COLUMN: A View from the Porch

How often does the best running back on the previous year's football team show up to fall practice hoping to land a secure seat on the bench and an occasional play or two on the field? Last year, junior Tim Ortman ran for a school Sprint Football (formerly Lightweight Football) record 977 yards in just six games. During a 15-0 skunking of Princeton in week two, he gained 226 yards -- 97 more yards than the entire Princeton team accumulated that night. Ortman was also the top rusher in the league and an easy first team All-League selection. So who's the moron who decided that it would be better if Ortman stood on the sidelines? Tim Ortman. Welcome to Ortman's first fall course: Decision Making 101. The problem for Ortman is that all those yards were piled up in Lightweight Football, which, as challenging as it is, doesn't provide the same feeling for him as the thought of bouncing off a 250-pound linebacker and finding open field in front of 10,000 fans. So Ortman, for now, has packed his bag and joined Al Bagnoli's slightly larger version of football. He wasn't guaranteed a spot on the team let alone playing time, but Ortman decided to give it a try. With two a day practices over, Ortman has a jersey if he wants it. Now it's his turn to evaluate what he wants from his final two seasons of college football. Ortman described the chance of coming out on the field with fans in the seats and radio and TV rolling as something that would get his "heart pounding a little more" than his current role as dominator of the Sprint squad. On the other hand, Ortman admitted that his "heart isn't pounding if you are on the sideline." He doesn't want to sit on the bench for two years, but is willing to put in the time learning the system this year if he gets a chance to replace the graduating duo of All-League tailback Jim Finn and Jason McGee next year -- getting the ball and "ducking through the tall guys" as he put it. So is it worth it? Ortman thinks so for now. He likes the thrill and challenge of getting to the highest level of competition. The option to move up to a tougher challenge while still in college athletics or really any college pursuit, as he correctly pointed out, is one that few people have. But given that choice, how many would take it? He gives up the chance to be The Guy on a team, to be feared and talked about by opponents and have the game and the ball placed in his hands play after play. He could continue to rack up school records. He could spare his body a bit of abuse by being hit by guys his size in a shorter season with fewer practices. And ask Ortman how many damn meetings these guys go to. In exchange, Ortman gets no guarantee of getting anything but splinters. It remains a long shot that Ortman will ever become the featured back for the Quakers, and this year will certainly be spent in a backup and special teams role. We haven't even mentioned that Ortman is also part of the Penn wrestling team. Wrestling at 150 pounds, the extra weight he has added to play football this year needs to be shed before he hits the mat in the winter. The circumstances, odds and history are all stacked against Ortman. Yet he has tentatively decided that it is worth it for a shot to prove that he isn't just a good lightweight football player, he's a good football player. "My dad said find the right place and don't regret your decision," Ortman said. "The best case scenario is to be a 1,000 yard rusher for this team. There is no worst case." There is also no chance of failure. Maybe next season Tim Ortman's picture will land on the cover of the homecoming program, or maybe he'll only be an occasional player, but at this point, no one should worry about that. He succeeded just by showing up.

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