89 replies to this topic

[Alphadawg7]

We talked two things...life after football and the pain that comes with it and then about the Pats and Bill Belichick.

I am not going to disclose his name for HIPAA privacy reasons, but an Ex Patriot who played LB and was on the SB team that beat the rams is a patient of my medical marijuana collective here in Los Angeles, but not for recreational use, for serious pain management.  He proudly wears his SB ring and the ring is just amazing.  He is a totally chill and really nice guy as well.  

On life after football and pain management many endure:  The reason he comes to my shop is for serious pain management.  He switched to cannabis a year or two ago (he retired I think like 5 years ago) on a recommendation from his doctor because he didn't want all the BS pain killers and pills that get prescribed for pain anymore.  We sat and talked for like 30 minutes yesterday as I was showing him some new things that really don't create a high, and keep you clear headed and just take away pain (the stuff my cancer patients come for).  Its amazing to hear the pain these guys endure after their career.  I think its really under estimated how much punishment these guys take and what they sacrifice physically for their lives after football.  

He hates the zombie like state and how bad his body feels when using all these pain killers the doctors use, and was telling me how many players he knows become dependent on them and then those cause major organ problems like in the liver and kidneys and they often also battle depression and addiction because of them too.  I have a lot of high CBD items (low in THC, but high in CBD so you dont realy get a high effect and its great for pain management) so thats why he comes to me as I am one of the few that also carries a lot of high CBD items.

Having the opportunity to talk to someone like him once their career is over as well as few other current and ex NFL players I know makes you realize that all the steps the NFL is taking trying to make the game safer is more justified than I think many fans understand.  Many feel its bad for the game with all the protection rules, but when you really get to understand what its like for them after football you really get a sense as to why they are trying to make the game safer.  And he is only in his mid 30's, so he has a long life ahead of him to deal with it.

On his time with the Patriots:  He said Bill Belichick is just on a different level than any other coach he played for, and he played for a couple of other really good ones.  He said he would think he would be the first one at the facility and then he would realize Belichick pretty much slept there and was already working.  He said he was by far the best football mind he ever got to play for and was a guy players give their all for all the time.  No other coach he said that he played for put as much time and preparation in as Bill or maximized talent the way he did.  He wasn't on the future SB teams, just the one, but said that year that team was the most unselfish and united team of anyone he played on in his 10 year career.  I think he was with the pats for 3 seasons.

FWIW...he said he always liked Buffalo, and him and I share the same hatred for the Jets, and like me, mostly because of Jets fans lol.  The best part was that he said he also hated the Eagles because of the fans, and one of my guys there is from Philly and a major Eagles fan, so we all got a good laugh about that.  The two of them get along great though lol

Edited by Alphadawg7, 13 February 2013 - 08:10 PM.

[Dibs]

Alphadawg7, on 12 February 2013 - 02:14 PM, said:

We talked two things...life after football and the pain that comes with it and then about the Pats and Bill Belichick.

I am not going to disclose his name for HIPPA privacy reasons, but an Ex Patriot who played LB and was on the SB team that beat the rams is a patient of my medical marijuana collective here in Los Angeles, but not for recreational use, for serious pain management.  He proudly wears his SB ring and the ring is just amazing.  He is a totally chill and really nice guy as well.  

On life after football and pain management many endure:  The reason he comes to my shop is for serious pain management.  He switched to cannabis a year or two ago (he retired I think like 5 years ago) on a recommendation from his doctor because he didn't want all the BS pain killers and pills that get prescribed for pain anymore.  We sat and talked for like 30 minutes yesterday as I was showing him some new things that really don't create a high, and keep you clear headed and just take away pain (the stuff my cancer patients come for).  Its amazing to hear the pain these guys endure after their career.  I think its really under estimated how much punishment these guys take and what they sacrifice physically for their lives after football.  

He hates the zombie like state and how bad his body feels when using all these pain killers the doctors use, and was telling me how many players he knows become dependent on them and then those cause major organ problems like in the liver and kidneys and they often also battle depression and addiction because of them too.  I have a lot of high CBD items (low in THC, but high in CBD so you dont realy get a high effect and its great for pain management) so thats why he comes to me as I am one of the few that also carries a lot of high CBD items.

Having the opportunity to talk to someone like him once their career is over as well as few other current and ex NFL players I know makes you realize that all the steps the NFL is taking trying to make the game safer is more justified than I think many fans understand.  Many feel its bad for the game with all the protection rules, but when you really get to understand what its like for them after football you really get a sense as to why they are trying to make the game safer.  And he is only in his mid 30's, so he has a long life ahead of him to deal with it.

On his time with the Patriots:  He said Bill Belichick is just on a different level than any other coach he played for, and he played for a couple of other really good ones.  He said he would think he would be the first one at the facility and then he would realize Belichick pretty much slept there and was already working.  He said he was by far the best football mind he ever got to play for and was a guy players give their all for all the time.  No other coach he said that he played for put as much time and preparation in as Bill or maximized talent the way he did.  He wasn't on the future SB teams, just the one, but said that year that team was the most unselfish and united team of anyone he played on in his 10 year career.  I think he was with the pats for 3 seasons.

FWIW...he said he always liked Buffalo, and him and I share the same hatred for the Jets, and like me, mostly because of Jets fans lol.  The best part was that he said he also hated the Eagles because of the fans, and one of my guys there is from Philly and a major Eagles fan, so we all got a good laugh about that.  The two of them get along great though lol

Thanks for the post.....very interesting & a good read.

[Matt in KC]

I agree.  Thanks for posting this.  a 10 year NFL career has to be like getting in 100 car accidents!

I'm glad you didn't use the guy's name, but you certainly gave a lot of information about him where I think I could figure out his identity with 5-10 mins research.  Maybe remove some of those details?

[eball]

I'd be curious to see the list of HC he played for...but I don't think he revealed anything most didn't already know, namely, that Belichick is obsessive about his craft and spends nearly every waking hour thinking about it in one respect or another.

[DrDareustein]

Alphadawg7, on 12 February 2013 - 02:14 PM, said:

We talked two things...life after football and the pain that comes with it and then about the Pats and Bill Belichick.

I am not going to disclose his name for HIPPA privacy reasons, but an Ex Patriot who played LB and was on the SB team that beat the rams is a patient of my medical marijuana collective here in Los Angeles

I'll always remember February 12th, 2013 as the day Alphadawg7 and I became best friends...

[jr1]

Great insight. I hope he feels better

[Alphadawg7]

Matt in KC, on 12 February 2013 - 02:24 PM, said:

I agree.  Thanks for posting this.  a 10 year NFL career has to be like getting in 100 car accidents!

I'm glad you didn't use the guy's name, but you certainly gave a lot of information about him where I think I could figure out his identity with 5-10 mins research.  Maybe remove some of those details?

Yeah, that is why I didnt put the exact number of teams he played for, the exact years he was with NE, or the exact length of his career.  They are all very close to the real numbers, to get the idea, but not the exact ones.  I did think of that and I appreciate you respecting his identity and pointing that out.  I mean he doesn't hide it and walks freely in and out of our front door, and is an advocate of it anyway.  I still just have to respect the HIPPA stuff and his privacy.  He did tell me it was cool to talk about on here and he thinks its good more people understand what its really like after football so they can understand why the NFL has been taking the steps they are taking.  

Interesting though, he did say he personally would have had a harder time when he was an active player understanding the need for it and probably would have been frustrated if he got fines and stuff like some of the other players do.  He said it really wasn't until he retired that he realized the pain wasn't going to go away and that it was going to be a life long problem to deal with.  So he gets why some players are still angry about the rules of fines and doesn't fault them for that.

Edited by Alphadawg7, 12 February 2013 - 02:35 PM.

[brenty]

No offense what so ever but you are horrible at patient/doctor  confidentiality.

With the information you gave you can easily point out who it is. Saying he only played in that one super bowl.

Well that knocks the list to:
Kole Ayi
Bryan Cox
Rob Holmberg
Marty Moore
Maugaula Tuitele


And you said he played for a lot of great coaches so that leaves
Bryan Cox
Rob Holmberg

[Alphadawg7]

brenty, on 12 February 2013 - 02:36 PM, said:

No offense what so ever but you are horrible at patient/doctor  confidentiality.

With the information you gave you can easily point out who it is. Saying he only played in that one super bowl.

Well that knocks the list to:
Kole Ayi
Bryan Cox
Rob Holmberg
Marty Moore
Maugaula Tuitele


And you said he played for a lot of great coaches so that leaves
Bryan Cox
Rob Holmberg

First, I am not a doctor lol.  I can assure you he is not on that list.  Like I said to another poster, I did not give the exact real info of his career.  All were slightly changed by one in one direction or the other so sleuths wouldnt do exactly what you just did.  And I cant stand Bryan Cox, and have to admit I have never heard of any of the other people on your list.  

I only gave some similar numbers so readers could get a sense of his career to better understand the amount of wear on his body.  To be honest, I don't even know what other great coaches he was referencing because I haven't even looked up his whole career.  He just said he played for "x" number of teams, then names a couple of them and didn't even say what teams in what years for me to even know which coaches he was playing for at the time he was on those teams.  All I know is that he was on the Pats team that won the SB cuz he wears the ring in.  I have not seen any other ring on him, so I did not get the sense he was on the next SB winning team, but he could have been.

Remember, this wasn't an interview, just us chatting.

Edited by Alphadawg7, 12 February 2013 - 02:45 PM.

[brenty]

Actually I take that back. He said mid 30's so that means it can't be those two

Maugaula Tuitele would be in his 30's but he played for buffalo and oakland too but... well they don't have good coaches

[Alphadawg7]

brenty, on 12 February 2013 - 02:44 PM, said:

Actually I take that back. He said mid 30's so that means it can't be those two

Maugaula Tuitele would be in his 30's but he played for buffalo and oakland too but... well they don't have good coaches

Who is Tuitele?  He played for Buffalo?

I appreciate your attempt to decode it lol, but I am just being honest with you that its not possible with the slight changes I put in there, so save yourself the time

Edited by Alphadawg7, 12 February 2013 - 02:58 PM.

[Chimp]

brenty, on 12 February 2013 - 02:44 PM, said:

Actually I take that back. He said mid 30's so that means it can't be those two

Maugaula Tuitele would be in his 30's but he played for buffalo and oakland too but... well they don't have good coaches

5 years isn't really all that close to 10 years.

[Dawgg]

Roman Phifer

[taC giB ehT]

I've narrowed it to:


Hakim Akbar
Jace Sayler
Kenyatta Jones
Ben Kelly
Greg Randall
Kole Ayi
Leonard Myers
Maugaula Tuitele
T.J. Turner
J.R. Redmond
Grey Ruegamer

[BlueFire]

brenty, on 12 February 2013 - 02:44 PM, said:

Actually I take that back. He said mid 30's so that means it can't be those two

Maugaula Tuitele would be in his 30's but he played for buffalo and oakland too but... well they don't have good coaches

I'd like to think that the posters here would be mature enough to not try to figure it out, but hell, I'm feeling like being naive today.

[GRHater69]

What I'm wondering about, and maybe you can ask the ex Patriot this, is how many of the injuries that players live with, mainly from the mid 70s until about 10 years ago had to do with Astro Turf. It was a very unforgiving surface, very prevelant around the NFL especially in cities with domed facilities and outdoor stadiums that faced bad weather. It was known as far back as the strike in '87 that most players hated it, and many also had to practice on it when more and more teams got indoor practice facilities.

[DocLawless]

DrDareustein, on 12 February 2013 - 02:28 PM, said:

I'll always remember February 12th, 2013 as the day Alphadawg7 and I became best friends...

Yea no kidding! The marijuana you describe is exactly the kind i would like to smoke. A light THC version so I can get a mild high and still be able to function! I wish I was in Cali! I dont smoke anymore because i cant function and work on it but I used to have fun with it in my younger years.

Edited by DocLawless, 12 February 2013 - 03:10 PM.

[Direhard Fan]

Great in put into the game.  Thanks for the info.  Helps us understand how the game effects lives and life.

[Alphadawg7]

GRHater69, on 12 February 2013 - 03:05 PM, said:

What I'm wondering about, and maybe you can ask the ex Patriot this, is how many of the injuries that players live with, mainly from the mid 70s until about 10 years ago had to do with Astro Turf. It was a very unforgiving surface, very prevelant around the NFL especially in cities with domed facilities and outdoor stadiums that faced bad weather. It was known as far back as the strike in '87 that most players hated it, and many also had to practice on it when more and more teams got indoor practice facilities.

That is actually a good question, and next time he is I will talk to him about that as we usually talk football a lot when he is in there as we both enjoy it.

[Alphadawg7]

DocLawless, on 12 February 2013 - 03:07 PM, said:

Yea no kidding! The marijuana you describe is exactly the kind i would like to smoke. A light THC version so I can get a mild high and still be able to function! I wish I was in Cali! I dont smoke anymore because i cant function and work on it but I used to have fun with it in my younger years.

This is off topic sort of, but here is some info on that for you.  

The media, movies, music, etc all just talk about THC.  Well, that is just one cannabinoid of about 60 found in the plant.  CBD's, CBN, THCa, etc all are present in there and all create different effects and can benefit patients in different ways.  CBD research is at the fore front of cancer research and a lof of other medical research as well.  Most plants that are high in THC are low in CBD, and ones that are high in CBD are usually low in THC.  So a high CBD strain doesn't have the same mind altering effects because THC and THCa have more to do with that and the plant usually is low in it.  CBD's actually don't give you that high feeling and actually substantially help reduce pain other medical conditions.  In fact, CBD now is being called a cancer killer and recent studies have shown it to actually attack cancer cells.  Some very prominent research doctors in the field of breast cancer come to my shop specifically to pick it up for their research and firmly believe that the closes cancer cures are going to be found through the study of CBD's.  

And you don't have to smoke to utilize the benefits.  There are many consumable things that are made using CBD rich plants so that they can be consumed for a concentrated CBD use without having to smoke.  Its referred to as smoke free pain relief.  

Just a little more insight on that for you as I am sure the media will never share that info with you lol.

Another fun fact:  Not only does the plant truly have medical benefits, but in the history of the world, there is not a single medical death any where on the globe that is attributed to the use of cannabis.  Its not even medically possible to overdose on it...you would have to consume more than 40,000 times more than a regular dose to do so and you would die of suffocation before you would die of an over dose about 1% of the way there.  Yet cigarettes are so deadly that you don't even have to smoke them to die from them, you can die from just being around it...of course they are fully legal, go figure.

Edited by Alphadawg7, 12 February 2013 - 03:39 PM.