Former NFL receiver Antwaan Randle El regrets ever playing football

[DaKCMan AP]

Former NFL receiver Antwaan Randle El regrets ever playing football

Former Washington Redskins and Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antwaan Randle El is perhaps best remembered for his 43-yard touchdown pass in Super Bowl XL that aided a Pittsburgh win over Seattle, but a decade later, the physical and mental drawbacks have been so significant that he regrets ever playing in the NFL.

“If I could go back, I wouldn’t” play football, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a Steelers-themed project posted Tuesday. “I would play baseball. I got drafted by the Cubs in the 14th round, but I didn’t play baseball because of my parents. They made me go to school. Don’t get me wrong, I love the game of football. But right now, I could still be playing baseball.”

Randle El, who played in Washington from 2006 to 2009 between two stints in Pittsburgh, said he regularly experiences trouble walking down stairs — “I have to come down sideways sometimes, depending on the day” — and has serious memory lapses.

“I ask my wife things over and over again, and she’s like, ‘I just told you that,’ ” Randle El told the Post-Gazette. “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.”

In 2013, Randle El and three other former players filed a lawsuit against the NFL in a Manhattan federal court alleging the NFL “has done everything in its power to hide the issues and mislead players concerning the risks associated with concussions,” according to The Village Voice. In 2015, after that suit was consolidated with more than 2,000 others, he was one of more than 5,000 players that received more than $900 million in settlement money from the NFL to resolve a concussion lawsuit.

Since retiring in 2010, Randle El helped to found the Virginia Academy, a Christian high school in Ashburn, where he serves as the school’s athletic director. Originally, he was a proponent for the development of a football program at the school, but he has no remorse after it was cut two years in when it became too expensive.

“The kids are getting bigger and faster, so the concussions, the severe spinal cord injuries, are only going to get worse,” he said in the interview. “It’s a tough pill to swallow because I love the game of football. But I tell parents, ‘You can have the right helmet, the perfect pads on, and still end up with a paraplegic kid.’

“There’s no correcting it. There’s no helmet that’s going to correct it. There’s no teaching that’s going to correct it. It just comes down to it’s a physically violent game. Football players are in a car wreck every week.”

Randle El is not naive to the profitability of the sport or the impact it has on society, but with the concussion and life-long injury issues getting more attention than ever before, the nine-year veteran thinks the end may be near.

“Right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if football isn’t around in 20, 25 years.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ying-football/

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I haven't seen any articles stating that football is "evil and must be stopped" so it's likely we're reading different websites.

There is a segment of the liberal media that thinks football represents sexism, creates a culture of rape/entitlement on college campuses, the game is too violent, the game is too dangerous, etc.

They will take any potential negative news about football, such as the Randle El story and use it as a sign that football is finished.

[Sully]

Originally Posted by KCChiefsFan88

There is a segment of the liberal media that thinks football represents sexism, creates a culture of rape/entitlement on college campuses, the game is too violent, the game is too dangerous, etc.

They will take any potential negative news about football, such as the Randle El story and use it as a sign that football is finished.

I mean it, you are knocking this "craziest poster in this thread" contest out of the park.

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by Sully

I mean it, you are knocking this "craziest poster in this thread" contest out of the park.

Obviously you have no capacity to look at bigger picture/macro forces at play.

Thanks for confirming that.

[Sully]

Originally Posted by KCChiefsFan88

Obviously you have no capacity to look at bigger picture/macro forces at play.

Thanks for confirming that.

Bigger picture/macro forces at play = crazy conspiracy theories?

Yeah. You're a nut.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Sully

Bigger picture/macro forces at play = crazy conspiracy theories?

Yeah. You're a nut.

YOU ARE THE ONE THAT COACHES KIDS TO THEIR IMPENDING DOOOOOOOM

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by KCChiefsFan88

There is a segment of the liberal media that thinks football represents sexism, creates a culture of rape/entitlement on college campuses

Well, it is hard to argue against this notion.

Did you go to an NCAA Division I football school and hang out with any of the players?

Hell, I had friends that played at Coffeyville and the entitlement was unreal. The guys would take over a movie theater, for free I might add, eat all the concessions and act rowdy, then not pay a cent. And that was nothing.

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by Sully

Bigger picture/macro forces at play = crazy conspiracy theories?

Yeah. You're a nut.

You are clearly too stupid to understand, but keep doing a good job of letting everyone know that fact about you.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I haven't seen any articles stating that football is "evil and must be stopped" so it's likely we're reading different websites.

Originally Posted by Sully

I mean it, you are knocking this "craziest poster in this thread" contest out of the park.

I largely agree that they won't prevail, but is it your sincere opinion that the sentiment that footballs is too violent, misogynist and dangerous to society is so fringe as to be near nonexistent?

That's like an ardent states rights advocate saying that racism is completely over in society.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

I largely agree that they won't prevail, but is it your sincere opinion that the sentiment that footballs is too violent, misogynist and dangerous to society is so fringe as to be near nonexistent?

I think you may have misread my quote, as I stated I've never seen an article declaring that football was "evil" or even too violent.

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I think you may have misread my quote, as I stated I've never seen an article declaring that football was "evil" or even too violent.

Welp....

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

That's a ridiculous analogy.

That person had a choice. I'm sure that he/she had the option to go to junior college, to attend university, to do something other than work at a meat packing plant. WE ALL DO.

I played elementary, junior high and high school football. NEVER ONCE did anyone mention that you could get BRAIN DAMAGE from playing. No one. Broken bones, torn muscles, sprains, even paralysis but brain damage?

Nope.

You don't have to feel "sorry" for anyone. But I'm absolutely certain that armed with the information that we have today about CTE (in which the NFL willingly withheld), more and more people will choose NOT to play the game.

It's pretty simple.

I feel like you and I are close enough to the same age that we probably played within a few years of each other at worst.

Did we have meetings on possible brain damage? No, no we did not. Did I know after Cordelle the man-eating safety absolutely destroyed my ass over the middle that vomiting in the huddle was probably a pretty damn bad sign? Yes, yes I did. And even in high school I knew that enough injuries to my ankles would probably cost me some long-term dexterity there - how could I argue that enough injuries to my head wouldn't cause long-term issues?

I ultimately side with the concussion folks for one reason and one reason only - the NFL evidently HAD done some studies on this, knew about the risk and not only did they not disclose it (which doesn't bother me a lot), but they took active steps to bury the science (which does).

Beyond that, however, I think it takes a ton of willful ignorance to suggest that players and/or parents didn't know that football can take a toll on your brain. Now I think there's a fair argument to make that we didn't know to the extent of that toll, but I don't think the NFL knew the extent of the possible damage either.

[Beef Supreme]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I think you may have misread my quote, as I stated I've never seen an article declaring that football was "evil" or even too violent.

Google "Football is too violent"

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Marco Polo

I'm actually surprised that some of these athletes aren't playing baseball. Longer careers, guaranteed contracts...it's just not as cool in younger culture but it is far more rewarding and better for your body.

Higher hill to climb with far less guarantee of money.

If you're good enough to play college football, you're one step away from getting paid big money to play professionally. If you're good enough to play college baseball, you're one step away from riding a bus around South Carolina and pooling meal money so you can split a bag of shrimp.

Do even half of all first round picks every play in MLB? I'd be not. Whereas every first round pick in the NFL immediately signs a contract that gives them, at worst, a fantastic jump start on the rest of their lives.

I understand why guys who can earn a living playing football end up doing it. I'm a little more confused as to why parents would hand their kid a set of pads rather than a bat and glove when they're 8, however.

That being said, if my kid wanted to play, I'd probably let him. Some of my fondest memories and most vivid feelings of true comradarie came from HS football. Oh sure, some shitty ones did as well, but that's growing up.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

So can the NFL be killed? Maybe not. Maybe the long-term fate is that interest fades since fewer people grow up playing the sport, and it declines back into the pack of other sports as opposed to being the 600-lb. gorilla. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but then it would make the league more vulnerable to being killed by internal issues such as the concussion lawsuit.

Simple answer: people watch college football and watch it rabidly.

The argument that the NFL will fade from popularity presupposes that the skill level is what draws viewership. It isn't. The college game is played at nowhere near as high a level and people turn out to watch it in droves despite a stark contrast from Saturday to Sunday.

Now take that contrast and make it on a sliding scale over 10-15 years of dwindling talent and A) I doubt anyone would even notice and B) even if they do, they won't care.

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Higher hill to climb with far less guarantee of money.

If you're good enough to play college football, you're one step away from getting paid big money to play professionally. If you're good enough to play college baseball, you're one step away from riding a bus around South Carolina and pooling meal money so you can split a bag of shrimp.

Do even half of all first round picks every play in MLB? I'd be not. Whereas every first round pick in the NFL immediately signs a contract that gives them, at worst, a fantastic jump start on the rest of their lives.

I understand why guys who can earn a living playing football end up doing it. I'm a little more confused as to why parents would hand their kid a set of pads rather than a bat and glove when they're 8, however.

That being said, if my kid wanted to play, I'd probably let him. Some of my fondest memories and most vivid feelings of true comradarie came from HS football. Oh sure, some shitty ones did as well, but that's growing up.

Kids don't really need to be tackling before they turn 14, IMO.