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Jean-Philippe Darche - Seattle Seahawks
 
LONG SNAPPER SPECIALIST
From groupies to initiations, through low blows and coaches in crisis, Jean-Philippe Darche takes us behind the lines of real life in the NFL!
Article by Nadia Fezzani
Being the only Quebecer on your team, have you ever been teased
because of your accent?
No, because the guys are coming from all parts of the United States;
everyone has a different accent and come from different areas. However
I know the guys find intriguing the fact that I speak French. Some people
don't know we speak French in North America! At the beginning, some
guys were asking me, "I can't recognize your accent. Where are
you from?" And then I'd tell them, "I'm French Canadian."
They'd be all surprised! Some people find very exciting the fact that
I speak two languages. They're very impressed! (Laughs)
Most young Quebecers play hockey. Why did you choose football?
I used to play hockey. I started young, around age five, like any good
Quebecer. (Laughs) When I got to high school, I went to Notre-Dame high
school, where everybody played football. It was the pride of the school.
I was OK at hockey, but I wasn't gonna make the NHL. My brother's the
one who got all the talent… not me! I started to play football
and it automatically "clicked". I loved it! I have always
loved contact sports. I was in my element from the start.
I know you are passionate about medicine. Where does that come
from?
I was one of those little boys who tell the doctor, "I want to
be a doctor, too!" My grand-father was one. We had three consecutive
generations of doctors in my family. When I was at school, I was always
interested in scientific-type classes. Then when I started University,
I had no doubt about it.
With marks like 80% and more, I deduct the rumour that athletes
aren't geniuses is not true?
Not true at all! I'm talking about football, because it's the only sport
where you're obligated to go to college (in Canada). It's not like hockey
where there is a junior league and the guys don't even go to college
before going up to the NHL. In the NFL, even though some players are
not geniuses, they still have to go to college and pass their courses.
Football is a very technical sport. There's a lot of strategy, we have
meetings, we have to learn stuff. It's kind of like going to school.
Obviously, some guys are very gifted physically and can learn without
putting too much effort into it, but you have to have a minimum of intelligence
to understand what's going on.
Intelligence and hard muscles! Tell me, what has been your worst
moment on the football field?
I was in the CFL. We had played a game in Vancouver, and I had a big
otitis. It hit me during the night and I hadn't slept. I was on medication.
I hadn't made too many errors during the game, I was just OK. I think
I threw up five times during the match. When you have an otitis, as
soon as you get touched by someone, just a little bit, the helmet hits
you on the ears. During the entire game, I was praying for the seconds
to pass quickly. I couldn't deal with it anymore! I was sick, I was
throwing up, I had congestion. I was in sweat, I had fever. I would
hit something and everything would come out my nose. Those were the
longest three hours of my life!
Does it happen often that players throw up out on the field?
It doesn't happen during every game, but it's not rare. Sometimes it's
very hot outside, like in Arizona. It happens often that there will
be a guy who's just tired. He's so hot that he throws up. They're going
to give him intravenous to make sure he has fluids, but… Those
are things that happen. In football, you play with your injuries. It's
tough.
We wouldn't see that in hockey! (Laughs)
(Laughs) We only have 16 games per year, so we don't have the luxury
of saying, "I'm just gonna take a game off". You can't. Every
game is important.
From your opinion, what's the difference between the NFL and
the CFL?
The pressure. In the NFL, you multiply everything 10 times: the salary
you make, the number of people in the stands, etc. There is a lot of
money involved. Everyone has big Ego's. You can't make any mistakes.
When you lose, the atmosphere is so tense! Not that in the CFL it's
not, but the NFL is another level. It's so competitive that from all
the good buddies I had when I arrived here (six or seven guys), only
two were still here after five years! Everybody gets cut. As soon as
you start making big money, you're out. You can't permit yourself to
not produce. If you do that, you'll be gone quick!
Tell me about your funniest initiation.
In the NFL, our coach had told us that he would not accept any initiation.
If he saw some people initiating rookies, they'd have fines. It's hard
enough to make the team, we shouldn't have to worry about getting stupid
things done. But I think the worst one was at Marie-Victorin College.
We were walking downtown with hospital diapers, in the gay village,
with Vaseline in our hair. It was neither awful nor degrading, it was
just funny! I was lucky.
What's the most terrible story you've heard about groupies? I'm
sure we can find a lot of them around you guys!
Hmmm… I don't go out much… (Laughs). I am a boring subject!
(Laughs) When we go to the training camp for a month, we are four hours
away from Seattle, in a University dorm. It's built in a city where
there is absolutely nothing around! I'm not going to give any names,
but some guys always find a way to get girls in the dorms. (Laughs)
Those are things we hear about, but we never see. And it costs money
to some guys! When they get caught, they have huge fines… a few
thousand for sure! There are security guards there, but the boys always
find tricks, like using the emergency exit. They find a way to miss
the curfew and to go to a bigger city, which is approximately half an
hour from there. Some like trouble and it runs after them! Every year,
during training camp, there's at least one morning where the coach arrives
all mad. He yells, talking about responsibilities, with some, "I
was asking you to stay here for one month!" But it's too much for
the guys! I don't think they do it because they want to do it, but because
they have to. (Laughs)
Do you have superstitions?
I'm not really into superstition, but I have a routine. The game's eve,
when we're at the hotel, I always eat the same things: a hamburger,
a little bit of salad, and a Sundae. In the morning: two pancakes, soup,
and a coffee. I have all my little routines for game days!
Do you have an even weirder side than your hamburger one?
Sometimes I think I'm a little nerd. (Laughs) I bought Stephen Hawking's
book (Time and Matter) on the origins of the Universe! Then I got the
one on the relativity theory of Einstein. I'm wondering if I'm not a
geek hiding in an athlete body! (Laughs)
What's the lowest blow you've ever had happen to you?
During the training camp, we all sleep in small rooms. After our meetings,
we go play video games. It starts to get very competitive and then guys
start complaining. There was one night where I always won. It was bugging
all the guys I was playing against. While I was playing with one of
our team mates, our two quarterbacks, Matt Hasselbeck and Trent Dilfer,
left the room. When it was time to go to sleep, I left to go to my room.
We have to get up at 7:30 in the morning because we have big days so
you need a good sleep! The guys were tired of hearing me brag about
the hockey video games. They went to buy four or five alarm clocks at
the store next door and they hid them everywhere in my room! One rang
at midnight, one at two, at four, at five in the morning! All night
I was getting woken up! I wasn't able to find those %$@&!* alarm
clocks hidden under the mattress, and in my room everywhere. I had the
worst night of my life! When I got to the cafeteria in the morning and
they were all there, laughing at me. This year, I will have to prepare
something for my revenge. (Laughs)
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