When Ed Carroll takes his place on the Baltimore Ravens sideline today to watch the team play the Houston Texans, he wont be concentrating on formations or play-calling. Hes not interested in the snap counts or blitzing schemes either.
Good ShoesLittlestown Resident Helps the Ravens Look Good, P, Instead, what Carroll will be looking for is those Ravens who are adjusting their chin straps, or fiddling with their shoulder pads, or the ones having trouble keeping their socks pulled up.
Its an indication that something is wrong and needs to be replaced or adjusted, and its Carrolls job to make things right.
As equipment manager for the Ravens, the Littlestown resident plays an essential behind-the-scenes role in keeping the team running smoothly.
For 22 seasons Carroll has been in charge of details, both big and small,fashion handbags for the franchise, since its days in Cleveland as the Browns. His duties run the gamut, from dressing the players before games and operating the play clock during practice, to coordinating the packing and travel of gear and equipment across the country for away games.
Literally, on Sundays I dress the guys, said Carroll, noting that many players have their fingers taped and Velcro on their pads that make it difficult for them to suit up.
Last week, Carroll was busy unpacking and sorting through 182 cases of Nike shoes, designated for 35 of the Ravens who have contracts with the company.
We go through a lot of shoes, thousands of them Hot Sale Ugg Boots, Carroll said. The bigger and stronger players of today put more wear and tear on equipment, especially shoes, he explained.
You dont want a guy to break an ankle because you dont want to give him a pair of shoes, he said.
Carroll handles everything related to outfitting the players: jerseys, shoulder pads, helmets, shoes, gloves and more. There is the cleaning,Ugg Boots Cheap care and repair of those items, as well as the blocking dummies, sleds, balls and other items needed for on-field practice. Oh, yes, then there is the transportation of all those items for games.
At this time of the year, its enough to keep Carroll moving almost non-stop as he puts in 12- to 14-hour days at the Ravens training complex in Owings Mills, Md.
On a typical day, Carroll will leave his home around 3:30 a.m. in order to get to the complex in time to open it up, do some laundry and check his messages before everyone starts to arrive for practices.
Its packing for the game that coming week and then also getting everything ready for practice because we have everything they use on the field for practice Handbags Discount, all those sleds and dummies, down box and chains. All that stuff comes under equipment, he said.
After practices, Carroll does tons of laundry, sanitizes items, makes repairs and gets things ready for the next day.
By the end of the week, Carroll has to have all the equipment ready for travel, which could be a miliar ride down the highway for home games at M&T Bank Stadium or a flight across country for a game on the West Coast.
Either way,Ugg Boots Cheap Online it means loading and unloading anywhere from 9,000 to 14,000 pounds of equipment, depending on the time of year. Late-season games at Green Bay, New England and other northern locations mean more to pack for Carroll, his two full-time assistants, and part-timers.
If its an outside game I have to take heavier stuff, and long underwear, heat packs and heavy jackets and stuff, Carroll said. Im responsible for getting everything there.
But its a routine that Carroll has down pat. He has been the equipment manager for the Ravens franchise since 1990 buy handbags cheap, when the team played in Cleveland. And while his primary responsibility is the safety of the players, through the years, the unassuming Carroll has become a friend, ther figure and mentor to players and staff.
He has been there when players were drafted out of college as young, wide-eyed athletes, and has watched them grow into veterans.
Carroll praised Ravens General Manager Ozzie Newsome for drafting players that fit in with the team.
He brings in really quality people and thats all you ask for, he said. I treat everybody with respect and thats all you ask for in return is respect.
Carrolls connection to pro football began in the early 1970s when he became a partner in a sporting goods store in his native Cleveland with boyhood friend Tom Schoen, who played for the Browns. Carroll designed equipment and did fittings and repairs for some of the players.
In 1983,Buy Ugg Boots he was asked to join the Browns as assistant equipment manager.
I was very miliar with them and they were very miliar with me, he said.
He left the team and worked for six years as a salesman for Riddell, a manucturer of helmets and other equipment, before returning to the Browns as head equipment manager.
It has been hard work all these years, work that has taken a toll on Carroll, who will turn 65 in December.
They (bags of equipment) seem to get heavier and heavier, he said.
Last spring, he had two surgeries to fuse bones in his lower back and neck. And while the NFL lockout provided some extra time for him to recover, soon it got to a point where it was really boring.
When the league and players did settle on a new contract, just prior to the beginning of training camp in July Ugg 2011, it created a mad crunch for Carroll.
When they did come in, everything happened at once. We werent getting word of what the agreement was. For the past 15 to 20 years it was always 80 players coming into camp, and this year it increased by 10 to 90 players.
So all of a sudden youre scrambling to get more lockers and more equipment and more stuff to help with the team. It becomes a lot when youve got two practices a day, Carroll said. People say 10 guys, that isnt much, but when you figure all the stuff they have to have. Its quite a bit.
Carroll knows the ins and outs of the business as well as anyone. He has to keep track of which players have contracts to which brands of shoes, and which logos are not allowed to show on the field or during postgame interviews.
They pay as much money as they do, these companies to contract with the NFL,Cheap Ugg Boots you cant have somebody elses logo showing. Its a big business, said Carroll, who in 2003 was name the NFL Equipment Manager of the Year.
One thing Carroll has learned through the years is to stay out of the way while on the sideline. Several years back Carrolls knee was injured when Derrick Mason, playing for the Tennessee Titans at the time, plowed into him after returning a kick out of bounds. Carroll brushed off the injury, limping through the rest of the season until finally seeking treatment.
After the season I went to our trainer and said something happened to my knee, he said. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed he had torn his posterior cruciate ligament and his meniscus.
Carroll is old school like that. He has never missed a day during the season in all the time he has been equipment manager. Last week, despite a bad cold and a bye week for the team, Carroll still left early each morning and had things rolling for practices.
Its just what you do, he said. I always figured wherever the road takes me just go. Work hard and be happy and enjoy it.
Carroll has been so dedicated to his work that he almost didnt meet his wife buy designer handbags, Suzanne.
As Carroll tells it, a lady in Westminster, Md. that did the dry cleaning and alterations for the team had to convince him to go out.
She asked, What do you do when you go home? he said. I worked and I came home until I fell asleep and I went back to work.
She said Dont you ever go out? and I said nope. She said Why dont you come out some time? and I said nope.
But Carroll finally agreed to go to a bull roast.
It was kind of a setup to meet her (Suzanne), he said.
When that seamstress retired, Suzanne took over the sewing and alteration duties for the team.
My wife said Why dont you just bring it home and Ill sew it, he said. She was obviously good at it. Sometimes, I cant do the sewing or the alteration but I can describe to her what the player asked for.
Last week,Ugg Boots Suzanne was busy hand-sewing adjustments to several player jerseys, expanding the neckline on Ray Lewis jersey because he likes it loose around the neck. She was also adding more material under Joe Flaccos sleeve, because he said it was too tight.
I have no contact with the players, Suzanne said. He just tells me what they want and I just do it. Ive been doing it for a long time.
According to Carroll, some players are more particular about their appearance and uniform than others. He said the important thing is to make them comfortable and happy.
If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play well. Thats what they always say, Carroll said. Everybody has their little quirks and stuff.
Few have been as quirky as Tony Siragusa, a 300-plus pound defensive lineman for the Ravens from 1997 through 2001.
At a 10-year reunion last year for the Ravens Super Bowl XV championship team, he ran into Siragusa handbags cheap, nicknamed Goose.
He sees me and the first thing he does is grab me and kiss me on the lips, to the delight of wives and others, he said. Thats a crazy dude. He would say anything to anybody, anytime.
Its the relationships hes built that mean the most to Carroll. After looking out for their safety and needs on a daily basis for years there are some everlasting bonds with players, bonds that have huge linemen like Terrell Suggs calling Carroll dad.
Over the years you watch these guys grow up and mature, get married and have milies and those kinds of things, he said.
He teases retired Ravens offensive lineman Jonathan Ogden when he sees him.
I say, I dont know how you make it without me. Because every Sunday for 12 years I had to dress him, Carroll said.
Its those shared moments Carroll will miss when he finally retires, which likely will be after this season, he said.
Im not going to miss the hours, said Carroll. Its the people that you miss, the players, the camaraderie and friendships Im going to miss.
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