3 and Out from Kyle Van Noy’s night in Brewer

By Sterling Pingree- Sports Chowdah. New England Patriot Linebacker Kyle Van Noy made the trek to Brewer on Tuesday night. 92.9FM, The Ticket produced the event at Jeff’s Catering. Here are the high points from the 90 minute event.

When asked what his career highlight is in the NFL, KVN said it was the sack on Goff in this year’s Super Bowl. Which led to lots of cheers from the crowd. Van Noy followed up with: “I was trying to kill him.” Which drew laughs from the crowd. “You laugh, but I’m serious.”

This might have been the funniest moment of the night. Kyle Van Noy has a big booming laugh that amplifies and punctuates his jokes, but when he said he was serious, the smile vanished and the room absent of his laughter fell deadly silent. That’s a level of great comedic timing that is missing from most Hollywood comedies.

An audience member asked about the retirement of Rob Gronkowski and Kyle said that while he’ll miss being Gronk’s teammate, he ultimately hope that #87 stays retired. “He put in his time and deserves to enjoy himself.” There was a hint of genuine admiration and you’re reminded that even though these are millionaires in their 20’s and 30’s, the feeling is the same as when one of our beloved co-workers retires. You really do wish them the best, even though you’re saddened by the fact that you will have to keep showing up every day without them.

The best question of the night, drew the most compelling answer of the night. (As the best questions typically do.) The topic was Van Noy’s thoughts on the talk of the NFL expanding to an 18-game schedule.

“Compensation would have to go up. Because that’s two more car crashes.”

For most people, experiencing one car crash in a lifetime or one more than enough. This quote illustrates how players view an NFL game: they equate it to a car crash. This nomenclature isn’t original to Kyle Van Noy, many players have described the game the same way. But we’re talking about two MORE car crashes, bringing the total to 18 a year, every year that you are fortunate enough to play in the league.

This was the most revealing glimpse into the real psyche of a football player. It also begins to answer why football will endure. There is a love of the game, but compensation offsets the sacrifice. This is a tradeoff that some would make, but none of those outside the game can ever fully understand: good or for bad.

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Jeff Solari

About Jeff Solari

Jeff Solari is the president and founder of the Sports Chowdah, Maine’s only free, weekly sports e mail newsletter. Recently, the Mount Desert Island native was the co-host of "The Drive" on 92.9 FM in Bangor.