The Athletes Drug of Choice

Over the past decade there has been a black eye placed on athletes in there respective sports. A conscious choice to go against all what is good in there game in order to rise above the competition. A conscious choice to choose evil over good. A conscious choice to ruin the one thing that we were given as sons, brothers, fathers, and men. The name on the back of our jerseys. With the extreme increase in players salaries, lucrative endorsement deals, and the amount of young talent that comes into our respective sports each year. Players have resorted in ways to beat the system. Ways to cut corners. Ways to fool even themselves and rationalize that there choices are somehow okay. Steroids, PEDs, and HGH have been around a longtime. but in the early 2000's these chemicals began to be altered. They became science projects in someones lab. And when these labs rats showed signs of success, they were offered up to the very people who they could help the most, Athletes. Promised that these chemicals could beat any test out there, players began risking everything they had worked for and earned since they were in little league to give them the winning edge over there peers. Some did it for money, some did if for fame, and some did it to reclaim the youth of there game. With every MVP, with every championship, and with every race won, the addiction of being on top hazed the vision and priorities of what these athletes once stood for. As for today, after the smoke continues to clear and the rules and regulations get even stronger. Many athletes fail to recognize the consequences of there choices when it comes to PEDs. Players continue to push the envelope and try to cut corners to no avail receiving suspension after suspension. People say that these athletes have tarnished the game a bit. That the records, stats, and there performances can't be trusted. I disagree. These men and women have tarnished only one thing, their names. The one thing that we were given that truly defined us. After 12 years in the NFL and roughly 25 years of playing the sports that I love. My parents, my wife, and my kids will know that there name is safe and that when I put my head down on my pillow at night, I can sleep easy. The drug of choice for me is, and always has been......HARD WORK. It might not get me the best results, but it will get me the best results that I can truly achieve. That's my take and it's coming out of my Mouth.

A Superstar's Fall off the Mountain

A professional athlete’s ego is fueled by many characteristics, from the daily security that “your the man”, your peers propping you up on an invincible pedestal, fans cheer your name and wear your jerseys, and every coach, at your prime, shy’s away from doubting your play because your salaries so high and when there’s that initial doubt they say to themselves, “they will figure it out”. Then one day everything comes crashing down and changes your career forever. It might come suddenly when you least expect it or it might linger for months even years before someone has the nerve to take you from the starting line up. In 2008 it happened to me. I wasn’t a starter anymore. It happens to every athlete. Was it because my play had slipped? Was it the young 3rd round draft pick that the team drafted? Was it the new coach that the team brought in that year? I don’t think you really ever get the answer you want to hear. Although the explanations are broad and sometimes unclear, when a team decides to go a different direction, as an athlete, your never ready. It could be the 1st game of the season, the game after the bye, after a 3-game skid, and even the deciding Game 5 of the American League Divisional Series.  You could be a $10 million QB, a $275 million 3rd baseman, or a veteran minimum tight end. The thing is, your check might be guaranteed, but your starting spot and your career is not. When it finally happens, and it will happen for all of us, everybody in the media, all the fans, and even your family has there opinion on how you feel. Well the big question is, “How do we feel?”. There’s many emotions that an athlete feels. First there’s always denial, “It can’t happen to me?”, or “The coach is f***ing crazy”, or even the old “Johnny doesn’t have half the skill I do”. Then there’s the external team guy. This is the guy that says all the right things to the media. The guy that high fives his teammates and continues to support them till the end of the season. But internally there is a burning fire. Holding in every emotion till he gets in his car when he drives home from practice or the game, calls his wife or his best friend and vents for hours, days, even month’s rationalizing the reasons why he should be the starter or still playing. Fact of the matter is whether its father time or slumping during a championship run, a professional athlete is always expendable and in a position to be replaced. Us athletes that are lucky to play in our respective leagues for multiple years and make lots of money for it, must prepare our minds for that change. That high profile starter being asked to step aside and let the next guy replace you is not an easy pill to swallow. Age, slumps, tenure, coaching changes or no explanations at all, your time will come. Its not fun and the longer you play it doesn't get any easier. So athlete’s I ask you, “How will you handle it when your time comes? That’s my take and it’s coming out of my Mouth.

MLB Season vs NFL Season

Last nights MLB playoff games were all loaded with postseason heroics and late inning excitement. After 162 games, played by 30 teams, the thrill of the final ten games of the MLB season leading into the playoffs has offered us with edge of the seat drama. The Yankees bottom of the ninth inning with Raul Ibanez hitting the tying and walk off home runs or Coco Crisp's ninth inning single to score Seth Smith, have many sports fans labeling Major League Baseball as "America's Greatest Game". I beg to differ. As a fan a baseball, I have choked myself watching some of the first 140 games throughout the season. Filled with inconsistent play, lack of effort, and a feeling that my favorite players didn't feel like playing that night. Only to see those same players and teams wake up for the final 22 games of the season and try to rally themselves for a playoff push. To me that's not appealing nor does it sell me on the fact that it's "America's Greatest Game". The MLB postseason, just like the NBA and NFL, provides me with a sense of allure and attraction to these great sports. But when I think of "America's Greatest Game" only one sport comes to mind. For 12 years I played in the NFL, and every year my teammates and I trained and prepared for 6 months to play a game that consists of 16 opportunities each year. Every NFL fan has the drama, story lines, and suspense built for seven days in between sixteen weeks until finally Sunday comes for one of those 16 opportunities. The play of your favorite team each and every week, win or lose, will directly affect the postseason drama in January. As a fan, a win or a lose directly affects your week as a person at work and at home. Your moods are, for one week, positioned by your favorite teams with there success and failures. Only to be cured with Andrew Luck's final touchdown drive to beat the heavily favored Green Bay Packers. Folks, as a player and a fan of the NFL, from September 9 till February 3, our lives are altered by the 16 chances the NFL allows use to have. "America's Greatest Game" its easy to me. That's my take and it's coming out of my Mouth.