Great F'n story! The fall of Atlanta Falcons QB Randy Johnson

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

From the give me something to read department ...
Nice job Steve Hummer!

http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-falcons/ex-falcon-qb-spent-154254.html

 

[Songbird]

not a bad read. few more ex-teammates might have been nice. maybe a little background on his first win, first td pass and to whom, things like that would've been cool.

sad story.

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

Steve did a helluva job on this piece, as he usually does.

Great dude too.

 

[Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.]

What a sad story. Amazing how some athletes, after being surrounded by thousands upon thousands of people, just want to be left alone. I had no idea Johnson was in that rough of shape, and I read a ton on football players from that era.

Reminds me of that Boston Globe story last year on former Sox and O's pitcher Sammy Stewart, who has been in and out of prison - mostly in - for the last 20 years. Just a sad epilogue.

 

[DisembodiedOwlHead]

Reminiscent of "The Wrestler" script.

 

[Blitz]

Those stories are the most fun to write.
When you aren't on a huge "deadline" and you can be enterprising.
It's that sort of stuff that's always helped sell the concept of "newspapers."

 

[lone star scribe]

Wow. That's a great story.

 

[qtlaw]

Great written story, sad story that one gets used to the adulation then cannot cope with the loss of that adulation.

(getting up on soapbox)

I truly believe that our society needs to send a better message as these "stars" are socialized as youngsters that the adulation is not the end all be all and that there is much more to life than just the adulation that comes from being a sports star. I point to that more than anything as to why the athletes feel enabled to do whatever they want. Look at Miguel Cabrera, if you can hit .330 with power, you get $20M per year and a free pass on violent crime.

 

[old_tony]

I hated the story. It ended and I wanted to keep reading. So I hate it. I hate that it was so well-done that I wanted to keep reading. Kind of like a movie that you enjoy so much. But they always end. Dammit!

And damn you, Steve Hummer!

 

[Armchair_QB]

Great written story, sad story that one gets used to the adulation then cannot cope with the loss of that adulation.

(getting up on soapbox)

I truly believe that our society needs to send a better message as these "stars" are socialized as youngsters that the adulation is not the end all be all and that there is much more to life than just the adulation that comes from being a sports star. I point to that more than anything as to why the athletes feel enabled to do whatever they want. Look at Miguel Cabrera, if you can hit .330 with power, you get $20M per year and a free pass on violent crime.

I don't know if all of his troubles can be blamed on the fact he was a pro athlete. Chances are he had some personality or mental health issues all of his life and was bound to wind up like this whether he played pro ball or not.

 

[FreddiePatek]

I often see the opaque reference such as "in an interview with a Florida newspaper" and wonder why you don't give the paper's name. What's the harm?

That said, a great story on a sad subject