You guys will have to indulge me, but I found this article over on SI.com about Bobby Carpenter. My apologies if you're tired of me pimping Bobby Carpenter but I truly believe he's the right pick for our SOLB position. Taking him at #18 goes against where most experts project his value which is somewhere in the back-end of the first round. So my ideal would be to trade down and still get him, but I think the Patriots at #21 are also very interested.
Anyway, the article is more about his family, especially his dad Rob who was an NFL fullback and played for Bill Parcells. Want more familarity? Bobby's agent is Jimmy Sexton, who is very close friends with Bill Parcells. I found it refreshing the way his father has stayed out of the limelight in this whole draft process and is letting Bobby find his own way. From the article, I get the impression that Bobby wasn't handed anything because his dad was an ex-NFL player, but had to earn his way on his own. If nothing else, it sounds like there will be no problems with his character.
I hope SI.com doesn't sue me for taking liberties with reprinting large parts of the article. Click on over and read the whole thing, it's a good read.
[snip]
It was the next logical step in the way Ron and his wife, Susie, approached parenthood. They believed in old-school ways, so much so that Bobby never had cable television in his home or a cell phone. There also weren't any of the luxurious trips you would expect a former professional athlete to lavish on his family. Of the two vacations Bobby remembers, the most memorable was a road trip to New Jersey in the early '90s, when Rob arranged for Bobby and his younger brother Jon to visit the Giants' locker room and race around the turf in Giants Stadium.
Rob's goal was obvious: He wanted Bobby and his other three sons to figure things out for themselves instead of relying on their parents for everything. They didn't have the spoils most kids expected; they would have to find other ways to amuse themselves, like going outside and tossing a ball around. In fact, the more Bobby did that, the more excited Rob and Susie got. They wanted their boys to be competitors and they didn't care about the consequences. That's why Rob talks proudly about all the furniture his sons smashed during their frequent childhood wrestling matches. It was just evidence of a toughness they would need later in life.