Tony Gonzalez becomes all-time yards leader for TE

[MapleLeaf]

Just happened against Carolina. I like how the Carolina fans gave him a standing ovation. I thought that was really nice of them.

TG's records:

most single season receptions (102) by a tight end
most career touchdowns by a tight end (68)
most career receptions by a tight end (839)
most career receiving yards by a tight end (10,064)

This article was just in the KC Star today:

Is Tony Gonzalez the best tight end ever?

The daydreamer is somewhere else now: a place where the cameras are off and the coaches don’t bark and the only thing that hits him hard is that last shot of tequila.

Tony Gonzalez sits in front of his locker at the Chiefs’ practice facility, but his mind is wandering toward retirement. Maybe in 10 years, one of the NFL’s legendary tight ends will be pouring a drink for some weary vacationer on a secret stretch of Mexican beach, winking as he pours himself one, too. Maybe he’ll be flipping a lure into the Pacific, trying to hook a big one. Gonzalez always has snagged the big catch.

“I think about it all the time,” he says.

It’ll be on the beach or on a boat that Gonzalez will have time to think. Years have passed, and his football legacy, whatever that ends up being, has been fulfilled. He’ll stand there, swirling a tumbler or waiting for the lure to jump, and discuss how football remembers him.

Today might come up, and if all goes to plan, it’ll be the date when Gonzalez stood at a historic crossroads and cemented his place in football’s elite. He needs 3 yards to break Shannon Sharpe’s record for career receiving yards for a tight end, and Gonzalez should get that on his first or second reception today.

It’ll solidify Gonzalez as one of the all-time greats. But it also moves him past one more milestone and another step closer to a future without football. The fewer achievements Gonzalez has to chase, the less motivation he has to keep getting up early, lifting weights and running through the same tired drills he’s run for a dozen years.

“Yeah,” he says. “You look forward to it.”

There is that one thing, though: a Super Bowl. The Chiefs might not win one before Gonzalez retires. He’s 32, and that’s old in this league. Sure, he’ll hold out another year or two. Maybe three. He’ll hope that the Chiefs’ rebuilding project pays off in time for the one achievement that another legendary tight end says could keep Gonzalez from being remembered as the best ever.

When hope of that goal fades, the beach looks pretty good, even from Gonzalez’s locker.

Gonzalez is back now. His mind is in Kansas City, and his focus is on the Chiefs. He straightens his back and says something about winning, about being committed to the team and doing his part. As difficult as it is, he says he has to think only about the present.

“I’ve got to enjoy this moment,” he says. “If you don’t, you’ll let it fester, and you’ll keep thinking about it. You have to get rid of those thoughts as soon as they come. Bruce Lee was a good example. He said he pictures the thought on a piece of paper, and then he pictures himself burning it up.

“And it goes away.”

• • •

Gonzalez wants to tell you he’s the best tight end ever. He wants to say that, because to do so is to be confident and self-aware, and that’s what he is. He knows himself enough to declare his interest in politics but admits he might have had too much fun in his younger days to ever reach the Senate or the governor’s mansion.

“Not that I wouldn’t make a good one,” he says with a smile, “but I don’t think I’d be allowed to.”

He admits, with a slight wince, that he’s had to work all of his life to become an intelligent man because intelligence, unlike football, never came naturally. But part of that self-awareness has translated into intelligence, because by acknowledging his weaknesses, he’s able to strengthen them. He sets aside time each afternoon to read, upward of 45 minutes plowing through Tolstoy or Gandhi, books about purpose and God and the Rev. Martin Luther King.

 

[.GR]

Congrats to him. Great player.

 

[yezzir]

Congrats to him. Great player.

+1, look forward to seeing him in Canton someday.

 

[The Young One]

Congrats to TG. He deserves it. He's a great player and person. IMO he's the best TE ever