Tuesday, December 29
"It's Christmas and we're all in misery."
On Christmas day, former University of Florida head football coach Urban Meyer decided he would retire from coaching and announced the decision to the press on December 26th. Because Florida is in the highly popular Southeastern Conference and the football team won the national championship in 2008, the head coaching job is horribly demanding and stressful. In his press release, Meyer cited health problems, including cyst-related chest pains and headaches, as the reason for the sudden retirement. He did not mention the recent 32-13 drubbing Florida took courtesy of the University of Alabama the weekend before to his announcement --- but I'm sure that had nothing to do with it.
After the announcement, Meyer told the New York Times he had no heart damage but that his health "pattern" was "self-destructive." Meyer also told the Times that, upon hearing the announcement, his 18-year-old daughter said, "I get my daddy back." And, honestly, what a great present. It's a feel-good Christmas miracle the whole family can enjoy.
Twenty-four hours later, on December 27th, Meyer announced Brett-Favre-style that he'd had a "change of heart" and, instead of resigning, would take an "indefinite" leave of absence. However, he hoped to be on the sidelines with Florida next season. During the December 27th press conference, Meyer said: "I want to make sure I do right by my family. My second family is my players and my staff. The love that I have for these players, I think that's well documented. Maybe one of the issues that I deal with is that I care so deeply about each individual."
But, Urban, what about your real family? The daughter who hugged you and said she finally has you back in her life? Isn't your biological family more important than your football family?
Then again, you don't have to spend the holidays living in close proximity with your football family --- and I think that's the crux of the issue here.
It's great to decide on Christmas morning --- as you're gathered around the tree in your Christmas PJs, opening presents, feeling all the warmth and love in the room --- that you want to retire and get away from all the stress to spend more time with your family.
Twenty-four hours later, when you've spent the whole day with The Fam and The Extended Fam, during the most stressful holiday of the entire year --- with screaming kids and relatives crammed into the spare bedrooms and a huge wall-to-wall mess from the gigantic turkey dinner in the kitchen --- you start to wonder if maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all. Maybe the headaches and chest pains caused by stress and rage aren't really going away --- especially if the extended Meyer family holiday celebrations are anything like my extended family's holiday celebrations. Talk about stress and rage.
I think it came down to the lesser of the two evils for Urban: staying at home or staying on the job. After spending a Christmas crammed in a house with my entire extended family, I know which one I'd choose….
After the announcement, Meyer told the New York Times he had no heart damage but that his health "pattern" was "self-destructive." Meyer also told the Times that, upon hearing the announcement, his 18-year-old daughter said, "I get my daddy back." And, honestly, what a great present. It's a feel-good Christmas miracle the whole family can enjoy.
Twenty-four hours later, on December 27th, Meyer announced Brett-Favre-style that he'd had a "change of heart" and, instead of resigning, would take an "indefinite" leave of absence. However, he hoped to be on the sidelines with Florida next season. During the December 27th press conference, Meyer said: "I want to make sure I do right by my family. My second family is my players and my staff. The love that I have for these players, I think that's well documented. Maybe one of the issues that I deal with is that I care so deeply about each individual."
But, Urban, what about your real family? The daughter who hugged you and said she finally has you back in her life? Isn't your biological family more important than your football family?
Then again, you don't have to spend the holidays living in close proximity with your football family --- and I think that's the crux of the issue here.
It's great to decide on Christmas morning --- as you're gathered around the tree in your Christmas PJs, opening presents, feeling all the warmth and love in the room --- that you want to retire and get away from all the stress to spend more time with your family.
Twenty-four hours later, when you've spent the whole day with The Fam and The Extended Fam, during the most stressful holiday of the entire year --- with screaming kids and relatives crammed into the spare bedrooms and a huge wall-to-wall mess from the gigantic turkey dinner in the kitchen --- you start to wonder if maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all. Maybe the headaches and chest pains caused by stress and rage aren't really going away --- especially if the extended Meyer family holiday celebrations are anything like my extended family's holiday celebrations. Talk about stress and rage.
I think it came down to the lesser of the two evils for Urban: staying at home or staying on the job. After spending a Christmas crammed in a house with my entire extended family, I know which one I'd choose….
Labels: career, college, dysfunction, family, football, holidays, sports
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