Post by Sly Fox on Dec 15, 2005 22:22:23 GMT -5
Well he spent a year practicing with the Flames before taking a different path to the NFL. Here's a story from the Seattle fishwrap on Robbie Tobeck:
seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/252146_tobeck15.html
Hawks' Tobeck equally quick with a snap or crack
By DANNY O'NEIL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
KIRKLAND -- Timing is as essential for a center as it is for a comedian.
Robbie Tobeck's timing is as precise as a Swiss watch. Has been ever since he was a high schooler in Florida who walked into a basketball gym and onto a team with Jack Thompson, making a connection that carried him across the country for football.
And timing is Tobeck's hallmark, whether it's with his snaps or his locker-room cracks.
"He has a knack for saying the right thing at the right time to anybody on the football team," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said.
It's an opportunism taught by experience. After all, you don't go from a high school that didn't have a tackle football team until your senior year to playing 12 years in the NFL without making the most of every chance.
"I had to really hit it out of the park on the first pitch so to speak," Tobeck said. "I knew I didn't have two opportunities."
The man in the middle of Seattle's offensive line is at the heart of the locker room. Except Tobeck's finger is not on the pulse so much as the funny bone. He's like a one-man barbershop, ready to cut away with a wit that's sharp as broken glass.
"I would never admit this in front of him, but he's probably the funniest guy on the team," quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said.
Mike Clark, the team's strength and conditioning coach, said something to Tobeck during the stretching routine before practice on Wednesday. Tobeck's response was a reference to Clark's sizeable noggin'. Tobeck asked if Clark's chinstrap was longer than his inseam back when he put on a helmet.
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"Even when you have a good joke, you're just setting him up for his response," Hasselbeck said.
Hasselbeck didn't share any Tobeck stories, citing a truce on pot shots. But what about Tobeck's response to the first-quarter hit on Hasselbeck Sunday?
"Despite the way he dresses, he is tougher than he looks," Tobeck said after the game.
"Yeah, but that was funny," Hasselbeck said.
Practical jokes are not Tobeck's signature. They require planning. Tobeck takes what's at the top of his head and fires from the hip. Even Mike Price, his college coach at Washington State, wasn't immune.
"When I got the Alabama job, he said, 'Yeah, sure, no wonder coach Price went down there, they got him a double-wide trailer,' " joked Price, who's now at Texas-El Paso.
Of course, Tobeck was also one of those who called to offer support after Price left Alabama without ever coaching a game.
And for all Tobeck's jabs, he's got a granite chin when it comes to taking return fire. Last year in training camp, Trent Dilfer made a chalk outline, a reference to the previous day when Niko Koutouvides had flattened Tobeck. Holmgren was walking with Tobeck when they saw it. Both laughed.
But he's no court jester, he's the locker-room judge, too. There's no hazing among the Seahawks, but there is a seniority system on the offensive line. Rookies get donuts every Friday. There are fines for anything from tardiness to passing gas in meetings. Oh yeah, linemen get fined for getting quoted in the newspaper.
"Talking to you, it's going to cost me," Tobeck said.
He is the Seahawks' ruler in the rites of passage. After all, he knows a little something about paying dues with the way he came out of New Port Richey High School in Tarpon Springs, Fla. To say it was small would be generous. There were 14 kids in his graduating class.
The school played flag football up until his senior year, when the team had a four-game schedule.
Tobeck played football in youth leagues starting in fourth grade, but it was basketball that opened the door to his football future when he met Thompson, the former WSU quarterback. Thompson was playing in a celebrity basketball game, and Tobeck was invited to play when Thompson's team needed someone.
Tobeck started out asking for advice from Thompson, and he ended up getting an advocate. Thompson helped Tobeck put together a videotape for scouting. It included a few slam dunks to show his athleticism. Tobeck went to Liberty University one year, but left after his redshirt season and spent two years at Kilgore Junior College in Texas. Thompson gave Tobeck a reference to WSU.
"Jack kept calling and saying, 'You've got to look at this guy,' " said Price, who was then the Cougars' coach. "That's why I call it the Jack Thompson scholarship."
Thompson said Price called him the weekend Tobeck visited.
"He said, 'I gave him a scholarship, now what the hell am I going to do with him?' " Thompson said.
The story draws a laugh. Then again, stories about Tobeck usually do.
By DANNY O'NEIL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
KIRKLAND -- Timing is as essential for a center as it is for a comedian.
Robbie Tobeck's timing is as precise as a Swiss watch. Has been ever since he was a high schooler in Florida who walked into a basketball gym and onto a team with Jack Thompson, making a connection that carried him across the country for football.
And timing is Tobeck's hallmark, whether it's with his snaps or his locker-room cracks.
"He has a knack for saying the right thing at the right time to anybody on the football team," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said.
It's an opportunism taught by experience. After all, you don't go from a high school that didn't have a tackle football team until your senior year to playing 12 years in the NFL without making the most of every chance.
"I had to really hit it out of the park on the first pitch so to speak," Tobeck said. "I knew I didn't have two opportunities."
The man in the middle of Seattle's offensive line is at the heart of the locker room. Except Tobeck's finger is not on the pulse so much as the funny bone. He's like a one-man barbershop, ready to cut away with a wit that's sharp as broken glass.
"I would never admit this in front of him, but he's probably the funniest guy on the team," quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said.
Mike Clark, the team's strength and conditioning coach, said something to Tobeck during the stretching routine before practice on Wednesday. Tobeck's response was a reference to Clark's sizeable noggin'. Tobeck asked if Clark's chinstrap was longer than his inseam back when he put on a helmet.
advertising
"Even when you have a good joke, you're just setting him up for his response," Hasselbeck said.
Hasselbeck didn't share any Tobeck stories, citing a truce on pot shots. But what about Tobeck's response to the first-quarter hit on Hasselbeck Sunday?
"Despite the way he dresses, he is tougher than he looks," Tobeck said after the game.
"Yeah, but that was funny," Hasselbeck said.
Practical jokes are not Tobeck's signature. They require planning. Tobeck takes what's at the top of his head and fires from the hip. Even Mike Price, his college coach at Washington State, wasn't immune.
"When I got the Alabama job, he said, 'Yeah, sure, no wonder coach Price went down there, they got him a double-wide trailer,' " joked Price, who's now at Texas-El Paso.
Of course, Tobeck was also one of those who called to offer support after Price left Alabama without ever coaching a game.
And for all Tobeck's jabs, he's got a granite chin when it comes to taking return fire. Last year in training camp, Trent Dilfer made a chalk outline, a reference to the previous day when Niko Koutouvides had flattened Tobeck. Holmgren was walking with Tobeck when they saw it. Both laughed.
But he's no court jester, he's the locker-room judge, too. There's no hazing among the Seahawks, but there is a seniority system on the offensive line. Rookies get donuts every Friday. There are fines for anything from tardiness to passing gas in meetings. Oh yeah, linemen get fined for getting quoted in the newspaper.
"Talking to you, it's going to cost me," Tobeck said.
He is the Seahawks' ruler in the rites of passage. After all, he knows a little something about paying dues with the way he came out of New Port Richey High School in Tarpon Springs, Fla. To say it was small would be generous. There were 14 kids in his graduating class.
The school played flag football up until his senior year, when the team had a four-game schedule.
Tobeck played football in youth leagues starting in fourth grade, but it was basketball that opened the door to his football future when he met Thompson, the former WSU quarterback. Thompson was playing in a celebrity basketball game, and Tobeck was invited to play when Thompson's team needed someone.
Tobeck started out asking for advice from Thompson, and he ended up getting an advocate. Thompson helped Tobeck put together a videotape for scouting. It included a few slam dunks to show his athleticism. Tobeck went to Liberty University one year, but left after his redshirt season and spent two years at Kilgore Junior College in Texas. Thompson gave Tobeck a reference to WSU.
"Jack kept calling and saying, 'You've got to look at this guy,' " said Price, who was then the Cougars' coach. "That's why I call it the Jack Thompson scholarship."
Thompson said Price called him the weekend Tobeck visited.
"He said, 'I gave him a scholarship, now what the hell am I going to do with him?' " Thompson said.
The story draws a laugh. Then again, stories about Tobeck usually do.
seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/252146_tobeck15.html
