Antwaan Randle El Regrets Playing Football Because He Has Memory Loss And Can Barely Walk Down Stairs

WaPo - “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. “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.”

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We talk about this here and there, but you gotta see it both ways. Nobody made Antwaan play football. You can still be a baseball player and go to school, that’s a ridiculous excuse. So he made the choice to play in the NFL, I’m not going to cry for him. Yes, there was less information about long-term problems back then, but he got to do what 99.9% of people can’t do. He played in the NFL, and not just that, he made millions of dollars from doing it. He also had the ability to fuck any girl he wanted, meet some of the coolest people in the world, win a Super Bowl, and so much more. So there’s no tears for him.

The sad part of course is the memory loss and the inability to walk. Hindsight is always going to be 20/20 with that stuff. There are NFL players who are lucky enough not to have such terrible long-term effects. But there are guys, just like Randle El, who wouldn’t trade being a professional football player for the world.

The moral of this story is if you have a chance to play baseball, FUCKING DO IT. I don’t care if you HATE baseball. If you have the chance to do it, freaking do it. Pretty sure Greinke is making more in 1 season than All-Pro RBs make in their careers. Baseball money is so fucking sick, while football money is a joke unless your name is Joe Flacco.

PS: You hear the “I wouldn’t be surprised if football isn’t around in 20, 25 years.” discussion thrown around all the time, and it’s really not as crazy as it sounds. Football will still be around, but they definitely have to make changes. If you think the game stinks now, just wait. Like…these guys are only getting bigger, stronger faster. Their jobs depend on them running full speed into each other trying to kill each other. I don’t know if it’s as easy as widening the field (which would be a good start) but football is so brutal of a game now, something will have to change. I feel like such an old grandma when I’m watching a game and go “OOOF!” when a big hit is made. Because I’m thinking about how much that has to fucking hurt these guys.