Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Tuesday, December 26, 2000
The Hasselbeck brothers are now 2-0 running the Boston College offense at Aloha Stadium. Hasselbeck brothers
2-0 at Aloha StadiumBy Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinBut Timmy Hasselbeck had a lot to overcome to make it that way.
Hasselbeck, a fifth-year senior who'd been hobbled late in the season, said he was lucky that the AstroTurf he played on yesterday was a lot softer than it was when older brother, Matt, was playing against the University of Hawaii here in the 1996 season opener.
He was in a B.C. uniform for the first time that day, watching wide-eyed from the sidelines.
The fibers of the old surface, which was replaced in 1999 with a newer, softer AstroTurf, had compressed and grown hard by the time Matt (now a backup at Green Bay) came off the bench as a junior to quarterback the Eagles to a 24-21 victory over the Rainbows.
If the rug was as coarse and unyielding as it was back then, Timmy said he might have had a lot more difficulty winning the offensive MVP trophy of the 2000 Jeep Eagle Aloha Bowl.
"This stuff is what we have at B.C. and it's pretty nice turf," said Hasselbeck.
He threw for 209 yards (9 for 21) and two touchdowns and was picked off once. He gained 52 of his 68 rushing yards on a 2nd-and-10 quarterback draw to the Arizona State 10 that might have been darned near impossible for the Norfolk, Mass., resident on the tougher turf.
He had, after all, ruptured the bursa in his right knee for the second time on Nov. 25 and sprained his left knee on Nov. 4.
"I guess I looked a little ugly when I was running," said Hasselbeck. "It must have looked pretty painful, too. I didn't feel like I was going anywhere and I was lugging around my knee brace. And I took some ribbing for being caught from behind. But it was the corner (back), so I guess that's alright."
On a day when the turf thermometer was reading 117 degrees (according to stadium manager Eddie Hayashi), Hasselbeck battled dehydration.On Christmas Eve, he was throwing up in the bathroom of his Waikiki hotel room.
"I called the trainers and they came to my room and gave me some stuff to settle my stomach," he said.
But he wasn't out of the woods.
"I had two IVs before the game and I think that really saved me, and I had a half of one at halftime," said Hasselbeck. "I was pretty tired at the half but that gave me my second wind."
He said he was flustered when he came out on the field for the first time because the IV cut into his pregame warmups.
Hasselbeck said he has no idea what made him sick, but the adjustment to a dramatically different climate might have been a factor. It was 10-above zero in Massachusetts yesterday morning.
B.C. head coach Tom O'Brien said it was 85 degrees when the Eagles played at Miami on Nov. 25 with 84 percent humidity.
"But it wasn't as hot as it was on that turf today," he said.
O'Brien said he wasn't surprised by the performance of his banged-up quarterback, whose previous game was a 52-6 humiliation at Miami.
"He's such a competitor, I'm not surprised," he said.
"He's still not 100 percent but he gave a great gutsy effort. If he was 100 percent, he would have scored on the quarterback draw."
Hasselbeck, who never expected to bookend his collegiate career with Aloha Stadium appearances, got ready to fly to Green Bay after yesterday's 31-17 victory over Arizona State.
He'll visit with Matt before heading home to to see his dad, former New England Patriots tight end Donny Hasselbeck, and his mother.
Hasselbeck will play in the East-West Shrine Game and then hope for an invitation to the NFL combine.
He finished his B.C. career sixth in career passing yardage and fifth in touchdown passes.
Alohabowl.net