When the Vikings decided not to re-sign long-time Pro Bowl center Matt Birk after the 2008 season, the job fell to John Sullivan.
Sullivan sprained his ankle in camp, an injury that the team apparently kept under wraps -- successfully -- for all of the 2009 season. Then, Sullivan received a baptism by grease fire, facing very large men like Shaun Rogers and Haloti Ngata not long into Sullivan’s career as a starter, while being continuously responsible for getting the ball properly into the hands of Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre.
Though Sullivan made it through his challenging first season as a starter, Sullivan would face a far greater challenge during the offseason. In June, his father, Rick, died suddenly of a heart attack.
“It’s one of those things that happens in life,” Sullivan told Chip Scoggins of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “The Vikings were great to me and my family. A lot of support there. "
Rick Sullivan died on the day he returned home from a visit with his son.
“We had a great time, a fitting good-bye,” Sullivan said. “It’s an unfortunate circumstance, but he had a good life. . . . I was close to him, but it’s going to happen eventually. Everybody has to go through it at some point with loved ones. We’ll be just fine. I have a great support system in Minnesota and back in Connecticut. A close-knit family. Three brothers and my mom, so we’ll be just fine.”
It’s hard not to wonder whether Sullivan’s repeated use of “we’ll be just fine” is part of an effort to convince himself of that sentiment. The hard exterior notwithstanding, Sullivan likely is still hurting badly -- but also looking forward to the distraction that football season should provide.
If Sullivan will be playing for his dad this year, he’s not saying so. “I will play this year for me and my teammates,” Sullivan said. “He would want me to answer it that way.”
Sullivan surely will be thinking about his dad once the season starts. Rick Sullivan attended all but one of Sullivan’s 43 starts at Notre Dame, and Rick Sullivan attended Vikings games on a regular basis.
Whether John Sullivan is consciously trying even harder to honor his father with every snap of the 2010 season, we have a feeling that he will.