August 27, 2019 • 43 mins
Doug discusses Rob Gronkowski's reasoning for retirement and what he has in common with Andrew Luck. He also argues Antonio Brown and the Raiders headed for a troublesome relationship. Plus, 13 year NFL veteran Ephraim Salaam joins the show in studio to tell Doug why players like Gronk and Luck are retiring in the prime of their career.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Well here we are a couple of more days removed
from Andrew luck stunning league calling it quits from the
National Football League. Um, and there is I would say
a little bit more and maybe different support for my stance,
(01:06):
and I'll continue to kind of point out the misperception
and misassumption of what I have said and continued to say,
of course he gets uh. It gets lost in this um.
Let me first start with Rob Gronkowski, who had to
(01:27):
pay deal and talked at this at this, at this
deal about how he feels now and what he's gone through.
I needed to recover. I was not in a good place.
Football was bringing me down and I didn't like it,
and I was losing that joy in life. If I
(01:49):
have the desire to play football again, if I feel
passionate about football again, if I'm feeling like I need
to be out there on the field, I will go
back to football. As of right now, that is not
the case. Now. Remember this is Rob Gronkowski who broke
his forearm on a field goal blocking unit back in
two thousand twelve. By the way, that was against the
(02:11):
then Peyton Manningle at Indianapolis Colts. He reinjured the forearm
and the division round the playoffs, had another surgery, had
an infection in that forearm, required a third surgery to
get rid of the infection, had a four surgery and
put a to replace a rod inside his forearm. He
had back surgery in college. He had back surgery and
the Pros, actually two times in the Pros, so three
(02:32):
overall back surgeries and knee surgery. And he said earlier
today that he had to have one leader of blame.
Blood drained from his quad after he took a hit
in the Super Bowl and the win over the Rams. Now,
I'm I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that
Andrew Luck hasn't been through the ringer. Some of it,
by the way, is his own doing. Right, Andrew Luck
(02:54):
only holds the ball longer than many other quarterbacks. He
also reinjured his surgical prepared show older when he was snowboarding,
So let's not put it all on football. But it's
also not all his fault. The offensive line he played
behind was putrid for years, and he is was a
tough guy quarterback. Um, But I I actually think that
(03:17):
while Luck and Gronk different positions, Remember lux position is
the most protected position in all of sports. We can't
hit you when you don't have the ball. When you
do have the ball, we can hit you, but has
to be above the knee, below the neck, and we
can't land on you. But when you hear Rob Gronkowski say,
(03:42):
I just I wasn't a good place of football, which
is essential what Andrew Luck was saying, And we can
make this out to be a mental health issue, but
I don't think either of those two were in the
part of the mental space to do something dangerous to
themselves and others. So I do know that not having
great mental health does not mean you're like somehow suicidal.
(04:05):
But I continue to point out that this is the
new generation of athletes, the one that has feelings, the
one that cares, the one that worries about what happens
after their career. Last year alone, Cam Chancellor, Jason Witten,
(04:26):
who came back, Joe Thomas, James Harrison, Durell Reevas, Devin Hester,
Dwight Freeney, Matt Forte, Elvis Dumerville, DeMarco Murray, Victor Cruz,
and Tonio Camardi, Carson Palmer, Nick Mangold, Eric Decker, Vincent Jackson,
Paul Poslust again, Brett Selick, Zach Streef, Martellis Bennett, Danny Wood,
had Fred Jackson, Richie and Coognio who did come back,
(04:46):
Eric would Uh that was a neck issue, Joe Burger,
David Harris, c j Uh, Fedorowitz, Luke McCown, Aaron williams
Kellen Moore all retired. Josh McCown rechard came back. So
you're triggered by the word millennials. He's making fun of
(05:09):
millennials again. I gotta tweet something meaning about him. And
I'm simply pointing out that if you don't like the
word millennials, and by the way, if you actually know
what millennials are, the word millennial reminds me of the
word mediocre. If I say the word mediocre, is it
(05:30):
a good thing or a bad thing? Most people believe
the word mediocre means bad things. Mediocre Mediocre, by actual definition,
means average, means average. Hey, mediocre. You think of mediocre
and you think it's awful. No, awful is awful, Subpar
(05:53):
is below average, atrocious also equally bad, but mediocre. That's
like millennial. A millennial is someone who became an adult
in the twenty first century. Hey, that's the the Dictionary
definition of it. In other words, it's the generation younger
(06:14):
than me. I'm not the crusty old white dude. I'm
the coming into the middle age white dude from that era.
I grew up in the nineteen eighties. I became an
adult in or you know, basic adulthood fourteen years old.
(06:37):
And in the early nineties, that's when I became a
full fledged now a American citizen style adult eighteen years old.
So when I say millennials, you sit there and go like, oh,
you're making no, I'm making a judgment about a group
of people. Rob Gronkowski is not soft. I don't think
(06:57):
that Andrew Luck is classically soft, but I do think
that the idea that those two are one and the same.
When all we know about Andrew Luck because he's got
a kaff or ankle, some sort of injury, that's a
little different than having I don't know, three back surgeries,
a c L M c L surgery and uh what
else did he have? Uh? Forearm surgeries? And I know
(07:20):
Luck had a bunch of other stuff. And I get it.
You're sitting there going again. I can't get right again.
But the the idea is that their feelings matter, and
feelings didn't matter for a long time. They just didn't.
(07:41):
And to those of us who are in a different generation,
I feel like their feelings matter a little too much. Right, No, Gronk,
You could see the physical pain and how he tried
to move and you do find out if you really
love the sport, if you want to come back and
play a sport. That's the big challenge for Andrew Luck.
(08:03):
My guess is he probably doesn't love it. He might
have thought he loved it. He grew up in a
football household and he was great at it. Just because
you're super smart and super good at something doesn't mean
you love something. You're just trained to say I love it.
But this is part of this new generation of workers.
(08:25):
You were gonna workplace with a lot of different people.
Ask younger people like, what are you looking to do? Man?
I want to do something fun, you know, I want
to do something fun and enjoyable on being the right
head space for it. I mean, look, uh. Bill Simmons
(08:45):
told a buddy of mine that his website, the biggest
struggle he has is with millennial writers because they'll go,
I just can't write for the next week. I'm sad,
and that's become okay, all right. Your said, So players
are in fact evolving. They're listening to their bodies, they're
(09:06):
listening to their conscience, They're listening to people around them.
They're listening to social media, listen to media members. You know,
millennials also looking for greater work life balance. Here's the problem,
I say, millennials, you freak out. You didn't even look up, Like,
what are the traits of millennials? One is work life balance?
(09:28):
Bryce Harper, this is not a new thing, but missing
a game for the birth of his kid kind of interesting.
I couldn't have the kid in the morning, alright, s
Adam Gaze did pop to kid out in the morning,
kiss the mom goodbye, go meet with Peyton Manning. Adam
Gazed on a millennial. Rice Harper is, so, I guess
(09:52):
that you can sit there and go, hey, we've seen
this before. Jim Brown retired to running back different era,
didn't have a bunch of mone to sit back on.
Went to become a movie star to make a bunch
of money. Was much more politically active, different time, different position.
He took a beating or Barry Sanders or maybe even
Calvin Johnson, And maybe Calvin Johnson should get the credit
(10:13):
for being the first of the superstar players. His body
was letting him down and said, I got enough money.
I don't need this. But between Gronk and Luck and
the list of other players who still have juice in
the tank that say, you know what, I just I
can't do it mentally an emotion. I'm sad. If you
(10:34):
don't think that's different then the previous generations to play
in the hundred years of football. You're you're lying to
yourself because you don't like me. Or the fact that
I said rehabbing is too hard, or the fact that
I used the word millennial. I get it. You're mad
(10:55):
at me, you don't like me, you then shoot the messenger.
This is what we do, but I do not. I
believe that one of the reasons one of the biggest
reasons why people aren't coming at my take with a
counter take is they actually know there's a lot of
truth to it. They just do. And maybe it's because
(11:20):
we know so much more about CTE. Some we know,
some we're kind of freaking out about what we don't know.
Or maybe it's because of the money in the sport.
And you can sit here and say Andrew luck didn't
need the money, but he sure as hell wasn't turning
it down. Order he turn down the twenty four million
they're giving him to walk out the door. There is
so much more money now that you can set yourself
(11:42):
up for life. These guys are in fact smart aware,
and maybe they know too much in regards to what
might happen to their post playing career if they don't
quit early, quit while they're ahead. Like it, it feels
to me everyone knows you lose in Vegas, right, Like,
(12:07):
you stay long enough at the table, you're going to lose.
And you can sit here and tell me I got
a system, d G. I got a system. But the
longer you stay, the house always wins. The odds are
in fact in the house's favor, correct, And for the
life of us, we can't walk away. That's not who
(12:29):
we are. I go to Vegas with a bunch of
dudes and you're like, yeah, I was up to a
hundred and walked away, And guys will call you all
sorts of names, won't they. What are you talking about, dude?
We just got here. We've been here like two hours.
Come on, we're gonna stay all night, gamble, we have
some fun, have some drinks, go to the rhino, right,
that's what we're gonna do. You're like, nah, I'm good.
(12:51):
I want like a hundred fifty paid for my dinner.
You know, I'm okay. Maybe I'll come back gamble a
little bit. The next day, I'm gonna go see a
show why. That's what this generation of football players are doing,
and there's some intelligence to it. It's not all dope.
They're saving themselves the potential for pain, but they're also
(13:15):
saving themselves the potential for glory and knowing that and
understanding that that's okay. But it's also we also have
the ability to say, dude, really, you're gonna put that
money in your pocket and go upstairs and sleep. You're
in Vegas. Your wife won't even care if you lose
a grand entertainment costs m hm. Our value system has
(13:42):
changed some for the better. The money has changed for
the better. Our knowledge of what your career might look
like after you're done has changed a lot for the worst.
Although should be pointed out that guys are playing a
sport now which feels a lot safer than the previous
(14:04):
version of the sport. And Rob Gronkowski saying I had
to listen to my body and how I felt, and
I was I was sad, and now I had to
take up months off and I feel better. It gives
us a really clear look of what Andrew luck will
look like. We'll feel like and then you'll find out
how much you missed it, how much you loved it.
(14:27):
Look at all the players who retired last year, some
of whom who have come back, and understand that this
is the new generation of the sport. The previous generation
didn't have a pot to piston or a window to
throw it out of, so they kept playing and playing
and plan and plan, and yeah, that's probably what led
(14:47):
to so many of these guys having so many grotesque
fingers toes and broken down bodies and some of them
broken down heads. The generation is different. It's more sensitive,
it's more reasonable. It's a little softer, and if you're
offended by that, it's okay. It doesn't mean that you're soft.
(15:10):
You still put yourself in battle, you still went into
the arena, you still fought the good fight. But you're
not wired like the traditional players we were always told
occupied this sport, and denying that is denying this litany
of guys who shut it down last year and the
litany of guys who will shut it down this year,
including Ronk and Andrew Luck. Be sure to catch live
(15:34):
editions of The Doug Got Leap Show weekdays in noon
eastern three pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
I Heart Radio app. I understood the process the Raiders
wanted to go through. Last year, at this time, Khalil
Mack was traded for two first round picks, and Twitter
lost their mind. That this is the perfect example of
how Twitter is a bunch of idiots, not the writers,
(15:57):
not the reporters. Although of the writers, the reporters, some
of the pundits, some of them got caught up in it,
but they get caught up in this groundswell movement that
John Gruden is an idiot and that how can you
trade away Khalil Mack. My point was like, you're not
just trading away Cleil Mac for two first round picks.
You would have had to pay him, and if you
pay him, you couldn't change their roster. You know, he
(16:21):
wasn't showing up without getting paid. In order to pay him,
it would have hurt their ability to build a team
around him. And the team they had with him wasn't
any good. So you don't just get the two first
round picks in return for Khalil Mack. You get two
first round picks and you get all of that salary
to be used, right, so I understood the process. Mark Cooper,
(16:43):
he wasn't good two years ago. You can go. You
cant like well Man, he's great with the Cowboys, says Okay,
he sucked two years ago. Drop rate was I believe
highest or second highest in the league. And he's not
seen as a crazy explosive athlete. He's a good player.
He had a bad year and he was okay with
John Gruden, but they weren't good offensively, so instead of
(17:08):
paying him fourteen million dollars and giving him a new contract,
they moved on for a first round pick. All of
that made sense. The Antonio Brown thing, I get it.
It's uh gonna end up being less, far, less money
than you spend on Amari Cooper, and he's a far
(17:29):
I think he's a much better receiver now until next
year than Amari Cooper is. But this is not going
to work because, look, their offense is gonna be okay.
Derek Carr's okay. The defense doesn't have great pass rushers.
(17:49):
The offense is Tyrone Williams, and Antonio Brown has built
around Antonio Brown. He's gotta be great. And the idea
that Antonio Brown, who wouldn't play last year, Week's seventeen
is good and suddenly compete and battle on a team
that they're not going to be good. The Broncos have
(18:10):
a legit defense, They have a Super Bowl champion quarterback.
You can say whatever you want about Flacco. He's not great,
but he's not terrible. They have a big time young
running back, decent wide receivers, and a really good defense,
maybe not as good as they used to be, but good.
And that's the third best team in their division. And
(18:33):
by the way, a very good defense is coached by
a remarkable defensive guy in Vic Fangio. Do I think
the personnel was good with the Bears? Yes? Do I
think the coaching was good with the Bears? Yes? I
think the same of the Denver Broncos with Vic Fangio.
And that's the third best team in the division. The
(18:55):
second best team in the division is only the second
best team because they don't have their left tackle right
now and they lost their star second year player in
their defensive backfield. But even then, the Chargers still have
a quarterback who's started every game for over a decade.
They have a legit wide receiving corps with a legit
tight end. Two tremendous pass rushers as bookends much better
(19:18):
linebacker play, and assuming at some point they get Melvin
Gordon back, they'll be just find it running back to
That's the second best team, and the best team is
the Kancity Chiefs that are crazy explosive on offense, and
they haven't fixed their defense, but they've made it much better.
(19:40):
So in their division they're fighting for third or maybe
just dragging up forth. And then you bring up what
happened today, this is Sunday. Did you guys watch Sunday Football? Man?
Steelers look really good? I know preseason Mariota did not
look good. Steelers a girally good. He was part of
(20:01):
the interview Michelle Tafoya and Big Ben. Why did you
learn from that whole experience of calling out a b
in particular? Yeah, I I wish I would have done it, um,
you know, because obviously we saw what happened, and obviously
it ruined a friendship. They just got caught up in
the emotion that he of the battle. But the other
person I challenged that game was James Washington. And I
(20:24):
know people made a big deal about that, but James
Washington texted me, called me and talked to me in
person and thanking me for that, and so outside world
was killing me for it. He thanked me, and that's
all that really mattered. Why do you think a b
was not able to handle it the same way you
have to sk him? I'm not sure. Antonio Brown tweeted
out that video earlier to day and said, never friends,
(20:47):
it's all about getting my ends now shut up. In
other words, we weren't boys. This wasn't about any one discussion.
It was about me getting paid. Any job you take
solely because the money generally doesn't work out to be
a good job. Right. And when you're Antonio Brown and
(21:11):
you've been around the culture of the Steelers for your
entire career, and you've never been on a losing team ever,
not been on a losing team. Um last year was
the worst team that he'd been on and they still
were within a whisker of making the playoffs. Right? Does
(21:33):
anyone think that Derek Carr is better than Ben Roethlisberger?
Does anyone think that Tyrone Williams is better than Juju
Smith Schuster? Right? Does anyone think the Raiders offensive line
is better? You know with Donald Penn By the way,
I had a personal day today reaching incognito camp play
(21:54):
the first two games right, like DoD they do. We
think they're better here than the Steeler's offensive line. Then
don't get me started on defenses. Do you really think
that he's in a better situation or worse? And when
guys are all about their money and they're getting paid
(22:15):
regardless and things start going bad, they snowball. I just
I wanted to work, and I think ultimately the long
term game plan probably does work. Right. Long term, they
continue to load up on draft picks, the cap room
that they have, even in Antonio Brown, two years from now,
(22:38):
they can get out of it next year, they can
get out of their car if they want. But in
the short term, I don't see it. I don't see
a guy who's still so bent out of shape over
his ex girlfriend seeing it work. I don't see it.
So put me down. August even, two thousand nine, uh,
(23:04):
the day of the fourth Yeah, all right, fourth edition
of Hard Knocks. Before I even watch Hard Knocks come out,
I've seen enough from Antonio Brown. The constant need for attention,
the constant talking about Pittsburgh, the discussions about money, the
(23:25):
idea everybody seems to think that he would be exactly
like Calvin Johnson man. First chance he gets to call quits,
he will don't see it. Those aren't the guys that
you win big with, especially when you have inferior talent.
Those aren't the guys who you build around culture wise.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug Dot
(23:46):
Leap Show weekdays at noon Eastern three pm Pacific. He
is a former pro bowler. Now, he's a man you'll
see on CNN Headline News. You'll hear him on weekend's
usually Saturdays, now moving as we get to football to
Sundays on Fox Sports. Right, he's a screenwriter. He's a
renaissance man. Um, he should have been my co host.
My coast was still good. We should have had a
(24:07):
three person show on leadoff on CBS Sports Network. Yeah,
they wanted uh female. Yes, well we we listened. We
we were trying to figure out, trying to figure out
do we want you know me and you you know
ebony and ivory thing. It's like six years ago, but
I will say that she's really good. She was good.
(24:28):
But they allowed me to work a lot with you guys,
so that was that was great. Yeah, because because you
were really, really good. Um, you just had the wrong
body time. I guess would be from Salim Joins just
on the Doug Got Leave show. Are you mad at me?
For my tweet? I was not mad at you. I
was asked about it all the time. Just the other
day on CNN, I was like, well, well, what do
(24:49):
you make of this sports reporter Doug Gottlieb in his comments,
And you know, I understand why you went there because
when you look at the landscape, you're like, come on,
this is the and some people's opinion it's the greatest
sport on the plan. How can you possibly walk or
walk away from that? And because you don't want to rehab,
(25:14):
right you you're tired of being hurt and injured. But
I look at it a different way. So football is,
out of all of the professional sports, is probably the
toughest to deal with mentally and physically. And if you're
not in it mentally in terms of which aspect to it,
(25:35):
well your your body, the body. If you have to
go out there perform right, say with lacerated kidney, are
broken rib mentally what that does to you? Like if
you're at home. My wife used to look at me
like I was crazy. I had broke my hands one year,
right started fourteen games with two shattered fingers and a
(25:57):
shattered knuckle. And I was at home and couldn't do mundane.
I couldn't pick up a farc or a drink of
hold of glass in my hand, and yet I was
starting on Sundays and exactly and she but she couldn't
understand that. She was like, how is what? What is this?
What are we doing? And I said, well, I'm working,
(26:18):
this is what I do. I'm in it. I love
this my team. If you're not committed at that level,
the mental anguish you go through dealing with injury after injury,
rehab after rehab, miss he missed the whole year, right,
(26:39):
And if you're not all in you you I would
prefer you walk away like Andrew Luck did, because it's
not the game where you can just limp into and
just I'm just gonna collect the check, because you're gonna
get yourself hurt or you gonna get somebody else hurt.
There's a couple a couple of different aspects to it. Okay.
The first is and this is where like I get
a little bit upset at former players you know, the
(27:01):
Bo Jackson's of the world, Like, you know, you can't like, look, dude,
like Bo Jackson actually tried to come back after he
blew up his hip, right, because that's what football players do.
Ronnie Lott cut off his finger so he could play
in a playoff game, right, Like football players have this
ability to like, eff it, I'm just gonna go out
and play with broken hands. Who does that? And here's
(27:23):
a guy who's like, no, I'm good And that goes
counter too traditional football culture, which I kind of feel
like is the new age guy, which some of its smarter,
some of it They're like, look, man, I've actually taken
care of my money. I have another life. There's more
to me, more of the life than football. I'm good.
But it is very much a and people get all
(27:45):
hot and bothered about the idea of millennial, like it
is a millennial idea. Like millennials do the things they like,
they want to be. They want that affirmation immediately right.
They want to work as a group. They're willing to
move wherever they they ask for a raise, you know,
two weeks into a new job, they do these all.
I have nephews who millennials and that that is accurate. Okay,
So and talking to guys who own businesses and I
(28:08):
hire people as well, like that's kind of what they do.
But the other thing is they they search for joy
within what they do, and sports generally isn't that way, right,
Like the fun in football is winning. The work is
not fun if you can make practice funds like my
my son's on on me all the time, like dad,
(28:28):
and practices kind of hard, not much fun. Like, hey, dude,
you know it's really fun when you're playing a game
and you kick somebody's ass and because of all the
different things we did, right you you they can't press you,
they can't take you out of your offense, and you
get shot at your shots and because all the work
you put in shooting, you make all your shots. Like
(28:49):
that's the fun. And these guys are different. I get it.
But when we're talking about Andrew Luck, there's no funner
position in the NFL, and quarterback right and protected right.
So in in that aspect, this man has sacrificed everything
to play this game. I mean the injuries, the beating
(29:12):
he took. God bless the NFL for the salaries being
what they are now, I'll tell you this, Douglas. I
played from to two thousand and ten. If at any
moment in those first seven years, I had made one
(29:35):
hundred million dollars and I was on my fourth, our
fifth knee surgery by then, you best believe, and I
am not a millennial, I would have been sitting there like,
you know what. We got the house in the Hampton's,
we have the place out in Palm Springs. I uh,
(29:59):
I think I'm going to go do something else. Right.
The fact that Andrew Luck has a mess that type
of fortune because if his skills, his skill set, and
his draft position, it allowed him to really think, Okay,
how much better do I want my life moving forward?
(30:20):
Because I can tell you as someone who did play
with two broken hands, someone who did come back and
start nine days after having knee surgery, it's it's a
bunch of those guys out there. My right kne hall
never been it'll never be the same. Ever. My doctor
told me, hey, stop playing basketball, stop doing it, don't
squat's leg, press any of that, because if I have
(30:43):
to go back into your knee again, drain the fluid,
clean it out, I'm gonna have to replace your knee
and I'm trying to get you to at least fifty
five before I do that. That's what football does. No, look,
I get it, I I do. I do think that
that what we do this thing and we're like, okay,
unless there's something way worse with his leg than we thought,
(31:05):
Like is it. Oh, it's definitely way worse, but what
is it? They don't know. He doesn't know. He has
to think. He has to think he's gonna tear his
achilles tenant. Of course that's what he thinks. But I, honestly,
I do think that this is a little bit of
the social media generation where we see Kevin Durant and
(31:27):
he's told you're good, You're good. By the way I
I share with with my listeners, I have a close
friend as a former athlete surgeon in Orange County, and
he's like, look, you want to that thing was torn
before he ever took the court. But by the way
there's you could have done. It was going to tear,
whether you played this year, sat next year. Like, you
can rehab some but if it's a significant enough tear,
(31:49):
it's going to tear, and he was gonna have to
get it fixed eventually. If you want to play basketball
again anyway. But I I think that's what he thinks
it is. I think he's he's convinced that if I
go back out there, I'm gonna tear my kills tendant?
And does he want to go through? And that he
doesn't want to go through and that I would actually understand.
But can you So why would you attack him? And
and and and say that this is such a millennial
(32:10):
decision because he doesn't have a torn akilles tendant. Otherwise
they would have said you have a torn killer. Yeah.
I wonder if Kevin Durant could just rewind the tape.
Of course he got paid and all of that. The
way he's come out and said he has no animus,
of course not. But he still has to go through
the rehab. Right, if you lose, if you you're an athlete,
(32:32):
you know, if you lose the faith in your training
staff at the at that level college. But when you
get to the pros, it's supposed to be the best
of the best. No, I understand, But you don't think
that he's gone out and gotten the third, third party
or fourth party other doctors to check it out. Of course,
but those doctors don't live with him. He's married to
that training staff. No matter what outside help you bring in.
(32:55):
Every day, he's seen these people who've misdiagnosed to We
just think can't get to the bottom of it. We
don't know what As a professional athlete, I don't want
to hear that. I trust you with my body, right.
If you tell me from you can go out there
and play, then I'm going out there and play. That's it.
And if I go out there and re injure myself,
(33:16):
I'll like Kauai Leonard. When you lose that trust, it's
a rep for professional athletes. It's no going back. Do
you think he comes back in place? I think he
has two years. I think within that two years he
makes a decision to come back and play. He'll feel
better about it and he'll feel better. He needs some
(33:38):
time away. He's coming off injury after injury after injury.
Paul's had a great year last year back to injury. Mentally,
you can't if you're not a lifer, a football lifer,
you can't justify that. Mentally. Tom Brady is a lifer lifer.
(33:59):
So this this goes to a point which people are
you think they didn't like the tweet, They're really not
gonna like this. I don't think Andrew Luck loves football. Well,
how can you say that? I don't think. I didn't
say no, I said I don't think. Can I take
you through why I think he's great at football? Great.
I have been a defender of Andrew Luck. I think
he's way better. Oh before last year, they're like, oh
(34:20):
so overy like now when he's healthy, he's been awesome. Okay,
but it comes from a football family. Brilliant guy knows
football like the back of his hand, studies it knows it.
But if you really, really really loved it, you'd say
I need some time away. But I'm I'm coming back,
just I gotta get my body right. Well that's not
(34:40):
necessarily true, because I love football, right. I love football.
Was willing to do anything. You got old. But when
people asking, I said, no, no, are you kidding me?
I love my son play typ of football. My dope, no,
because you don't have the experience that I had. What
(35:03):
I know is how I wake up every morning and
when I look at my son's I would never want
to project that type of that level of pain on them.
I won't. I wouldn't want my sons to have to
have the level of of pain tolerance that I have.
It's not natural, okay, it's it's trust me, it's not natural.
(35:24):
And so to to try to protect them as a
father would, as me as a father I would. I
don't want them to play football. I tell him I
played football, So you wanna have to do whatever you want. Now,
My sons, thank god, will be seven ft tall because
my wife is tall. And we're just gonna grow. We're
gonna we're gonna have uh seven or eight and five now.
(35:48):
And my eight year old wears size twelve thirteen in
clothes and my five year old were size eight nine
in clothes. That's what that's what we're doing over here.
We do basketball clinics every day after after school at
the Salaam household. That's what That's what's going on over here.
But I say that to say, you can love football,
but you can you can get to a point where
(36:11):
football doesn't love you back. And that's where you get that.
But didn't you say that by saying he's not a lifer.
Isn't that isn't that you don't have to be a lifer.
The love football is the same thing. No, it's not
you look at some of these coaches who are lifers, right.
I had a coach, Alex Gibbs. He would sleep underneath
the desk in the office. He just didn't want to
go home, right talk to one of his kids. He's like, Oh,
(36:33):
that's what you're doing out here in l a right
across street at this gym. He was like, I just
had to get away from my dad, right. Like, it's
just certain connotations come with being a lifer. You sacrifice
the majority of everything in your life to be a lifer.
And actors l if you watched a little bit of
Time versus Time, you saw inklings of her saying like,
(36:54):
eventually we want to do stuff together as a family.
But this football thing, right, Like question, so when it
isn't isn't that that's a that's a true love for football. No,
that's your unhealthy for football. I mean, I actually think
we're saying the same thing. We just may be wordying it.
When you say I don't think Andrew loves football, I'm
(37:14):
not saying that. You can know Shot, you can love football,
but you can get to a point in your life
where you want to move on from football. Has not
move on from something you love. So you're married. Have
you ever been divorced? Right, So don't say not yet.
It's not gonna happen. So I'm married, never been divorced,
(37:34):
not getting divorce, it's not happening. We take it off
the table, you ask some of your colleagues. Yeah, man,
we been divorced to three times. Right, will you go
into it loving it? Right? You love your wife, it's
gonna happen. And boom, boom boom, all of a sudden,
three four or five, ten, twenty years down the road,
you get a divorce. What does that mean that you're
(37:57):
you don't love being married or being in love. No,
you get to a point where it's time to move on.
No matter how much you love something or someone, you
get to a point where it's time to move on.
And I think Andrew Luck sooner than people expected or
wanted him to, got to the point where it was like, look,
I'm not having a good time. It's more painful for
(38:22):
me to do this than not to do it. Right.
I can't give what I need to it because I
love the sport that much. I respect and love it
to that level. If I can't put that into it,
then I have to walk away. How can you be
mad at that guy? There's there's the most important is
there's no anger at it, Like I actually a sarcasm.
(38:46):
Sarcasm A sarcasm is that anger, right, there's no inflection
in tweeting. Right, So when you take someone you also
knew me, you knew me, and so you you like
and did you ever think like, oh he mad? No,
of course I know you. Why are you Why are
you saying like you're mad? Like I'm not mad? Like
I don't care, I really don't care. I just I
(39:09):
just think this is this kind of this is kind
of a new thing to where guys are like, yo,
I got enough money, I don't need it. And it
goes counter to what football guys, football guys have always
told me, which is like, is a football game I'm playing?
You know what else that football guys don't have? That
is a a big cog in this will They don't
(39:30):
have lifetime healthcare. Okay, so you can run through all
the walls you want to. You can play with two
broken hands like you can play with nine days. I
certainly guess what happened to me in February to two
years ago. I got a letter from the NFL saying, hey,
thank you, but your health care is now expired. Good luck,
(39:51):
and they roll you out to the like you have
to take and we have the information. You know, you
got the SAG after stuff like I'm in the writer's
quee right, great, and insurance but I was paying. I
took my NFL insurance that I had, went to an
insurance adjuster or whoever, and was like giving me comparable
insurance and they were like, okay, well, clicks on the
(40:12):
computer had all of that. I had all of that,
and then it was like, oh, okay, well to get
this coverage, it's going to be fifty eight ninety three
a month for you and your two children. And my
wife I said, oh, well I don't I don't want that.
I don't want that. I gotta pay almost six thousand
dollars a month for this insurance. Well you know your
(40:33):
history and if you look and see it, right, yeah,
all of that right, So now we have that information.
Nobody was talking about healthcare when we're playing. Nobody come,
we didn't care. But the further you get away from
the game, the more the game attacks you in your
way of living. If you could make a hundred million
dollars in seven years, walk away from a game you love,
(40:57):
in a sport you love, and live your life with
less health complications. Brother, I'm standing on the table and
applauding that don't be another Andrew Luck. We'll get another
Andrew Luck. It's fine. Let this man live his life.
He put it all out there on the line for Indianapolis.
(41:17):
He he did everything he could and something. It's time
for him to go walk away. Hopefully we get to
see him again. Like you said, I think in two years,
after everything calms down, he adjusts, he comes back. But
you find out if you really love something, right He
from from Salam checking out when you start this Sunday
or next Sunday. I'm on five to eight this Saturday,
(41:41):
East West Coast and then uh in two weeks, I'll
be on Sundays two to five here, five to eight.
Best team no one's talking about in the NFL. You
know what I think? Um, It pains me to say
this because I've never understood why. But a team no
(42:06):
one ever talks about in a good way anyway is
the Tennessee Titans. Period. We don't even watch Tennessee Titans.
They I mean They are the most thankful that Andrew
Luck retired lifetime against Andrew Luck and one little thing
like that, one domino falls in your favor. Right, they've
(42:29):
been nine and seven forever. They just right around that nine.
They squeaked into the playoffs at nine and seven. That's
two games. Think about that, that's two games for the
Tennessee Titans that they now can can roll into taking
that next step. And problem is they don't know who
their quarterbacks at this point in time. He's e from
(42:51):
slam checking out this Saturday, eight to eleven Eastern time,
five to eight Pacific time. Of course, then I'll start
on Sundays when football officially kicks off. The Nation Football
League A great stuff. Thanks brother,
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
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Well here we are a couple of more days removed
from Andrew luck stunning league calling it quits from the
National Football League. Um, and there is I would say
a little bit more and maybe different support for my stance,
(01:06):
and I'll continue to kind of point out the misperception
and misassumption of what I have said and continued to say,
of course he gets uh. It gets lost in this um.
Let me first start with Rob Gronkowski, who had to
(01:27):
pay deal and talked at this at this, at this
deal about how he feels now and what he's gone through.
I needed to recover. I was not in a good place.
Football was bringing me down and I didn't like it,
and I was losing that joy in life. If I
(01:49):
have the desire to play football again, if I feel
passionate about football again, if I'm feeling like I need
to be out there on the field, I will go
back to football. As of right now, that is not
the case. Now. Remember this is Rob Gronkowski who broke
his forearm on a field goal blocking unit back in
two thousand twelve. By the way, that was against the
(02:11):
then Peyton Manningle at Indianapolis Colts. He reinjured the forearm
and the division round the playoffs, had another surgery, had
an infection in that forearm, required a third surgery to
get rid of the infection, had a four surgery and
put a to replace a rod inside his forearm. He
had back surgery in college. He had back surgery and
the Pros, actually two times in the Pros, so three
(02:32):
overall back surgeries and knee surgery. And he said earlier
today that he had to have one leader of blame.
Blood drained from his quad after he took a hit
in the Super Bowl and the win over the Rams. Now,
I'm I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that
Andrew Luck hasn't been through the ringer. Some of it,
by the way, is his own doing. Right, Andrew Luck
(02:54):
only holds the ball longer than many other quarterbacks. He
also reinjured his surgical prepared show older when he was snowboarding,
So let's not put it all on football. But it's
also not all his fault. The offensive line he played
behind was putrid for years, and he is was a
tough guy quarterback. Um, But I I actually think that
(03:17):
while Luck and Gronk different positions, Remember lux position is
the most protected position in all of sports. We can't
hit you when you don't have the ball. When you
do have the ball, we can hit you, but has
to be above the knee, below the neck, and we
can't land on you. But when you hear Rob Gronkowski say,
(03:42):
I just I wasn't a good place of football, which
is essential what Andrew Luck was saying, And we can
make this out to be a mental health issue, but
I don't think either of those two were in the
part of the mental space to do something dangerous to
themselves and others. So I do know that not having
great mental health does not mean you're like somehow suicidal.
(04:05):
But I continue to point out that this is the
new generation of athletes, the one that has feelings, the
one that cares, the one that worries about what happens
after their career. Last year alone, Cam Chancellor, Jason Witten,
(04:26):
who came back, Joe Thomas, James Harrison, Durell Reevas, Devin Hester,
Dwight Freeney, Matt Forte, Elvis Dumerville, DeMarco Murray, Victor Cruz,
and Tonio Camardi, Carson Palmer, Nick Mangold, Eric Decker, Vincent Jackson,
Paul Poslust again, Brett Selick, Zach Streef, Martellis Bennett, Danny Wood,
had Fred Jackson, Richie and Coognio who did come back,
(04:46):
Eric would Uh that was a neck issue, Joe Burger,
David Harris, c j Uh, Fedorowitz, Luke McCown, Aaron williams
Kellen Moore all retired. Josh McCown rechard came back. So
you're triggered by the word millennials. He's making fun of
(05:09):
millennials again. I gotta tweet something meaning about him. And
I'm simply pointing out that if you don't like the
word millennials, and by the way, if you actually know
what millennials are, the word millennial reminds me of the
word mediocre. If I say the word mediocre, is it
(05:30):
a good thing or a bad thing? Most people believe
the word mediocre means bad things. Mediocre Mediocre, by actual definition,
means average, means average. Hey, mediocre. You think of mediocre
and you think it's awful. No, awful is awful, Subpar
(05:53):
is below average, atrocious also equally bad, but mediocre. That's
like millennial. A millennial is someone who became an adult
in the twenty first century. Hey, that's the the Dictionary
definition of it. In other words, it's the generation younger
(06:14):
than me. I'm not the crusty old white dude. I'm
the coming into the middle age white dude from that era.
I grew up in the nineteen eighties. I became an
adult in or you know, basic adulthood fourteen years old.
(06:37):
And in the early nineties, that's when I became a
full fledged now a American citizen style adult eighteen years old.
So when I say millennials, you sit there and go like, oh,
you're making no, I'm making a judgment about a group
of people. Rob Gronkowski is not soft. I don't think
(06:57):
that Andrew Luck is classically soft, but I do think
that the idea that those two are one and the same.
When all we know about Andrew Luck because he's got
a kaff or ankle, some sort of injury, that's a
little different than having I don't know, three back surgeries,
a c L M c L surgery and uh what
else did he have? Uh? Forearm surgeries? And I know
(07:20):
Luck had a bunch of other stuff. And I get it.
You're sitting there going again. I can't get right again.
But the the idea is that their feelings matter, and
feelings didn't matter for a long time. They just didn't.
(07:41):
And to those of us who are in a different generation,
I feel like their feelings matter a little too much. Right, No, Gronk,
You could see the physical pain and how he tried
to move and you do find out if you really
love the sport, if you want to come back and
play a sport. That's the big challenge for Andrew Luck.
(08:03):
My guess is he probably doesn't love it. He might
have thought he loved it. He grew up in a
football household and he was great at it. Just because
you're super smart and super good at something doesn't mean
you love something. You're just trained to say I love it.
But this is part of this new generation of workers.
(08:25):
You were gonna workplace with a lot of different people.
Ask younger people like, what are you looking to do? Man?
I want to do something fun, you know, I want
to do something fun and enjoyable on being the right
head space for it. I mean, look, uh. Bill Simmons
(08:45):
told a buddy of mine that his website, the biggest
struggle he has is with millennial writers because they'll go,
I just can't write for the next week. I'm sad,
and that's become okay, all right. Your said, So players
are in fact evolving. They're listening to their bodies, they're
(09:06):
listening to their conscience, They're listening to people around them.
They're listening to social media, listen to media members. You know,
millennials also looking for greater work life balance. Here's the problem,
I say, millennials, you freak out. You didn't even look up, Like,
what are the traits of millennials? One is work life balance?
(09:28):
Bryce Harper, this is not a new thing, but missing
a game for the birth of his kid kind of interesting.
I couldn't have the kid in the morning, alright, s
Adam Gaze did pop to kid out in the morning,
kiss the mom goodbye, go meet with Peyton Manning. Adam
Gazed on a millennial. Rice Harper is, so, I guess
(09:52):
that you can sit there and go, hey, we've seen
this before. Jim Brown retired to running back different era,
didn't have a bunch of mone to sit back on.
Went to become a movie star to make a bunch
of money. Was much more politically active, different time, different position.
He took a beating or Barry Sanders or maybe even
Calvin Johnson, And maybe Calvin Johnson should get the credit
(10:13):
for being the first of the superstar players. His body
was letting him down and said, I got enough money.
I don't need this. But between Gronk and Luck and
the list of other players who still have juice in
the tank that say, you know what, I just I
can't do it mentally an emotion. I'm sad. If you
(10:34):
don't think that's different then the previous generations to play
in the hundred years of football. You're you're lying to
yourself because you don't like me. Or the fact that
I said rehabbing is too hard, or the fact that
I used the word millennial. I get it. You're mad
(10:55):
at me, you don't like me, you then shoot the messenger.
This is what we do, but I do not. I
believe that one of the reasons one of the biggest
reasons why people aren't coming at my take with a
counter take is they actually know there's a lot of
truth to it. They just do. And maybe it's because
(11:20):
we know so much more about CTE. Some we know,
some we're kind of freaking out about what we don't know.
Or maybe it's because of the money in the sport.
And you can sit here and say Andrew luck didn't
need the money, but he sure as hell wasn't turning
it down. Order he turn down the twenty four million
they're giving him to walk out the door. There is
so much more money now that you can set yourself
(11:42):
up for life. These guys are in fact smart aware,
and maybe they know too much in regards to what
might happen to their post playing career if they don't
quit early, quit while they're ahead. Like it, it feels
to me everyone knows you lose in Vegas, right, Like,
(12:07):
you stay long enough at the table, you're going to lose.
And you can sit here and tell me I got
a system, d G. I got a system. But the
longer you stay, the house always wins. The odds are
in fact in the house's favor, correct, And for the
life of us, we can't walk away. That's not who
(12:29):
we are. I go to Vegas with a bunch of
dudes and you're like, yeah, I was up to a
hundred and walked away, And guys will call you all
sorts of names, won't they. What are you talking about, dude?
We just got here. We've been here like two hours.
Come on, we're gonna stay all night, gamble, we have
some fun, have some drinks, go to the rhino, right,
that's what we're gonna do. You're like, nah, I'm good.
(12:51):
I want like a hundred fifty paid for my dinner.
You know, I'm okay. Maybe I'll come back gamble a
little bit. The next day, I'm gonna go see a
show why. That's what this generation of football players are doing,
and there's some intelligence to it. It's not all dope.
They're saving themselves the potential for pain, but they're also
(13:15):
saving themselves the potential for glory and knowing that and
understanding that that's okay. But it's also we also have
the ability to say, dude, really, you're gonna put that
money in your pocket and go upstairs and sleep. You're
in Vegas. Your wife won't even care if you lose
a grand entertainment costs m hm. Our value system has
(13:42):
changed some for the better. The money has changed for
the better. Our knowledge of what your career might look
like after you're done has changed a lot for the worst.
Although should be pointed out that guys are playing a
sport now which feels a lot safer than the previous
(14:04):
version of the sport. And Rob Gronkowski saying I had
to listen to my body and how I felt, and
I was I was sad, and now I had to
take up months off and I feel better. It gives
us a really clear look of what Andrew luck will
look like. We'll feel like and then you'll find out
how much you missed it, how much you loved it.
(14:27):
Look at all the players who retired last year, some
of whom who have come back, and understand that this
is the new generation of the sport. The previous generation
didn't have a pot to piston or a window to
throw it out of, so they kept playing and playing
and plan and plan, and yeah, that's probably what led
(14:47):
to so many of these guys having so many grotesque
fingers toes and broken down bodies and some of them
broken down heads. The generation is different. It's more sensitive,
it's more reasonable. It's a little softer, and if you're
offended by that, it's okay. It doesn't mean that you're soft.
(15:10):
You still put yourself in battle, you still went into
the arena, you still fought the good fight. But you're
not wired like the traditional players we were always told
occupied this sport, and denying that is denying this litany
of guys who shut it down last year and the
litany of guys who will shut it down this year,
including Ronk and Andrew Luck. Be sure to catch live
(15:34):
editions of The Doug Got Leap Show weekdays in noon
eastern three pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
I Heart Radio app. I understood the process the Raiders
wanted to go through. Last year, at this time, Khalil
Mack was traded for two first round picks, and Twitter
lost their mind. That this is the perfect example of
how Twitter is a bunch of idiots, not the writers,
(15:57):
not the reporters. Although of the writers, the reporters, some
of the pundits, some of them got caught up in it,
but they get caught up in this groundswell movement that
John Gruden is an idiot and that how can you
trade away Khalil Mack. My point was like, you're not
just trading away Cleil Mac for two first round picks.
You would have had to pay him, and if you
pay him, you couldn't change their roster. You know, he
(16:21):
wasn't showing up without getting paid. In order to pay him,
it would have hurt their ability to build a team
around him. And the team they had with him wasn't
any good. So you don't just get the two first
round picks in return for Khalil Mack. You get two
first round picks and you get all of that salary
to be used, right, so I understood the process. Mark Cooper,
(16:43):
he wasn't good two years ago. You can go. You
cant like well Man, he's great with the Cowboys, says Okay,
he sucked two years ago. Drop rate was I believe
highest or second highest in the league. And he's not
seen as a crazy explosive athlete. He's a good player.
He had a bad year and he was okay with
John Gruden, but they weren't good offensively, so instead of
(17:08):
paying him fourteen million dollars and giving him a new contract,
they moved on for a first round pick. All of
that made sense. The Antonio Brown thing, I get it.
It's uh gonna end up being less, far, less money
than you spend on Amari Cooper, and he's a far
(17:29):
I think he's a much better receiver now until next
year than Amari Cooper is. But this is not going
to work because, look, their offense is gonna be okay.
Derek Carr's okay. The defense doesn't have great pass rushers.
(17:49):
The offense is Tyrone Williams, and Antonio Brown has built
around Antonio Brown. He's gotta be great. And the idea
that Antonio Brown, who wouldn't play last year, Week's seventeen
is good and suddenly compete and battle on a team
that they're not going to be good. The Broncos have
(18:10):
a legit defense, They have a Super Bowl champion quarterback.
You can say whatever you want about Flacco. He's not great,
but he's not terrible. They have a big time young
running back, decent wide receivers, and a really good defense,
maybe not as good as they used to be, but good.
And that's the third best team in their division. And
(18:33):
by the way, a very good defense is coached by
a remarkable defensive guy in Vic Fangio. Do I think
the personnel was good with the Bears? Yes? Do I
think the coaching was good with the Bears? Yes? I
think the same of the Denver Broncos with Vic Fangio.
And that's the third best team in the division. The
(18:55):
second best team in the division is only the second
best team because they don't have their left tackle right
now and they lost their star second year player in
their defensive backfield. But even then, the Chargers still have
a quarterback who's started every game for over a decade.
They have a legit wide receiving corps with a legit
tight end. Two tremendous pass rushers as bookends much better
(19:18):
linebacker play, and assuming at some point they get Melvin
Gordon back, they'll be just find it running back to
That's the second best team, and the best team is
the Kancity Chiefs that are crazy explosive on offense, and
they haven't fixed their defense, but they've made it much better.
(19:40):
So in their division they're fighting for third or maybe
just dragging up forth. And then you bring up what
happened today, this is Sunday. Did you guys watch Sunday Football? Man?
Steelers look really good? I know preseason Mariota did not
look good. Steelers a girally good. He was part of
(20:01):
the interview Michelle Tafoya and Big Ben. Why did you
learn from that whole experience of calling out a b
in particular? Yeah, I I wish I would have done it, um,
you know, because obviously we saw what happened, and obviously
it ruined a friendship. They just got caught up in
the emotion that he of the battle. But the other
person I challenged that game was James Washington. And I
(20:24):
know people made a big deal about that, but James
Washington texted me, called me and talked to me in
person and thanking me for that, and so outside world
was killing me for it. He thanked me, and that's
all that really mattered. Why do you think a b
was not able to handle it the same way you
have to sk him? I'm not sure. Antonio Brown tweeted
out that video earlier to day and said, never friends,
(20:47):
it's all about getting my ends now shut up. In
other words, we weren't boys. This wasn't about any one discussion.
It was about me getting paid. Any job you take
solely because the money generally doesn't work out to be
a good job. Right. And when you're Antonio Brown and
(21:11):
you've been around the culture of the Steelers for your
entire career, and you've never been on a losing team ever,
not been on a losing team. Um last year was
the worst team that he'd been on and they still
were within a whisker of making the playoffs. Right? Does
(21:33):
anyone think that Derek Carr is better than Ben Roethlisberger?
Does anyone think that Tyrone Williams is better than Juju
Smith Schuster? Right? Does anyone think the Raiders offensive line
is better? You know with Donald Penn By the way,
I had a personal day today reaching incognito camp play
(21:54):
the first two games right, like DoD they do. We
think they're better here than the Steeler's offensive line. Then
don't get me started on defenses. Do you really think
that he's in a better situation or worse? And when
guys are all about their money and they're getting paid
(22:15):
regardless and things start going bad, they snowball. I just
I wanted to work, and I think ultimately the long
term game plan probably does work. Right. Long term, they
continue to load up on draft picks, the cap room
that they have, even in Antonio Brown, two years from now,
(22:38):
they can get out of it next year, they can
get out of their car if they want. But in
the short term, I don't see it. I don't see
a guy who's still so bent out of shape over
his ex girlfriend seeing it work. I don't see it.
So put me down. August even, two thousand nine, uh,
(23:04):
the day of the fourth Yeah, all right, fourth edition
of Hard Knocks. Before I even watch Hard Knocks come out,
I've seen enough from Antonio Brown. The constant need for attention,
the constant talking about Pittsburgh, the discussions about money, the
(23:25):
idea everybody seems to think that he would be exactly
like Calvin Johnson man. First chance he gets to call quits,
he will don't see it. Those aren't the guys that
you win big with, especially when you have inferior talent.
Those aren't the guys who you build around culture wise.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug Dot
(23:46):
Leap Show weekdays at noon Eastern three pm Pacific. He
is a former pro bowler. Now, he's a man you'll
see on CNN Headline News. You'll hear him on weekend's
usually Saturdays, now moving as we get to football to
Sundays on Fox Sports. Right, he's a screenwriter. He's a
renaissance man. Um, he should have been my co host.
My coast was still good. We should have had a
(24:07):
three person show on leadoff on CBS Sports Network. Yeah,
they wanted uh female. Yes, well we we listened. We
we were trying to figure out, trying to figure out
do we want you know me and you you know
ebony and ivory thing. It's like six years ago, but
I will say that she's really good. She was good.
(24:28):
But they allowed me to work a lot with you guys,
so that was that was great. Yeah, because because you
were really, really good. Um, you just had the wrong
body time. I guess would be from Salim Joins just
on the Doug Got Leave show. Are you mad at me?
For my tweet? I was not mad at you. I
was asked about it all the time. Just the other
day on CNN, I was like, well, well, what do
(24:49):
you make of this sports reporter Doug Gottlieb in his comments,
And you know, I understand why you went there because
when you look at the landscape, you're like, come on,
this is the and some people's opinion it's the greatest
sport on the plan. How can you possibly walk or
walk away from that? And because you don't want to rehab,
(25:14):
right you you're tired of being hurt and injured. But
I look at it a different way. So football is,
out of all of the professional sports, is probably the
toughest to deal with mentally and physically. And if you're
not in it mentally in terms of which aspect to it,
(25:35):
well your your body, the body. If you have to
go out there perform right, say with lacerated kidney, are
broken rib mentally what that does to you? Like if
you're at home. My wife used to look at me
like I was crazy. I had broke my hands one year,
right started fourteen games with two shattered fingers and a
(25:57):
shattered knuckle. And I was at home and couldn't do mundane.
I couldn't pick up a farc or a drink of
hold of glass in my hand, and yet I was
starting on Sundays and exactly and she but she couldn't
understand that. She was like, how is what? What is this?
What are we doing? And I said, well, I'm working,
(26:18):
this is what I do. I'm in it. I love
this my team. If you're not committed at that level,
the mental anguish you go through dealing with injury after injury,
rehab after rehab, miss he missed the whole year, right,
(26:39):
And if you're not all in you you I would
prefer you walk away like Andrew Luck did, because it's
not the game where you can just limp into and
just I'm just gonna collect the check, because you're gonna
get yourself hurt or you gonna get somebody else hurt.
There's a couple a couple of different aspects to it. Okay.
The first is and this is where like I get
a little bit upset at former players you know, the
(27:01):
Bo Jackson's of the world, Like, you know, you can't like, look, dude,
like Bo Jackson actually tried to come back after he
blew up his hip, right, because that's what football players do.
Ronnie Lott cut off his finger so he could play
in a playoff game, right, Like football players have this
ability to like, eff it, I'm just gonna go out
and play with broken hands. Who does that? And here's
(27:23):
a guy who's like, no, I'm good And that goes
counter too traditional football culture, which I kind of feel
like is the new age guy, which some of its smarter,
some of it They're like, look, man, I've actually taken
care of my money. I have another life. There's more
to me, more of the life than football. I'm good.
But it is very much a and people get all
(27:45):
hot and bothered about the idea of millennial, like it
is a millennial idea. Like millennials do the things they like,
they want to be. They want that affirmation immediately right.
They want to work as a group. They're willing to
move wherever they they ask for a raise, you know,
two weeks into a new job, they do these all.
I have nephews who millennials and that that is accurate. Okay,
So and talking to guys who own businesses and I
(28:08):
hire people as well, like that's kind of what they do.
But the other thing is they they search for joy
within what they do, and sports generally isn't that way, right,
Like the fun in football is winning. The work is
not fun if you can make practice funds like my
my son's on on me all the time, like dad,
(28:28):
and practices kind of hard, not much fun. Like, hey, dude,
you know it's really fun when you're playing a game
and you kick somebody's ass and because of all the
different things we did, right you you they can't press you,
they can't take you out of your offense, and you
get shot at your shots and because all the work
you put in shooting, you make all your shots. Like
(28:49):
that's the fun. And these guys are different. I get it.
But when we're talking about Andrew Luck, there's no funner
position in the NFL, and quarterback right and protected right.
So in in that aspect, this man has sacrificed everything
to play this game. I mean the injuries, the beating
(29:12):
he took. God bless the NFL for the salaries being
what they are now, I'll tell you this, Douglas. I
played from to two thousand and ten. If at any
moment in those first seven years, I had made one
(29:35):
hundred million dollars and I was on my fourth, our
fifth knee surgery by then, you best believe, and I
am not a millennial, I would have been sitting there like,
you know what. We got the house in the Hampton's,
we have the place out in Palm Springs. I uh,
(29:59):
I think I'm going to go do something else. Right.
The fact that Andrew Luck has a mess that type
of fortune because if his skills, his skill set, and
his draft position, it allowed him to really think, Okay,
how much better do I want my life moving forward?
(30:20):
Because I can tell you as someone who did play
with two broken hands, someone who did come back and
start nine days after having knee surgery, it's it's a
bunch of those guys out there. My right kne hall
never been it'll never be the same. Ever. My doctor
told me, hey, stop playing basketball, stop doing it, don't
squat's leg, press any of that, because if I have
(30:43):
to go back into your knee again, drain the fluid,
clean it out, I'm gonna have to replace your knee
and I'm trying to get you to at least fifty
five before I do that. That's what football does. No, look,
I get it, I I do. I do think that
that what we do this thing and we're like, okay,
unless there's something way worse with his leg than we thought,
(31:05):
Like is it. Oh, it's definitely way worse, but what
is it? They don't know. He doesn't know. He has
to think. He has to think he's gonna tear his
achilles tenant. Of course that's what he thinks. But I, honestly,
I do think that this is a little bit of
the social media generation where we see Kevin Durant and
(31:27):
he's told you're good, You're good. By the way I
I share with with my listeners, I have a close
friend as a former athlete surgeon in Orange County, and
he's like, look, you want to that thing was torn
before he ever took the court. But by the way
there's you could have done. It was going to tear,
whether you played this year, sat next year. Like, you
can rehab some but if it's a significant enough tear,
(31:49):
it's going to tear, and he was gonna have to
get it fixed eventually. If you want to play basketball
again anyway. But I I think that's what he thinks
it is. I think he's he's convinced that if I
go back out there, I'm gonna tear my kills tendant?
And does he want to go through? And that he
doesn't want to go through and that I would actually understand.
But can you So why would you attack him? And
and and and say that this is such a millennial
(32:10):
decision because he doesn't have a torn akilles tendant. Otherwise
they would have said you have a torn killer. Yeah.
I wonder if Kevin Durant could just rewind the tape.
Of course he got paid and all of that. The
way he's come out and said he has no animus,
of course not. But he still has to go through
the rehab. Right, if you lose, if you you're an athlete,
(32:32):
you know, if you lose the faith in your training
staff at the at that level college. But when you
get to the pros, it's supposed to be the best
of the best. No, I understand, But you don't think
that he's gone out and gotten the third, third party
or fourth party other doctors to check it out. Of course,
but those doctors don't live with him. He's married to
that training staff. No matter what outside help you bring in.
(32:55):
Every day, he's seen these people who've misdiagnosed to We
just think can't get to the bottom of it. We
don't know what As a professional athlete, I don't want
to hear that. I trust you with my body, right.
If you tell me from you can go out there
and play, then I'm going out there and play. That's it.
And if I go out there and re injure myself,
(33:16):
I'll like Kauai Leonard. When you lose that trust, it's
a rep for professional athletes. It's no going back. Do
you think he comes back in place? I think he
has two years. I think within that two years he
makes a decision to come back and play. He'll feel
better about it and he'll feel better. He needs some
(33:38):
time away. He's coming off injury after injury after injury.
Paul's had a great year last year back to injury. Mentally,
you can't if you're not a lifer, a football lifer,
you can't justify that. Mentally. Tom Brady is a lifer lifer.
(33:59):
So this this goes to a point which people are
you think they didn't like the tweet, They're really not
gonna like this. I don't think Andrew Luck loves football. Well,
how can you say that? I don't think. I didn't
say no, I said I don't think. Can I take
you through why I think he's great at football? Great.
I have been a defender of Andrew Luck. I think
he's way better. Oh before last year, they're like, oh
(34:20):
so overy like now when he's healthy, he's been awesome. Okay,
but it comes from a football family. Brilliant guy knows
football like the back of his hand, studies it knows it.
But if you really, really really loved it, you'd say
I need some time away. But I'm I'm coming back,
just I gotta get my body right. Well that's not
(34:40):
necessarily true, because I love football, right. I love football.
Was willing to do anything. You got old. But when
people asking, I said, no, no, are you kidding me?
I love my son play typ of football. My dope, no,
because you don't have the experience that I had. What
(35:03):
I know is how I wake up every morning and
when I look at my son's I would never want
to project that type of that level of pain on them.
I won't. I wouldn't want my sons to have to
have the level of of pain tolerance that I have.
It's not natural, okay, it's it's trust me, it's not natural.
(35:24):
And so to to try to protect them as a
father would, as me as a father I would. I
don't want them to play football. I tell him I
played football, So you wanna have to do whatever you want. Now,
My sons, thank god, will be seven ft tall because
my wife is tall. And we're just gonna grow. We're
gonna we're gonna have uh seven or eight and five now.
(35:48):
And my eight year old wears size twelve thirteen in
clothes and my five year old were size eight nine
in clothes. That's what that's what we're doing over here.
We do basketball clinics every day after after school at
the Salaam household. That's what That's what's going on over here.
But I say that to say, you can love football,
but you can you can get to a point where
(36:11):
football doesn't love you back. And that's where you get that.
But didn't you say that by saying he's not a lifer.
Isn't that isn't that you don't have to be a lifer.
The love football is the same thing. No, it's not
you look at some of these coaches who are lifers, right.
I had a coach, Alex Gibbs. He would sleep underneath
the desk in the office. He just didn't want to
go home, right talk to one of his kids. He's like, Oh,
(36:33):
that's what you're doing out here in l a right
across street at this gym. He was like, I just
had to get away from my dad, right. Like, it's
just certain connotations come with being a lifer. You sacrifice
the majority of everything in your life to be a lifer.
And actors l if you watched a little bit of
Time versus Time, you saw inklings of her saying like,
(36:54):
eventually we want to do stuff together as a family.
But this football thing, right, Like question, so when it
isn't isn't that that's a that's a true love for football. No,
that's your unhealthy for football. I mean, I actually think
we're saying the same thing. We just may be wordying it.
When you say I don't think Andrew loves football, I'm
(37:14):
not saying that. You can know Shot, you can love football,
but you can get to a point in your life
where you want to move on from football. Has not
move on from something you love. So you're married. Have
you ever been divorced? Right, So don't say not yet.
It's not gonna happen. So I'm married, never been divorced,
(37:34):
not getting divorce, it's not happening. We take it off
the table, you ask some of your colleagues. Yeah, man,
we been divorced to three times. Right, will you go
into it loving it? Right? You love your wife, it's
gonna happen. And boom, boom boom, all of a sudden,
three four or five, ten, twenty years down the road,
you get a divorce. What does that mean that you're
(37:57):
you don't love being married or being in love. No,
you get to a point where it's time to move on.
No matter how much you love something or someone, you
get to a point where it's time to move on.
And I think Andrew Luck sooner than people expected or
wanted him to, got to the point where it was like, look,
I'm not having a good time. It's more painful for
(38:22):
me to do this than not to do it. Right.
I can't give what I need to it because I
love the sport that much. I respect and love it
to that level. If I can't put that into it,
then I have to walk away. How can you be
mad at that guy? There's there's the most important is
there's no anger at it, Like I actually a sarcasm.
(38:46):
Sarcasm A sarcasm is that anger, right, there's no inflection
in tweeting. Right, So when you take someone you also
knew me, you knew me, and so you you like
and did you ever think like, oh he mad? No,
of course I know you. Why are you Why are
you saying like you're mad? Like I'm not mad? Like
I don't care, I really don't care. I just I
(39:09):
just think this is this kind of this is kind
of a new thing to where guys are like, yo,
I got enough money, I don't need it. And it
goes counter to what football guys, football guys have always
told me, which is like, is a football game I'm playing?
You know what else that football guys don't have? That
is a a big cog in this will They don't
(39:30):
have lifetime healthcare. Okay, so you can run through all
the walls you want to. You can play with two
broken hands like you can play with nine days. I
certainly guess what happened to me in February to two
years ago. I got a letter from the NFL saying, hey,
thank you, but your health care is now expired. Good luck,
(39:51):
and they roll you out to the like you have
to take and we have the information. You know, you
got the SAG after stuff like I'm in the writer's
quee right, great, and insurance but I was paying. I
took my NFL insurance that I had, went to an
insurance adjuster or whoever, and was like giving me comparable
insurance and they were like, okay, well, clicks on the
(40:12):
computer had all of that. I had all of that,
and then it was like, oh, okay, well to get
this coverage, it's going to be fifty eight ninety three
a month for you and your two children. And my
wife I said, oh, well I don't I don't want that.
I don't want that. I gotta pay almost six thousand
dollars a month for this insurance. Well you know your
(40:33):
history and if you look and see it, right, yeah,
all of that right, So now we have that information.
Nobody was talking about healthcare when we're playing. Nobody come,
we didn't care. But the further you get away from
the game, the more the game attacks you in your
way of living. If you could make a hundred million
dollars in seven years, walk away from a game you love,
(40:57):
in a sport you love, and live your life with
less health complications. Brother, I'm standing on the table and
applauding that don't be another Andrew Luck. We'll get another
Andrew Luck. It's fine. Let this man live his life.
He put it all out there on the line for Indianapolis.
(41:17):
He he did everything he could and something. It's time
for him to go walk away. Hopefully we get to
see him again. Like you said, I think in two years,
after everything calms down, he adjusts, he comes back. But
you find out if you really love something, right He
from from Salam checking out when you start this Sunday
or next Sunday. I'm on five to eight this Saturday,
(41:41):
East West Coast and then uh in two weeks, I'll
be on Sundays two to five here, five to eight.
Best team no one's talking about in the NFL. You
know what I think? Um, It pains me to say
this because I've never understood why. But a team no
(42:06):
one ever talks about in a good way anyway is
the Tennessee Titans. Period. We don't even watch Tennessee Titans.
They I mean They are the most thankful that Andrew
Luck retired lifetime against Andrew Luck and one little thing
like that, one domino falls in your favor. Right, they've
(42:29):
been nine and seven forever. They just right around that nine.
They squeaked into the playoffs at nine and seven. That's
two games. Think about that, that's two games for the
Tennessee Titans that they now can can roll into taking
that next step. And problem is they don't know who
their quarterbacks at this point in time. He's e from
(42:51):
slam checking out this Saturday, eight to eleven Eastern time,
five to eight Pacific time. Of course, then I'll start
on Sundays when football officially kicks off. The Nation Football
League A great stuff. Thanks brother,
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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