Spielman asks for Team USA's best

06.25.2009

NORTH CANTON - Ten years ago this summer, Chris Spielman played his last down.

This week, it took the linebacker in Spielman all of about 10 minutes to get his blood flowing to the point where he was talking about playing football again.

He wasn't serious -- at least not totally serious -- about making a comeback, but Spielman was his usual passionate self when he told the 45 members of the USA Junior National World Championship Football Team just how lucky they are to be a part of the first U.S. team ever to participate in the IFAF Junior World Championship, which begins this weekend at Canton Fawcett Stadium.

"I'm 42 years old; I had a good NFL career," Spielman said. "I had a pretty good college career (he'll be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame later this year). To be honest with you, if I could give it all back to be there with you for this one shining moment, I'd give it back in a heart beat."

It was about then that he jumped from behind the podium and really got fiery.

"If you're here to go through the motions, go home," he told the players. "This is our game, our soil. Losing is not an option. I'd understand if it was skiing, or hockey, or ping pong or volleyball. But not football. Not our game.

"Come with bad intentions, boys. I'll be watching, and there better be 11 white helmets flying to take somebody out. You're representing me and every player who ever played this game, and every player who will ever play this game. That's a pretty big responsibility, and you'd better embrace it."

The collective silence in the conference room at Walsh University spoke volumes.

Team USA is made up of recent high school graduates who will start their college careers later this summer at schools ranging from Notre Dame and Ohio State to Northern Colorado and Holy Cross. In case the players were too young to remember exactly the type of player Spielman was at Massillon Washington High School, Ohio State and in 12 years in the NFL with the Lions, Bills and Browns, he told them a story about how his career ended.

"It was 1997 at the old Hoosier Dome," he said. "I hit Lamont Warren as hard as I hit any human being in my life. I heard sounds and grunts come out of him that would make a soccer crowd in France go, ‘Ohhhh.'

"I go to get up, and there's one problem. I can't get up because I can't feel anything in my body. I didn't know that I had a punctured disc in my neck that needed surgery. It's the same injury that ultimately ended my career a couple years later when I tried to come back with the Browns."

Though he obviously misses playing the game, he still sleeps and breathes it -- at all levels. Spielman lives in Columbus, where he hosts a radio show in addition to his color commentating duties for ESPN college football. He said he believes the state of the game in his home state is good, and that this world tournament is just part of the reason why.

"Where better than Canton, Ohio," he asked rhetorically. "I'm on board. I think it's great. I think we have the NFL to thank for the globalization of football, and I think it's awesome that this game is being exported."

After his presentation, it was mentioned to Spielman that he was the kind of smart, tough passionate player Eric Mangini has focused on bringing to the Browns. Though he stopped short of announcing another comeback, he did say he's watching with interest.

"If that's the kind of guy it takes to win, I hope they win," Spielman said. "I know Coach Mangini has come in and done things his way, and more power to him. I wish them the best."

MORE ON THE TOURNAMENT -- Team USA's head coach is Chuck Kyle, head coach at Cleveland St. Ignatius High School. Six Ohio players are on the roster, including Northeast Ohioans Brian Smith (Walsh Jesuit/Northwestern), Pat Hinkle (St. Ignatius/Miami Ohio) and Brian Winters (Hudson/Kent State).

Canada, the defending champion, is the tournament's top seed. Team USA opens play Saturday night at 8 p.m. against France.

For more on Team USA and the tournament visit http://www.usafootball.com