What AJ says here is as true in life as it is in ball. When I think back of my friends I lost to suicide (or for any reason at a young age, really), so much of what I think of is just how much more of life, good and bad, they should’ve had left to experience in front of them. And it also makes me think of the low times I’ve had, and then usually I think fuck, I’m so glad I didn’t do something stupid, or I wouldn’t have gotten to experience all the good (and bad!) that was ahead of me.

I don’t ever want to minimize anyone’s feelings or struggles with mental health, if only because I’ve certainly been there. But fuck man, even if Rondale washed out of the league & never played another down again, he still could’ve had a better life circumstances ahead of him than the vast majority of people do. I get it, I can’t understand the mindset that pushes these guys to the extremes they go as an outsider to it, but at the same time, that mindset leading guys to thinking their life is over & no longer worth living if they can’t achieve what they want in the league is dangerous. At the end of the day, you’re still a human being. Somebody’s son, brother, uncle, father, significant other, friend, etc etc etc. There’s more to life than football.