Week of 8/26/19

As I sit to write this first entry, I find myself struggling to decide on a topic that an audience would take interest. The more I have put thought into this, the more that I realized that this blurb is not meant to please an audience, but rather to please the writer. Moving forward I will use this blog to express my opinions on the areas of the world that I find interest in such as sports and fitness as well as current events that I believe to hold significance to the world such as politics and government. Oh and of course there will be the occasional update regarding my amazing husky-lab mix, Grizzly.

In the world of sports, it would be hard to look past the headlines of the retirement of Indianapolis Colts star quarterback Andrew Luck. His early retirement at the age of 29 over the previous weekend came as a shock to the fan base in Indianapolis and even his own teammates. Luck was poised to have a career season and likely lead the Colts to a playoff birth in the AFC South. After his retirement announcement, Andrew Luck was literally booed out of Lucas Oil Stadium by Colts fans. Is this response by the fans warranted or even appropriate given the circumstances? Luck had suffered brutal injuries throughout his career, as most NFL players do, including a lacerated kidney and a shoulder injury that kept him on the sideline for the majority of the 2017 season. Followers of the NFL and the media especially has condemned this response by Colts fans as ignorant and disrespectful. Thoughts?

Andrew Luck represented a hope for the Colts franchise moving forward to hoist a Lombardi trophy. As a fan of another team in the NFL (Jacksonville Jaguars, and a division contender with the Colts) I can understand their frustration with the timing of the announcement, considering that it was within two weeks of the start of the season. As a former collegiate football player, I can speak to the wear and tear that your body endures on a daily basis, and this is only amplified in the NFL. I believe that Andrew Luck took a long hard look at what he wanted for his future, and decided that he values the ability to walk in his fifties and to hold his potential grandchildren over the millions of dollars he could gain from remaining in the NFL. After having a 7 year career in the NFL, Luck should not have any financial worries for the rest of his life, provided he is responsible with his funds.

While Luck's retirement will present challenges for the Colts moving forward, I believe it to be utterly selfish for the fans to react in the way that they did. It was no doubt a difficult decision to walk away from the game that Luck has loved and played for so long, and as someone who had to make the same decision at some point I can speak to this. I do not attempt to compare the gravity of our situations, or the caliber of the decision required, but for Luck to make the hard decision to retire early, he has only earned more respect from me.

I will leave you with an introduction to the furry monster named Grizzly that basically runs my household. I look forward to providing more content of him in future posts.

Till next week,

JKDill