ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Julie Hampton Cousins is likely pulling up stakes in Virginia and moving to Minnesota.
Who’s Julie Hampton Cousins, you ask, and why is she moving to Minnesota?
Julie is the mother of not-quite 6-month-old Cooper Cousins, the son of Kirk Cousins, former quarterback of the Washington Redskins and soon-to-be captain of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings.
The Cousinses’ only home has been the DMV, whose NFL team is named the Washington Redskins, plays in Maryland and practices in Virginia — a triangulation that, praise the gods of football, has yet to rip apart Redskins Nation.
With a little help, Li’l Cooper spilled the beans without mouthing a sensible word. For there he was, with his perfect reddish locks, snuggled in his NFL onesie.
Except wait really? Smack in the center near the zipper was a purple and white Vikings helmet. The Instagram post was dated Feb. 27, and mom Julie’s caption said, in part: “Just about 2 weeks until we know which helmet we’ll be rockin’!”
And so came the great spoiler, for there were dozens of helmets on Li’l Cooper’s jammies representing NFC and AFC teams — New York’s Jet and Giants, da Bears, Oakland, Indianapolis, San Fran and Houston among them.
A Redskins helmet? No, ma’am. No, sir.
What gives? The Redskins made Kirk their main man after RG3, or Robert Griffin III, as NFL rosters used to refer to him, and they paid Kirk $43.9 million over two years to prove as much.
If I were I bettin’ woman, I’d wager that Julie and Kirk placed their faith, however, in God and let him broker with the front offices of the Redskins and the Vikings.
See, the Cousinses are Christians. Sure, they hope that players and coaches will focus on the X’s and O’s on any given Sunday (or Monday, or Thursday, or Saturday) and have each others’ back come Game Day. But they also respect and acknowledge the source.
Sports fans, however, focus on winning, and sports reporters, like players and coaches, get paid to explain the X’s and O’s.
Grantland Rice, the famed sportswriter, dubbed Notre Dame’s 1924 backfield the “Four Horsemen” after the team defeated Army. The late Rice, a Bible Belt native, also wrote other, faith-based notables:
“Money to the left of them and money to the right
“Money everywhere they turn from morning to the night
“Only two things count at all from mountain to the sea
“Part of it’s percentage, and the rest is guarantee.”
And this gem:
“For when the One Great Scorer comes
“To mark against your name,
“He writes — not that you won or lost —
“But how you played the Game.”
The “Game” of life, that is.
As you know by now, Kirk’s contract with the Vikings guarantees him $84 million over three years, nothing to sneeze at. Kirk essentially could do a Gus Frerotte, who QB’ed for the ’Skins and the Vikings and jammed his neck by ramming his helmeted head into a padded cement wall.
Kirk likely would never do such as thing, though. He’d much rather punctuate his actions with words, such as “you like that,” period.
Even L’il Cooper’s college tuition is in the bank, and the look of pride on his face in Julie’s post speaks volumes. Faith, family and football.
• Deborah Simmons can be contacted at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
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