The subject was Halloween last week after Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker entered the media room wearing a frightening mask and sitting silent for a least a minute before taking it off.
Baker said he scared Jonathan Gannon earlier that morning and the head coach admitted as much when he talked to the media the following day.
“Yeah, it scared me and I didn’t know who it was until he went like this (raises the arm on his shirt) and I saw (the No.) 3 on his forearm,” Gannon said. “But he kinda freaked me out; not gonna lie. It was early too and I was a little caught off guard.”
That turned into a discussion about holidays in the reality of an NFL season.
Asked if he enjoys Halloween, Gannon said, “No. Haven’t enjoyed a Halloween since I was in third grade. Long time. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, you don’t get those holidays. I joke about it, but our families make a lot of sacrifice, so I appreciate that.”
That reality reared its head Sunday morning when defensive coordinator Nick Rallis and wife Devin welcomed their second child into the world a little more than four hours before the start of the Cardinals home game against the Bears.
Earlier in the week, he told Gannon he would be calling the defense and then Tuesday explained to the media, “She wants to win. She said I was going to the game no matter what. Thankfully the baby was born four hours before the game. It timed out good.”
It’s rarely talked about, but balancing family and football can be difficult thanks to the hours coaches spend, especially during the season, much less the vagabond life they might lead bouncing from city to city where wives bear the brunt of the responsibilities especially when there are children involved.
Gannon, 41, is in his 18th NFL season and Arizona is his seventh stop. Ten years younger, the Cardinals are Rallis’ third team and adding one in college coaching, this is his fourth team in eight years.
Rallis said of Devin, “It’s a lot. They’re the real MVPs, honestly. For however long the season is, she knows mentally I’m just gone for six months. She is ultimately all about ball. She’s all about ball, too, because she’s the one that has to do everything else.
“That’s not just my wife, that’s a lot of our wives — coaches, players, staff. The hours it takes to be competitive, that’s why we put in the hours, is to try to be the best and win games. That’s the name of the game. There’s sacrifice in that at home. They’re the ones who have to take on that load. I can speak for my wife; she’s awesome with that.”
Adjusting the routine
In a normal home-game week, Rallis goes over the game plan and the calls he will make with Devin on Friday. Then, Sunday morning, he has a cold plunge at the team facility prior to a visit to a coffee shop where he again goes over the plan in his head for the game.
Friday was the same, Rallis said, when he reviewed the game plan with Devin while she was also watching TV.
He admitted, “I don’t think she listens to me very much. She said, ‘Mm-hmm.'”
Sunday, with the birth imminent, he skipped the cold plunge and jumped in his pool, which felt like a bath instead of a chilled therapy tank.
There was also the trip to the hospital, which he said, “I’ll save that story to myself, but it got close in the car.”
The trip to the coffee shop was also out, but the baby arrived early enough that he could go over the plan again with Devin, who said, “sure,” when he asked if that was OK about an hour after the baby was born.
While he said he considered doing it by himself in the hospital room, he thought it would be weird with the nurses coming in and out, but did acknowledge. “Our doula was looking at us, like, ‘What is going on right here?’ Like, ‘I’m not sure what this guy’s talking about.’ I’m just sitting there talking to my wife, like, ‘OK, 11 personnel, here’s the calls: Blah blah blah, blah blah, blah blah. If they go to this, I got to go to this.’
“And, so, I ended up doing that process in the hospital, which was cool.”
There was still some things to attend to after the game as Rallis prepared to leave and head back to his wife and son. He asked equipment manager Jeff Schwimmer, “Can I get a toothbrush? (Wasn’t) really prepared to go sleep at a hospital.”
The middle name
After the TV broadcast let it be known that Rallis had become a father again before the game and that his name was Dominick Kyzir, the story took on a life of its own with Kyzir White one of the team’s starting inside linebackers.
Rallis hadn’t told any of the players about the birth before the game and White was informed during a postgame interview on the field.
As for the middle name, White said later, “He’s been telling me for a few weeks, but I thought he was playing around. He kept fishing around, ‘Hey, what’s your name mean?’ I was like, ‘I don’t even know what my name means, to be honest.’
“I asked my Mom and looked it up and sent it to him. It meant handsome and something else. He was like, ‘Man, you ain’t handsome.’ Joking around.”
He added, “That’s a blessing. That’s my guy. In Philly that was my position coach, so to see him grow. He don’t blow smoke. He don’t tell me what I want to hear; he tells me what I need to hear. And he’s only like three years older than me. He’s a great coach. I love Nick, man. He’s going to be a head coach one day.”
On social media, White posted, “My dawg for life. This dope. Can’t wait to meet nephew.”
Rallis said he had to compromise on the first name to get Devin to agree to the middle name, but admitted he does like the name Dominick.
He also addressed what led him to honoring White that way.
“Kyzir specifically, I can tell my son ultimately what stands out about him and why he’s a captain is he’s the ultimate teammate, ultimate team-first guy,” Rallis said. “The model for accountability. There’s so many stories I could probably list to you, but the guy shows up every day with a smile on his face ready to go to work.
“Takes a lot of ass chewings from me to be honest and he’s phenomenal with it like, ‘Yeah I like that! You make me better!’ It’s that kind of player that I have a lot of respect for.”
When it was noted that he also must have or had strong relationships with many players, Rallis said White represents them all.
He said, “As a coach, I have a great appreciation for being a part of a lot of players’ careers, and it’s a small part, because there’s so much that goes into what makes them great. I think back to when I was growing up and how I looked up to professional football players or college players and idolized them. There’s people out there that do the same for these guys currently and the amount of work they put in to be who they are. It’s greatness.
“It’s cool to be a part of helping them get to where they are in their career and build a legacy. It’s kind of an appreciation that I have for a lot of guys that I’ve been around. Just being able to honor not just Kyzir but every player that I’ve touched in some sort of way and resembling that through my child’s name.”
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