ho lee shit... 24 surgeries, words cant really describe what his knee looks like. and these doucheknibblers at the nfl wont use some of their 9 billion to get the guy proper medical treatment? damn shame if you ask me. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-s...ggie-williams-had-24-surgeries-160141006.html There are so many sad stories of former NFL veterans in terrible physical condition, and all the stories are important. When fans complain about the game becoming too soft, they must be ignorant of the stories of former players who can't live a normal life in retirement at a relatively young age. When they speak with scorn about the league trying to put in rules to protect players from injuries, they aren't considering what someone like former Cincinnati linebacker Reggie Williams goes through on a daily basis. Williams, who played with the Bengals from 1976-89, started two Super Bowls and is the team's all-time leader among linebackers in most categories including tackles, has had 24 surgeries on his right knee, which looks almost unrecognizable. According to an enlightening story by the Cincinnati Enquirer's Paul Daugherty, Williams is fighting off amputation of his right leg, which doctors tell him is inevitable. His right leg is almost three inches shorter than his left leg after all the injuries. Here is what Williams' knee looks like after 24 surgeries, in a photo from the Enquirer's story. It's not pretty: The story, which is a great read and worth the time if you have any compassion for the men who entertain us on Sundays in the fall, details the difficulty Williams has in his day-to-day life. He hasn't had a meal at home in more than two years because he can't be on his feet very long to cook, the Enquirer said. His house during the summer is between 85 and 90 degrees because he can't use air conditioning, or his knee feels worse. He has had the surgeries, the first coming in 1979, knee replacements and multiple infections (in 2008 he was diagnosed with the bone infection osteomyelitis, which was not identified for two years) that have left his right leg 2 5/8 inches shorter than the other. He has no insurance to cover the pre-existing condition, so he pays for his own rehabilitation. He has battled the NFL and the Bengals for years over disability benefits. The Dartmouth-educated Williams felt the need to retire from a vice president job at Disney in 2007, at age 53, to dedicate himself to rehabilitation and saving his leg, the Enquirer story said. This is what 14 NFL seasons and 206 games can do to a man.
stuff like this really puts the game in perspective and how much these guys are laying on the line for our enjoyment. i think the nfl should definitely have health insurance for these guys after they retire. sure it would be expensive, but the nfl is fucking loaded to begin with, and it is at the cost of these players well being. hell even allowing the players to buy into health insurance that covered this shit would be so much better than it is now. its really upsetting to think that the guys you rooted for could get so fucked up from this game. i really think the nfl should be helping these ex players
i dont know how to make them do it. but if someone figures out a way i will fully support it. for every douche running around with gold chains and a new mercedes there are probably hundreds of guys who make little end up with nothing and suffer for decades because of the game of football. and jesus h christ, get the hgh thing done... for their own damn sake.
I am not saying that I agree with the NFL and there is a need to take of a veteran players, but it sound like his leg in more fucked up form infections arising out of surgery (more a doctor/hospital issue or something personally making him susceptible to these infections) and a bone infection diagnosed 20 years after he stopped playing. Yeah he wouldn't have needed the surgeries without football - but come on to try to pin this solely on the Bengal and the NFL is a stretch.
He has had trouble with his knees for so long, I'm actually surprised it hasn't been amputated yet. He was a really good player and it's a damn shame this is happening to him.
Well, the thing is not so much that "oh the Bengals ruined his knee and they should have to pay for it" - it's the idea that they use these guys' bodies and profit off of them for years, and then if the person ends up with horrible injuries the league and team get to shrug and say "not my problem." In the MLB, anyone who plays in even one game gets covered by the MLB's health insurance program, which covers everything and costs the player nothing- for the rest of his life. If you are an outfielder for one pitch, and it's a strike, and then you go out and never take the field again, you never have to pay for your healthcare (and you don't even have to become a Canadian.) The NFL has even more money than the MLB, and although football is more dangerous than baseball, and there are more football players than baseball players, and they have much shorter careers on average - I think most people today feel like the current policies don't do enough for NFL players after they leave the league. We're seeing the tip of that with increased attention to head injuries and rule changes aimed at making the game safer, but that's just part of the bigger issue of what responsibility a mega-profitable sports league has to the tiny number of people who make all those profits possible. The mentality that "hey man, this is America, your healthcare issues are your problem, don't ask someone else to pay for it, you selfish so-and-so" - that's a real mentality, and I'm not saying that it's "wrong", and I totally understand it. But I think more people are starting to feel that the league does have a moral responsibility towards former players, beyond refraining from actively hurting them. It just feels wrong that one day you're in a huge stadium with nearly a hundred thousand people cheering for you, millions watching you on TV, that goes on for years, and then you get hurt and woosh- "take care, good luck with that torn ACL, buddy." The argument can always be made that even the league minimum is a ton of money, and any responsible person would save a lot of it, and go back and finish college and get a job with health insurance, I definitely get that. But I think the prevailing attitude is: "Look, the league is making cash faster than it can count it, how about you do a little more to look after the guys who're making it all possible?" Lifetime coverage for free for every preseason player - of course that would be very expensive, and I don't think that's necessarily what they should do. But certainly guys who've finished out their 4 year rookie contracts, I'd say they do deserve lifetime health coverage. And then in addition, I think they should give injury-specific coverage to every player who sustains an injury at a team training session, preseason game, practice, etc - in other words, lifelong care for that specific football-related injury, so if an UDFA rookie tears his ACL the first week of training camp, they should pay for his ACL surgery and rehab and then he'll go get a normal person job, and if it doesn't provide health insurance at least he can't really say that the league mistreated him very badly. They could self-fund a healthcare system through the league, setting aside a certain amount of money that would otherwise go to growing profits and the salary cap, to take care of former players. The players won't get rich off of free healthcare, and you can put in a clause that it only covers what their other insurance (if any) does not cover - in many instances that would greatly reduce what the NFL would have to pay, and then you pick up the full tab for the destitute guys working at car washes and stuff. I know there's a bit of a "gladiator" type mentality, and of course guys will still want to take the risks whether there is health insurance or not, but I think that long-term the league and it's profits are actually better off if they do right by the players.
well said. something has to be done. the nfl labor union has let down the players for a very very long time. i dont see any way that the nfl will start to treat them like human beings at this point other than people like you and me talking about it and making sure other people talk about it and maybe just maybe someone will pay attention.
