The Legend of Eleven

Numbers. Yeck. I get the picture of a cold accountant's cubicle with the oh so exciting accounts payables, when I think of numbers. Meaningless. Cold. Boring. But that's the amazing thing about sports. It turns these otherwise useless numbers into something warm and meaningful, something with a history, something to inspire awe.

Name the owners of these storied numbers. If you said, "Touchdown! Joe Montana to Jerry Rice," you've got the first one. You've also got Michael "Air" Jordan, The Great Bambino, and the always remembered Pat Tillman. And of course, how can the city of Detroit ever forget what incredible players they've witnessed, that had donned the number 20? There will never be another Billy Sims. And there will surely never be another Barry Sanders. Yes, these numbers inspire a legacy of greatness, great comebacks, clutch performances, improbable victories.

And so we come to the year 2004, when a new legend is born. No. 11, Roy Williams. I remember well after the draft when they finally assigned the numbers. Roy got number 11. "How appropriate," I thought for a simple reason I will reveal later. But the number 11 was a faceless number. Something in your accounts payable, for the amount of money you spent eating a forgettable lunch at some inconsequential diner, on some forgettable business trip. The anxiousness of fans agitated, "Why number 11?.. Why not something in the 80's?" "85 isn't taken." "Give him 84, Tai Streets can use something else." "Give him 81, since we're cutting Az anyway." No, this was a number with no history behind it. No legacy. But that is perfect. Because this prodigy of a receiver, this physical specimen, this playmaker... would write his own legacy... and the number 11 would be all his own. And, boy, has he gotten off to a running start.

Spectacular Catch Number 1: Roy Williams is double covered, he jumps up, using his left hand to shield and push off of Charles Tillman. He taps the ball with his right hand into the air to get it away from the safety, catches it as he falls, secures it low, rolls on the turf untouched, gets up, and begins to run before he is surrounded by a pack of Bears who can't even tackle him. They have to rely on the ref's whistle to call the play dead after they halt his progress. "Oh what a spectacular catch!" yells the play-by-play announcer. "We may not see a catch like that all season," he says. Oh how wrong he was.

Spectacular Catch Number 2: Roy is double covered again in the endzone. He has a safety over the top, and Aaron Glenn. Joey Harrington threads it right through, but Roy Williams uses his strength and goes up and gets the ball. "Touchdown!!! That was a manly play." It sure was.

Spectacular Catch Number 3: In the red zone. The formation has the receivers tight. Roy Williams runs an out pattern on the inside front of the endzone with the defender behind him. Joey puts it outside away from the defender. Roy makes another amazing catch with the presence of mind of keeping both feet inbounds, dragging them for emphasis. This is a touchdown. Upon getting up, he holds his arms up in the touchdown symbol. It kind of resembles something. Yeah, it looks like the number 11.

This is why the number 11 was so appropriate for the talented young receiver oozing with potential. I visualized it. Touchdown. Hold up your arms. The number 11. It would have meaning. As it stands, he made many more spectacular catches against a stout Philadelphia defense. And it appears that this is going to be a big book if we are going to chronicle every spectacular catch that Roy makes. So get used to this number. No one's really heard much about it, but you will. As will the rest of the world. It isn't going to be just some odd number. It's going to have some history. A legacy. It's only been three games, and we're going to have a lot of fun watching this kid from Odessa, Texas, make some serious history. And when people think of that number 11, they'll think of the touchdown and the Honolulu Blue jersey. They'll think of the Detroit Lions. They'll think of the legend, Roy Williams.

Written by: Don "Honolulu Blue" Barayuga, Staff Writer