“The game is a safe game, the equipment is better; I don’t buy all these guys coming back with these concussions. I’m not buying all that. Half these guys are trying to make money off the deal. That’s real talk. That’s really how it is. I wish they’d be honest and tell the truth because it’s keeping kids away from our game.”

– Deion Sanders, speaking on the issue of concussions while on the NFL Network

 

PHILADELPHIA (BASN / STR – ITR) In this world there are some people who, in this life, have been blessed beyond words; given natural talents worked on and maximized to their greatest potential. Their work ethic elevates them to become the very best…

 

And then they go out of their way to show how their profound ignorance makes them human – and inhuman.

 

Deion Sanders, for all his talents and well – earned accolades, is a fucking idiot.

The timbre and timing of his comments notwithstanding, let’s examine this tripe:

Is the game safer? According to the new rules regarding strike zones and vulnerability, that may be true. The equipment may be better, but so are the people wearing it; bigger, faster, stronger.

If Sanders doesn’t buy all these guys coming back with concussion issues, he is buying that they wanna make money off of it. Let’s examine that, then…

If the average playing career is three years, and roughly four to six to become fully vested, just how much are they going to get? And while I don’t doubt some money may have been misspent to play a role in augmenting a perceived lifestyle by some, a good amount of this money is likely going to be spent on doctors – as time takes every one of these former players out.

So Sanders says that’s real talk. He’s played at a level far above mine, so I can’t discount that.

But here’s some more real talk:

Andre Waters blew his brains out. So did Dave Duerson. Mike Webster’s brain was like rennet custard when I interviewed him in Hawai’i before he expired years later. Junior Seau also took his own life.

There are former players like Marvin Cobb, Bob Grant, Dave Pear and Bernie Parrish, who have in their own way tried to establish a forum in which Old School Players who helped build a multi-billion dollar industry through their sweat equity get what they have earned – not a handout, but their rightful ‘piece o’ the rock’ – the same sweat you expended to take that cash they spent as much if not more energy – to make that cash – that’s real talk.

Thirty years ago, I worked at selling telephone service; and made more cash per year than some players on Super Bowl rosters in 1983…that’s real talk.

I can’t rightly say if Rodney Harrison thought about Waters when he strapped on, but the fact he admits his fears about his future is real talk. It is a violent sport, and, ironically, for it to maintain its popularity it will likely have to remain one.

So if you are among those blessed to go through the eye of this pro football storm unscathed and you can go to the bathroom unassisted in 20 years and you haven’t accrued hundreds of thousands of dollars in hospital bills, didn’t have your marriage ruined by drug abuse and enjoy your lifestyle, then be thankful for your blessings – and shut the fuck up!

Because acting as some shill for The Shield probably does more to demean you than your desire to tackle. Were you given orders to say that shit because our President spoke of reservations about football if he had a son?

And so we understand each other, this isn’t about hatin’. I have appreciated your skills, lauded and defended them in print and on air; and you are a Hall Of Famer.

But you are so many kinds of wrong when it comes to this one.

Deion Sanders was a truly brilliant player – but now you are one selfish and truly ignorant ass Nigger.

That’s real talk.

michaelingram@blackathlete.com/basneditor@basnnewsroom.com

Always outnumbered; never outgunned.

Copyright c 2013 Michael – Louis Ingram all rights reserved.