Sam Rayburn: Fighting Drug Addiction

[YourPalChrisMal]

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/...html?viewAll=y

[sfphillyfan]

I read that story in the inky yesterday. Good read. So good, they published two stories on Rayburn which were essentially the same. WTH is wrong with the inky.

Anyway, worth a read. Gives you perspective.

Sure, Rayburn got a $1.3M signing bonus (what is that? $700k after taxes and agents?) but I wouldn't trade places with him, drug addiction or no.

[taz]

This type of thing happens to athletes more than we know. Its pretty easy to get addictted to pain killers. When you are an athlete you constantly have to deal with the aches and pains. Its a shame, I feel bad for Rayburn, its amazing what addiction can cause a person to do. His legal problems will work themselves out, I just hope he can stay clean.

[balto-eaglefan]

Sheridan had an article on the toll that football takes on a lot of former players, basically saying that the league, the players' association, and even the fans of want to sweep issues like this under the rug. Maybe not even because of the money that they (the NFL and NFLPA) would end up spending on treatments and pensions...but as for the fans, it's because there are bad things about "our" sport that we'd just rather not know:
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/..._violence.html

This quote from Andre Waters is tough...he said it when he was 44, six months before he took his own life:

"I wake up in pain every day. The way I played the game, I sacrificed my body on every play. I wasn't thinking about the future. There are days I can't even walk, and I know a lot of guys feel the same way."

[sfphillyfan]

That Andre Waters quote is why I never begrudge a player for trying to get as much money as they can.

[Eagle60]

That Andre Waters quote is why I never begrudge a player for trying to get as much money as they can.

I've said the same thing for years.