The Oldest Brother – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/15/1998 12:00:00 AM | Football
October 15, 1998
COLUMBUS, Ohio – By Pat Chun, OSU Athletic Communications
Ohio State free safety Gary Berry gets an earful during games.
As a starter for the No.1 team in the county, he, like his other defensive secondary mates are targets for a exorbitant amount of trash talk from the opponent’s receivers and backs.
(Let’s face it, trash talk is a big part of gamesmanship.)
Berry has found himself on the receiving end of taunts like:
“Make the play punk!”
“You should have caught that ball!”
“About time you did something!”
What may surprise you is Berry’s reaction, along with Antoine Winfield’s and Ahmed Plummer’s – it’s laughter.
The only person who isn’t laughing in the secondary is strong safety Damon Moore.
Why you ask?
Is he that intense?
Is he mad?
Does he block everything out so well that he can’t hear anything said on the field?
Well for those who know Moore, this answer won’t be much of a surprise. Moore is too busy to laugh because you see – he’s the one taunting his teammate. Let me repeat myself, it’s Moore who is taunting his teammate.
“It’s all out of love,” Moore says.
“We play a tough schedule and there are some tense moments out on that field. My teammates look to me to loosen things up. Joking around with the other d-backs and guys on the defense helps ease the moment for all of us.
“Gary’s like my little brother, and everyone picks on their little brother,” Moore says laughing.
Berry accepts his role as the youngest brother of the secondary and knows that the older brothers are only trying to make him better.
“We’re all like brothers,” Berry says. “Out there, we make fun of each other. If Plum (Plummer) or Toine (Winfield) or Damon drops a pass that should be intercepted, it helps cuts the tension. We all know we are supposed to make plays and dwelling on the negative doesn’t do much good. Nobody wants to be on the receiving end of the ridicule, so it gives us a little extra edge.”
But Moore’s bantering doesn’t just stay on the field. It can strike anywhere.
“The day after the Penn State game, we were in our film session,” Plummer says. “We were looking at the coverage during my interception. If you notice, Damon was running towards me when the ball was in the air. Damon got really close to me when I made the interception. He than yells out ‘I should have hit you.’ He said he wanted all of us tied for the team lead in interceptions. The entire room breaks up laughing. We needed that moment. It was Sunday night, after practice and a comment like that loosens things up. To have those kinds of guys in the heat of battle helps you stay loose.”
And Moore can strike during practice.
“We came in together and its just like I would do anything for him,” wide receiver Dee Miller says. “In practice, if we beat him on a play – we took this from the Dikembe Mutombo commercial – we tell him we just dunked on him or we dunked on the d-backs.
“Damon, I have so much love for him. We talk a lot. So much has been said since we’ve been here. But I think I’ve gotten him more than he’s gotten me.”
If you haven’t figured it out yet, there is a deep sense of love between Moore and his teammates. It’s no secret he is one of the most popular members on the squad. And it’s no secret that he has battled just as hard off the field as on.
In late September of last year, Moore’s father Cleo passed away after a heart attack. For Moore, the following weeks and months were filled with heartache.
“I learned a lot about myself during that time,” Moore said. “It showed me that no matter what, life goes on. There are always going to be some rough things. But the sun will always come up. Football wasn’t everything and I needed to make other changes in my life. It kind of humbled me. Made me look at everything I did differently.
“I have other things to shoot for in life but I know he’s still watching.”
The 1998 season has seen the rebirth of Damon Moore. He has been able to move forward in life and the results are showing on the field. Most importantly, he’s having fun again.
“This year, I can concentrate on what I have to do,” Moore said. “Everyone else in the secondary knows where they belong, know where they fit and they line up and just play.
“I’m just out there having fun. I don’t have to worry about putting someone here or putting someone there. I can just try and make some plays and have some fun. We have a chance to do something that no Ohio State team has done in some time.”
But the biggest recipients of Moore’s “fun” are still the opponents. Great defense backs have to be mentally strong, with a short memory, an extremely high level of confidence and the ability to get inside the mind of a wide receiver.
“Everybody does it. It’s a part of the game,” Moore says. “We’re all competitors on that field but yet we’re all out there to do our jobs. We like to try to intimidate receivers, get them out of their game, you got to do what you got to do.
“But this is just on the football field, because it’s fun. Football is way to get away from any personal things or anything else in life. It’s nice to concentrate on football and have some fun doing it. I like to get everyone excited because I enjoy what I do. I want to have a good time out here and get something done for my team.”
What may appear to be good sportsmanship on the field is actually Moore playing his mental games. Whenever he makes a tackle, he helps the opponent off his back. Sounds like a nice gesture?
“Like Coach always says, ‘knock them down and help them back up, ” Moore says. “That’s demoralizing to a team. Last year when Penn State ran over us, they’d help us out of the pile right after they just knocked us down.
“I talk a lot of trash just like everybody. We try to intimidate teams without to much disrespect. “I just let them know its going to be a long game. I tell them ‘I hope you guys are ready, you don’t know what your in for.’ It’s all a part of the game. They try to do the same to us.”
“Against Penn State, it was around the middle of the third quarter and I told them ‘you guys knew it was going to happen even before you got here.”
At least his teammates laughed.
