On Any Given Sunday: By Eli MilliganIt is Six AM on a Saturday, my dedication to 98.7 ESPN New York remains unwavering… even with the absence of Mike and Mike in the Morning. Haha, I know I must be some evil creature who climbed from the depths of that awful Patton Oswalt movie Big Fan. Anyway, Bill Daughtry is on, my least member of The Han and Humpty Show, but none the less I listen, and what do you know he surprises me with something worth listening to. Before an almost unbearable commercial break of 1800-Flowers, divorce lawyers, and ED ads, he says he will have a NFL player who will be on the show to discuss his new book called NFL Confidential: True Confessions from the Gutter of Football… Alright Bill… you got my attention… I’ll sit through this commercial break even if it takes thirteen minutes… Yeah that’s a dig at you ESPN. So as I sit on my commute to work, a man with a voice scrambler begins to speak about his book in which he’s described the inner evils of football and the NFL. A guy going buy the name “Johnny Anonymous” who is a current NFL player outing the league on things such as Racism, Homophobia, locker room relations and the life of an NFL backup.
Of course I
couldn’t help but salivate upon purchasing this book on my kindle, and I
finished it in two days. Overall the book is a fairly easy read, but it
provides with entertainment, humor and something more; it reminds the reader,
the casual fan, and even the hardcore football maniac like myself, that these
guys are people too. They have feelings, and not only are they working for
their dream, but also to feed their families. Furthermore, since the boom of
fantasy football, and the ability to watch every football game every Sunday
regardless of your geographic location, football is something of a religion to
many Americans. However, the downside to this is very quickly we loose sight
that these guys are human beings, and there are fans who wish injuries and call
for these guys to be fired over a bad game or costly mistake… I mean imagine
the general public having a legitimate say in your employment status how absurd
does that sound?
Locker Room
My favorite
aspect of this book that was addressed was easily the racism and homophobia,
which is ironic considering how neurotic I am about being PC. However, what was
so impressive about this book is that the author was not afraid to address
these issues and its something that deserves a lot of credit, because quite
honestly it took balls to address such sensitive locker room issues such as
these. It all starts with the locker room atmosphere he creates although Johnny
is straight he constantly calls his teammates “Baby,” I mean there is no
denying the guy is an asshole but he’s a lovable asshole. Through this he
addresses the fact that among men the biggest identifier of comfortability
among one another, derives in ones ability to make gay jokes around one another
as well as shower naked around each other… ironic I know. The point is he makes
it known blatantly known that the reason Michael Sam didn’t make it in the
league was not due to an inability to play the game, It was due to his sexual
orientation, I mean the guy was SEC defensive player of the year. Guys were not
comfortable being around someone who could possibly be checking them out while
they showered, also the class of cultures you’re talking about guys who are
coming from the hood, the deep country, or even very religious backgrounds, do
you expect them to be very accepting if they were not exposed to this from a
young age? Also I think what was important was that he addressed the racial
aspect about the league, guys are segregated generally by position and race…
and you commonly hear things from both sides white and black that are quite
derogatory. One thing that Johnny did in fact emphasize was racist, sexist, or
even homophobic. You could be any of the three as long as you don’t hit women,
because once you cross over that threshold, you are lower than dirt.
DRUGS
If any real revelation is made
from reading this book that could lead to scrutiny against the league, without
a doubt it is their drug policy. Players without a history of substance abuse
are generally relegated to testing twice a year… once during the winter
session, once during the summer session, and during the year ten players from
each team are tested on a weekly basis for HGH and Anabolic steroids. OH, so
you thought they tested for all drugs during the year? Yeah, me too. Basically,
to get caught using illicit drugs you really, really have to try hard. The NFL
does not really care if you do drugs… just don’t get caught. A lot of guys
struggle with substance abuse, whether it be cocaine, prescription dugs, and
yeah the big bad one Alcohol.
During the
book, the author goes into depth about the player’s habits, some stay home,
others go out here and there, but some have serious drinking issues like a
player named Anton, the starting center who could or could not be eagles center
Jason Kelce. Due to the rigorous schedule these players are forced to abide by,
a lot of them don’t have time to really enjoy themselves and alcohol as well as
poor eating habits can pose to be detrimental to their mental and psyche.
Furthermore, the author spoke about popping at times three tramadol or whatever
the popular painkiller or muscle relaxer that the team doctor saw fit. He spoke
about the excruciating pain each of them endured during games and taking enough
medication that would allow him to feel numb in order to play through the pain
effectively. Essentially as long as the game isn’t compromised by a drug that
could improve performance the league can give a rat’s ass about the health of
their employees. This came to be quite a revelation to me.
Overview
I recommend this book to anyone who l loves
football, whether you are the casual fan, the hardcore fanatic, or just a
regular old fantasy football addict read it. You will begin to find yourself in
the center of a legitimate moral dilemma about this game, the league, and even
the way you conduct yourself on football Sunday. The main issue this book
raises is that these guys although polarizing examples of incredible
athleticism, they are HUMAN BEINGS. They have feelings, they get hurt, they are
worrying about how the hell they are going to feed their family next week just
as we are. For the majority of these 2000 league wide players very few of them
really have job security, and while you find yourself praying that the opposing
linebacker who has harassed your favorite quarterback all game to get injured,
this game could very well be his last game in the NFL. This book is very
entertaining, as well as insightful, and although there are various rumors
floating around about the True Identity of Johnny Anonymous should be the least
of your focus because we as fans should do our own due diligence and really
attempt to understand what really goes into those four hours of intense hair
raising action, because any given Sunday, could be a players last day on the
field. The brutal honesty that was included in this book is what I ultimately
appreciated, this book is something different and definitely an eye opener to
say the least. Do yourself a favor read it.
MUST READ
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