Incredibly depressing Wayne Chrebet piece

Not that I disagree with the sad stories of the soldiers but... didn't they also choose their profession?

 

Incredibly depressing? Not so much.

It's well done, but no different from about a hundred other stories you can read about guys who had their bell rung one too many times.

 

One of the toughest guys in the NFL.

I would always watch him instead of Keyshawn.

 

A family member who married into the family played WR for a national champion in the '80s and got a ring. Unfortunately, his career got derailed by injuries and he got a degree instead.

I asked him recently "given the shortened life span/mortality rate of NFL players, would you trade 10 years of your life for a career in the NFL?" He said yes. No doubt. Wow, I was blown away. Probably because I've never heard the cheers of 80,000. But when my two kids snuggle with me, that's the greatest feeling in the world and I want as much time with them as possible.

Chrebet, he doesn't want sympathy, so I guess I'll just wish him the best. Chilling though, at only 34 too.

 

I've never heard the cheers of 80,000, either. I've never put on an NFL uniform (MLB, of course, was my wish).

But if I had ... I have no doubt I'd say the same thing.

And even now, much older and supposedly wiser, I would still give a year of my life, with no regrets, to throw one 90 mph fastball. Just to do it. One speedball for one year; easy trade. For me.

 

I'd trade one year of your life, too, to stand in there, crush that fucker 450 feet and then pimp my way around the bases.

 

I'd go Benitez on your Tino Martinez ass first.

 

You know, I was watching Inside the Actors Studio over the weekend, and they had Charlie Sheen on.

As they went to commercial they showed a clip of him taking BP at Dodger Stadium. Charlie was, apparently, a hella-good HS player and, had he had the grades, probably would have played big time college ball.

Long story short, Sheen took a BP fastball deep, and he and his buddies started jumping up and down and everything. I, myself, got pretty excited.

When a guy like Charlie Sheen, who's gotten more tail than all of us put together, done more drugs than most rock stars and made millions of dollars will jump up and down like a school girl, you can imagine what most of us would do.

I'm not sure what I'd give to hit a ball out of a big league park one time, but I'd give a lot.

 

I've never considered baseball as a fantasy.

But for 5-10 minutes on the field for my country in the World Cup, I'd gladly give up 15-20 years. For a start and a goal, I might be willing to go to the Great Beyond as soon as the tournament is over.

This Chrebet story wasn't a spectacularly reported one, it wasn't one of those where the reporter pounded the pavement for months to gather every bit of info he could get. It was instead a very well-done piece, telling the story of an individual who would still return to the game that has left such an unfortunate mark on his life. I liked reading Chrebet's story, and I really liked the ending.

Reminded me of the Al Toon (also a Jet, of course) piece in SI about 14 years ago.

 

Interesting thought: Would you rather lose both legs, or be healthy with limited cognitive skills, like Cherbet is, and will be in the future?

 

Yeah, but he'd probably go Strawberry on your Benitez ass after that.

 

Hell, people, I'd give up a year of my life to have played that fourth quarter that that high-school basketball manager played up in New York. (Name escapes me now, and I'm too lazy to look it up.)

The power of hearing the cheers is amazing. It's amazing from the stands. I can only imagine being the person for whom they're cheering.

That said, I'm not sure that Chrebet's story isn't the norm among guys who played 10 years or more in the NFL. If not concussions, it's arthritis, headaches, knee and hip replacements ... there are a lot of 45-year-old ex-NFL players who have the body and/or brain of someone 30 years older.