Fatsis: Inside the Mind of Mike Shanahan

Writer Stefan Fatsis has an excerpt from his book “A Few Seconds of Panic: A 5-Foot-8, 170-Pound, 43-Year-Old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL” up in an article on the Wall Street Journal.  You might remember we originally covered the book here last week.  It’s Fatsis’ story of joining the Broncos during their 2006 training camp as a backup kicker to see what it was like to endure an NFL training camp and get a behind the scenes book.  You also might be interested to know that Broncotalk has secured an interview with Mr. Fatsis and we will be doing a review of the book to go along with it.

This article gives a fantastic look at Broncos training camp, all of the things you don’t see and hear about.  It has me even more excited about getting my hands on this book.  It goes into Shanahan’s meticulously detailed playbooks for every season he’s coached the Broncos.  Of course he refers to the 97′ and 98′ binders the most.  It proceeds to follow Shanahan into a press conference at training camp.  “As a rule, Shanahan gives the media enough to file their stories but not enough to create distractions for himself or his players, or to draw attention to himself.”

The excerpt details Shanahan’s past as a QB, assistant coach at college, the pros, and finally a head coach of the Raiders and Broncos.  It also has an interesting tidbit about Shanny coaching the Raiders and a mistake with an agenda he’ll never push again.  Makes you wonder if this was one reason he didn’t go over well with the organization.   Especially hearing Mike explain what he wanted to get and knowing the past history of that team.  I’ll leave that nugget to Fatsis.

This article also shines a good spotlight on Denver’s torrid affair with Todd Sauerbrun.  It becomes all the more relevant after recent events.  Here is the discourse after Todd tested positive for Ephedra:

Shanahan tells me he found out about punter Todd Sauerbrun testing positive for the banned stimulant ephedra three days ago, on July 4, and summoned Todd to his office the next day. “You say, `Dumbs—. What are you doing? You know they’re looking at you. Why are you putting ephedra in your body?”‘ Under the NFL’s drug-testing rules — which are posted on a magnetic bulletin board next to a 32-inch Samsung flat-screen just inside the front entrance to the locker room — all players are subject to random testing up to six times between the final game of the season and the start of training camp. Because of an arrest for driving while impaired when he played for the Carolina Panthers (he pleaded guilty, was fined $100, and received a year’s probation), Todd can be tested year-round up to 24 times.

Shanahan says that Todd initially told him he had taken ephedra, available in any vitamin store, to lose weight. “Dietary thing,” Shanahan says. “Give me a break.” Rather, I learn from Broncos players and officials, Todd took the stimulant to increase stamina and endurance while weightlifting. For Shanahan, the suspension is a bureaucratic and media headache, and potentially a competitive one, too. But it’s not a new headache, and not one that especially upsets him. Steroids, marijuana, felony arrests, attitude problems — Shanahan has seen it all. “When you’re younger, it’s life and death: `Oh my God, how could this happen to me?’ ” he says. “When you get older, you understand it’s part of the profession and you deal with it.”

Good stuff there, I’m already mightily impressed with the juicy details Stephan was able to extract from training camp.  This is almost as good as if the Broncos were to be featured on Hard Knocks.  So without me relaying the entire article to you, read it for yourself.

Inside the Mind of Mike Shanahan [Wall Street Journal]