The Cassel Trio
Greetings from Bradley International Airport, where my 7:35pm flight to Raleigh, NC has been delayed until 9pm. Ugh. On a good note though, Bradley has free wi-fi. Definitely a plus.
Earlier in the day, I watched my favorite NFL player have an awful game against the Baltimore Ravens. Matt Cassel had only nine complete passes for a total of 80-something yards. Throw in a few interceptions and he probably wishes he never arrived at Arrowhead Stadium today.
Anywho, because he’s my favorite player, my reaction to this game is much like my reaction to when Phil Hughes pitches poorly: he’s still my favorite and nothing he does will change that.
The story behind me becoming a Cassel fan is a long and complicated one and I don’t care to bore you with a bunch of random football nonsense. However, I’ll give you some other random nonsense. I recently found out something about Cassel that interested me a lot: he has two brothers, both who play(ed) professional baseball.
His younger brother, Justin, is currently a pitcher in the Chicago White Sox organization. His older brother, Jack, had pitched for the San Diego Padres and Houston Astros, prior to retiring from the game last year.
Matt, in fact, also has some baseball talent himself. He attended USC where he, obviously, played football. However, he was on the school’s baseball team as well. (Where he was teammates with current big-leaguer and former New York Yankees pitcher, Ian Kennedy. Remember him?) Matt was then drafted in the 36th round of the 2004 MLB draft by the Oakland Athletics. Obviously, he didn’t sign with the West Coast team. Instead, Matt was drafted by the New England Patriots a year later and served back up to one of the greatest QB’s of all time, eventually becoming a starter himself.
There you have it. Matt, Jack, and Justin Cassel. That’s definitely one athletic and sports-oriented brotherhood.
Bull Point Pen 