I grew up in Ellensburg, WA. E-burg (as many of the locals called it) is a combination college-cow town. Between the College students, College employees and the indigenous population; the town’s population is about 14,000 to 16,000 (12,000 when I was a kid). I went through the school system in E-burg including the local college – Central Washington University.

 

I still resided in E-Burg when Jon Kitna played football at CWU. As a CWU alumnus I was a rabid football fan and did not miss the home games. In Kitna’s Senior year he took little CWU (NAIA at the time, now NCAA) to the college playoffs. Kitna finished his CWU football career as the NAIA all time passing champ and Co-Champ in the NAIA National Championship game (I can’t remember why but the rules allowed playoff games to end in ties back then and that is what happened).

 

Now I have to be clear. I am now and always will be a Seattle Seahawks fan (where Kitna played for a short while as an undrafted free agent); nonetheless Kitna is a successful NFL player that graduated from the same University as I. I definitely follow his career.

 

I am unhappy the Seahawks are 1 – 1, but I am happy for Kitna to have the Detroit Lions starting their season at 2 – 0.

 

I am even happier that Kitna attributes the clearing of his mind from a concussion to the healing power of God to come off the bench to lead the Lions to victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

 

JRH

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Kitna proves toughness on, off field

 

By Tom Kowalski

Tuesday September 18, 2007, 12:15 AM

DETROIT LIONS: The Latest News, Updates and Opinions

 

 

ALLEN PARK -- OK, let's get this on the table right from the start: I don't really believe Jon Kitna's return from a mild concussion was a "miracle" or the "hand of God."

 

I think Kitna, the Detroit Lions quarterback, returned to Sunday's 20-17 overtime victory over the Minnesota Vikings because he's one tough customer and the cobwebs he endured during a big hit had simply cleared.

 

However, I am 100 percent convinced Kitna believes it was the work of a higher power.

 

"You guys will probably snicker and laugh and have a good time with this, but it was a miracle. That's really what it is," Kitna told reporters on Monday. "You can call it whatever it is, whatever the official diagnosis of it was, but I've never felt anything like that and for it clear up and go right back to as normal as I can be, it's nothing short of a miracle in my life. I definitely feel the hand of God, that's all it was.

 

"You can't explain it, you can't talk about it, I have no headache, I have no symptoms, no lingering effects. That's the worst my head has ever felt and the worst my memory ever was in the second quarter yet, after halftime, there was nothing. It's nothing short of a miracle and you can take that as you wish."

 

Regardless of whether you believe it was really a miracle or not, this is what you should take from this episode: Kitna is one of the toughest players the Lions have ever had, physically and mentally. That's not an exaggeration.

 

In the final 15 minutes of regulation and overtime, Kitna played with complete disregard for his safety and his body. He was deliberately putting himself in harm's way. Not only didn't he shy away from big hits, but tried to crash through them to get extra yards.

 

Even more than that, though, it's Kitna's strong faith in the coaching staff and his teammates that is really the amazing thing. This started late last year when Kitna could see all the problems in the locker room and how the coaching staff was fighting to change the losing culture. He saw some of the young players continue to give it everything they had, even though some of their teammates would ridicule them for the effort.

 

Kitna would see that and his blood would boil, but he knew there was nothing he could do.

 

Lions head coach Rod Marinelli has often said that you can't be a leader unless you have a group of followers and Kitna fully understood there was a small group of Lions last year who had no intention of being led anywhere positive.

 

As Marinelli dumped some of the bad apples and added players of strong character, Kitna's belief in the team continued to grow and that was the root of his 10-win prediction. Kitna knew he'd take plenty of heat for that and while some people think he did it for motivation purposes, the truth is he said it because he really believes it.

Now, many people might consider that a little foolish but, again, we're talking about a guy who has incredible mental toughness and does not waver from his belief system even if it means he will be the object of ridicule.

 

That's the one thing that binds Marinelli and Kitna. They have such a deep faith in what they really believe in, the things that are truly important to them, that they're unbreakable. You cannot bend their will.

 

That doesn't make them perfect and it doesn't even make them winners. But what it does mean is that even if you don't believe in miracles or the hand of God, you've got to believe what you saw with your own eyes on Sunday.

 

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Lions QB Kitna said he returned from concussion thanks to "miracle"

 

By LARRY LAGE, AP Sports Writer
September 17, 2007

Yahoo Sports

Updated on Monday, Sep 17, 2007 6:03 pm, EDT

 

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) -- Detroit quarterback Jon Kitna expected people to snicker and laugh when they heard his explanation for his comeback against Minnesota after getting knocked out of the game with a concussion.

 

"It was a miracle," Kitna said Monday.

 

Kitna left the game in the second quarter, returned in the fourth and led the Lions to a 20-17 win over the Vikings in overtime on Sunday.

 

He said it was the third concussion of his NFL career, and the first since 2001. Kitna said he also had a concussion playing for Seattle against San Francisco in a 1997 preseason game.

 

"I've never felt anything like that, and for it to clear up and go right back to as normal as I can be, is nothing short of a miracle," Kitna said. "I just definitely feel the hand of God. That's all it was. You can't explain it.

 

"I have no headaches, no symptoms, no lingering effects. But that was the worst my head has ever felt, and the worse my memory was in the second quarter. Yet, after halftime there was nothing."

 

The NFL recently announced new guidelines on dealing with concussions, including creating a telephone hotline to make it easier to report when a player with a head injury is being forced to practice or play against medical advice.

 

Concussions have become an increasingly high priority for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and team officials in the past year.

 

"It's about players' safety, and it's good," Lions coach Rod Marinelli said.

 

Kitna said the team's medical staff followed proper procedures, evaluating him with several questions and by shining a light toward his eyes. The team cleared him to play in the third quarter and he came back in the fourth.

 

"They did exactly what they're supposed to do, and that's why I didn't push it very hard because I knew how touchy of a subject it is in the league right now," Kitna said. "Finally in the fourth quarter, basically I said, 'I don't have anything. I'm as clear as I was when the game started."'

 

He was knocked out of the game in the second quarter and appeared to be out for the rest of the day, standing on the sideline without a helmet.

 

"I was out of it. I didn't know anything. I lost coherence," Kitna said. "It's one of those things, you shouldn't even been able to go back in the game, but it went back to normal and cleared up like it never happened."

 

After saying he knew who he was during the game, a reporter asked Kitna if he knew where he was.

 

"Barely," he said.

 

Kitna passed a follow-up examination Monday morning.

"He's fine," Marinelli said. "He didn't have any symptoms, no headaches."

 

Marinelli said it was up to the doctors -- who said Kitna had a "very, mild concussion -- to walk the fine line between listening to Kitna and protecting him.

 

"They were overly cautious and they went through everything they're supposed to do," Marinelli said. "Even when Jon wanted to come back, they held him down until they were convinced and felt good about it."

 

Kitna ran the ball twice on the final possession, taking even more hits, and led a game-winning drive when Detroit trailed or was tied for the third straight game, including a win last season at Dallas.

 

"It was a courageous effort," offensive tackle George Foster said.