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Great story on Jared Lorenzen

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by LongTimeListener, Aug 26, 2014.

  1. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Tommy Tomlinson -- I don't know him -- has the same weight problem that has always plagued Lorenzen. He uses a sort of first-person approach, but he also goes back through just why the guy cannot get slim, even though it has cost him his playing career and his marriage and will in all likelihood take years off his life.

    It's the catch-22 of being hooked on food. When you feel good, you eat to celebrate. When you feel bad, you eat to feel better. And for the people around you who want you to be happy, food is a natural gift. Lorenzen has thought a lot about the coach in his youth football days who rode him so hard to make weight. When he made it, the coach brought him a plate of brownies.

    It goes back a long way, to his childhood, when he never learned to eat right and never learned to say no. His parents' divorce factors in (he and dad chowing down was their bonding time).

    http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/11382220/ex-nfl-qb-jared-lorenzen-lifelong-battle-weight

    There is a definite subtle vibe of the comedian masking pain here, along with Tomlinson's acknowledgement that at age 50, he keeps telling himself he'll kick it into gear, but in truth he doesn't know how much time he has left. I imagine there was some pain in writing it. I also think Lorenzen probably doesn't go that deep with anyone else.
     
  2. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    I loved much about this piece, but primarily what I love is that thousands of journalists yukked it up about Lorenzen playing with the Rivermonsters (or whatever) but Tomlinson was the only one who went and found him and asked him to talk. A little empathy can open your eyes to great story ideas.
     
  3. JayFarrar

    JayFarrar Well-Known Member

    That story was one of my favorites of the year.

    It might be because I'm a fatty but there's some details in it that really rang true.
     
  4. Webster

    Webster Well-Known Member

    To me, it said a lot about Lorenzen and how he is wired that the first year that the Giants offered him a free agent chance, he didn't even bother to show up.
     
  5. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Too bad Lorezen was not a baseball pitcher. He would have
    been celebrated.
     
  6. SpeedTchr

    SpeedTchr Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]

    A few too many boxes of these bits o' heaven will ruin a career.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  7. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    I saw so many things in that story that spoke to me. Thanks for posting it.
     
  8. franticscribe

    franticscribe Well-Known Member

    Tomlinson is a great writer, and an awesome guy. He was the Charlotte Observer's longtime metro columnist and features/take-out writer. His work in the Observer was a must-read for me for a longtime.
     
  9. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    As others have noted, that was a surprisingly interesting read.

    An observation I'd never considered was how food addicts don't have the same treatment options as other addicts. The alcoholic (or drug addict) is instructed that he must go cold turkey, because "just one drink" only serves to stimulate the uncontrollable cravings. But you can't go cold turkey on food--you just have to endure the cravings constantly being stimulated.

    Kudos to Tomlinson on a damn nice piece of writing.
     
  10. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    Two things that got to me:

    1. The fact that if you have a serious weight problem, you tend to reward yourself for losing weight by ... eating. Absolutely true.

    2. "Nobody who's 65 looks like we do." That chilled.
     
  11. qtlaw

    qtlaw Well-Known Member

    Great read; thanks.
     
  12. X-Hack

    X-Hack Well-Known Member

    That story hit me hard. I am not close to overweight -- I am 5'5, 148 lbs. I do CrossFit 3 times a week, do some kind of exercise most other days and I am very careful about my eating. But it is very, very hard because I suffer from the same food issues that Lorenzen does. I have strong cravings and they peak when I experience anxiety or depression. Staying thin and fit is probably what I work the hardest on, since I do want to be there for my kids and grandkids over the long haul. And I do not judge Lorenzen for being unable to overcome his food issues because they are what I struggle most with in life. So the story hit me pretty hard. 8 years ago I was 25 pounds overweight, which is pretty bad on a small frame like mine. Developing the habits and discipline necessary to take it off and keep it off was the hardest thing I ever had to do and I still struggle with it on a daily basis. I would put it all back and then some in a month if I was to give in — and I’m often very close to giving in. I often wonder how long I’ll be able to stay ahead of my cravings. It takes all the grit I have after a hard day to keep from being the guy hating himself while clandestinely scarfing down KFC in the store parking lot before going home to a nutritious dinner. Or to grab 3 slices of pizza to make a shitty rush-hour commute more pleasant while rationalizing it as a reward for a hard day’s work (the way Lorenzen would gorge after struggling to “make weight”). Or to put away a whole container of Ben & Jerry's late at night because it’s soothing —and because I just wanted to “pick out” a few of the chunks of the good stuff in it but the rest of it came along for the ride, and, hey, it’s not like I do that EVERY night — and I had a shitty week so fuck it. The food issues he has are the ones I have and I do not judge him for having a hard time keeping them under control because I constantly feel like I’m a small dam trying to hold back a tsunami. I’ve never seen an article that really nails that whole craving and emotional eating piece. I've kept the weight off for 8 years -- though on a couple of occasions I started to creep back up, gradually gaining up to 10 pounds before having to really drill down to get it off again. But I always feel like I'm this close to being a smaller Jared Lorenzen.
     
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