CLEARWATER, Fla. - Jim Stassi always encouraged his three boys to try anything, provided they gave it their all. But this was ridiculous. Each time Brock Stassi faded back to pass for his seventh-grade football team, the opposing defense followed close behind.
"It was take the snap," Jim Stassi was saying over the phone, "and run for your life."
Football seemed like a good idea at the time. Brock Stassi was big enough, strong enough, had the kind of throwing arm even then that immediately thrust him into the quarterback position.
"I had watched it on TV and figured with those pads on this wasn't going to hurt," the Phillies "prospect" recalled at his locker.