Baltimore is now the city of brotherly love
Ma’ake Kemoeatu missed his final collegiate football game because the NCAA suspended him for improperly providing textbooks to his younger brother.
He was a four-year starter at Utah on scholarship and his little brother Tevita was a walk-on. Their parents didn’t have enough money to buy books, so Ma’ake bought them for him and therefore couldn’t play in the Las Vegas Bowl against USC.
Buying books for Tevita is one thing. Donating a kidney for his brother Chris, was another matter. Chris was a two time Super Bowl Champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers as an offensive guard. His weight had risen to 385 lbs. which made the surgery quite risky. Chris and Ma'ake would each have to go on a diet. Ma'ake would also have to give up his career as a 345 lb. nose tackle for the Baltimore Ravens.
Scott Brown, ESPN:
The brothers began preparing for the surgery a year and a half ago. But when the time came, the ex-Steeler called his brother with surprising news: He first needed a coronary bypass. Ma'ake said he comforted his brother in the only way he knew how: with football analogies.
"I knew in my mind that he's fighting a kidney and now he has to have heart surgery," Ma'ake said. "I said to him, it's going to be OK. I talked to him in football aspects. I said, `all right, we're not going to get this in the first down, but we're fourth and long right now and we have to go deep. We'll make it through the first down-the heart surgery-to the end zone: the kidney transplant."
Chris and Ma'ake are both unrestricted free agents. Their August 27th surgery went well and they are halfway through the recovery period. Unless Hawaii gets an NFL franchise anytime soon, the brothers will tend to their business and retire in our 50th state.
Laken Litman, USAToday:
They say ‘I love you’ more these days.
“We were raised in a tough atmosphere,” Ma’ake said. “But after this, I think we say it.”
Then he turned to his brother Chris and said, “I love you man.”
There is some good news coming out of the NFL. It is the first time in awhile that it has come from the Baltimore Ravens.
Paul Murphy is a freelance writer from New Hampshire.
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