From Cleveland.com:

“Over the next few weeks, (Nick) McDonald might be pressed into service to replace the great Alex Mack — who’s likely lost for the season with a broken fibula — but nothing that happens to him on the football field will be tougher than what’s occurred in real life.

When McDonald was 14, his mom, Irene, died of colon cancer that spread to her liver. An admitted mama’s boy, McDonald was crushed by her death.”

“His father, William, was so devastated that he left McDonald and his three siblings alone in their Sterling Heights, Mich., home and bolted for Louisiana.”

“The McDonald children, three boys and a girl, were left alone in the house to fend for themselves. At the time, they were 18, 17, 14 and 11.”

Trying a new thing here at Bottlegate (and probably for the majority of the city of Cleveland if we’re being honest). Starting today, every Friday we’re going to stray from the pessimistic analysis of our sports teams and the alarmingly bleak public interest pieces to bring you a feel-good story for the week. Something to hopefully get you smiling before you wake up hungover tomorrow and want to kill yourself.

This inaugural Friday Feel comes from our girl Mary Kay Cabot. Now I know we all love to use MKC as our go-to Cleveland media punching bag, myself included, but she actually did a really nice job with this story. And what a story it is.

You hear the rags-to-riches bit in professional sports all the time. Tough childhood, no father figure, hardly recruited, went undrafted, etc. But from the sounds of it, Nick McDonald saw both sides of the coin. Yeah he moved a lot as a kid with both his parents being in the military, but it’s not like he was living on the streets. He had a mother who he was very close with, and a father. He had the family. But when his mother died, his father left him and his siblings and he had all of that taken away. To even survive that, let alone make it to the NFL and win a Super Bowl ring, is nothing short of extraordinary.

I’m 24 years old and still trying to figure out the “real world”. Grocery shopping fucking terrifies me. Can you imagine being his oldest brother, trying to provide and put food on the table for your siblings as an 18 year old? Or Nick, working odd jobs to make money to pay for things you literally need to survive when you’ve only been alive for 14 years? Good lord. I would have been TOAST if that was me.

I’ll tell you what though, if we have to replace our Pro Bowl center, give me Nick McDonald all day every day. I want a guy out there that has been through what he has and did whatever it took to survive, because you know he’ll do whatever it takes to win. When that tough SOB is barking out orders, I don’t care if you’re rookie Joel Bitonio or seven time Pro Bowler Joe Thomas, you’re gonna listen.

PS Dad leaves, son becomes NFL player, dad comes back. I’m not gonna say scumbag because I’m a class act and I don’t judge people, but scumbag.