Replies

A little off subject but ... I remember a commercial (insurance, I think) using Dan Dierdorf as the spokesman and they actually showed a brief shot of him walking towards the camers .... and If I remember correctly, he had those orthopedic, padded shoes on and could barely walk and I thought ... man ... you crippled yourself playing a game.

In fairness, to us, it's a game. To them, it's a job. For the average NFL player, could he make that kind of money in any other line of work? A year's salary in the pros is a lifetime income in some occupations. This kid may seem like he's just started his work life, but he made $600K his first year. That's 10 years' pay for any garden variety college grad job. Many of the black players don't have the IQ to either get a college degree without an athletic assist or hold down a college grad job, so one year in the NFL is literally a lifetime's worth of paychecks. Army paratroopers blow out their knees and get concussions doing routine training, but they don't get NFL paychecks. Construction workers get all kinds of repetitive stress injuries - well, you get the idea.