Post by beerinboston on Aug 15, 2007 14:01:32 GMT -5
Great article from Kenny's web site. As if he hasn't played enough NFL stadiums already 
Kenny Chesney Gets Signed
New Orleans Saints Call Up Gibbs High Wide Receiver in Pre-Season
Cincinnati, Ohio: They made their way to the National Football Conference's Championship Game in their first post-Hurricane Katrina season, so the New Orleans Saints understand making it happen when it counts. Galvanizing the Crescent City with hope and passion in Katrina's wake, they now reach out to a dark horse for the 2007-2008 season: Gibbs High Eagle Kenny Chesney.
The 5' 6” former wide receiver is signed by the Saints as a free agent the day before their pre-season game with the Cincinnati Bengals August 17th to see if the scrappy athlete turned musician has what it takes. For Chesney, who headlines the Southern Ohio city's Riverbend Amphitheatre on the 16th, it is serendipity in schedules that's led to this convergence of two different worlds.
“I first met (NFL Coach of the Year) Sean Payton when he was the assistant coach of the Dallas Cowboys -- he came out to a show in 2002,” Chesney says of his relationship with the Saints' head coach. “Over the years, we'd become really good friends because there's a very mutual respect for what the other ones does… He's told me he loves how driven and focused I am about what I do; he loves the intensity I have when I'm onstage… and how passionate I am about what he does, too.”
Chesney, who is the thrice consecutive and reigning Academy of Country Music and two-time and current Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year, has the distinction of being “probably the slowest receiver in the history of the (Gibbs High) team -- and it was a mediocre team.” Yet, as the man, who's now four weeks at #1 on Billboard's Country Singles chart with “Never Wanted Nothin' More,” explains of the training, “I learned how to really work playing high school football, cause you can't play it at any level and not be focused. If you do it halfway, you'll get hurt; you gotta go full-speed all the time… that's just the way it is, and it set me up for life.”
Why now? Especially with his Cruzan Rum sponsored Flip Flop Summer Tour just being cited by Pollstar as the Most Attended Country Tour -- with well over a half million fans played to -- for the first half of the year going full-bore and headed into the Detroit Lions Stadium for a show the next day?
“They wanna see if I can make some kind of contribution,” Chesney laughs. “They realized they were gonna be up there (at Bengals Stadium) when I was playing Cincinnati, and they wanted to make it work. Turns out a lot of the guys on the team were fans, and Sean said they really wanted to do it.”
So Chesney will don shorts, a jersey and helmet to go through their work-out, standard practice and being in the huddle with the offensive line to determine if he's got what it takes. “The day before I get there will be very intense, but I can't be there for that…. This is more about going over game situations, being out there in the huddle with (All-Pro quarterback) Drew Breez and (running back) Reggie Bush…and I imagine it'll be a whole lot faster than when I was in high school.”
Should Chesney do the unthinkable and make the cut Friday? Well, that's's a whole other kind of play. As Chesney allows, laughing, “If I make the team, well, I'm gonna have to figure out how to get them to let me join'em in mid-September -- after my album comes out.”
Kenny Chesney Gets Signed
New Orleans Saints Call Up Gibbs High Wide Receiver in Pre-Season
Cincinnati, Ohio: They made their way to the National Football Conference's Championship Game in their first post-Hurricane Katrina season, so the New Orleans Saints understand making it happen when it counts. Galvanizing the Crescent City with hope and passion in Katrina's wake, they now reach out to a dark horse for the 2007-2008 season: Gibbs High Eagle Kenny Chesney.
The 5' 6” former wide receiver is signed by the Saints as a free agent the day before their pre-season game with the Cincinnati Bengals August 17th to see if the scrappy athlete turned musician has what it takes. For Chesney, who headlines the Southern Ohio city's Riverbend Amphitheatre on the 16th, it is serendipity in schedules that's led to this convergence of two different worlds.
“I first met (NFL Coach of the Year) Sean Payton when he was the assistant coach of the Dallas Cowboys -- he came out to a show in 2002,” Chesney says of his relationship with the Saints' head coach. “Over the years, we'd become really good friends because there's a very mutual respect for what the other ones does… He's told me he loves how driven and focused I am about what I do; he loves the intensity I have when I'm onstage… and how passionate I am about what he does, too.”
Chesney, who is the thrice consecutive and reigning Academy of Country Music and two-time and current Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year, has the distinction of being “probably the slowest receiver in the history of the (Gibbs High) team -- and it was a mediocre team.” Yet, as the man, who's now four weeks at #1 on Billboard's Country Singles chart with “Never Wanted Nothin' More,” explains of the training, “I learned how to really work playing high school football, cause you can't play it at any level and not be focused. If you do it halfway, you'll get hurt; you gotta go full-speed all the time… that's just the way it is, and it set me up for life.”
Why now? Especially with his Cruzan Rum sponsored Flip Flop Summer Tour just being cited by Pollstar as the Most Attended Country Tour -- with well over a half million fans played to -- for the first half of the year going full-bore and headed into the Detroit Lions Stadium for a show the next day?
“They wanna see if I can make some kind of contribution,” Chesney laughs. “They realized they were gonna be up there (at Bengals Stadium) when I was playing Cincinnati, and they wanted to make it work. Turns out a lot of the guys on the team were fans, and Sean said they really wanted to do it.”
So Chesney will don shorts, a jersey and helmet to go through their work-out, standard practice and being in the huddle with the offensive line to determine if he's got what it takes. “The day before I get there will be very intense, but I can't be there for that…. This is more about going over game situations, being out there in the huddle with (All-Pro quarterback) Drew Breez and (running back) Reggie Bush…and I imagine it'll be a whole lot faster than when I was in high school.”
Should Chesney do the unthinkable and make the cut Friday? Well, that's's a whole other kind of play. As Chesney allows, laughing, “If I make the team, well, I'm gonna have to figure out how to get them to let me join'em in mid-September -- after my album comes out.”
I hope he doesn't over do it . But then again, he's just in too good of shape to let that happen! What a great article, thanks for posting Beerinboston 
