Newsblog: Football mentality can push athletes too far
My first inclination is to criticize this mentality. What happened to Korey Stringer couldn’t happen to me. Dumb coaches. Macho jocks. Stupid sport.
But it’s there inside me, too. Yesterday I was playing racquetball at noon, and the heat and humidity from Tuesday hadn’t dissipated from the building. Plus, I hadn’t played a tough singles match in over a week, so I wasn’t in great shape. I got beat the first two games easily, but found my groove in game three and we had a real battle going. The players who usually play at 1 pm were filtering in and several of them began watching our match. I was somewhat “in the zone” but still cognizant that they were watching. I was soaked in sweat, my face was beat red, and my lungs were aching. But I was determined to go all out, and I did. I loved it. I won.
But it was probably more than a little stupid. The macho mentality is alive and well in me.
It was interesting to watch several of the Vikings sobbing openly, especially Randy Moss. He’s got a bit of a reputation for arrogance and now with his megabucks contract, it seems like it would only get worse. I wonder now whether he’ll take this tragedy that life’s put in front of him and wake up a bit.