Football Thoughts

On the very top of my refrigerator resides one lone "Bobble-Head" doll. It doesn't look like who it is supposed to be, but the Patriots jersey has a big "80" and the base says "Troy Brown." Sadly, this may soon be a collectible. Yes, Troy Brown may be leaving God's own Patriots for parts unknown. I have grown up with Troy in many ways. As a fan of long standing I remember his rocky start and his rise to stardom. I cheered him on during his recent "career change" to Defensive Back. How could you not want him to do well? He is a team player, a well spoken and--by all accounts--a selfless guy. He is a brilliant actor as well. Anyone who has seen his "I've Got Bingo" PSA can attest to that!

For all these reasons, his potential departure from the scene is troubling. There is, however, more to it than that. Troy is 33 which, apparently, is old. I am 33, too. How do we old folks say healthy? Maybe it is time to tell Troy Brown (and Drew Bledsoe too, for that matter) about the importance of diet and exercise...

In my paper today, there was a story about obesity in the NFL. Neither of the two oldsters mentioned above could be considered obese, but it does create some questions about our health and about how we treat our bodies even when we seem to be "physically fit." The fact is, even many of our sports icons are not in as good shape as we might think. These often gigantic men are athletes, right? I have written about obesity on this blog before in a piece entitled Athletics or Sport. Feel free to take a look.

I did not find anything on nfl.com about the obesity study but I did find something else. Here is anold article about the same issue. Linked under the title above is also a short article about Troy...