GEORGE BORK: EVER HAVE ONE OF THOSE DAYS WHEN....

.......someone's on your mind for no particular reason, someone you maybe shared some time and space with and you haven't thought about in years? I'm having one today. I used to play sports against and spend a little time with sort of ordinary looking guy named George Bork.

George's showcase talent was basketball but he really didn't burn to play basketball. What floated his boat was throwing a football. So, I heard he turned down a scholarship to play basketball at Michigan to walk on to play football at Northern Illinois University. There might even have been a Junior College in there someplace. I don't remember. George loved all throws, the soft toss to the back corner, the zip to the post, the low buttonhook. They had a couple of cute screens that he could throw as well as anybody who ever played the game.

By the time he got to be a junior, NIU just kind of abandoned running the ball, went into a short punt formation and George threw the ball. They had good receivers and sort of a screwy but effective pass protection scheme. Anyhow, George broke about every passing record ever assembled at NIU.

He went to the Canadian football league for a while but he caught a couple of bad breaks. First, his team was a little short on money and, second, CFL coaches were gradually changing the league, with its three downs, to one where the fast black guys played quarterback and the bigger maybe slower white guys were the pass catchers. George preferred his passing standing still. Nobody was going to mistake him for Condredge Holloway or Michael Vick.

Just in time, somebody started something called the Continental Football League and George played for the Chicago Owls. Had some success but the league ran out of money in fourteen point two seconds.

Googled him and see where he's been a golf coach in the Chicago area for a long time. That's cool. He's a good example of one following one's passion--he went where he would have a chance to play football because that was what he loved. Passed on a chance to play Big Ten Basketball and go to Fichigan for free. That's a lotta resolve for an 18 year old.

And, no, I have absolutely no idea why he popped into my haid today.