Future Football Stars: The NFL Is About To Destroy Your Life

May 1, 2012 10:35 AM

The game that you fell in love with as a child will seem lost; a thump on the floorboard of your new Mercedes, swerved at high speeds to avoid a shadow in the night. The sights and sounds and smells of football, sensual memories that stir the passions in the soul, will be reconceived and recategorized, buried behind newer, odorless versions.

Former Bronco Nate Jackson offers wisdom on the trappings of stardom to two young draftees.
posted by swift (17 comments total)

Though his is but one of many voices hoping to be heard to impress on the newly minted millionaires hoping to steer them in some semblance of the correct direction.

Alas, if past performance is any guide, I doubt the words will be taken to heart.
posted by k5.user at 10:57 AM on May 1, 2012

But once you get drafted and shake hands with Darth Vader, your lives will diverge and you will be immersed fully in the identity of your new employers.

And people thought Al Davis had died.

(People thought Al Davis COULD die.)
posted by delfin at 11:25 AM on May 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

Nate Jackson knows his way around a sentence. And he is writing about stuff that we all know exists in every sport anyways. But it was still sad to hear about the NFL meat grinder.

Here is another one that he wrote: What it's like when an NFL linebacker nearly knocks your head off.

Happy reading.
posted by dfm500 at 11:27 AM on May 1, 2012 [2 favorites]

This started off seeming like Hoop Dreams: Redux but actually has a lot of different things to say about success and how it's defined and the psychic trauma that can result from the friction between different definitions. Thanks for the link.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:29 AM on May 1, 2012

I enjoyed that read. Thank you!
posted by ZakDaddy at 11:31 AM on May 1, 2012

Here's yet another bit of writing by Nate Jackson. “Punters are at the absolute bottom of the totem pole on an NFL roster, the very last man. If the team plane crashed on a deserted island, he'd be dinner as soon as the food ran out. Most of them know this and understand that it's in their best interest to keep quiet.”
posted by exogenous at 11:46 AM on May 1, 2012

I thought it was very well written, but I cringe every time I read something where rich people complain about their lives.

Oh, you bought a house in a rich neighborhood and the marble and drapes aren't to your liking? Sounds like such a problem.
posted by NerdcoreRising at 11:49 AM on May 1, 2012

The punter's reply to Nate Jackson's anti-punter rant is also quite good.
posted by COD at 12:06 PM on May 1, 2012

A friend of mine worked in the front office of the 49ers in the 70's and 80's. She also told me that punters were looked at by the other players as "not really on the team" and "not real Football players". So, for whatever it's worth, Jackson wasn't the only one to hold that opinion.
posted by doctor_negative at 12:34 PM on May 1, 2012

COD: "The punter's reply to Nate Jackson's anti-punter rant is also quite good"

Goddamn if that ain't some fine fuckin' writing, there.

P.S. I respect all four of the people I called douchebags (Manning, Brees, Mankins, and Jackson). That's why I used the word "douchebag" instead of "asshole" or "fuckwit." Someone acting like a douchebag can still be redeemed; generally it's a momentary lapse of judgment. There's no hope for asshole fuckwits.

P.P.S. tl;dr — U mad bro?

posted by notsnot at 1:21 PM on May 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

Nate Jackson is a tremendous writer, and ever since I started reading his stuff on Deadspin I've been hopeful that he'd write a book.
posted by imabanana at 1:52 PM on May 1, 2012

This is gold. Thanks for the link and the comments!
posted by King Bee at 3:45 PM on May 1, 2012

It really is a problem when newly-rich, very young people squander their new wealth based on the expectations and advise of people who do not have their best (or any) interests in mind.

I read a good article a while back how many young pro sports people will be flat out ripped off (especially via old friends and friends of friends and distant relatives with shonky investment schemes and businesses) many ending up with nothing and how teams are their hiring financial advisors for the players to try and avoid the worse of it.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:08 AM on May 2, 2012

That's pretty excellent.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:22 AM on May 2, 2012

That punter guy played an excellent defence
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:45 AM on May 2, 2012

In somewhat related news, Junior Seau was shot today in a likely suicide.
posted by troika at 11:40 AM on May 2, 2012

Jesus. He was one of the few pro athletes that I actually cared about at the time that I met him (briefly).

.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:49 AM on May 2, 2012