Jason Taylor’s pain shows NFL’s world of hurt, by Dan Le Batard

Dan Le Batard: Jason Taylor’s pain shows NFL’s world of hurt - Dan Le Batard - MiamiHerald.com

Scary to read.

Makes Barry Sanders look like a genius getting out while you still can.

One of the scariest articles I've read yet. And not a single word about concussions or the state of Taylor's brain. It was scary as hell WITHOUT THAT.

I don't know, dude. I just don't. And he says he'd do it all again. The game is an addiction.

Hell, even Brady's talked about peeing out blood on Monday mornings.

sure hope he can manage to survive the rest of his life on the millions of dollars he made while he played.

chasa said:

sure hope he can manage to survive the rest of his life on the millions of dollars he made while he played.

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Given what's in that article, he can have it. I've no envy or desire to trade places.

betterthanthealternative said:

Given what's in that article, he can have it. I've no envy or desire to trade places.

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Many players died in their mid 50's, i always check the age, when i read the news that an Ex-football player just passed away (usually a small box inside the paper, not in the first page), and i agree with your statement.

Scary, but not at all surprising to me. I watched Any Given Sunday, they did some homework and kinda got a clue to how those players did anything to play the game. Which brings me back to the CTE cases, yeah there's plenty of concussions, but we're talking about players playing on drugs, likely living on top-notch pain killers throughout the season just to get through the day, probably abusing street drugs when they can't get it from the personal doc or the team doctor anymore. Abusing alcohol, who knows what else they do in their top dollar lifestyles. Combine head injuries and drug abuse and sure some 30 old's brain would look like that of a 120 year old's. There's nothing fixing helmets and softening up the game can do about that.

CTE didn't kill Seau. Depression killed him. Drinking, unemployment and undisclosed pain from previous injuries and a desire to escape from it all is what killed him, unfortunately.

Everytime someone posts about how the league is being ****ified they should read an article like this.

The average life expectancy of an retired NFL players is 58. This game is NO JOKE!

Article from May 2012
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1198483/index.htm

Wow, that was frightening to read.

I recently saw a news video clip featuring Earl Campbell who was sponsoring some sort of award. He could hardly walk and was using a walker. Did a search on the web, and found that his physical deterioration is due to all his football injuries. I love football, but seeing this made me wonder if I was a hypocrite. I found myself asking if I would enjoy watching gladiators fight to the death in the arena.

fnordcircle said:

Everytime someone posts about how the league is being ****ified they should read an article like this.

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EVEN IF it comes under the heading of too little, too late... any steps to try to mandate safety for the players is a positive one.

EVEN IF the teams clean up their practices, they might have to go even farther to get the players to clean up theirs.

raduray said:

I recently saw a news video clip featuring Earl Campbell who was sponsoring some sort of award. He could hardly walk and was using a walker. Did a search on the web, and found that his physical deterioration is due to all his football injuries. I love football, but seeing this made me wonder if I was a hypocrite. I found myself asking if I would enjoy watching gladiators fight to the death in the arena.

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I get what you are saying, but football players are being paid millions to do something they CHOOSE to do. Gladiators were slaves.

Anything to make the game safer is a good thing, and the "****ification" folks are clueless. However, the gladiator analogy is weak.

A sobering and thought provoking article.


Makes you realize how enjoying the NFL is like the old saying about enjoying sausage, just don't think about how it's made.

raduray said:

I recently saw a news video clip featuring Earl Campbell who was sponsoring some sort of award. He could hardly walk and was using a walker. Did a search on the web, and found that his physical deterioration is due to all his football injuries. I love football, but seeing this made me wonder if I was a hypocrite. I found myself asking if I would enjoy watching gladiators fight to the death in the arena.

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You can ssee him on this video:
"Still Standing: The Earl Campbell Story" screens for UT Athletics [Nov. 25, 2012] - YouTube

Forgive me offering a slightly different reaction here. First off, I love Dan Le Batard. He's a unique voice in the media these days....but let's understand one thing about Dan....EVERY stance Dan takes is pro player/anti owner,team, or league. That's the niche he has cut out for himself and he has worked this to a level where he is now the national go-to guy for players to get there message out. Think early Ron Borges when considering the kind of slant Le Batard consistently brings to the media. In Dan's sports world, talent rules and coaches are irrelevant.....and the players eat this up. Dan wants to be the Oprah of sports media.

So while reading his moving piece about the horror inflicted upon these warriors, understand the level of modulation Dan is dialing up here. Receiving a pregame shot in the foot turns into a macabre tale of terror. Having read and listened to Dan for 15+ years in S. Florida, I know his work well and how careful and effective he can be with his use of adjectives to paint the picture he wants to paint. The man is talented.

Knowing how Le Batard is, and how media conscious Taylor is, this piece has agenda written all over it. Maybe Taylor wants to be the poster child/recipient as lawsuits heat up vs the NFL. One topic Le Batard neglected in his piece was free will. Funny how that works.

I'd be inclined to take that view... if dozens upon dozens of other similar stories didn't exist out there to hardly make Taylor's story sound implausible.

BennyBledsoe said:

I'd be inclined to take that view... if dozens upon dozens of other similar stories didn't exist out there to hardly make Taylor's story sound implausible.

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I'm not disputing the treatments these players endured to last in the league. I'm just saying, Le Batard is the perfect author to pen the most sympathetic account....and just by reading the reactions to it, he succeeded masterfully.

betterthanthealternative said:

Given what's in that article, he can have it. I've no envy or desire to trade places.

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Part of this issue with some players, Taylor included, is you've made your millions, you're best years are behind you, yet you keep playing for 3-5 more years which results in meaningless money, avg play, and increasing risk of life long injuries