OT: Antwaan Randle El wishes he played baseball

Submitted by SBayBlue on

Antwaan Randle El, one of the best players in B1G history, and arguably Indiana's finest football player, now wishes he had played baseball instead of football.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14603566/former-steelers-wr-antwaan-randle-el-wishes-chosen-play-football

"I ask my wife things over and over again, and she's like, 'I just told you that,'" Randle El said to the newspaper. "I'll ask her three times the night before and get up in the morning and forget. Stuff like that. I try to chalk it up as I'm busy, I'm doing a lot, but I have to be on my knees praying about it, asking God to allow me to not have these issues and live a long life. I want to see my kids raised up. I want to see my grandkids."

Wow, if this isn't a damning indictment on where things might be headed with former players.

I still love Michigan football, but when Ditka said he wouldn't let his own kid play football, that convinced me that the sport might be in trouble in the long term.

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PeterKlima

January 19th, 2016 at 6:36 PM ^

I think the only way he would have done it differently is if he had the same chance of making millions in baseball. I don't think he had the same odds. is he saying he would have done it differently only as long as he was a famous, adored multi-millionaire athlete? it would be damning if he said he would have made taken the down side of growing up as others similarly situated where he grew up instead of football.

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drzoidburg

January 19th, 2016 at 9:37 PM ^

yeah but a lot of those who end up in the nfl started football at a really young age, and there's just going to fewer and fewer parents and cities allowing that. The kids may devote their time to other sports and never really go into football

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LSAClassOf2000

January 19th, 2016 at 6:46 PM ^

"I have to come down sideways sometimes, depending on the day," Randle El said in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story on former Steelers Super Bowl winners. "Going up is easier actually than coming down."

One thing that really gets to me about this statement is that he's younger than me by a couple years and football has - by his own words - affected him in such a profound way, physically as well as mentally (as he describes later in the piece). It is difficult to imagine being not even 40 and being in a position where your former career has left you in such a state.

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SalvatoreQuattro

January 19th, 2016 at 6:50 PM ^

health problems from working physical jobs. Sure, football takes a toll on your body, but then so do many other jobs. At least he has millions. Most others made far less than he and struggle with significant health problems on a daily basis.

Playing the game has significant risk that everyone planning on playing should seriously consider. That's why articles like these are good. Get that information out there so people can decide for themselves.

 

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drzoidburg

January 19th, 2016 at 9:49 PM ^

i was gonna say, my dad could barely walk the entire time i knew him. He had to get by on workman's comp, and he was one of the lucky ones. Others didn't even get their case heard. However, i disagree on one point, which is kids cannot decide for themselves. Somehow we have this notion of protecting kids, even from their own bad decisions, except when it comes to sports and driving. I don't think it's a coincidence at all that there's far more kids in football than say swimming or track. As a society, we have failed them

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Steve in PA

January 19th, 2016 at 6:55 PM ^

I'm 40-something and my knees are exactly as he describes. I forget a lot and struggle to recall names, even of people I've known for a long time.

 

Not making light of his story but alot of what he describes is just symptoms of age. I didn't play football.

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AnthonyThomas

January 19th, 2016 at 7:17 PM ^

That's not surprising. I imagine a long career in basketball will tear up your knees more so than any other sport.

With that said, for most people brain injuries are a whole other monster. CTE is the type of disease that could rob you of your identity, as well as your physical ability to function like other people. If it's a continued problem, then football will certainly decline in popularity.  

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FreddieMercuryHayes

January 19th, 2016 at 7:26 PM ^

I mean, there's always some age related cognitive decline to some extent...but it's usually not severe in your 30's or 40's. That's a bit abnormal. Knees, well a lot of stuff cause bad knees, not just football, but any repeat trauma can cause premature knee problems. I work with vets, and man, some (not all) of the paratroopers have the knees of 80 year lids in their 30's.



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Glen Masons Hot Wife

January 19th, 2016 at 7:34 PM ^

its really too bad that the safe, easy-money sport to play (baseball) is incredibly boring to watch.

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truferblue22

January 19th, 2016 at 8:03 PM ^

wow. that's super sad. I'M NOT SAYING MY SITUATION IS ANYTHING LIKE ANTWAAN'S, but I sometimes wonder if hockey didn't do something similar to me. I'm 31 years old...used to have a fantastic memory...now I forget stuff that happened 5 mins prior...seriously. even my 67 year old father noticed it the other day... ...this could also be due to heavy drinking for 10 years haha (which I have since stopped!) ..anywho, I feel bad for him. Hopefully his situation doesn't worsen.

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trueblueintexas

January 19th, 2016 at 8:11 PM ^

In addition to continued efforts to improve equipment and proper teaching (regulations), the biggest thing that has to be addressed is the size and speed of the players. Compare the average height, weight and speed of players 20 years ago to today and there is a drastic difference. That is the primary shift that has happened. I don't have a suggestion as to how to address that issue, but if people are serious about making the game safer, that is where you have to start.

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goblue81

January 19th, 2016 at 8:33 PM ^

He had a healthy NFL career where he was one of the first "wildcat" QB's.  Not saying its not damn scary, but he had 15+ years of heavy contact football.  I think its the sustained duration that is part of the problem. Then again my Jr year in HS this Sr Safety got knockout cold in 3 games, but that was back in the rub some dirt on it mentality....

I love football and I hope it rmains the same game I love, but I understand that its a gladiator sport and if it needs changing, then it need changing.  Better equipment, better rules - rules that doesn't destroy knees at the sake a helmet hit - no clue what the solution is but we've got to figure something out.

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Muttley

January 19th, 2016 at 8:52 PM ^

somehow with the sum of the hits taken (not just concussion-level hits).  (I did read somewhere about a common sense finding of a relationship between the length of participation and CTE.)

My conjecture would be that getting hit by Ray Lewis types for multiple years is very bad, getting hit by Desmond Morgan types over the college years could be somewhat bad, and that getting hit by your typical high school middle linebacker for a couple of years would be significantly less bad.

 

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caup

January 19th, 2016 at 8:58 PM ^

The real problem is the violent changes of direction and/or stoppages caused by impact.  Physics will tell you that your brain keeps moving unitl it sloshes up against the inside of your cranium.  That is what causes CTE, which is the bigger problem at hand. 

Unless a magical helmet is developed that can prevent sudden changes of direction/stoppages then this awful, awful problem won't go away. (Think along the lines of oppositely charged magnets, which if they weren't so damn heavy that might be an intriguing option.)

Ironically, one way to cut down on all of these violent head impacts is to REMOVE helmets from the game altogether. This would cause the players to voluntarily attempt to avoid violent head contact, like they do in rugby.  Of course, as was discovered about 100 years ago, an accidental, violent head impact without a helmet can kill someone.  So in the attempt to prevent cranial fractures, we unwittingly contributed to the development of CTE.

What a damn sad state of affairs.

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drzoidburg

January 19th, 2016 at 10:05 PM ^

yeah what people are advocating here with the rugby style is what very nearly led to football's demise in early 20th century. There was somewhere around 20 deaths on the field in one season. Of course, given the wars and influenza epidemic and news just traveling slower, extreme risk was tolerated more back then. Compare to today, the outrage when Morris was put in for a single handoff. Now imagine no helmets and guys running with 100 pounds more of force than their predecessors, and it wouldn't take long for a death on national tv. These colleges today would react by shutting down their football programs

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brad

January 19th, 2016 at 10:22 PM ^

Would be much better to get very serious about removing performance enhancing drugs from the game altogether. Human evolution has not occurred in the past 50 years, but football players have increased in size, strength and speed dramatically. The concussion problem is a direct result, imo.



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copacetic

January 19th, 2016 at 9:00 PM ^

Wow. Really sad to read. Hope he can enjoy a long and healthy retirement. Was seriously just thinking about Randal El this morning while reading the thread here about the salty 247 writer from Washington. 

 

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HarBooYa

January 20th, 2016 at 8:11 AM ^

Offered to play d2 and d3. While I "want" my kids to play and I am teaching them how to catch (basic patterns etc), I am not going to let them. They play flag and we play catch but kids these days now are about 100 lbs heavier, hit with much more violence (and crap technique and bad intent) and good coaches (leagues w reasonable people in them) are hard to find where I live.

They are approaching middle school so we'll see, but I am encouraging them not too.

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