My Words: Grateful for the journey, excited for the adventure ahead

The memory chokes me up every time.

The January day I found out I was being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame was looking like your typical Wisconsin experience. It was bitter cold, around 30 below wind chill, and my wife Annie and I were hanging out in our kitchen getting ready to go out for a fish fry with friends.

When I heard a knock at the front door, I thought it was kids from the neighborhood even though it sounded unusually heavy and loud. Our kids, Logan, Camryn, Jack and Reese, rushed over to answer it. As soon as they saw this massive person taking up the whole doorway, our son did a 180 and made a beeline back to the kitchen and started jumping up and down.

“Daddy, we made it,” Jack yelled. “We made it.”

It took a second to sink in and for me to realize, “Gosh, this is the moment.” It totally caught me off-guard.

The man at the door, badly under-dressed in a gold blazer and no overcoat, was Walter Jones, one of my NFL idols at left tackle. He gave me the news that I thought I might get someday, just not this particular day.

I was going to be joining him in Canton, Ohio, as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

It was the most special possible way for me to learn about the honor because I was able to share it with my kids. Annie already knew, having gotten a heads-up from the hall. I get emotional whenever I think of what our son said. He’s absolutely right. We did make it.

We.

Annie and the kids were every bit part of this journey to the Hall of Fame as I was. All the practices, games, effort, travel and challenges during 11 seasons with the Cleveland Browns were made easier for me because they were there with me.

Having my kids see me as a football player has been very fulfilling. None of them have memories of watching me as a pro athlete. Our oldest, who’s 10, went to Browns games when I played, but she was always too young to do much more than sit on the concrete stadium floor eating peanuts.

So when it came time to choose my honorary presenter for the induction ceremony, I picked Annie and the kids because they are the most special parts of my life and I wanted them to share the moment with me. Seeing them be proud of me through this is the best feeling and the most emotional thing I’ve gotten to enjoy.

It’s my understanding that a couple years ago the Pro Football Hall of Fame changed the format to eliminate long-winded speeches by the presenters. Instead, each presenter provides a pre-recorded message in advance and that video is played for the audience. People from the NFL came to our house and recorded Annie and the kids saying a few words. I can’t wait to hear what they have to say.

A specially-made gold sport coat is one of the trademarks of Hall of Fame induction, but the most unique experience is sitting down to have a bronze bust made of your image. For me it meant traveling to Utah to sit for nine hours while sculptor Ben Hammond worked his magic.

It’s kind of like a blind date because you don’t know anything about the artist, but Ben happened to be really cool. We got along great. We both love barbequing, so we shared stories about cooking brisket. We talked about other busts that he’s done. It turned out to be a really fun day even though sitting for nine hours in the same spot gave way to two weeks of back spasms and hip issues. It was all worth it.

It was fascinating to watch Ben take a blob of clay and turn it into something that looked just like me. Kind of creepy, too.

At one point, Ben asked me what I wanted for a facial expression. I was a serious guy when I played. I wasn’t a trash talker and didn’t come off like the tough guy or a mean guy. I wanted to be the silent assassin. I wanted to lull them to sleep until they felt like they had no chance. It was like, “Give me your best shot; it’s not going to matter. I guarantee you’ll give up by the end of the first quarter. If not the first quarter, then by halftime. Then we’ll both be doing the silent dance until the game is over and you’ll have no stats.” That was my perfect game in my mind.

Ben spoke of busts he’s done of other offensive linemen who preferred to look tough or serious. I told Ben that’s not my personality. He had a photo of me waving to Browns fans as I was coming off the field in Cleveland. I had this smirk that we both liked.

I know Ben likes how it turned out. It almost has that Mona Lisa characteristic depending on how you look at it. Having that smirk really represents me and my personality and my mentality on the field. It says, “Give me your best shot because it’s not going to matter.”

Starting with my parents, Eric and Sally, I’ve had an incredible support system my whole life and I look at this moment as an opportunity to celebrate their impact on me. They laid the foundation by instilling the values that I took with me throughout my career.

I’m grateful to all my teammates who were there to support me and motivate me. The same goes for my coaches at Wisconsin and the NFL who fine-tuned my technique and my mentality as an offensive lineman.

I try to live by the mantra they all instilled in me: toughness, discipline, hard work, team work, making your purpose about being something bigger than yourself, treating people better than you treat yourself and understanding that all roles on a team are equally important no matter how big or small they may seem.

That’s why sports are so important. They transcend religion and politics, culture and country. They bring people together because those values are the same. The things that make you successful in football are the same things that will make you successful in life.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved being outdoors. Growing up, every summer we’d take a family trip to the boundary waters to fish, canoe and hike. That kind of bred the adventurer in me.

When I was in college, my roommate’s brother lived in Denver. I remember visiting him and falling in love with the crisp, thinner air and beauty of the Rocky Mountains.

After Annie and I got married, we’d visit her sister in Montana the week before NFL training camp began. We’d have a great time hiking, fishing and tubing. Now we do it with the kids.

I’m in shape and I love to exercise, but I am somewhat limited in what I can do. I can’t run. I can’t do certain exercises. But one of the things that doesn’t bother me is hiking. I don’t know why, but the holes in my knee cartilage don’t seem to affect my hiking stride, which is awesome because it’s one of the really hard exercises I can do. I love it. I love doing it with my kids. My kids have really taken to it. I love hiking with my wife. It’s one of those things you can do together.

Earlier this year, Annie and I spent four days and three nights in Peru hiking the 26-mile Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. We learned that a great team and a great marriage have a lot in common; shared struggle and sacrifice in the presence of each other give you a love and commitment that isn’t possible for people that never step out of their comfort zone.

We’ve been married 16 years, so we know each other pretty well going into this hike, but the usual day-to-day of living and parenting in the same household can lead to an easy comfortability that takes each other for granted. An experience that pushes your body and mind to the limit brings the relationship to the next level. We both came home and said, “Outside of the kids, that was the best thing we’ve ever done.”

Wherever we go next, whenever we go, we’ll never forget the journey we’re on now.

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