Duchess’ Soapbox

/Climbs up on soapbox

Erik Kramer earned the nickname “Brass” because when Rodney Peete was injured Kramer had the “brass balls” to call an audible on his very first play with the Detroit Lions. He would later take the Lions to their only NFC Championship game in 1991. He owns the Bears single-season passing record for touchdowns (29) and passing yards (3,838) before the league became as pass happy as it is today. He has had his battles with depression. He lost his wife to divorce in 2010 and his oldest son to a heroin overdose in 2011. Erik Kramer is 50 years old today. “Is” is a key word because he is still alive after a failed suicide attempt Tuesday night.

I grew up in Austin where there was a place called Mike’s Pub it was the greasiest spoon in town. You open the door and the stairs were stained yellow. They had the best damn greasiest burgers in all of downtown, and you could almost always see Earl Campbell eating at the bar for lunch. Then you’d see him less and less because the stairs were giving him difficulties. I long for the days where I could see an old NFL player happy but struggling to walk because their knees weren’t the same. I long for the days of admiring the youthfulness of Hershel Walker. I wish that in 20 years we can all sit along and joke that Aaron Rodgers still “really really likes girls”, or that Brandon Marshall is still talking to himself. That all these in jest jokes made with respect and hint of jealousy are still around. However, we are now at a point in time where our favorite NFL stars may end up the running joke that is a former WWE wrestler. Where they may go on to interviews and say they know deep down they won’t make 65 years.

This is happening too often now for the NFL to sit back and do nothing. Even the WWE now pays for ex-wrestlers to go to rehab or counseling. The NFL made a bogus pledge of a billion dollars to help its former players with dementia from concussions and nothing for other symptoms of CTE like depression or changes in behavior. If there is any silver lining to this is that maybe this can be the NFL’s Chris Benoit moment where they wake up and realize they have a serious problem they cannot ignore. I look forward to everyone’s gallow humor on this subject.

//Climbs off soapbox

EDIT. I mentioned CTE with connections to the $1 billion settlement. The settlement does not mention CTE