With a Name Like Justin Gunn, He's Got to Go Pro

It all began in Southern California in the early 1989. My newlywed parents met a young couple at church named Mike and Donna Gunn who had just had a red headed bundle of joy named Justin. The more that my mom and dad spent time with the Gunns, the more they wanted to have a child of their own and so on September 28, 1990 they had their own little bundle of joy… that would be me… Mikey.

However, this story isn’t about me, it is about Justin. Justin was an athletic prodigy as a child, largely due to genes that he inherited from his father who was a linebacker at Boston College in the late 70’s and his mother who was the inspiration for the Marvel Comic heroine – Superwoman.

Although our families went their separate ways… us to Pennsylvania and the Gunns to Seattle, we have managed to stay in touch and to visit on a regular basis. Year after year, we would hear about Justin’s athletic exploits and occasionally, we would actually get to see them or if we were really lucky to be a part of them. One time I witnessed him throw a football all the way over a very large two story house and on several occasions he and his father (who doesn’t seem to age… even though he is now 50) destroyed my Dad (who always seems to age) and I in basketball.

This past weekend, I once again got to spend some time with Justin. He just graduated from high school after lettering in baseball, basketball, and football (where he played quarterback, safety, kicker, and punter). As a result of his athletic prowess he earned a scholarship to the University of Washington in both baseball and football.

Since he is already working out with the football team, we had the opportunity to visit him at the U.W. Justin showed us the weight room, the basketball arena, the university’s hall of fame, the baseball field, and he even took us out on the football field. This was especially cool for my bother John since the last time he went out on to a major athletic field he almost got arrested. I told him not to jump over the infield wall at the end of the Phillies game but he wouldn’t listen. Let’s just say the security people at Citizens Bank Park were less than impressed with John. But that is a story for another day.

To say that we are excited for Justin is an understatement. John and I have been researching him on the Internet site scout.com. During our visit we “encouraged” Justin by telling him that he could beat out Jake Locker (the starting quarterback at U.W.). Even though Justin was not the most highly touted recruit, I believe he is the most skilled and works harder than everybody else. I know this firsthand because I did a plyometric work out with Justin and his dad. It was crazy, Mr. Gunn attached us to bungee cords and made us try to run… he even hooked me up to a parachute and told me to sprint… it was like being a part of some sick Nazi war experiment. I was dying and Justin didn’t even break a sweat… hence Justin is going to U.W. and I’m probably going to H.A.C.C.

During our time together, we also did a lot of other fun stuff like watching Tommy Boy (“Oh, that's gonna leave a mark!”), watching 24 (Jason Bourne’s got nothing on Jack Bauer), and playing NCAA 2007 football on the XBox 360. Playing XBox was awesome. John was Penn State, Justin was U.W., and Justin was getting his butt kicked. So in John’s great wisdom, he decides to talk some smack on Justin. This only fueled Mr. Gunn’s fire to actually start coaching his son in the video game. It was as if Mr. Gunn was actually walking the sidelines. He’s yelling at Justin, “Justin, he’s blitzing, you’ve got to get rid of the ball.” It was like a real football game! Unfortunately for John, his smack talk caught up to him. The game went into three overtimes with John just barely escaping with the win.

We had a great time together, but we left Justin a severe warning. If U.W. plays Penn State in a bowl game, we will be rooting for Sean Lee to sack him.

By Mikey