Posted on 09/23/2005 9:17:16 AM PDT by Caleb1411
The paychecks from ESPN arrived at Chris Spielman's home in Columbus, Ohio, throughout the college football season last fall. Each was placed in the same pile, uncashed and collecting dust.
Spielman, a former NFL linebacker, wasn't about to take money for work he wasn't doing even if he had a very good reason for staying away from the sport he loves. For the third time since 1998, Spielman's wife and high school sweetheart, Stefanie, was battling cancer and he wanted to be with her and the couple's four children.
"[ESPN] is a good company and they are loyal," he said. "But I sent them all the checks back. I appreciated what they were trying to do but I didn't earn that money."
Spielman, an ESPN college football analyst from 2001 through 2003, is once again earning his money this season. Stefanie's cancer is in remission and her husband is back in the broadcast booth. He will work his fourth game of the season at 11 a.m. Saturday when he joins Mark Jones on the Gophers-Purdue telecast on ESPN.
"I think it's great," Spielman said of being back. "I tell everybody that this is the best job in the world."
But Spielman also has a very good perspective on where football fits into his life. When Stefanie was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998, he decided to take a year off from the Buffalo Bills to take care of his wife and kids. He retired the following season after sustaining a neck injury in the preseason.
In the spring of 2001, Stefanie, having completed chemotherapy and radiation, found out her cancer had reoccurred.
"I think each individual at some point is going to face trials and tribulations," he said. "But because I have perspective on life it doesn't mean I'm
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
The importance of football in many peoples' lives was driven home to Spielman this week when he spent two hours visiting with wounded Marines who had just returned from Iraq.
"I asked the Marines when they were defending our country if they think about sports," Spielman said. "They said they love sports. When you hear guys say sports doesn't provide an escape, well that's not according to guys on the front lines. [Football] isn't life or death but it's part of our society, and I don't think we should apologize for it."
POLITICS!!!!!!!!!!!!
I went to Ohio State when Speilman was a freshman. You gotta hand it to him he had a good career in the NFL when the "experts" said he was too small. He seems like a great guy.
Chris is a great guy. He is from my hometown Massillon, OH and was an excellent football player and a GOOD kid. I was able to see him in Canton OH last year when he was with Pres Bush's campaign. Good speaker too. Pro-life and very conservative.
Yes, he was a non-nonsense player with a great work ethic and willingness to accept responsibility. We need more like him in sports and in life.
Chris Spielman's brother is, I believe, Rick Spielman, who, until Nich Saban arrived, was General Manager of the Miami Dolphins.
I think this man has proved, over and over, that love will help conquer anything known to man. To see how he has put his life on "hold" so that he could be with his wife in her time of need, tells me he has a real grip on life, and has set a really fine example for the rest of us to follow. His children should be proud of their Father, as he is, in the truest sense of the word, a real hero. God bless him and his family.
The Lions haven't been the same since he left. He was huge in their 1991 season, after Michael Utley suffered his paralyzing injury, and he helped rally the team to a division title and to the NFC Championship Game (it's pretty much all we Lions fans have had to cheer about in the last 40 years).
Chris Spielman is a great role model. He was a terrific football player and is an even better person.
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