By now we are all aware of the death and suicide of ex-Chicago Bear Dave Duerson. As an ex player I write this story with a heavy heart, having experienced this tragedy before with a former teammate, Andre Waters. I struggle to understand the how and why of it all. Why a man with 4 children and so much yet to offer and live for, could be left in solitude to struggle and fight the demons of his post professional football life, becoming so discouraged and hopeless to take his most precious gift, life?

It is hard for the outside world to fathom that life could be so difficult for a former NFL player, but life happens to us all, and at our core we are human beings that struggle with the same things that everyday people deal with on a daily basis. Understanding the nature of a professional football player is a must,  in order to shed light on and understand the problem. We are breed to be warriors, to feel no pain in the midst of enormous pain, to fight through and never let the opponent see your pain. This superman persona is neccesary, because to not embody it would lessen our ability to be what we are and do what we do on the field. When problems arise we have been conditioned and programmed to deal with them internally, to search for the answers on our own and fix them ourselves. Anything less would be a show of weakness and percieved or real, it opens a potential doorway to be dominated. This defense mechanism serves us well on the field of play, but in life it is the cause for much pain and suffering.

Like Andre Waters, here is a man battling daily his demons and illnesses, outwardly giving the impression to the tragic end, that all was well. We all do it, when we encounter our former fraternity brothers the question is always asked, “how’s life, how are you doing, what are you up to and how’s your loved ones,” the stock answer is always, “great, life is fabulous,” who wants to devulge their problems and issues to the public, let alone another NFL bretheren. The more severe the problem or issues of life, the more we isolate ourselves and allow our egos and pride to prevent us from seeking the help that we truly need. How sad, for all that we have meant to others, for all the lives we’ve enhanced and made better, we lack the strength to ask those same people to help us when the walls of struggle close in on us.

The other culprit in this tragedy is the NFL and the NFLPA. Only Within the last 10-15 years have both organizations acknowledged the severity of concussions and the long term effects that accompany them. The wear and tear that the human body and mind has to endure to play in the NFL is unfathomable to those who have never experienced it, it’s the most degenerative process of all the major sports. Yet we are provided the worst benefits and health care program to our players of the major sports associations. The public no doubt looks at that statement and holds little sympathy for NFL players, present or past, and that may be the outlook and thoughts of the NFL and the NFLPA as well, believing that our compensation should be the source of care after our playing days are over. It is so much bigger than the that, the education and availability of resources sits at the crossroads of this problem, and it will only get worse if something isn’t done to rectify the problem. The truth is, the death of Dave Duerson is a loud indictment on the level of post career health care that’s available to former players, to not only service their physical needs, but most importantly their mental health needs. Other players who’ve had untimely natural deaths are on the rise as well, some but not all have been plagued by heart, mental and depression problems, Reggie White, Todd Bell, Gaines Adams and Norman Hand just to name a few. The million dollar question is, will the NFL and NFLPA step up to the plate and do the right thing by the players who have sacrificed and yet gained much to make the NFL what it is today?

The NFL is a 9 billion dollar a year industry, with the owners, players and PA sharing in that prosperity. Someone please pray and tell me why can’t a solution to this problem be addressed, with that kind of revenue streaming each and every year? The truth is it can be, if they deemed it important enough. The NFL continues to skirt the issue, while the NFLPA’s focus has been for the most part zeroed in on their personal needs and the needs of the current players. What the current players fail to realize is that the day of them becoming former players are approaching faster than they could ever realize, and they will be the next generation of former players facing these same issues.

The concussions are a hot topic right now, CTE or Chronic traumatic encephalopathy has shed great light on the problem and the NFL has taken minimal steps to address the problem. The standard for evaluating concussions is flawed, the Impact test is nothing more than a series of questions asked by an administrator to evaluate whether or not a player has a concussion or not. Their objective is to create a baseline for measuring where a player is before he gets a concussion, to compare it to where the brain is when it does experience a concussion. Little is done to help prevent or rehabilitate a player post concussion. How can a set of questions be the standard for measurement with regards to a concussed brain. As Pittsburgh Steelers Hines Ward stated this year, “Once players figure out the process and what the questions are, they will begin to circumvent the system to return to the field, by telling the evaluator what he or she wants to hear to get back on the field,” remember, we’ve been breed to think and believe that we are supermen. Scans and such really are no more conclusive either, scans only read blood flow and yes blood flow gives an indication of a concussed brain, but a brain in a meditative state or one of unusually low frequencies exhibits low blood flow also. I am by no means a doctor, but given the fact that I played for 13 years, I have a vested interest in what the future will hold for my personal health and well being. I’ve research the benefits of Neuro-feedback, Virtual Reality Training for the military, dealing with PTSD; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Cognitive Rehabilitation and Stress Inoculation training, to Brain Training and balancing  for many of the same issues through a company called, Brain State Technology. All else has not worked, so the necessity to look outside of the box for answers is upon us.

As the NFL and NFLPA embark on negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement, I hope that these issues are a part of those conversations. An improvement in educating current and former players on the importance of better health for a better quality and longevity of life, and better benefits that help players when they need it most. The stats and facts are public knowledge, the average life span of a former NFL player is 52-55 years old, yet healthcare benefits were only extended to former players, previously for 3 years post retirement and now 5 years for current players. NFL Pensions cannot be received until 45 years of age, but at a 25% penalty, and full benefits at 52 years of age. The average mortality age and benefit age is a joke, and the NFL knows it, why shouldn’t these benefits be available to players at their greatest time of need, determined by the player? The lion-share of a players pension is never realized by the average player. My hope is that Dave Duerson did not die in vain, that the NFL and NFLPA come to their senses and service the needs of former players and educate current players of what the future holds for them and doing all that they can to protect them. The loss of another man with so much to give, to offer and teach is a travesty. My condolences and prayers go out to his children and loved ones, RIP Dave.

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                                                                                                                                                     I am amazed at the continued backlash and constant criticism directed at Tiger Woods and the state of his golf game. I get it, I understand that the American public feels betrayed and are appalled with his behavior off of the golf course. But focusing on his golf game for a minute, anyone who’s played and knows anything about golf, knows that the game can be fleeting and fickle at times. His off the course problems have no doubt had a significant effect on his performance on the course. But some of the articles I’ve read are borderline vicious and somewhat ridiculous.

A few things have to be taken into consideration here; after all of his off the course problems, he jumped back into tournament golf last season at the Masters, one of the most scrutinized and toughest venues in golf. While going through his swing changes there will be moments of brilliance followed by moments of failure, until the changes become natural to him. He finished 4^th in two majors last year which would’ve been considered a good year for most golf professionals. I know, he didn’t win an event in 2010 for the first time in his illustrious career, and his measuring stick is golf legend Jack Nicklaus. The bar for Tiger has been set so much higher than for everyone else, by his own doing. But by comparison, Jack went win-less in 79’ and 81’, finishing in the top ten only 11 times in 28 events. I wonder if the media made as big a deal of those dry spells, as they have Tiger not winning in a year of personal turbulence, while competing in only 16 events?

The second biggest hindrance to his game after the swing changes with swing coach Sean Foley is his psyche. There was a persona about Tiger Woods that intimidated other tour players. His public apology made that disappear; he instilled a certain fear while on the course that was lost I believe when he stood before the world and apologized with regards to his personal behavior. Most people in and outside of his inner circle felt as though it was necessary to save his public reputation and sponsors. I beg to differ, people had already made up their mind as to who he was, what type of person he was and what they thought of him at that point, and many of his sponsors bailed like he had leprosy anyway. He looked weak, passive, and vulnerable to the delight of many and his on course mystique had been instantly erased, I believe that this still plagues him. Any competitor knows that confidence is the most important element to success beyond skill or talent, and even with great talent, it does you little good if you aren’t confident or borderline cocky as he was. He’s under even more of a microscope than ever before, and instead of the steely focus he brought to the game in the past, he seems to be looking over his shoulder and paying considerable attention to what others have to say about him. Until he gets his swagger back, his I against the world mentality and quite frankly his I don’t give a rat’s you know what what others say, thinks or believe about me, he will continue to struggle, no matter how much he practices or how hard he works at it. Funny thing is, you could almost sense this coming, in sports we love a great story of an athlete’s rise to fame, but once they reach the pinnacle there’s almost a concerted effort and delight in their fall, it’s news. I bet he realizes now that he will never be able please everyone, live up to their expectations of him, nor will everyone like him. Part of his naivety was that he believed the world loved him, but with great success comes much hatred and jealousy, what a wake-up call!

I am sure his dad would instruct him on where to tell the world to go, to go back to being who he really is, a fierce competitor who does things his way, kicking ass and takes names. He seems to be very uncomfortable in his own skin right now, and to be brutally honest with you, that’s the way most people in the golf world and media like it, it affords them continued criticism and contributes to the demise of his dominance  in world of golf. Control is a powerful thing and in many people’s eyes he had way too much of it for their liking.  

Even at 35 yrs of age he possesses natural talents that supersede that of the majority of professional golfers today. I find it highly unlikely and ludicrous to think that his best days are behind him. Once he figures out what his real issues are and he will, and finds stability in his personal life, he will be as dominant as he once was, much to the dislike of those who are reviling in his current struggle.

Seth Joyner

2/18/11

Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers bring SB XLV and the Vince Lombardi Trophy back to Title town. The final chapter in the Brett Favre era has officially closed, as Rodgers takes his place as Title towns’ new golden boy.

Leading into the big game, Rodgers had been playing lights out, but in the Super Bowl, against the vaunted Pittsburgh defense, many including the Packers hoped for this outcome, but I don’t think many including myself expected this outcome. The Packers made plays when it counted and took full advantage of 3 turnovers that the Steelers offered up, turning all 3 into 21 points.

In the midst of injuries like most of the season, the Packers claimed their first championship since their Super Bowl victory in 1997. Team leaders Charles Woodson went down with a shoulder injury, then offensive chain mover Donald Driver exited with an ankle injury right before half time.

Both of their replacements contributed big. Jarret Bush’s solid play and momentum changing interception along with the play of Jordy Nelson with 9 receptions for 140 yds and an early TD for the game’s first score was the difference.

The tale of this Super Bowl has to be the turnovers, but let’s give credit to Aaron Rodgers and the Packer offensive line. Although they yielded 3 sacks, the O-Line did an amazing job of protecting Rodgers and picked up the Steelers blitz, rendering outside linebackers Harrison and Woodley useless.

The error on the part of the Steelers was giving a QB like Rodgers pre-snap reads as to what they were doing. Even when the Steelers tried to disguise their blitzes, by formation the Steelers were forced to show their hands earlier than they wanted to.

This put the Steelers secondary at a disadvantage because Rodgers knew where he wanted to go with the ball before he put his hands under center. William Gay became the weak link after an injury to Bryant McFadden force him into every down action and Rodgers went after him with regularity.

As great a season as the Steelers had, this game exposed their weakness, its secondary. One wouldn’t believe that to be true, but the Steelers are so good at getting QB pressure, this weakness was masked all season. Without the normal pressure by Harrison, Woodley and Polamalu the corners and other safeties had to cover much longer than they were use to, and that was their undoing.

The Steelers never seemed to get into offensive rhythm, with the early Int by Nick Collins returned for a TD, the Int by Bush, and then the fumble by Mendenhall the momentum shifted firmly in the Packers favor. The game plan by the Steelers implemented tight formations to ensure protection by Ward and Miller actually helped the Packers crowd the line of scrimmage and bottle up the Steelers Wide outs.

Conversely the Packers spread the Steelers defense out and force them to cover the whole field. Mendenhall had a solid performance going, but being down the whole game forced the Steelers to throw more than they probably wanted to and his fumble was a back breaker, he never touched the ball again, trust had been lost and that put the ball in Big Ben’s hands the rest of the way.

Although the Steelers put up a valiant effort fighting to the end, Aaron Rodgers, Jordy Nelson, Greg Jennings, Clay Matthews and the rest of the Packer team was too much for them to overcome. Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers 2011 Super Bowl Champions.

As Super Bowl XLV draws closer the anticipation is beginning to heighten, players are locked in on the task at hand and the prognosticators are persuasively embellishing us with their picks, thoughts and analysis.

Having won and lost a Super Bowl allow me to embellish for a while. For the first time players, sleep is getting harder and harder to come by, the closer and closer they get to Sunday. Tension and nervousness is settling in, thoughts of big plays and MVP honors mixed in with thoughts that I don’t want to be that guy, flood the mind.

There’s a war between confidence and fear being waged in the mind and psyche. By game time the realization that it’s still football, the game they love and have played all of their lives begins to set in. Come Sunday they’ll just line up and hope to take advantage of the opportunities that come their way and hope that their teammates take advantage of enough of the ones that come theirs, to become Champs.

For the guys that have been there before, their greatest concern is the guys who haven’t and the coaches. Experience is one of the greatest calming agents in games like this, the exception being when a play comes their way at a most critical moment of the game.

These guys aren’t worried as much as they are visualizing what they hope will be the greatest personal performance they’ve ever had in their careers. Going over the game plan, scanning the film and memorizing tendencies, are the top of mind issues facing these guys.

I think the most nervous of the group are the coaches. Worrying about certain players and how they may react to pressure situations. What plays to call, formations, schemes and trying to anticipate the opposing coordinators next move. After all the only power that coaches possess, is to put their big time players in position and hope they execute.

This game more than any is interesting because of the mind games and strategies that are employed. It is the ultimate chess match and one wrong move or guesstimation could be the difference between being the Super Bowl XLV Champion or goat.

The popularity of the Super Bowl lay in its unique nature. The NFL Championship is different than the NBA, MLB or NHL championship. You can lay an egg in games 1 and/or 2 and still have a chance to win the overall Championship in these other sports. In football you have one chance, one game and it’s never a good day to have an off day on the big day.

In Basketball you can have a horrible day shooting in game 3 and redeem yourself in game 4, by shooting well. The Super Bowl is the ultimate Championship of one and done, it’s so exciting and popular, because of the finality of it. There’s no second chance, and every play could be the pivotal play that determines the ultimate outcome.

Seth Joyner

2/4/11

It is interesting how much momentum and steam the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement talks are picking up. I do not understand why the NFL and the NFLPA have to always wait to the last minute to get down to business. Ultimately bringing in the courts and congress to further widen the debate and settle the issues.

Players are frustrated because of the uncertainty leading into the 2011 off-season. I’ve heard all kinds of rumblings about how DeMaurice Smith is over matched against Roger Goodell and the Shield.

The league will and always have played hardball, that’s what big businesses do, and if they can get the players to crumble and accept something less than desirable it’s a small win for the owners. That’s why we have unions in this country.

But the league understands that the players are the commodity, they learned that lesson in the strike of 1987. The owners thought that the fans would support replacement players (scabs), after averaging 2000 spectators per game the message was loud and clear.

The owners own the shield, uniforms and team logos, but at the end of the day without the likes of Peyton Manning, Darrell Revis, James Harrison and Aaron Rodgers to name but a few, in those uniforms the draw of the NFL is greatly diminished.

What are the issues at hand, MONEY!! The owners would have the public believe that they are losing money, I was born at night, but not last night. With 9 billion in annual revenues the owners are hardly hurting.

They really want to reign in player salaries, but if they are making it they should give the players their pro rata share of the revenues. One reason I call BS on the owners is that they refuse to open their real books to show their yearly revenues.

I never understood that, once a year USA-Today publishes all the salaries for professional athletes, yet you never see the salaries of team owners. Some would say that it’s irrelevant, I would disagree, because the players’ salaries should be in line with the revenues they generated for the owners.

One area where I believe that the owners can make some headway is imposing a salary cap on incoming rookies. I have always viewed it as a joke that a rookie could come into the NFL having never played one down, and yet make more than a 7 year proven veteran at the same position.

The NFL should operate like the NBA and MLB, make them earn the right to make the big dollars. This would create greater competition and the quality of the game would increase exponentially, competition always brings out the best.

If I’m guaranteed $40 million what is my motivation to be great, especially when the money has always been the prize? The great ones realize that the love and passion for the game will take them to heights of greatness, and elite performance and winning will takes care of the money.

An 18 game schedule runs contrary to the safety issues the NFL are pushing. You are talking about 2 more opportunities for players to get hurt, furthermore how will the owners compensate the players for the additional regular season games. The owners would further dilute the players existing salaries by the two added games, while the players I’m sure want their pro rata share of the two additional game added to their salaries.

The health care program will always be up for debate. This affects not only the current, but ex-players as well and speaks volumes about how they’ve been treated by their own union and the NFL. The NFL has the worst player benefits program of all of the major sports, yet NFL players bodies take more of a beating than any other sport.

The league looks at it from the standpoint of we are paying these guys tremendous amounts of money and they are, but the owners wealth is being created on the backs of the players and at the expense of the players’ future health and quality of life.

Every time a player falls on hard times or has health issues and cannot get the necessary assistance from the union and/or league it is a black eye for both the NFL and the NFLPA whether they believe it or not.

There’s enough money to take care of yesterday’s players, who have paved the way for today’s players to earn phenomenal salaries and created a literal money press for the owners, it is the right thing to do. Gene Upshaw’s comment, “I work for the current players, not for the ex-players,” completely blew me away.

I do not know how he could have made such a statement making $3 million plus a year and while watching some of his ex-teammates and NFL brothers suffer. I respect his legacy as a player and a human being, but never such a statement.

Although I have only scraped the tip of the iceberg in terms of what the issues are, when you get down to the real issue at hand it’s always about money. The NFL is trying to justify reigning in salaries, while the players have always felt under paid. The average fan would read that comment and say, I would love to be able to make that kind of money, these guys are greedy, if you had the skill set to do so you would be making it.

I submit to you, why do you go to the movies or watch a sporting event? To be entertained, football players are entertainers, they pay a huge price at the end of the day in terms of the beating their bodies take to entertain and earn a living. Is it ok for Will Smith or Sharon Stone to make $20 million to star in a movie or Beyonce or Lady Gaga to make exorbitant amounts of money for entertaining, yet NFL players are greedy when they ask for their just do.

There may be a lock out, but I assure you there will be no work stoppage when it comes to the regular season. For two reasons, there’s too much money at stake for the players and the owners alike. Secondly, fan viewership and loyalty is at an all time high, suffice to say that football is the most popular sport in the US of A right now, and the NFL owners would be insane to mess that up. Let’s look back at the NBA strike, the MLB strike and the 04-05 NHL strike.

It took a monumental effort for those leagues to recover, Sosa and McGuire homerun duel drew fans back to baseball, Shaq and Kobe’s string of championships helped draw fans back to basketball and although Sid the kid is trying to be the new Gretzky, I’m not sure that the NHL has ever really recovered. Both sides have legitimate gripes and major hurdles that must be overcome, but primarily it is, has and always will be about the Benjamins.

The NFL is a cash cow for the players as well as the owners, both sides are posturing right now because everything boils down to negotiation. The question will be, what are the owners willing to give and what the players are willing to except, and vice versa. It is interesting to listen to the bantering, chest beating and trash talking, if this were a game the refs would be tossing unsportsmanlike conduct flags like crazy.

Seth Joyner

2/2/11

When you are a braggadocio outspoken coach like Rex Ryan times like now are a detractors dream. Those with the power of the pen, the writers will have a field day taking their shots. Like everything in life you have to take the good with the bad. The Jets are a good team, they are a bit out of sync and have a young QB still learning the pro game, they will bounce back, they have too much talent not to. When you look at the teams that are having success this year, and most years, they are the ones that have QB’s that have solid seasons. You can mask a lot of positions with schemes, line slants  and double teams, but you cannot hide a struggling QB. The Jets are predictable and that happens when the coordinator is trying to hide inefficiencies, they are trying to simplify thing to minimize the thinking he has to do. The  QB has the hardest job on the field, a WR can know his route, the center can know the protection and the RB can have an idea where the hole is supposed to be, but the QB has to not only know his job but everyone else’s also, how the defense is trying to attack him and be able to process that information quickly.

The jets defense played and outstanding game yesterday vs. the Dolphins. The message was sent from the head coach that the whole team played bad, how can you tell your defense they played well and the offense they stunk it up without dividing the team, the offense is the problem. 9 total  points in two weeks won’t get it done when you have playoff aspirations. Mark Sanchez just isn’t ready yet, no matter  how much heat Rex tries to take off of his sophomore QB with his bravado, it comes down to execution. Young players, especially QB’s need time barring injury to developed (appox 3 years). They need to experience and see all of the coverages, blitzes and disguises, make mistakes and correct them to get to a point where the game slows down and they can play with consistency. There is so much info to digest and remember for young players, most importantly football is a game of reaction, not thinking then reacting. Your reactions need to be like walking, you don’t think about it you just do it and that takes repetitions, live game time reps. Sanchez will get hot and play well in spurts and he will have spurts like the last two games where he will look like a QB i