Cavs Could Celebrate Son's Day

"I hope it becomes a blue-collar mentality," Long said. "It's an attitude we're trying to assume."

Carving out a unique identity is nothing new to Long, who grew up surrounded by signs of his father's fame.

"I've always wanted to be my own person," he said. "When people are coming up in a profession or a field that maybe someone in their family excelled in, they hope to break away from the image of being viewed as whoever's son or whoever's brother."

Even as a child, Long knew that something was different about his father, though he didn't quite understand it all.

"Why are they bothering you, Dad?" the son would ask when his family dined in restaurants. Chris shied from the spotlight, a trait he maintains to this day.

"I haven't always seen it as a blessing," Long said of his Hall of Fame heritage. "At first, I saw it more as a negative because of all that attention. From a very early age, I was exposed to that. As I got older, I wised up a bit."

Howie Long responded by backing off whenever he could. When Chris took an interest in athletics, Howie made sure not to influence his son's choice of which sports to play.

During youth baseball games, Chris said his father often stayed out of the way, sitting away from the other parents. In high school, when Chris decided to take football seriously, he had to pry advice from his father, who was afraid of interfering too much.

"He's not going to offer help," Chris Long said. "I have to ask for help with the game. And it was the same way growing up. He never pushed me to do this."

In high school, Long developed into a Division I-caliber football player. Chris credits some of his success to his dad.

"He's just a wealth of information," he said. "He taught me to work hard."

Howie plays down the help.

"He really is a self-made kid," he said.

Nevertheless, Diane Long is starting to see similarities between her husband and son.

"She can spot little things," Howie said.

Chris wants to play in the NFL, a goal he may reach if he continues his work at Virginia.

"One of the most valuable commodities is his tremendous passion for football," Groh said. "He helps infuse everybody around him with that. He's a very high-motor player at a very high level of conditioning."

In his playing days, the NFL analyst was known for the same thing.