as the wolf in sheep's clothing and tell you
things you want to hear. We have security people [the players] can call if they're
really concerned.''
Crumpler, a tight end, had a head start. His father and brother played in the NFL
and offered advice. Still, he's adjusting after a college career at North Carolina.
''I bought a house. That was a big change,'' Crumpler said. ''There are so many
responsibilities that you don't think about. Everything I do, I relate to my job. I
was big into social life in college, but it's not worth it."
Thompson almost got in trouble in Savannah during the offseason. Many of his
former friends carry guns and knives.
''There was a little speculation that I got stabbed,'' he said. ''I did get confronted
in a club. So I stayed away from home."
But Thompson still gets phone calls he'd rather not.
''I'm like, 'If you need something seriously, like a crib, I'll buy it. You need a
stroller, I'll buy it. But I'm not going to be sending money down to Savannah . . .
not knowing what you're doing with it,'" he said.
''You got all kinds of things going on, money laundering . . . or he'll go out and
buy cocaine or buy a gun with it. I got two or three friends who won't call me
anymore because I wouldn't come home and give them money or get them out of
trouble.''
Many veteran players, even Thompson, counsel younger teammates.
''Moon [Thompson] has helped me a lot, Marty Carter and Jamal Anderson, too,''
Crumpler said. ''They're like, 'You can do this and you can do that, but you need
to realize that when you're here everything you do affects everybody else.''
Forney, meanwhile, still hasn't resolved the situation with his ''friend'' back in his
hometown of Nacogdoches, Tex. Forney may have been a seventh-round draft
choice, but his $209,000 salary makes him a target.
''I told him I don't have [the money] right now, and just kind of left it at that,'' he
said. ''I'll wait and see what happens |
