Football Offers Blades Oasis
With his life in turmoil, Brian Blades admits he is surprised at how well this football season has gone for him.
The Seattle Seahawks wide receiver needs only 11 more catches to break his club record of 81 in a season. He needs 62 more receiving yards for his fourth 1,000-yard year.
All against a backdrop of tragedy.
“I’m surprised,” he said this week. “Especially what I’m going through, what I’ve been through and what I’m about to go through. I just try to stay focused and keep God first in my life.
“That’s all I can do.”
Blades’ life changed forever July 5 when his cousin, Charles Blades, 30, was shot and killed inside the wide receiver’s condominium in Plantation, Fla.
Blades admits firing the pistol that killed Charles, but claims the shooting was accidental. Authorities agree the shooting was unintentional, but charged Blades with manslaughter on grounds he was negligent.
No trial date has been set, but it is expected to take place this spring. Blades also faces a civil wrongful-death suit filed by Charles’ ex-wife on behalf of the couple’s daughter.
Blades won’t discuss the shooting. But he discussed how he has dedicated the season to Charles and why he points skyward after the national anthem at each game and after each big catch.
“That’s for my cousin, to let him know,” Blades said, his voice faltering. “… Everything that I’m doing. … You know.”
Blades says he has “good days and bad days.
“It’s something I’m going to have to deal with and live with for the rest of my career and the rest of my life,” he said, adding that his religious faith and the support of friends and teammates help.
“My teammates have been great, really great,” he said. “The organization has been wonderful.”
Blades’ contract expires at the end of the season and the criminal case, which could include a prison term if he is convicted, makes his future uncertain.
Seahawks offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski, who flew to Florida to be with Blades after the shooting, said, “There have been a lot of people who have been a help to him. When it’s time to leave him alone and let him be by himself, they’ve done it. And when it’s time to rally and give him support, they’ve done that.”
Some things in Blades’ life haven’t changed. He is helpful to younger players. He has remained a leader.
This week, Blades hosted his fifth annual Christmas party for children at a school for the homeless. He broke into a smile as he talked about the party and how this was the first year he wore a Santa hat during the picture session with each child.
Bratkowski said football has probably been “a little bit of an oasis this year” for Blades.
Blades’ play has helped put the Seahawks in playoff contention, possibly extending that oasis into early 1996. Last Sunday in Denver, he caught seven fourth-quarter passes for 78 yards in the 31-27 come-from-behind upset.
“You can’t say enough about what he’s done and everything he’s fought through,” coach Dennis Erickson said. “He truly amazes me. When a play needs to be made, he makes it.”
Two of Blades’ final-period catches in Denver were on third downs, the final one for 7 yards on fourth-and-3 to keep the winning drive alive.
Blades always has been known for his toughness, taking and dishing out hits and playing with injuries, including a sprained ankle this year.
At Arizona in October, Blades was hit so hard by Cardinals cornerback Aeneas Williams that his helmet flew off. Blades got right up and put his helmet back on; Williams stayed on the ground for several seconds.
Bratkowski said when Blades got hit going over the middle in Denver last week, a Bronco snarled, “Don’t come back over the middle.”
“Brian told him, ‘I’ll be back the next play.”’ And he was.
But his most important reception this season did not come from a quarterback.
“I would say it was the first time I was introduced to the fans,” he said, referring to a home exhibition game. “I was nervous and worried how they would react.”
Seahawks fans cheered him.
“That really touched me,” he said.