This article appeared in the AZ Daily Star newpaper here in Tucson recently. I have had several friends die early from mainly lack of self care, or in other words they thought they were indestructible. For instance, one of my deceased friends was a great high school football running back that could have had a scholarship to play football at SMU, but hated practices. If he broke free in the defensive back field with only one defender to beat he would head right toward that defender in an effort to run him over in his macho mode, rather than run around the defender. He was tough, but after years of drug use and over eating his heart failed in his forties. His children found him dead on the couch.
These days the individuals that I don’t understand for their lack of self care are overweight football and basketball coaches that have easy access to their team’s nutritionists and strength and conditioning coaches. For example, Mike Leach a beloved football coach at Mississippi State died recently of a heart attack in his early 60’s. He always had a double chin with a big belly that would not predict he participated in fitness workouts or a healthy diet. Other overweight and unhealthy looking coaching examples are Chip Kelly of UCLA football and Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs pro football team. Bill Self the U of Kansas basketball coach recently had heart stents put in after years of gaining weight. Strength and conditioning coaches for college and pro teams are paid big money, $400,000 and more a year, and are easily accessible to the coaches for fitness workouts, so why don’t they use them?