Sports Radio Interviews

Warren Moon: I Heard McNair Was Having Trouble With Retirement

Warren Moon brings up a great point about the trouble many pro athletes have with retirement.  Really, this is pure speculation in regards to how it affected McNair and if it aided in leading him down the wrong path, but it’s something worth examining in my eyes.  I can’t imagine having goals and structure for so many years and then waking up one morning aimless.  It’s obviously the pro athlete’s responsibility to handle his or her new found free time, but I’m sure it’s extremely difficult.  Does the NFL, or any other sports league, do a good job of preparing their players for life after sports?  Warren Moon joined ESPN Radio in Seattle to discuss McNair handling retirement, a player’s mental toughness, and when he heard the news.

On McNair dealing with retirement:

“Some guys have a problem that they don’t have that structure anymore in their lives. Some people were telling me that Steve was having some problems with his retirement. Even though it’s only been a year, you’re talking about a guy that’s really been used to having that structure. All of a sudden if you don’t have things to do now, all of a sudden your mind starts to wander and maybe you start doing some things that you shouldn’t be doing because you have time on your hands.  You never know what might have led him down the path that he was led, but the transition from any professional sport, not just football but going from one sport into regular life is very, very tough.”

On his mental toughness:

“That’s a leadership quality that a lot of quarterbacks have because most quarterbacks aren’t looked at as being the tough, tough guys on your football team, especially from a physical toughness standpoint but Steve McNair had that.  I think his players would watch him each and every week as he was in the training room trying to get himself ready to play that particular Sunday from whatever injuries he might have had that week.  Your teammates are watching your quarterback do this and go through this whole process and then he gets out there on the field, he limps out there or whatever it is.  They know he’s not feeling 100% but then he goes out there and performs at that type of level and does what it takes to win.  That type of leadership ability and that type of quality is immeasurable because it just translates to your whole football team.  If our quarterback can go through all this and gets ready to play, why can’t I suck it up a little bit more and go out there and get ready to play as well?  That leadership quality is something that’s so invaluable to have, especially at the quarterback position.”

On hearing the news:

“I haven’t really talked to any of his teammates but I’ve talked to different guys around the league and they’re just as in shock as everyone else.  When I found out about it, I was coming back from a parade in Kirkland with my young son and my wife.  And, we’re in this great mood because (we’d just) been to this parade and my son just thoroughly enjoyed it because that was his first parade.  All of a sudden I get the call as I’m driving back home that Steve McNair has tragically been shot.  What the heck is going on with death with all these famous people here recently?  Then you start to hear the details of what happened unfold and you try to make sense of it all just so you can make mourn and grieve with it.  What a difficult situation for not only myself but for his family that they have to deal with.”

On players dealing with retiring:

“I was very fortunate that I was able to play as long as I did and really got to go out under my own terms.  Those terms didn’t really come until I didn’t have it in my heart anymore, and I just didn’t feel like I had to give in the offseason the preparation that goes through to get ready to play again.  If I had been a starter, I probably still would have continued to play, but because I wasn’t a starter anymore, you start to lose that zest for the game a little bit.  I got 23 years of professional ball in me so I really was fortunate that way.  Still, it’s a tough transition because you’re talking about something you started playing, with me, I started playing when I was 10 years old and I didn’t retire until I was 44 – so that’s 34 years of every year doing the same thing every time of year.  It becomes a habit, it becomes the way of life for you.  All of a sudden now that’s taken away from you, so what do you do?  If you haven’t prepared for that – which a lot of guys don’t because they don’t always know when that’s going to happen, whether it’s injury or just getting cut or whatever – it’s a traumatic thing for you to go through if you geared all of your life towards doing one thing, and having a goal to accomplish something, and having it taken away from you.  It takes some transition and a lot of guys make the transition better than others.”

Listen to Warren Moon on ESPN Radio Seattle

Tags: Football, NFL, NFL Football, Steve McNair, Warren Moon