Future Hall of Famer Andrew Whitworth Has the Right Mindset on Football and Life Overall
The media ran away with this narrative after the Rams lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl 53:
But here’s the full context behind that quote from today’s Pardon My Take guest, Andrew Whitworth, himself:
“I don’t care how many Super Bowls or awards I’ve won; the truth is one day all of us are going to die and it’s really about how I live my life. Every single day, am I a person nobody wants to be around, and I don’t care about people around me? I’d rather handle myself the right way than worry about trophies and accolades.”
Sure, winning Super Bowls, MVPs, and having good numbers are what matter when it comes to getting a nod of approval into Canton. But as we saw with Andrew Luck over the weekend, life after football is a real thing that can come up on you sooner rather than later.
Whitworth told a story of when he went to talk to a group of kids after the Super Bowl. And as he explains it, three students raised their hand, asking each of the following questions:
1. Where’s Todd Gurley?
- Is Jared (Goff) coming?
- Why did you lose (the Super Bowl)?
Damn. The life of an offensive lineman, I guess. Or as Whitworth himself calls it, “The big time, primetime life.”
Obviously, you can’t blame the kids for hoping the fantasy stars would walk through their classroom door. But the four-time Pro Bowler responded with a good lesson on losing the biggest sporting event in the country:
“I told them here’s the truth. You guys have good days and bad days at school. You have days where you come in and just things don't go right. You get bad on the conduct list you do bad on your test and you have days you come in you light it up and the reality is no matter what, the next day is the most important day. It’s how you handle it.”
Something that surprised me is finding out the reason why Whitworth deleted his Twitter account shortly after the Super Bowl:
“You know what, it’s really one of those things, a culmination throughout the year, I just kept being like man, I read this junk too much. And I had an instance with my son Michael who’s got a little swag to him and he’s not afraid to kind of call that out. He kind of called me out one day and was like…”
“Dad, could you please get off Twitter today and throw the football to me?”
“The fact that he knows about Twitter, and I was like, you know what, I’m out. For the rest of the off-season, I’m out, and then I got off and I loved it. This is awesome. I’m not actually worried about what every single person on the planet has to say. And so now, I’m just an Instagram guy.”
This one is eye-opening. Talk about a role reversal. Now I know for myself, Mr. Cat, Mr. Commenter, and probably most people reading this, getting rid of Twitter is something we would never do. And the addiction is usually something that the younger generation has to deal with (I can hear my mom telling me to put the phone down and talk to her right now).
But the fact that it was Whitworth’s son who wanted to get outside and throw the pigskin with his pops is awesome. Good on you, Swaggy Michael.