Sports In The Bay
photo by Miguel Blair
What if your boss came to you one day and told you that you have to re-locate to another city to do your job? And that you have 72 hours to show up. So what if you have a mortgage, kids in school, and have to leave your family and friends. How would you feel? Well, that's exactly what happened to Richard Seymour, newly aquired D-Lineman for the Raiders.
Yes, he took his time getting here. And given all of the arrangements he had to make, it was understandable. Some fans, and members of the media, criticized him for this. But the criticism vanished after he recorded a sack, one of two during the game, on his very first drive as a Raider. He is a top flight NFL lineman who will add significant value to a pretty good defense. But again I ask you, how would you feel having to pack up and go on a moments notice?
"It was definitely tough, but we're professionals." he said after the game. "Once I made the committment to come here I put all that behind me and I wasn't concerned with all that transpired this week. I just said that I want to come out and play football. Once I step on the field that's my sanctuary. I can let go and just have fun. I was able to escape all the other things that I felt this week. I was definitely thinking about my family and I know that they were watching because I got a lot of text messages. It was disappointing the way we lost this football game because we had them. But I'm encouraged by the signs of the team that we have here. I really am."
The NFL is a business and these things happen all the time. But sometimes we forget that athletes are human like everybody else.
No comments:
Post a Comment