GRIDIRON
REGRETS

Topics: Ambition; Consequences; Drugs; Glory; Meaning; Purpose; Sin; Success

References: 1 Corinthians 9:24–27; Galatians 6:7–8; Philippians 3:14–21

For sixteen years, linebacker Bill Romanowski ruled the NFL gridiron with vicious tackles and cheap hits. Known as “Romo,” he played with intense hatred and violence on the field, breaking bones and injuring opposing players. Driven by a fear of failure, he pushed his body to the limit, not only through weight training, but with dietary supplements and illegal steroids.

“I compromised my morality to get ahead, to play another year, to play two more years, to win another Super Bowl,” he said in a 2005 interview. Worse than the pain from all the vicious hits was the embarrassment he caused to his family, friends, teammates, team owners, the league, and ultimately a little boy who asked, “Dad, do you do drugs?”

“That one hurt me more than anything,” Romanowski said.

Romo suffered dozens of concussions while playing football. Toward the end of his career, he couldn’t see straight. He had headaches and nausea. Two years after retirement, doctors say he shows profound slowing in cognitive function.

Greater than the physical pain is Romanowski’s pain of living without purpose and meaning after he was done with football. “You know, I think you have these illusions, dreams, nightmares, that maybe you can still do it,” he said. He admitted that he hadn’t cleaned out his locker in Oakland after he retired in 2003.

—60 Minutes (October 16, 2005), CBSNews.com