Rolando McClain's path to here

[erod]

Not sure if anyone posted this story in the McClain threads, but this explains how Rolando McClain went from the top linebacker in the draft to where he is now.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9...linebacker-rolando-mcclain-self-imposed-exile

 

[Doomsday101]

Not sure if anyone posted this story in the McClain threads, but this explains how Rolando McClain went from the top linebacker in the draft to where he is now.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9...linebacker-rolando-mcclain-self-imposed-exile

I hope his time away has helped him get his life together, he still a young enough man at 24 about to be 25 to get this career back on track. I hope he has what it takes.

 

[Wayne02]

The money grubbing and leaching family members of professional athletes are some of the worst people in society. I can't stand them. As much as I don't think McClain has a passion for football, I hate what that young man had to go through. It's already hard enough growing up in a single parent household, then when you finally make it, the dead beat dad shows up. I wish McClain would have physically tossed him out of his draft party. I hate hearing stories like this, and they happen to these kind of guys every year.

 

[DallasEast]

That was a great read. Best part for me was:

...The way he was going, he knew he would end up "locked in a cage like an animal," he says. "For real. That had to be the only outcome. I was just mad. I just wanted to fight people."

Alone at night, he even weighed the merits of raising a gun to his head. "You sit there and think, 'Why am I even here?' " he says. "If I'm gone, all this will go away."

In a rare moment of clarity, he made a list of goals: Get better with the Lord.

Be the best father I can be.

Finish my degree.

Football, McClain says, "was at the bottom of my list."

The precautionary part was:

...His team loses, and everyone piles back into the truck for the ride home. This time, McClain drives. He misses a freeway entrance, then pulls into the wrong lane of traffic, hoping to hop a curb. He seems to recognize quickly that this is a poor decision. He stops hard, then reverses into an intersection in the middle of traffic. Maze jokes that he wants to live to see his son that night. McClain laughs, blazing away.

On I-59, McClain speeds and weaves between lanes. His seat belt is off. He reads texts. Still, he considers this no more reckless than retiring from football and putting up walls between himself and everyone else: I've got it. His decision-making process can be messy, but in the end, he seems to make strangely clear-minded calls.

Seems like he finally got a grip, cut the trash (family and friends) from his life, and started concentrating on life. Unfortunately, it seems like he is taking some parts of life for granted still. Regardless of his NFL future, he may be on the right path for himself. Finally.

 

[xwalker]

That was a great read. Best part for me was: The precautionary part was: Seems like he finally got a grip, cut the trash (family and friends) from his life, and started concentrating on life. Unfortunately, it seems like he is taking some parts of life for granted still. Regardless of his NFL future, he may be on the right path for himself. Finally.

Some of those guys with his background never owned a car until they got to the NFL. Being a good, responsible driver was just not ingrained into people that didn't have a car to drive when they were first old enough to get a license.

 

[Alexander]

The money grubbing and leaching family members of professional athletes are some of the worst people in society. I can't stand them. As much as I don't think McClain has a passion for football, I hate what that young man had to go through. It's already hard enough growing up in a single parent household, then when you finally make it, the dead beat dad shows up. I wish McClain would have physically tossed him out of his draft party. I hate hearing stories like this, and they happen to these kind of guys every year.

The only real issue is that there is all kinds of support for players when they enter the league. The Rookie Symposium goes over all of these kinds of issues.

They really have nobody to blame if they have hangers-on and leeches that exploit them. The help is there if they can motivate themselves to take it.

 

[links18]

Some of those guys with his background never owned a car until they got to the NFL. Being a good, responsible driver was just not ingrained into people that didn't have a car to drive when they were first old enough to get a license.

Maybe Jerry will pay for some Easy Method classes?

 

[Doomsday101]

The only real issue is that there is all kinds of support for players when they enter the league. The Rookie Symposium goes over all of these kinds of issues.

They really have nobody to blame if they have hangers-on and leeches that exploit them. The help is there if they can motivate themselves to take it.

I agree the NFL provides the support, it falls to the players to take advanatage of that support. However that ship sailed and McClain has to deal with the here and now, Cowboys are giving him a great oppertunity to turn his professional life around. This deal ensure him nothing if he wants it he will have to go out and earn it.

 

[CowboyGil]

good article. Hope he makes it.

 

[kiheikiwi]

Sounds like a very similar (in some ways) story to that of Tyron Smith - the family demanding money, harrassing him type stuff. Might be a good shoulder to lean on with the Cowboys. BUT, it deffinately sounds like Rolando is still not out of the woods yet. I would imagine after reading the article that there will be some problems at camp for him. I would bet even money that he is in some sort of camp fight. Hopefully, being with the Cowboys can help him. I remember the player he was at Alabama, would love to see him find that again in Dallas. Someone is going to have to take that Sabin roll in Dallas. Is Garrett strong enough to do it ?
This could well be a very interesting signing, one that I could still see going either way right now.
This is the human aspect of football, and I am going to root for him to make it - for the team, but mostly for himself. I hope this works out for him...

 

[AbeBeta]

The only real issue is that there is all kinds of support for players when they enter the league. The Rookie Symposium goes over all of these kinds of issues.

They really have nobody to blame if they have hangers-on and leeches that exploit them. The help is there if they can motivate themselves to take it.

The symposium talks about that stuff. It does not give the players the tools to recognize if those sort of people are in their lives or the skills to avoid them. The idea that just because someone tells you something that it sinks in on multiple levels is absurd. That's like having someone attend a lecture on engineering and then saying they should be able to build a bridge.

 

[burmafrd]

The symposium talks about that stuff. It does not give the players the tools to recognize if those sort of people are in their lives or the skills to avoid them. The idea that just because someone tells you something that it sinks in on multiple levels is absurd. That's like having someone attend a lecture on engineering and then saying they should be able to build a bridge.

its called common sense. Either you have it or you don't. And from what I have heard about the symposium they are very explicit and precise about 'posse's' and 'hangers on' and family leaches. If you cannot recognize them in your own life when given such clear examples that is truly on you and no one else.

 

[AbeBeta]

its called common sense. Either you have it or you don't. And from what I have heard about the symposium they are very explicit and precise about 'posse's' and 'hangers on' and family leaches. If you cannot recognize them in your own life when given such clear examples that is truly on you and no one else.

Again. The take an engineering class then build a bridge analogy is relevant.

 

[jrumann59]

its called common sense. Either you have it or you don't. And from what I have heard about the symposium they are very explicit and precise about 'posse's' and 'hangers on' and family leaches. If you cannot recognize them in your own life when given such clear examples that is truly on you and no one else.

May sound like an excuse but when your "boys" back you and try and keep you out of trouble because they see you have talent that will get you to the Penthouse, a person has an invested loyalty because in most cases they were the only people loyal to him. Once you make it sometimes the that loyalty can blind a person until those "friends" show the ugly side and see they were not loyal to the person but to the hope that you would be their meal ticket out of hell.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

"I once bought a $150,000 car just because my friends told me to. Not because I wanted it. Because they told me to."

The story lists like 10 warning flags. Yet I sense many here would call it inspirational.

Sigh. I remember a time when we were not this desperate.

 

[Doomsday101]

"I once bought a $150,000 car just because my friends told me to. Not because I wanted it. Because they told me to."

The story lists like 10 warning flags. Yet I sense many here would call it inspirational.

Sigh. I remember a time when we were not this desperate.

I don't see it as inspirational I see it as a second chance for McClain with Dallas taking hardly any risk at all. All the pressure is on McClain to step up and play to his ability

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

I don't see it as inspirational I see it as a second chance for McClain with Dallas taking hardly any risk at all. All the pressure is on McClain to step up and play to his ability

Make the warning flags go away!!!

 

[5Stars]

Make the warning flags go away!!!

That could be possible if you changed your forum name to "warning flags".

 

[Doomsday101]

Make the warning flags go away!!!

Warning flags? More like a test drive, he comes in and produces great we add a talented player to the 53 man roster. If he fails he is cut and Dallas lost nothing in the process.

 

[waving monkey]

The only real issue is that there is all kinds of support for players when they enter the league. The Rookie Symposium goes over all of these kinds of issues.

They really have nobody to blame if they have hangers-on and leeches that exploit them. The help is there if they can motivate themselves to take it.

I can see another side to that story.
We are all conditioned from the day we're born into certain beliefs and responses.it can be extremely hard
not [example] be a party animal. If your family was you will tend that way.Those examples are endless.
He still might not get his head right but IF he can we have jumped our LBing corp up a notch particularly next year.