When the news came down on my phone notifications that Andrew Luck was retiring, I was definitely surprised like everyone else. Then I started to think about it more and put together what must have happened. Andrew had been dealing with some mysterious injury that the team kept changing its status on. He must have realized it was a long term injury and had gotten to the point where he just didn’t have it in him to rehab one more time.

What has been most interesting is the simultaneous support and backlash Luck has received from the media and the fans. You had people who booed him and called into question his toughness and even his manhood and you had people who supported him and stood up for him. This situation is essentially a case study of the complicated relationship between athletes and fans, and between athletes and their mental health.

 

ANDREW LUCK

Let’s first address the actual situation. Andrew Luck had a lot of hype surrounding him coming out of Stanford. He was the can’t miss quarterback of his generation. He had the brains, the stature, the arm, and the work ethic that you would want in your franchise quarterback. The Colts needed a replacement for Peyton Manning. It seemed to a marriage made in heaven.

The reality was that Luck never reached his full potential. The Colts failed to protect their prize position and Andrew faced numerous injuries. When he was healthy he played solid although not to the savior level the city was looking for. In order for Andrew to have played up to that potential, he would have needed health and more talent around him.

Instead, he dealt with torn abs and lacerated kidneys and a throwing shoulder that has bothered him for years including major surgery.

Last year he came back and had a really strong showing considering his adversity. He showed consistency down the stretch and Colt fans were excited about this season to see if their team could turn the corner.

Then came the mysterious injury which has something to do with his ankle but in my opinion has to be worse than they originally thought for him to retire.

Then the news:

So what happened?

Everyone knows that football is physical and dangerous. Everyone knows that players put their bodies on the line and that injuries happen. Where the disconnect seems to be is that there are minor injuries, mild injuries, and major injuries. There are things you can play through like sprains, strains, even some breaks. You can play through the minor ones, most of the mild ones, and even some major ones. However, there are some major injuries that you can’t play through. These are the ones Luck has had.

When you have a major injury that requires anywhere from 6-18 months of rehab, you are not sitting on your couch for 6 to 18 months and then one day, POOF, you are 100 percent again. That’s not how the body works. This is not a paper cut. When you are talking about injuries that include torn ligaments and muscles and fractures, it’s a complicated process.

It includes surgery usually, which is a process in itself. Then you have downtime where you are resting that body part. This can lead to atrophy in that body part as your body is a crazy creative entity that will sense that this body part is hurt, shut down usage, and use other body parts to compensate for it. So you see muscles shrinking down as you don’t use them and then strain on others that you are using unconsciously to compensate for the one you aren’t using. This messes with your body mechanics. Whether it be walking, throwing, or whatever activity.

Then you spend numerous months in phases of therapy. You work on range of motion to that body part. You work on rebuilding the muscles that encountered atrophy. You work at fixing your body mechanics. You work on strength. You work on functionality. You work on flexibility. This also includes numerous set backs, plateaus, swelling, pain, and time.

Then you get to the point where you can physically take the field but doesn’t mean you will be POOF at the level of play you were previously. It takes another phase to work until you get as close as you can to it.

Now what does this mean? Firstly, the human body is really interesting. Secondly, the worst part about a major injury is not the physical part. It’s the emotional and mental damage that you endure that is the worst part.

Think about it. Let’s say you are a world class athlete. You have been your whole life. You work really hard at it. You are at the top of the mountain.

BOOM. Now you can’t walk. You can’t even lift your leg off the table. Or you can’t even move your arm up to feed yourself, let alone throw a football. In your mind, you are still the world class athlete but your body is not cooperating. You watch the world continue on without you just fine and you wonder who exactly you are now? Are you still that athlete?

When you add in the fact that you love the game, and you truly love it, this type of injury is really like a heart break. It feels like you broke up with your first love. You feel forgotten and lost and you constantly think maybe if I had done this differently, this wouldn’t have happened.

Just as your body goes through phases to heal, your heart and mind do as well. You have to pick yourself up every day and keep at it. You have to celebrate each victory, even if it seems mundane and silly. It takes a long time and a lot of work.

Then one day, you are Andrew Luck, you have climbed your way all the way back to the mountain and you are climbing back to the top. And then BOOM you hit the bottom again. You pull yourself back up. And then BOOM you hit the bottom again.

It’s exhausting right? Now add in the pressure of being an NFL franchise quarterback and that he felt like the entire city and fan base was on his shoulders? I really think someone like Derrick Rose could relate to this in Chicago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjJWfvyZ41I

It is no wonder he felt like he just couldn’t do it again.

I think if you are a human being, you can relate to working really hard and sometimes your dreams don’t work the way you want them to. It can be crushing. We all experience this at times.

Luck is now retiring. Will he stay retired or will he come back after some time off? No one knows, but it’s his life, and his well-being, and he needs to find what works for him.

ATHLETES AS A COMMODITY

We have a horrible habit in our society of loving to build up people and tear them down. It makes us feel good in a sadistic way apparently. Just look at tabloids, TMZ, and any social media post comment section. We love the underdog because we see ourselves as the underdog. Then they become the favorite and we nitpick them until they fall and celebrate when they do, because that makes us feel better about ourselves.

When someone has “made it” whether it be an athlete, actor, musician, etc, and is in the public eye, we tend to think that we own a piece of them. They are there to entertain us and they get millions for it. How dare they think they are human being?

For some fans they know this is what they are doing and still do it with vigor, but for most I think it’s subconscious. How can an athlete getting paid millions not understand that John Smith down the street works 80 hours a week and gets $12/hr with no thanks?

The answer is, for most athletes, they do understand this. They understand the position they are in and most were really poor growing up with parents that were the John Smith’s earning $12/hr.

I’m going to say this one time: No One Is Better Than Anyone Else. No One’s Pain Is Better Than Anyone Else’s.

Andrew Luck is a human being and has the right to feel good or feel bad without your permission as a fan. Just as you have the right to feel good or feel bad without his permission.

Money and fame does not mean you cannot be a human being.

The fact that someone has money and fame and you don't, 
doesn't give you the right to tell them how to feel.

They don't owe you because they have something that you don't.

Think about how asinine these statements are but I truly feel like some people need to hear them as much as kids need to hear “hands are not for hurting”.

ATHLETES AND MENTAL HEALTH

Let’s be frank since we are having a frank conversation here. Mental Health issues exist in the general population so it only makes sense logically that some amount of professional athletes deal with mental health issues. Whether it be a temporary turn or long-term issues, athletes are being human beings, deal with it.

The stigma of mental health is a major issue in the country as a whole but that’s a topic for a later date. For athletes, especially male athletes, there has been a stigma that you need to be strong physically, mentally, and emotionally, and therefore you can never allow yourself to realize that you have the right to have emotions or issues like everyone else.

We need to stop thinking that Mental Health = a new fangled social construct. Mental health issues have always existed. We just got better at recognizing them. What was “hysteria” in the 1800s is either simply stress or other more serious issues now. What we once prescribed Cocaine for, we now prescribe antidepressants.

We need to stop thinking of Mental Health = weakness. It is not weakness. We all have issues. We all have stories. It is part of the human experience to face and endure struggle. To look at oneself is not weak. It’s strong. It takes courage to look and find out who you are and how you can learn how to develop the positives and work with and around the negatives.

Half of life is getting to know who you are. If you don’t know who you are, even if you don’t have clinic issues like depression, anxiety, bipolar, etc, then you cannot hope to help anyone else which is the second purpose to life.

Athletes are humans first. There are a lot of teams that have sports psychologists that help them visualize their game which is great. However, there needs to be more public emphasis on general mental health and well being. It needs to be said out loud so that people understand that they have a right to find out who they are too.

Think about it. If you know who you are then don’t you think it will help you on and off the field? Knowing who you are, will teach you how to handle adversity in a game. It will make you a better player and a better person.

Here is an awesome video about Solomon Thomas talking about how therapy helped him deal with the grief of the loss of his sister.

I sincerely hope that Andrew Luck gets what he needs to find himself. I also sincerely hope we do better as a society in how we treat others.