Luck Retires and People React

On Saturday night it was breaking news that 29-year-old Andrew Luck would announce his retirement from football the next day. Unfortunately, due to being scooped and announced on TV and online the fans knew about this on Saturday night while the Colts were in the middle of a preseason game. So, Luck had to make a statement that night. After the announcement was official there was a lot of pouring out of support from the sports community. Then there were also people who felt a need to vent their frustrations and displeasure with a man not wanting to do it anymore.

In what had to be one of the most painful emotional moments of his life, this man had to hear about fans booing him and people in the press making critiques of his decision. I know fans can be emotional even though I think its stupid, its known that they can be overly involved in the life of players. Now that involvement generally ignores the humanity of the players that they love to watch. They just become means of entertainment that should always be available for their amusement.

Even media members joined the foray as FS1 Host Doug Gottlieb got into the act by posting tweet criticizing Luck’s retirement. Saying that “retiring because rehab is “too hard” is the most millennial thing ever.” Many people reacted to Gottlieb’s tweet and took him to task for his comments but that did get a lot of likes and retweets. As avid listener to sports talk radio I heard all the tropes that people throw out when these types of things happen. “He makes so much money”, “I know firefighters and they don’t quit”, this goes on and on as some fans show their ignorance. Also, what I believe to be a general jealousy of professional athletes and others how have high profile jobs where we publicly discuss their salaries.

At the end of the day if Andrew Luck has done well enough to be able to walk away from his job then God bless him. There are a lot of NFL players that would do the same if they could. That is actually a sentiment that a lot people can relate to. I know this because when all of those firefighters, teachers and steel workers that people referenced come into a large sum of money they quit those noble jobs. Luck is walking away from the game with injuries that he will deal with for rest of his life but at least at this day and time he is walking away.

The list of Luck’s injuries is crazy look at what the game of football can do to you. Here is a run down of his injuries:

That has to be rough to deal with and football may not worth the hassle anymore for the young quaterback. The 2018 Comeback Player of the Year may not want to deal this anymore and who can blame him. If you really want to understand what Luck might be saving himself from, research Colts great Johnny Unitas and his post football life and understand that us being able to see Luck walking on his own 15 years from might be its own reward.

Keith B. Holt

Follow on Twitter @Kholtjr