SISNEY: John Brown's body of work is unbelievable

After one month of the football season, I’ve seen a few allegedly unbelievable events. Northeast ended its 19-game losing streak, Fort Scott ended its seven-game losing streak to Pittsburg and Frontenac defeated St. Mary’s Colgan for the first time since 1997.

Yeah, you know what, being a witness to all three events, I can believe they happened: Northeast simply outplayed a weaker Fredonia team at home, Fort Scott dominated time of possession in the second half and Frontenac made more of the bigger plays in the game than Colgan, especially at crucial moments in time.

However, I do not believe what happened Saturday night at Brandenburg Field/Carnie Smith Stadium.

Pittsburg State junior wide receiver-return man-all-purpose dynamo John Brown did not catch a pass for the first time during his 18-game PSU career.

Of course, not one pass was intended for Brown during a 59-17 win over Lincoln, a game that felt like it was over after Pitt State blocked a punt and scored a touchdown in less than the first 90 seconds.

Pitt State led 35-3 after one quarter and 56-10 at halftime so why take any unnecessary chances with Mr. Sudden Impact, a player capable of breaking a big play every single time he touches the football.

I still could not believe it, even though objectively it makes perfect sense.

Brown’s night Saturday only demonstrates why he’s arguably the best player in Division II and why he’s definitely the best football player I’ve seen in person after two years on this sports writer beat.

Despite no receptions, Brown generated 128 all-purpose yards, highlighted by a 68-yard punt return for touchdown early in the second quarter. His touchdown electrified an already rockin’ and rollin’ Carnie Smith Stadium filled with 10,779 fans, predominantly Pitt State fans.

A couple of us media cats were discussing old school Pitt State after the game Saturday night and the old Chuck Broyles show came up for conversation. I chimed in that I could even remember watching “The Dennis Franchione Show” on KOAM-TV.

Of course, Ronnie West and Ronald Moore were childhood and early teenage favorites but another Pitt State great played a formative role before them. When I saw Monte Weathers highlights, at the tender age of 9, that’s when I had an epiphany. I wanted to do what he did one day and I wanted to do it for Pitt State. He was the first area football player who inspired similar thoughts to what favorite NFL players of the day Walter Payton and Jerry Rice inspired.

Just because I realized that I would never be a NCAA or a NFL player by the age of 13 doesn’t mean I wasted my time daydreaming or pretending I was my favorite players in the backyard. No, it’s good to find positive inspiration anywhere in life.

John Brown inspires similar thoughts. He’s one of those singular football players who creates excitement with his mere presence. That was made apparent from his first-ever touch of the football in a Pitt State uniform, a punt return for touchdown in the 2011 season opener against Missouri Western, and time and time again during his already great PSU career.

Yes, he’s blessed with incredible physical gifts like speed and leaping ability but I would say that he’s even more blessed with an incredible work ethic and an incredible humility. He’s definitely the opposite of all the prima donna receivers and defensive backs we’ve seen during a lifetime of media consumption — from Deion Sanders to Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson, who sometimes obscured their own football talents with shameless or shameful self-promotion.

When you first encounter Brown in an interview situation, he comes across painfully shy and you wonder how somebody that brilliant on the field could be so reserved under the off-field spotlight. I found it both honest and refreshing, perhaps because I sometimes go through more stutters during an interview than Who lead singer Roger Daltrey in “My Generation.”

Brown started feeling more at ease last season and he’s developed into a solid interview.

I’ve never encountered anybody with a bad word about the young man. An older colleague said at one point during his first John Brown experience, “Brown’s amazing.” He just couldn’t believe that 38-yard catch Brown made against Southwest Baptist. I couldn’t believe it either and I’ve seen lots of Brown’s sensational catches during his time in Pittsburg. At one point, we thought of compiling a collection of “10 Amazing John Brown Catches.” That would be a nice photo spread for the newspaper.

With it being his second year in the Gorilla offensive system, Brown shows even more confidence and comfortability on the field. The Gorillas have found more and more ways to utilize their most dangerous offensive weapon, more and more ways to line him up or to find one-on-one matchups on the outside. Teams have paid dearly for attempts to cover Brown one-on-one and extra help on Brown leaves openings for his teammates.

Lincoln head coach and former Super Bowl hero Mike Jones made an insightful observation about Pitt State: “They have a system they’ve been working on for years and everyone buys into the system. That’s what makes them so good,” Jones said.

Brown having no catches might be a bigger deal in a different football program than Pitt State. However, not at Pitt State, where all the players have bought into a system and they’re working together toward common goals.

Spreading the wealth describes the Pitt State offensive attack: 16 different receivers have combined for 79 receptions, 1,169 yards and seven TDs and 15 different ball carriers have gained 717 yards and 14 TDs on 168 carries.

Back to Brown. During every week of the football season, I think how lucky I am to have this opportunity to be able to cover Brown and to document history. When I am part of the masses who sees that great catch or that great return or Brown taking on the Northwest Missouri mascot at Arrowhead Stadium, I feel very appreciative, very humble and it transcends any occupational hazard associated with being a sports writer.

Writing this column, I recalled a quote inscribed on the inner sleeve of the posthumously-released Joe Strummer (former lead singer of the Clash) album “Streetcore”:

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. There is nothing more common that unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipresent.