I generally think almost all advertisements are stupid, but this commercial depicting Jimmy Graham's childhood and ascent to super-stardom gave me goosebumps. As one commenter on YouTube put it, this should be titled: "How to make someone a Jimmy Graham fan in 60 seconds."
For those of you that don't know, Graham had a very tough childhood and was placed in a group home at the age of 11 after he was abandoned by his parents. He faced abuse from other children there. He was eventually taken in and adopted by a youth counselor in high school, turning his focus to basketball, and that helped him earn a scholarship to Miami. Of course, he's now an NFL superstar.
At the age of 9, his stepfather dropped him at the door of social services because Graham's mother wouldn't turn over the $98 child support check she received each month. Two years later, his mother dropped him off at a group home, where, for two years, he was beaten up and forced to live in daily fear because of the older kids and bullies in the house.
At 14, he finally found a loving home under the roof of foster parent Becky Vinson, but it was far from glamorous. He often went to bed hungry and had to wear a jacket to bed and sleep in the living room near the stove because the trailer had no heat.
"When I was a kid, I used to always think what my worth was, and I guess $98 was what my worth was when I was 9," Graham told ESPN. "I considered myself the kid with the 1 percent chance to make it."
It's just a commercial, but it's pretty personal and powerful to watch.