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The Ultimate Team Mom
Deb Johnson started a support group where it was most needed
Dublin, Ohio football mom Debbie Johnson is between big thresholds at this moment. Her oldest son Jay became a starting defensive end with the Oakland Raiders last fall and D.J.'s middle boy, Joshua, is getting set to head off to Kansas University, where he's earned a full scholarship to play linebacker next fall.
Even at this relative ebb, Johnson — or Mama D.J. as multitudes of Ohio State players, coaches, and fans call the 50-year old retired professor — stays busy. Team Mom to one of America's most high profile football programs, she's fully knowledgeable that full-contact parenting is a year-round job.
"We had 30,000 out for a spring practice the other night. A Monday night practice," D.J. told me during a telephone interview that ended at 8 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. "There is no downtime."
If you're a parent up there in those stands, either at the Dublin high school stadium or up in those pricier seats in Columbus and Oakland, it can be an emotional jungle out there in the stands. You befriend parents whose kids your own son is competing against. Which means you have friends who might benefit from your boy getting hurt. Or vice versa. It's crazy up there. But Deb's whole trip is to make the parents' ride a bit less zany.
Back in 2003, Jay was a freshman climbing the depth-chart depths. With no previous experience in the vagaries of big-time college football. She felt lost, in terms of camaraderie and just the general stream of fame and physical risk that is the firmament of the game. Frankly, she began to feel at sea a season earlier, when recruiting letters began flooding the Dublin mailbox. But between supporting Jay's efforts to make headway on the ball field and keep a balance in the classroom, she noticed a lot of players and parents shared issues. That first season, a half-dozen or so parents joined up for a group that Johnson admits had nebulous intentions to support at first.
Even at this relative ebb, Johnson — or Mama D.J. as multitudes of Ohio State players, coaches, and fans call the 50-year old retired professor — stays busy. Team Mom to one of America's most high profile football programs, she's fully knowledgeable that full-contact parenting is a year-round job.
"We had 30,000 out for a spring practice the other night. A Monday night practice," D.J. told me during a telephone interview that ended at 8 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. "There is no downtime."
If you're a parent up there in those stands, either at the Dublin high school stadium or up in those pricier seats in Columbus and Oakland, it can be an emotional jungle out there in the stands. You befriend parents whose kids your own son is competing against. Which means you have friends who might benefit from your boy getting hurt. Or vice versa. It's crazy up there. But Deb's whole trip is to make the parents' ride a bit less zany.
Back in 2003, Jay was a freshman climbing the depth-chart depths. With no previous experience in the vagaries of big-time college football. She felt lost, in terms of camaraderie and just the general stream of fame and physical risk that is the firmament of the game. Frankly, she began to feel at sea a season earlier, when recruiting letters began flooding the Dublin mailbox. But between supporting Jay's efforts to make headway on the ball field and keep a balance in the classroom, she noticed a lot of players and parents shared issues. That first season, a half-dozen or so parents joined up for a group that Johnson admits had nebulous intentions to support at first.
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09:27 EDT, 10.May.08
10:30 EDT, 09.May.08