OT: Interesting story of a guy bailing out of the NFL

[Louis]

NYT link here (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/sports/football/quitting-the-nfl-for-john-moffitt-the-money-wasnt-worth-it.html?smid=pl-share)

Sounds like an interesting guy.

Quitting the N.F.L.: For John Moffitt, the Money Wasn’t Worth It

John Moffitt, who walked away from about $1 million in salary from the 9-1 Broncos, said continuing to play for money was likely to injure him further and deepen his gloom.

[Shortsocks]

Sounds like a pretty cool guy. Done, moving on. I'd drink a cup of joe with him.

Thanks for the article.

[MattTuck]

Actually a pretty brave choice to walk away from the only career (and a well paying one, at that) you've ever known. How many of you would do the same?

Have no idea of his family background, but I hope his sociology "degree" helps him find work that pays the bills.

He's a small sample size, and as a player was "represented" by the player's union in the collective bargaining process, but I'm sure we'll see changes over the next few years that attempt to limit injuries. Probably will only be able to tackle between shoulder and hips (to protect both knees/legs and head), and leading with helmet will probably become illegal. Will it "ruin" the game? No, but it will probably change it, and hopefully make it safer.


Lots of quotation marks in this post :rolleyes:

[CircuitHero]

It's okay, Vasquez and Beadles have done a good job filling in at his position. Go Broncos!

[Saint Vitus]

I guess quitting mid-season makes a bolder statement, but personally I would have retired after the current one as I pared down my life to a much simpler lifestyle all around, that extra $625k could go real far...

[67-59]

Interesting that he majored in Sociology at Wisconsin -- which US News rates as the best Sociology program in the country (tied with Princeton and Berkeley). I suspect he got "help" as a football player, but still, maybe his education might actually mean something.

In any event, good luck to the young man.

[Climb01742]

has to be a very tough moment when you begin to balance more money vs more damage to your body and mind. living with pain later in life is one trade-off, but living with brain damage would scare anyone. sounds like he made the right choice for him and his young family.

[norcalbiker]

Nice article. I'm sure it's a hard decision.

[FlashUNC]

Interesting that he majored in Sociology at Wisconsin -- which US News rates as the best Sociology program in the country (tied with Princeton and Berkeley). I suspect he got "help" as a football player, but still, maybe his education might actually mean something.

In any event, good luck to the young man.

Just because he plays football he's dumb as a brick and needs "help"?

Clearly the guy's got enough self-awareness and a head on his shoulders to walk away and decide on a new path.

Not sure why you're making a rather sweeping and derogatory generalization about him.

[jlwdm]

Good luck to him. NFL players have tough lives with all of their injuries.

The complaints about the NFL being a business were a little much though. That is pretty obvious. He was a marginal player without much future in the NFL. I thought it was a poor way to quit. He should have notified the team.

Jeff

[rice rocket]

Two more months and he would've had a pension. Could've feigned injury and warmed the bench, but now his kids and wife have to suffer.

[jlwdm]

He might be getting his pension. I am no expert but a quick google seems to indicate being on the roster or injured reserve for three games counts as a year. He played in two games. Probably not a lot of pension for three years though.

Jeff

[Climb01742]

junior seau probably had a good pension coming his way. tony dorsett too. wonder if brett farve will be able to remember if he has a pension or not.

leaving the game mentally intact beats full benefits with full damage, IMO.

[67-59]

Just because he plays football he's dumb as a brick and needs "help"?

Clearly the guy's got enough self-awareness and a head on his shoulders to walk away and decide on a new path.

Not sure why you're making a rather sweeping and derogatory generalization about him.

Calm down. I NEVER said he was as dumb as a brick. Even the best student athletes have an incredibly difficult time balancing conditioning, practices, games...plus a full academic load. Most schools hire tutors to help with some of this, but it's no secret that the players also get extra time for assignments and exams. So yeah...he probably did have help...but that does NOT mean he was dumb as a brick.

Lighten up and stop reading stuff I never said into my comments....

[crownjewelwl]

the dude was making about the league minimum...

seems like a lot of $$ but not in the context of nfl...incentives might be different if he earned more

[EchelonLeft]

A sociologist had to read Dalai Lama and Chomskey to see that the NFL is about money, not people?
Sounds like he didn't go to class much.

[Waldo]

49ers starting tight end John Frank retired after just five years in the NFL (and two winning Super Bowls) to attend medical school in 1989. Now, he's a hair transplant surgeon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_E._Frank

[Louis]

Now, he's a hair transplant surgeon

Of all the specialties to choose, that's interesting.

[bloody sunday]

Reminds me of Glen Coffee who quit to enlist in the Army and become a paratrooper. Much respect to both of them.

[jlwdm]

John Franck had been going to medical school for 4 off seasons before committing to medical school full time.

Jeff

[Louis]

And, of course, there's Eric Heiden.

From Wikipedia

Medical career

After starting his undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Heiden earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Stanford University in 1984 and earned his M.D., also from Stanford in 1991. He completed orthopedic residency training at UC Davis in 1996 and after a year at a sports medicine clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, returned to California to practice as an orthopedic surgeon in Sacramento. At that time, he also served as team physician for the NBA's Sacramento Kings and the Sacramento Monarchs of the WNBA. In 2002, 2006 and 2010,[5] he was team physician for the U.S. Olympic speed skating team. He opened a sports medicine-based practice at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital (TOSH) in Murray, Utah, and has recently expanded Heiden Orthopaedics with an additional office in Park City, Utah.

He has followed in the footsteps of his father, Jack Heiden, a longtime orthopedic surgeon in Madison, Wisconsin.

In 2008, Heiden published Faster, Better, Stronger, a book about exercise science and exercise programs.