Randle El regretting ever playing football

[southsidehoosier 4,799]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2016/01/19/former-nfl-receiver-antwaan-randle-el-regrets-ever-playing-football/

A sad read on all the issues he is having post football career

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,145]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2016/01/19/former-nfl-receiver-antwaan-randle-el-regrets-ever-playing-football/

A sad read on all the issues he is having post football career

And how many others are experiencing the same issues but are too proud to openly acknowledge the fact?

[hoosierbgh 1,227]

I don't want this to sound like I'm bashing him because it is certainly not my intent to make light of anyone who is suffering through what he is suffering through but his comments about never playing football are not grounded in reality. First, he assumes that if he played baseball instead of football he would have A) never been severely injured and B) been just as successful. I don't follow baseball all that closely but it doesn't seem like being drafted in the 14th round constitutes a high certainty of a long successful career in baseball. Instead he likely would have faced significant time in the minors before earning a real shot(and the corresponding big paycheck) if ever. Second, though far less likely than football injuries a baseball to the head, even with a helmet, can potentially do a lot of damage. That is all assuming he actually had a long, successful career in baseball. Had he gone the baseball route and not made it, where would he be now without a degree to fall back on?

 

Perhaps even more detached from reality, 100's of thousands of police, firemen, soldiers and others put their lives, not just their health, at risk on a daily basis. And do so for far less pay for their entire careers than he made in a year or two. How many more spend 20, 30, 40 years risking their health doing jobs that take a toll on their bodies hour after hour, year after year to support their families?

 

Randle El is probably correct in his statement that professional football will be done in a couple of decades. But what then? How many people will be denied the opportunity to make the choices he made and earn the success and wealth he earned? How many of those will then have no choice but to seek even more dangerous careers for longer periods of time and much less pay? 

 

[RBB89 3,497]

I don't want this to sound like I'm bashing him because it is certainly not my intent to make light of anyone who is suffering through what he is suffering through but his comments about never playing football are not grounded in reality. First, he assumes that if he played baseball instead of football he would have A) never been severely injured and B) been just as successful. I don't follow baseball all that closely but it doesn't seem like being drafted in the 14th round constitutes a high certainty of a long successful career in baseball. Instead he likely would have faced significant time in the minors before earning a real shot(and the corresponding big paycheck) if ever. Second, though far less likely than football injuries a baseball to the head, even with a helmet, can potentially do a lot of damage. That is all assuming he actually had a long, successful career in baseball. Had he gone the baseball route and not made it, where would he be now without a degree to fall back on?

Perhaps even more detached from reality, 100's of thousands of police, firemen, soldiers and others put their lives, not just their health, at risk on a daily basis. And do so for far less pay for their entire careers than he made in a year or two. How many more spend 20, 30, 40 years risking their health doing jobs that take a toll on their bodies hour after hour, year after year to support their families?

Randle El is probably correct in his statement that professional football will be done in a couple of decades. But what then? How many people will be denied the opportunity to make the choices he made and earn the success and wealth he earned? How many of those will then have no choice but to seek even more dangerous careers for longer periods of time and much less pay?

There are like 40 rounds in the baseball draft, so he definitely would've gotten a shot.

[Naturalhoosier 15,359]

I don't want this to sound like I'm bashing him because it is certainly not my intent to make light of anyone who is suffering through what he is suffering through but his comments about never playing football are not grounded in reality. First, he assumes that if he played baseball instead of football he would have A) never been severely injured and B) been just as successful. I don't follow baseball all that closely but it doesn't seem like being drafted in the 14th round constitutes a high certainty of a long successful career in baseball. Instead he likely would have faced significant time in the minors before earning a real shot(and the corresponding big paycheck) if ever. Second, though far less likely than football injuries a baseball to the head, even with a helmet, can potentially do a lot of damage. That is all assuming he actually had a long, successful career in baseball. Had he gone the baseball route and not made it, where would he be now without a degree to fall back on?

Perhaps even more detached from reality, 100's of thousands of police, firemen, soldiers and others put their lives, not just their health, at risk on a daily basis. And do so for far less pay for their entire careers than he made in a year or two. How many more spend 20, 30, 40 years risking their health doing jobs that take a toll on their bodies hour after hour, year after year to support their families?

Randle El is probably correct in his statement that professional football will be done in a couple of decades. But what then? How many people will be denied the opportunity to make the choices he made and earn the success and wealth he earned? How many of those will then have no choice but to seek even more dangerous careers for longer periods of time and much less pay?

I agree with most of what you and am a proponent of 'personal choices and consequences' in this instance as well. What I have a hard time with is comparing it to baseball.

Sure you could get injured in baseball. You could get hit in the head by the ball but the likelihood of that happening is slim. Of course it happens, but how many hits to the head occur in baseball? One a game? One a series? Very few. How many times do football players get their bean hit? Damn near every play. The severity of the occurrences will vary depending on position but everyone gets their head slapped around, bounced off the turf, helmet to helmet, helmet to knee, helmet to shoulder, the list goes on. Football is a collision sport. You need to compare that to other like sports (boxing and hockey come to mind).

He is a hell of an athlete and would have likely spent more years playing baseball than he did football.

[Alford Bailey 12,259]

I'm pretty old school and believe society in general has become pretty sissy-fied. That said, there is no way I let my son play football. No way. 

[HoosierTrav 7,619]

I'm pretty old school and believe society in general has become pretty sissy-fied. That said, there is no way I let my son play football. No way. 

My father wouldn't let me play football. I hated him for it at the time but I'm thankful now.  

[hoosierbgh 1,227]

Would you allow your son to play soccer or your daughter(if you have one) play volleyball? Statistically, high school athletes in those sports are more likely to suffer head trauma than football players.

 

Now, I don't have kids yet so my opinion may change when I do and I'm sure my wife would disagree with my current opinion but to me the benefit of playing sports, be it football, soccer or an even more dangerous sport, outweighs the chance of injury. Plus, the lifetime cost of encouraged/enforced timidity is just too high.  

[jmsgws 2,030]

I don't feel to sorry for the aches and pains a retired athlete has.  They knew all about these going into it, and made the decision that the benefits outweigh the costs. 

I do think they have a point in regards to the mental aspects of their retirement.  It has only been in the last couple of years that this issue has come to light. 

For anyone entering a sport the last couple of years, though, I equate their issues to smoking.  They know what the risks are, and choose to take that risk.

[Alford Bailey 12,259]

Would you allow your son to play soccer or your daughter(if you have one) play volleyball? Statistically, high school athletes in those sports are more likely to suffer head trauma than football players.

 

Now, I don't have kids yet so my opinion may change when I do and I'm sure my wife would disagree with my current opinion but to me the benefit of playing sports, be it football, soccer or an even more dangerous sport, outweighs the chance of injury. Plus, the lifetime cost of encouraged/enforced timidity is just too high.  

Its more than just the chance of head trauma to me. My son plays soccer and my daughter plays volleyball. Soccer can be pretty rough but not near as brutal a football. Not sure how you get head trauma in volleyball. Spike off the head.

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

I don't feel to sorry for the aches and pains a retired athlete has.  They knew all about these going into it, and made the decision that the benefits outweigh the costs. 

I do think they have a point in regards to the mental aspects of their retirement.  It has only been in the last couple of years that this issue has come to light. 

For anyone entering a sport the last couple of years, though, I equate their issues to smoking.  They know what the risks are, and choose to take that risk.

I totally disagree that they knew going into it. That's the point of all of these articles, that's what Randle is saying, that's what the lawsuit was about. The NFL has actively covered up the level of head trauma sustained by players, the long-term effects of minor trauma, and the ability of helmets to prevent it. You also have to compare the easy access to information now with the internet to the kind of access people had in the past. 

 

The knees are a little different, the wear-and-tear on players is definitely something we've been aware of for a long time. I think the system is set-up in a way that discourages proper preparations for it, but we are at least aware of the problem. Raising the salary cap and minimum salary would make me feel better about it, but otherwise it's similar to an oil worker. You know you are going to get paid an outrageous amount to work on an oil rig because it's dangerous and isolated, you may think you'll be the one who doesn't have any issues, but you're still aware of the danger. So, the problem is simply the available compensation for most NFL players. If they raise the minimum salary enough to assuage player's fears, they'll get fewer of these articles.

 

You'll always hear regret about things that leave long-term damage to the body, whether that's people who wish they'd run fewer marathons when their knees hurt later or people who wish they'd lost some weight before it did damage. The human response to health is to only react to poor health and not think about health when we're at a constant and not in pain.

 

On the whole head trauma in soccer/volleyball thing, the issue isn't major head trauma, which is more likely in those sports, it's the repeated small traumas for 70 plays a game. There is just nothing you can do about that and your kid is much more likely to have a long-term problem because of it.

[jmsgws 2,030]

+Martin:  I said the same thing.  :)  Maybe not as eloquently....

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

+Martin:  I said the same thing.  :)  Maybe not as eloquently....

Oh snap, I misunderstood you. Well, that was a waste of typing then.

[jmsgws 2,030]

Oh snap, I misunderstood you. Well, that was a waste of typing then.

Yours was much better than mine.  :)  I like your comparison to the oil worker. 

I am glad to see the concussion testing and all that stuff at the MS and HS levels in regrads to athletics,  The problem, as I see it, is that no one really knows how many concussions are to many. 

A few years ago I had a niece that played HS soccer.  Sh had to give it up her Senior Year.  After 5 concussions in 4 years, she and her family just decided enough was enough. 
 

[biteoftheapple 4,115]

Each individual seems to have a different threshold on what the max number of concussions is too many. That is apart of the problem. We do know so much more now, and hopefully will learn much more.

[OliviaPope40 6,299]

My brother in law had to stop playing football and being a wrestler in high school because of the concussions that he had.

[biteoftheapple 4,115]

According to the Mike & Mike show, Randle has backed off of some of the statements he made. Notably, he would play. Also, claims he was misquoted. Apparently this happened on a,radio show