An NFL Player's "Field of Dreams"
In the movie "Field of Dreams," Kevin Costner plays the part of Ray Kinsella, a normal guy that starts to hear a voice whispering, "If you build it, he will come." Ray continues hearing the voice before finally seeing a vision of a baseball diamond in his field. Annie, his wife, is skeptical of his vision, but she allows Ray to plow the corn under in order to build a baseball field. While in the field, Ray hears the voice again, this time urging him to "ease his pain."
One of my alumni brothers, Tony Davis, has been a long-time advocate and voice for retired NFL players, and like the voice that keeps telling Ray Kinsella to build it, Tony has always talked to me about the idea of having a facility built “exclusively” for former players. I know the idea has been tossed around before, but I think the time has come to make it a reality.
I find it hard to believe that there aren’t a few big developers out there that would love to put their name and logo on our Resort. That's right, I said Resort! Not an old folk’s home, but a place for former players to chill out and have a nice vacation.
The facility I'm talking about would be a world class resort - with a golf course, Olympic size swimming pool, twenty seat jacuzzi with waterfalls and Tiki Bars. It will have a game room where we can play Madden Football (and maybe even get some royalties for the use of our images in that game). And, I would be remiss if I didn't recommend a Swedish massage room and Cigar bar (Ditka and Jaws can help subsidize the Cigar bar).
Getting from one place to another on the resort will be easy. Everyone will have their own, Moped, or Segway. The truly lazy, will have their own chauffeured golf cart.
From time to time, we might even invite some fans into our little paradise, but they’ll have to pay us to have a meet and greet, get some autographs, or play a round of golf. We’re not doing freebies anymore!
Former players really like to eat, so a buffet dining room that rivals anything on a cruise ship is a must for our new resort. And to help us keep the weight off, the facility must also have a state-of-the-art fitness center so we can do some curls for the girls - our wives and significant others. Oh yes, the facility should also accommodate our better halves.
Most of us "Legends in our own minds" really like going to the movies, so the resort has to have an in-house theater where we can sit in recliner chairs made of the finest Corinthian leather.
We can watch movies like “Concussion” and documentaries like "League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis” Afterwards, we can tell our own horror stories, compare scars and then watch the movie and documentary again because we won’t remember the first time we saw it. That might be the only good thing about Alzheimer's and dementia - everything you do is like the first time you're doing it. It's always new and exciting!
My list of amenities and first-class treatment could go on forever…and why shouldn’t it? We fought the good fight; We sucked it up and played when our bells got rung; We took the shots of Lidocaine to numb the pain - and through it all we didn’t complain.
Well, the days of being quiet and not rocking the boat are gone forever.
Many of us had to learn the hard way - that if you don’t speak truth to power and you don’t stick up for yourself, you usually get the short end of the stick.
It might make us look tough - acting like martyrs and denying ourselves - but that never paid the bills and it won’t make us truly happy and content with the lives we are living.
It seems like former players have had to fight tooth-and-nail for just about everything we've ever gotten from the NFL and NFLPA - and some of those battles have gone the distance.
We've gone in front of TV cameras to tell our stories; We've gone in front of Congress to ask for help; We've gone in front of Courts to plead our case. I still have a hard time understanding why it has to come down to that last one, but sometimes that’s what it takes to find justice.
The NFL and NFLPA are spending millions of dollars helping the newly retired players transition out of the NFL. Wouldn't it be nice if they could also help us build a place to chill out and get some R&R? A place to "ease our pain".
You're probably wondering if it would cost players anything to stay at this Pro Player Paradise. Like many of the services and benefits the CBA provides, this one could be fully subsidized, but I'm not suggesting that. I think there should be a minimal cost for staying at our resort for a few weeks. Maybe it should be based on a player's income and assets.
A sliding scale that makes us pay a portion of the costs for a short stay would be fine with me - and I think other players would agree.
We don't want a hand out, but we could use a helping hand in building our Club Med. In this case, the Med is short for "medical" because the one thing that I forgot to mention (shame on me) is that we will need a medical facility and pharmacy attached to our resort. Please don't ask me why that's a necessity, or I'll have to add another 1,456 words.
Of course, there will be naysayers that will tell us it can't, or shouldn't be done.
In the movie "Field of Dreams", Ray's brother-in-law, Mark, warns Ray that he will go bankrupt unless he replants his crops. But, Ray has a vision - a dream - and no one can stop him. He builds his baseball diamond and the ghosts of the legendary 1919 Black Sox team finally come to play.
So, who’s going to step up to the plate and help us build our Field of Dreams – our Pro Football Player Paradise? The NFL, NFLPA, NFL Alumni, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Pro Football Retired Player Association, Gridiron Greats, or the Retired Player's Congress?
How about all of those organizations chipping in to get it started? Or, like I said before, maybe we can find a wealthy developer who can foot most of the bill and in return get some unbelievably good PR.
If they build it – we will come!
I know this all sounds very idealistic, but it’s my "Field of Dreams"
