It’s been a busy day out here in California, just trying to keep up with a lot of stuff. As a result, there is a little blog neglect.
But there is something I want to pass along before packing up and heading to the stadium.
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Earlier in the week, there was a dead-tree edition story on Bruce Campbell —- one that left a lot of quality thoughts from the big fella on the cutting room floor.
Much of it had to do with his size, which is pretty difficult to ignore. Which prompted this simultaneously dumb and smart question: What’s it like being so huge.
“It is pretty different,” Campbell said. Literally everybody looking up at me is pretty funny. Sometimes, I can’t even take some of the coaches seriously because the way look at me, I’m like ‘You’re really looking up at me and really trying to talk to me.’ In my head I’m smiling because it’s funny sometimes, their facial expressions and even seeing them look up at me. Being a leader, teammates are looking up at me. It feels kind of good, but it also feels like I have more control because I’m bigger. At the same time, I don’t pay attention to it much until someone brings it to my attention.”
Campbell was grinning throughout much of this, especially since his size was very much brought to his attention by the question.
But the thought of being amused by coaches yelling at him piqued some curiosity, so I asked a follow-up on any specific things that have happened to him over the years.
“There have been times where I’ve been cussed out and the coach is yelling and the coach is like ‘Campbell, you need to do this right. You need to stop being lazy. You have too much potential,’” Campbell said. “They’re all in my face and I’ll look down and I’ll actually bend down a little bit. It’s kind of weird to try to remain serious when someone’s mad at you and they’re looking up pointing at you when you’re so much bigger.”
He’s managed quite well in doing so. But it is an element of being so much larger than nearly everyone else that probably isn’t considered as much as it probably should be.
—- Patrick Stevens
