My ode to Fred Jackson

Scene: NYC Sports Bar in 2007

Me: Who the hell was that?

Some Drunk: That’s Fred Jackson.

Me: Kirby Jackson?

Some Drunk: No, Fred Jackson from Coe College.

Me: Where the hell is Coe College?

Some Drunk: I don’t know, but he just zipped past London Fletcher for a 40-yard catch and run.

That was my first introduction to Fred Jackson. He took a pass over the middle and as Fletcher seemed to have a beat on him, Freddy put it into 2nd gear and a lunging Fletcher couldn’t trip up the Coe College product who raced for 40-yards.

But really, who cared?

Here’s a no-named player who was filling in for an injured Marshawn Lynch on one of Dick Jauron’s famous 7-9 teams…Whatever. A guy who seemed to be gaining his 15-minutes of fame in Buffalo like so many other athletes. Just 2007’s version of Derrick Holmes and Tim Tindale. 15 minutes became an hour in 2008. That hour grew into a movie a few year later. Now the movie is ending and its a performance that will get him on the Wall of Fame.

Yes, the Wall of Fame. I know if you are an outsider, you’d be in an incredulous state of mind if I told you that a running back who has only one 1,000 yard season was getting in the team hall of fame. But in Buffalo…you don’t have to ask twice.

We all know about cliches/analogies by now about why Fred is special. He’s the classic underdog who battled his way to the NFL after playing at some college and Arena football team that I probably couldn’t find on a map. He’s Buffalo in the way that everyone has told him about 100 times before that he wasn’t fast enough or good enough to be someone. That’s why we love/relate to him. In Buffalo, you don’t just play for the football team, you play for the people. We compare our everyday life of being a Buffalonian to how a player performs or acts. We look at their back story and try to find any sort of correlation with our own feelings. Flaws and all.

The problem with that was Fred didn’t have flaws…except time. With new blood coming in with McCoy, it didn’t make sense to have a 3-million dollar running back behind him. It sucks and I do have mixed feelings, but its probably time. He ran balls to the wall and was tougher than a 2 dollar steak. Toughness and surviving resonates with us. When Fred used his tough stiff arm to deflect defenders and was running harder than any Bill I can remember, he may have been running tough because time was catching up. Underdogs have that mindset in thinking if they catch their breath and relax, someone better will come along and you HAVE to run from that. He didn’t want it to end and running hard was the only way he could keep from going back to the obscurity of the Arena leagues.

I hope Fred finds a nice home and finally gets a chance at the playoffs (NOT NEW ENGLAND). While he may get a better chance at making the playoffs, he won’t find a better place to play at where the community and a player like him have this sort of kinship.  We are all underdogs and Fred Jackson will go down as the biggest overachiever in Bills history. As someone whose been told once or 100 times in my life I wasn’t good enough, I can only hope to achieve the same success as he did.

Safe travels and see you on the wall of fame #22