In the NFL, size matters. Coaches want tall wide receivers, quarterbacks with “big” arms, and linemen the size of 4×4′s – no joke. Bam Bam Bigelow size!
Norman “Big Wiggle” Hand was no exception. He played nine seasons in the NFL, weighing in at 6’3, 310-plus pounds.
Norman died of a heart attack last Friday, at the age of 37. A former athlete dying so young, no way! But in football, it happens a lot – a lot, a lot!Norman played defensive tackle, so he had to be big. It’s simple, pack the interior of the D-line with big beefy dudes, stuff the run, force the opposing offense to throw, and let your defensive ends get at the quarterback.
And it works – just ask Tony Siragusa and the 2000 Ravens. But, big comes with a price. Carrying around all the extra weight has been shown time after time to put former NFL players at increased risk of heart attack.
Last year, 26 year old Gaines Adams died from cardiac arrest caused by an enlarged heart. And hall of famer Reggie White passed away in 2004 due to a cardiac arrhythmia. Reggie was 43.
In Norman’s case, he also had an enlarged heart, due to high blood pressure. He collapsed at his home, and later died at the hospital. But even still, big is paramount.
And, to reach mammoth proportions, some players go berserk with the eating – insanely berserk!
In 2007, while serving a 60-day stint in jail, Bengals defensive tackle Tank Johnson spent $700 food. His list of nom-noms included 162 beef sticks, 40 honey buns, 35 blocks of summer sausage, 35 bags of barbecue chips, 9 tortillas, 9 packages of jalapeno cheese, 6 packs of refried beans, plus cookies, Swiss rolls, butterfingers, Reese’s cups, and Jolly Ranchers.
Oh, and remember, he’s a “professional athlete!” Henh?
I did not chose the right comment to reply to so i had to re-reply at the right place. it really is more expensive to eat healthy, Spectra is fortunate that she and her family could eat healthy meals even though they were low-income. But as she said, they lived on a farm and what is done on a farm? Why should i spend 2-3 dollars on 2 bell peppers alone when i am making a meal when i can get a meal from a fast food joint at that price? Education, a better income and more accessibility to the stores that can give a variety of more healthy options could help. If they are educated about the hazards of junk food but still can’t afford the healthier stuff it still wouldn’t work
it really is more expensive to eat healthy, Spectra is fortunate that she and her family could eat healthy meals even though they were low-income. But as she said, they lived on a farm and what is done on a farm? Why should i spend 2-3 dollars on 2 bell peppers alone when i am making a meal when i can get a meal from a fast food joint at that price? Education, a better income and more accessibility to the stores that can give a variety of more healthy options could help. If they are educated about the hazards of junk food but still can’t afford the healthier stuff it still wouldn’t work
That kind of stuff doesn’t have to be part of a healthy diet, though. I get it that it can be difficult to access healthy foods in the inner city, but I don’t think it has to be expensive. A bag of beans might cost $1 and have 16 servings!
I was going to say that what really gets expensive are replacements for higher calorie foods that are a staple to people like moderation dieters and vegetarians.
It cost money to make a chemical taste like sugar. It cost money to make bacon out of soy protein. Lots of science and time in the lab and sometimes even patents and that cost is passed on to the consumer.
ya I was going to say something about that
Kind of creepy… former pitcher Jose Lima died today – at 37… of a heart attack.
It seems for athletes, 37 is the crux while in musicians it seems to be 27 (Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones).
It’s sad that entertainment can trump compassion to this extent. Football isn’t dog or cock fighting. We saw the rightful uproar over Michael Vick’s dog fighting scandal and cruelty to animal charges.
Ironically, football seems to border on cruelty to HUMANS. Perhaps we missed the connection when the Vick incident first hit the fan?
Norman Hand’s death is sad. What’s more sad is that someone enabled him make his own demise. Sure, Hand is responsible for what he puts into his mouth.
But there’s something bigger here. It doesn’t take a doctor to know that someone like Hand was predisposed to heart problems. The same could be said about most defensive linemen. The question is: what are coaches, trainers and team doctors doing about it?
I think you’re misunderstanding the “food desert” problem to an extent. How do you regularly buy frozen vegetables, tuna, bananas, oats, etc, when the closest store to buy any of those at requires an hour-plus bus trip involving two different transfers (each way), you don’t have a car, and you’re working two jobs plus caring for your kids? You might make it out there now and then, but for the most part you’re stuck with what your corner store offers – it probably does sell milk, and maybe bananas, but not much else of nutritional value.
It depends on how you define “low income area”. My inlaws own a farm and raised 5 kids while they barely made ends meet most of the time. They always made sure nutritious, healthy meals were on the table and they didn’t eat crap…eating healthy is easier than you think. Don’t buy soda, drink water or milk, buy canned and frozen veggies when you can’t get fresh, stock up on potatoes, tuna fish, bananas, oats, eggs, milk, etc. Most of that food is cheaper than the processed junk that most “low income” people buy. It’s more a question of education about nutrition than about purely money.
My roommate in college had Marfan’s Syndrome. She was extremely tall and thin and it seemed like she could eat whatever she wanted and not gain weight. But she had to be really careful with physical activity because she could risk dislocating her joints.
I think a lot of fashion models probably have it as well…many of them are very very tall and thin. I wonder if some of them that die of cardiac problems that are related to the disease and not from supposed eating disorders. It’s an interesting theory.
It is so unusual for people 35 to 40 years of age to be having fatal heart problems that I think something else is involved.
Despite drug testing, many of these athletes have used a lot of performance-enhancing drugs that are very detrimental to the heart after chronic use. There are also illicit drugs such as meth and cocaine that cause severe heart problems.
I would also like to point out that if someone weighs 300 pounds, it isn’t very important if they obtained the weight through junk food or protein supplements, egg whites and rice. Weighing 300 pounds, isn’t good for one’s longevity.
This is sad news. I remember when Reggie White died…he was practically a Green Bay legend. I think a lot of football players are more at-risk of dying this way only because many of them don’t have to be thin to play; many want to be really big and buff. I’m surprised more coaches don’t put more emphasis on healthy eating–there are healthy ways to maintain a lot of muscle mass without adding a lot of extra fat. Plus, when the players retire, they’ll have a better base for what to eat once they aren’t so active. On the “Dr. Oz Show”, he had a former NBA player on there that had gained 100 lbs after retiring due to poor eating habits.
I don’t think it’s necessarily that people in lower income areas are not health conscious, although I doubt many of them understand about healthy eating because of a lack of education. I believe it’s more because it costs more to eat well and the lack of real grocery stores in their areas.
My grocery bill almost tripled when I stopped buying junk and many pre-processed foods and starting buying fruits and vegetables and better cuts of meats. I don’t care what some people say, it DOES cost more. People with low incomes have to buy as much as they can with what little they have and that means pre-packaged processed crap or trips to a fast food restaurant. And this habit gets passed down to the kids who learn most of what they know from their parents.
You are right about selling what makes money. I don’t think people in lower income areas are that health concious.
Now that I am on Jenny Craig and only need to supply produce, milk, and bread, I go to my closest Mexican market to save money.
But when I was doing my own meals I was reluctant to go because this market didn’t have things like low/fat free salad dressing, low/fat free cheese, only had 8 varieties of Lean Cuisine frozen dinners out of the 60 or so that the company makes.
Lately they have gotten soy milk which is nice. And they have the basics you expect to find everywhere, the produce, low/fat free milk, things like that. But very little specialty diet, health concious products because they are usually more expensive
you might be floored, but it’s true. grocery stores are already under pressure to compete with Walmarts, etc, so adding the extra cost of security on top of crime makes it very hard to compete, thus the food deserts. It may work in some neighborhoods, but in many, it’s just not cost effective. I’ve worked in some of those neighborhoods, and it’s also tough for those small convenience stores stay in business, and they’re going to sell what makes them money.
Maybe the stores can get government incentives, tax breaks, subsidies, etc to make it viable, but it’s not easy.
Ya that floored me!
I had heard about the Chicago situation some time ago, and just recently heard the same thing about Detroit.
I’m from a suburb of Los Angeles and I have family in inner city L.A. and this isn’t a problem here.
Lower income areas do have full grocery stores with fresh fruit and vegetables.
There are some Mexican American chains that kind of fill in where the big chains don’t go.
I don’t know why we are different, except that maybe the Mexican’s dependence on things like tomatoes and avocados makes it so that they wouldn’t stand to not have a grocery store in their area.
I remember reading an article somewhere about the lack of grocery stores in inner city neighborhoods and the biggest reason mentioned was the high crime rate. Grocers find the cost of operating in these neighborhoods too high, not to mention dangerous.
I have a couple things to say on this…
It seems to happen a lot with college and high school football players, and some think that coaches are training them to hard, especially on hot days.
It also seems to happen with basketball players a lot. Some people think that Marphan’s syndrome (sp), which results in tall physiques and heart problems is to blame. Some think Michael Phelps has the symdrome.
I don’t know if some of you guys remember an article on here a couple of months ago about Mrs. Obama’s work with getting kids healty? Well on of the things she wanted was more grocery stores in inner cities which sometimes only have convience stores.
Well a lot of these athletes come from inner cities and were raised on junk food. So some habits die hard. The grew up playing football on that diet, they don’t see the need to change because they are pros.
Tank Johnson’s jail diet was impressive.
Eat like an athlete … yeah, right.