Knowing when to leave

A major reason for people plunking down dollar bills to buy lottery tickets is the chance to feed that dream. So many people fantasize about winning riches that could pay off the national debt and walking up to their boss in the morning to tell him or her just where they could park their job. That must be part of it, because the odds are so stacked against some plumber or car salesperson or average Joe or Jo winning.

But then let's look at two men who beat the odds and walked away with money left on the table. In the National Football League, each team has 53 players on their active roster; with 32 teams across the nation, that makes a total of 1,696 jobs available. Think of how many guys have been out there playing football since they were hardly larger than the ball, trying and working and practicing and doing anything to become football stars. And with that many young men trying for so few jobs, there are many, many disappointed people out there who don't make it.

So we wonder about a guy like Antonio Brown, the wide receiver whom the Steelers couldn't deal with anymore. He washed out with the Raiders before playing a single play for them and lasted exactly one game with the Patriots. 

Last year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave him his last final chance. First he had to serve an eight-game suspension for multiple violations of the league’s personal-conduct policy, and then he and his quarterback from that one game in New England, Tom Brady, won Super Bowl rings. Brown's friendship with Brady got him that final last chance, and he burned that bridge on Sunday, performing a bizarre striptease during the third quarter of a game against the Jets, peeling off his jersey and pads and tossing his undershirt into the stunned crowd before doing some Jumping Jacks and disappearing under the grandstand.

“It’s a difficult situation,” Brady said after the Bucs won the game.  “Everybody should do what they can to help him in ways that he really needs it. We all love him. We care about him deeply. We want to see him be at his best. Unfortunately, it won’t be with our team. I think everyone should be very compassionate and empathetic toward some very difficult things that are happening.”

This game on Sunday was Brown's first after a three-game suspension for showing a fake COVID vaccination card. But this was the end of Brown in Tampa, and probably, the NFL.  All that talent shot to hell. 

I'm no mental health professional, but I think it's safe to say that Antonio Brown, a man gifted with tremendous athletic ability, needs help in that area. Too bad, when you think of all the clear-headed people who can't catch a football and run with it. But it was his decision, and we respect it. 

Then, in baseball, there was John Kruk, with a physique that would remind onlookers of a well-fed bartender, but who nevertheless played ten seasons in the major leagues, racking up a .300 batting average, 100 home runs and 592 runs batted in. Remarkable statistics!

But by 1994, Kruk was nearing the end of his run; testicular cancer and bad knees limited him to signing with the White Sox for the 1995 season to play designated hitter. He realized in July he had had enough. On the 28th of that month, playing here in Baltimore, he struck out in the ninth inning to extend a hitless streak to 0-for-15. He argued with the umpire and was thrown out of the game.

So, two days later, John Kruk devised a plan and put it to work. In the first inning of the game against the Orioles, he got a single off Orioles starter Scott Erickson, ran to first base, and turned for the dugout. His parents had come to see their boy's farewell and they all piled into his van, heading home to West Virginia by the time the game was over. 

He took the ball from his last hit and traded it for this statement to the press:  "The desire to compete at this level is gone. When that happens, it's time to go."

Two men, two ways to leave. Everyone who wanted to be a professional athlete can just imagine how that goes.