Sports > Columnists > Bob Lutz

Posted on Sun, Nov. 01, 2009

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Bishop still performing high-wire act

Watching Michael Bishop play quarterback at Kansas State was like watching the flying trapeze act at the circus.

Ooohhh! Aaahhh! Wow! Yikes!

Bishop fumbled five times in arguably his team's biggest game of the 1998 season, a home win against Nebraska, then dropped the football again in the waning minutes of the Big 12 championship game against Texas A&M, a miscue that probably cost the Wildcats a shot at the national championship.

Yet despite such high-profile blunders, Bishop finished second to Texas running back Ricky Williams for the Heisman Trophy and took K-Staters on a thrill ride the likes of which they'd never known.

The thrill isn't gone, it's just a little harder to find.

Bishop had a short run in the NFL with the New England Patriots, but has made his mark professionally in the Canadian Football League and the Arena League.

He's still walking the high wire, as evidenced by his game last week against CFL powerhouse Montreal. Bishop passed for a career-high 411 yards and two touchdowns in Winnipeg's 41-24 win.

He did that in three quarters, playing with a sore right hamstring.

"It's just a blessing to have a game like that,'' Bishop said. "I just had such a smile on my face. I was so pumped up for the offensive line and for the receivers. I really didn't sleep much the night before; I just had this feeling about the game that all I had to do was show up. Even though there haven't been too many teams that have stayed on the field with Montreal this year, I had this gut feeling that it was going to be a great day.''

Bishop has always trusted his gut.

He felt much the same way on a brisk November day in 1998, before K-State's game against Nebraska, which had beaten the Wildcats 29 straight times.

"I remember sitting in Coach (Bill) Snyder's office and he asked me how I felt about the possibility of running the ball a lot and passing a lot in that game,'' Bishop said. "I told him that if that's what we needed to do to win the game, then let's do it.''

Yes, Bishop did fumble five times. He also rushed for 140 yards on 25 carries and completed 19 of 33 passes for 306 yards. If there's a trade-off there, the yardage far outweighed the fumbles.

"It was such an amazing game,'' Bishop said of the Cats' 40-30 win over the Huskers. "I can see it like it was yesterday. I remember looking into Coach Snyder's face after it was over and seeing just how that game affected him and that we had finally gotten it done against Nebraska.''

Bishop is 33. He has played a lot of football games; for several years he played full schedules in the CFL and AFL. He has dealt with disappointment and elation and, with his career waning, has gained the kind of perspective aging athletes ultimately must confront, even if they do so kicking and screaming.

Bishop's age and experience increase with relative calm.

"This time has gone by so fast,'' he said. "Looking back, I was blessed to have the opportunity to reach the NFL, regardless of the round I was drafted in. It's the highest level you can get to and I learned a lot. I was around a lot of great players.''

If Bishop has even a hint of bitterness, he hides it well.

Despite pushing Williams for the Heisman, Bishop wasn't chosen until the seventh and final round of the 1999 NFL Draft, the 227th player chosen.

It seemed like a slap in the face, and at first Bishop took it that way.

Ultimately, though, he came to appreciate his lot, not anguish over it.

"I used to talk to my mom every day,'' Bishop said. "She always told me that I might not make it, but if I did make it to be thankful. She wanted me to be prepared for life if I didn't make it in football.''

Bishop threw nine passes for New England in 2000 as he and a rookie named Tom Brady backed up Drew Bledsoe.

The rap on Bishop was that he wasn't a prototypical NFL passer. He looked to run first, the scouts said, and pass second.

Bishop never saw it that way. He prided himself on his passing, even if he sometimes struggled with accuracy.

"I didn't really start running the ball as a quarterback until I got to K-State,'' he said. "I never considered myself to be a great runner, but I tried to do what I could to help the team.''

Bishop, cut by the Patriots after the 2000 season, thought it was just a matter of time before he found the right coach, the right system and the right supporting cast in the NFL.

Nine years later, he has accepted fate.

"A lot of people, to this day, think I got a raw deal in the NFL,'' Bishop said. "But you know what? I can walk, I can talk, I get up every morning and thank God for giving me another day. So I'm blessed regardless of whether I throw another football the rest of my life. It's not always about making money, making commercials, which seems to be what so many of these young guys today think it's all about.''

Bishop has two kids; his 10-year-old daughter is a soccer players and lives in Wichita with her mother. His mother, Ethel, died in 2006.

He spends the offseason in Texas, where he grew up, and has kept an eye on Kansas State, especially since Snyder returned to the sideline this season.

"I think it's a great opportunity for Coach to go back into a situation where he's comfortable,'' Bishop said. "He loves being around K-State and being around that football program.''

There wasn't a one in a million chance Bishop, who had led Blinn (Texas) Junior College to a 24-0 record and two national championships, was going to Kansas State, mainly because he had never heard of the place.

But when Snyder visited his home in Willis, Texas, the rest of the recruiters in America fell off Bishop's earth.

"The only thing I knew at all about Kansas State was that I had watched them play in the Cotton Bowl against BYU (1996 season),'' Bishop said. "But listening to Coach Snyder in my living room, about how he wanted to use me and how he talked to me about life other than football, I was ready to sign within 15 minutes. We didn't even talk about football that much. He was impressive.''

Bishop, obviously, helped cement Snyder's legacy. And vice versa.

It's interesting that so many years later, both legacies are still being written.

Eagle sports columnist Bob Lutz co-hosts "Sports Daily" from 9-11 a.m. weekdays on KFH, 1240-AM and 98.7-FM. Reach him at 316-268-6597 or blutz@wichitaeagle.com.