• Written By Curt Flood

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• This is a fictitious post written by Ken Silman former beat writer for the Oakland Tribune and sports editor for the Daily Review.  The purpose of this article is to present the thoughts of great athletes who have passed on today’s topics using research.
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• Dear athlete of the new millennium,

• This is not what I had in mind at all.

• Instant millionaire’s threatening Instant millionaire’s threatening to sit out a season because they feel they deserved to be drafted higher (Michael Crabtree), team captains asking to be traded less than a year after signing a three-year extension worth $27.8 million dollars (Stephen Jackson) and players faking retirement to avoid training camp (Roger Clemens, Brett Favre) make me want to bring loyalty, the love of the game and honesty back to sports.

• The actions of those current athletes go against the very fabric of my stance in wanting to overcome the reserve clause in baseball, which eventually led to free agency in my sport and many others.

• I was mad about being traded from the team I gave my heart and soul to for 12 years. I wanted to remain a Cardinal forever and felt like the basic rights of athletes were being infringed upon by the sport I was playing, even equating it to slavery.   Yes, I wanted the right to chose where I played. The motivation came from watching Martin Luther King Jr., the Kennedy’s and many others give their lives fighting for equality for all. The stand I made cost me the rest of my playing career and maybe even a shot at the Hall-of-Fame. However, it made the world of sports better for all athletes.

• Who is your inspiration Mr. Crabtree and Mr. Jackson? Bernie Madoff?

• You think that’s too harsh? Let’s see;

• Madoff used his reputation as an investor to convince people handing over their life savings and the savings of people they represented for would be, can’t miss investments, only to leave them broke, angry and scarred for life as a result of his Ponzi scheme.

• Mr. Jackson you take the money of hardworking people (Warrior season ticket holders), promise them results and try to run without fulfilling your end of the deal.

• Mr. Crabtree, you make promises based on past performance and then ask an investor to give you large sums of money with no guarantee you will never deliver a return on your investment.

• Michael, if you had a principle issue with the draft or not wanting to play for the 49ers, you could have fought it from the outset and should have sat out the season.  Then you could have re-entered the 2010 draft or fight the constitutionality of the draft, instead you waited for the extra $1 million in guaranteed money and $10 million in possible money, which is not a stand on principles.

• Me on the other hand, I made a true sacrifice, sitting out a complete season so my play wouldn’t interfere with my lawsuit. Unfortunately, I lost the case, forfeited a large sum of money,  never made it fully back into Major League Baseball, and went thru financial ruin.   But I did begin cracking the system which would open up in 1975 by Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally.

• I hope the players in the future stop before they ask for an extra million, sign a contract with a team they don’t believe in, or play the okey-doke so they don’t have to work more than 22 weeks.  What I want them to do is say Thank You for their current situation, realize the freedom they have, and recognize all of the players who didn’t have such opportunities who came before them.

• Yours in Sport,

• Curt Flood

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• Recently my wife and I were discussing the benefits of sports; specifically team vs. individual sports and the effects on our son.  I feel strongly about the benefits of playing on a team while my wife doesn’t share my opinion and see the necessity for a “team” environment.
• My wife comes from a large family, she is the only girl with four brothers, all incredible athletes.   One of her brothers is ranked in the top ten in the world  in Water Skiing.  Her brothers competed mostly in individual sports including BMX, Motocross, Water Skiing, Snow Skiing, and many others.  They did play on teams but not for a substantial amount of time.
• There are a lot of the same elements involved in both individual and team sports including dedication, hard work, coaching, practice, study and time.  The one element missing from individual sports is team work.  When one is involved in individual sports often times they are home schooled is done so the person can focus on their training schedule.  There’s also the flexibility to travel or attend things normal school schedules don’t permit.
• But teamwork is about human interaction which comes natural to some but it’s definitely a learned skill.   If someone doesn’t interact with people they can never learn the skill because they don’t need to. They go through life on their island doing what works for them.  This sounds like an okay idea until the details are uncovered.// Let’s talk about a friend I grew up with, we will call him Jeff.  Jeff was the oldest child in his family and was home schooled while he raced Motocross.  He was really good just not quite good enough to make it professionally.  When his racing career fizzled he had to make some changes and decisions.  He was forced to pursue a more normal career.
• Jeff’s parents gave him the option to go to college but decided against it because school wasn’t something exciting to him.  He got a job in construction and soon after moved in with his girlfriend.  When Jeff was racing his sponsors, coaches, and parents did everything for him.  All he had to do was train and race.  When he moved in with his girlfriend she took over where his parents left off.  She did the shopping, the cooking and the banking. When he would collect a paycheck she would go to the bank and cash it and pay any outstanding bills.
• His wife really took care of Jeff, handling anything needing to be done.   He effectively worked, slept and interacted with just her.  After a short while they got married.  A few years later are when they started having problems.  Big enough problems the two of them got separated.  This marked the first time in his life he was on his own.  Because he had never handled anything himself he didn’t know how.   Jeff was never part  of a team and never learned to work together with others.   He didn’t know how to interact with people he didn’t know.  He couldn’t do simple tasks like go to the store and shop.  The bank accounts were not in his name.  He had to go and open up new accounts and didn’t know how.   He didn’t know how to communicate and no one knew what was going on.
• His Mom went to visit him and discovered he was starving because of a lack of food in the house.  He had weeks worth of un-cashed paychecks but had no money.  Jeff was a total mess.  His mother finally got him to see a doctor who diagnosed him with Social Anxiety.  The Doctor prescribed some medicine which helped but I don’t think it’s fixed the problem.  Luckily he and his wife have reconciled, so he might not have to really change but I sure hope he does and learns to work with many people in a team environment so he can see the Hidden Side Effect of Team Sports which I will share next month.

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• Written by John Richards
• Very few people have the chance to do what I have done in my life; I played Division I football for Arizona State University Sun Devils. When I played, I was an offensive lineman with my weight anywhere from 285-305 pounds. I ate like a madman because I had to, I was burning so many calories I had to eat everything in sight to maintain my weight. My last year of playing college football was in 1992. I was 22 and in great shape, but was never taught how to eat after my football career had ended.
• Fast-forward 10 years; I’m 32 and attending culinary school. I have spent the majority of my life working in restaurants and bars. My weight was around 300 pounds and my lifestyle became eating badly and drinking late into the night. The waistline grew from 36” in 1992 to 42” in 2002. I was in the middle of a relationship that would end in a few years. I was unhappy with my weight, my home life, and I was in a very high stress job as a chef. Health wise, I was running as fast as I could straight into a brick wall.
• My father died in 1996 from strokes directly caused by high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart problems. My grandmother died in 2002 from diabetes. The history of medical problems was there for me to look straight into because of my weight issue except I wasn’t doing anything about it. I wasn’t getting medical checkups, continued to eat high fat with high sodium foods and drinking beer and partying like I was a rock star.
• In my relationship I didn’t have the right support because my ex-girlfriend was coming right along with me in my unhealthy lifestyle. We were both working in a restaurant and around food all the time. Unfortunately it was not necessarily healthy foods, instead it was hot wings, fries, pasta with cream sauces, and fried appetizers.
• Exercise was non-existent in my life due to my work hours. Working until midnight, partying until 5:00 a.m., passing out until noon, and back to work didn’t leave any time for exercise. My schedule revolved around restaurant hours which were not the “normal” work hours for most jobs so I was working weekends.
• My body image was still of a college football player. I had an unrealistic view of myself and was in denial of how overweight I was. Everybody around me referred to me as a big, husky guy; however, I wasn’t husky, I was just plain and simply fat. I was in the worst physical and mental shape of my life.
• It was New Year’s Day in 2006, I went into a tailspin. My girlfriend moved out and I turned to food and alcohol for comfort then my weight really ballooned. In April of 2006, I was 320 lbs. heading straight into the abyss. Then the turning points of my life happened first Lisa became my roommate in May of 2006. Lisa was a young , healthy, vivacious girl from Sturgis, South Dakota. She was extremely truthful and straightforward, and dedicated to her educational goals. Then my brother, James came for THE VISIT in July 2006 which I am grateful for and will discuss in next month’s posting.

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