Tremendous and tragic U-T series on Junior Seau

Great post, gingerbread. And normally, I'm right with you on the point above. But the only reason I have a sliver of sympathy for high-level professional athletes on being "unprepared" for the real world is because, for so many of them, everyone in their lives has been pushing them through this tunnel from a very young age. Since they were 3 years old or 5 or 8 or whenever, it's all they've known. And depending on the adults in their lives, it may not even be by choice.

That's not something most of us have ever experienced. So yeah, while there's certainly an egotistical element to the "where'd all the attention and adulation go?" aspect of retirement, there's also a serious (and, by now, well-documented) identity crisis that affects every dimension of their lives. And I'll also say this: Journalism is the rare profession in which we often consider it to be an identity, so the loss of that identity may affect us more profoundly than others; but most people in this country just consider their jobs to be jobs.

If an athlete is smart enough and mature enough and aware enough — like, say, a Dhani Jones — to have used their celebrity and stature in life to cultivate other interests, then retirement's a piece of cake. But ballplayers are dumb, man. They just are. We've all been in enough locker rooms to know that. So I think it is tougher for people like Junior Seau to adapt to the "real world." Not they deserve any more assistance than the rest of us who experience a loss of career and/or identity, and god knows enough of us have lately, but I would hope most of us are better equipped mentally and psychologically to deal with those issues. I hope.

 

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/oct/21/bitter-endgame/?page=1#article

hope this helps (if someonehas already tipped y'all off, sorry for the db)

 

It was a tragic situation. I found Part 1 fascinating. Looking forward to reading Part 2.