Written by John Mark Adkison
Three magic words spark the silent game into action: “Ready, set, hike.”And then the players scatter from the line like a surge of raging bulls let loose from a suffocating corral. You snap your arm back; you watch the field become a chaotic mess of 300-pound men clashing. Then out of the chaos comes a thread of order as the receiver breaks away from the commotion, sprinting toward the end zone.He’s far away. He’s moving fast. And something closer to a leviathan than a human being is a few feet away from ripping off your head. But your arm snaps forward, the ball shoots from your hand, spinning with the accuracy of a heat-seeking missile.It flies high, it flies straight, and it flies true. The receiver catches it, steps into the end zone, and the crowd goes wild.Confetti falls like stardust from the sky, fanatics rush the field, and suddenly the whole arena is worshipping you.They are cheering your name. You are in the spotlight. You are what every little league player aspires to be.And then it ends. The cheering is cut short, the spotlight is shattered, and all you have in the way of fame are a few posters and too many bobbleheads.And you find yourself not in the field,but alone in a mansion, overweight,in debt,over the age of 35 and with nothing to look forward to. Instead of making multi-million dollar contracts, you are spending fortunes to pay divorce lawyers. Instead of running plays on the field, you are stuck in a boardroom discussing accounting. As for the good ol’ days, there are only cold leftovers of fame and fortune.According to Sports Illustrated, by the time they have been retired for two years, 78 percent of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce. Look at Bernie Kosar, a former quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys whose life fell to pieces with a nasty divorce and an even nastier bankruptcy following the 2008-2009 recession.Since when do legends go bankrupt? Perhaps when they realize being a legend doesn’t pay the bills.Perhaps that is why Brett Favre was so reluctant to retire. How do you go from being the favorite American idol to a regular human being with more money troubles than Nicholas Cage?My advice: Forget the money, and find a new purpose.Be more than a charity dinner guest, be a legend that puts one’s gamemaking skill to the test and tries to change the world.J.M. ADKISON serves as the sports editor for the 2010- 2011 Bison. He may be contacted atjadkiso1@harding.edu
