Football: It’s not a Kid’s Game
[Guest post by DRJ]
Fifty-nine-year-old grandfather Mike Flynt will play Division III college football this fall at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas:
” Mike Flynt was drinking beer and swapping stories with some old football buddies a few months ago when he brought up the biggest regret of his life: Getting kicked off the college team before his senior year. So, one of his pals said, why not do something about it?
Most 59-year-olds would have laughed. Flynt’s only concern was if he was eligible. Finding out he was, Flynt returned to Sul Ross State University this month, 37 years after he left and six years before he goes on Medicare.”
Flynt was on the 1965 Odessa Permian High School football team, the first of several Texas State championship teams fielded by Permian. (Permian is better known as the Friday Night Lights school.) He was also a “longtime strength and conditioning coach at Nebraska, Oregon and Texas A&M” so he knows how to stay fit. Flynt’s determination to finish his collegiate football career led him and his wife to sell their Tennessee home and move to Alpine, Texas:
“When Flynt returned home to Franklin, Tenn., his wife wasn’t as fired up by the idea. “I feel like I’m married to Peter Pan,” she said. It took time to accept that instead of joining their daughter at Tennessee’s home opener she would be watching her husband hit kids one-third his age.
Eventually she came around. They’ve sold their suburban Nashville home and are now living in Alpine, a town of about 6,000 residents near the Big Bend National Park, a three-hour drive from the nearest major airport.”
Alpine is a beautiful little town but it’s 45 minutes from the nearest Wal-Mart and 2-1/2 hours from the nearest mall so this will be quite a lifestyle change for the Flynts.
Go Lobos and Mike Flynt.
Sounds like Flynt is living the real life version of Necessary Roughness
Darleen (187edc) — 8/25/2007 @ 2:11 pmThe coaching staff better hope that he does not keel over during 2-a-days.
JD (815fda) — 8/25/2007 @ 6:55 pmNext question is: will he try out for the NFL once he graduates?
kishnevi (2fb159) — 8/25/2007 @ 8:09 pmif his 40 time and his reps on the bench press and all are competitive, sure, put him in there (i say the same about aspiring female players).
assistant devil's advocate (3838ec) — 8/25/2007 @ 10:07 pm“Six years before he goes on Medicare.”
Watch this old geezer wreck his knees, hip, shoulder, or whatever and then stick us taxpayers with the bill. I don’t know whether it is legal or not, but if I was the athletic director at this school I would ask Mr. Flynt to purchase some supplementary insurance before letting him play.
Sorry to be such a spoil-sport, but I have had enough of baby boomers trying to find the Fountain of Youth.
JVW (6a3590) — 8/25/2007 @ 10:18 pmTime was, my fraternity had a 40-something guy who’s spent 15 or 20 years working offshore oil rigs as a pledge. He joined our intramural football team and wreaked havoc. Every game, someone from another team asked, “who’s that old guy out there beating the cr*p out of us?!?” Stranger things have happened.
Dodd (55a828) — 8/26/2007 @ 8:06 amWatch this old geezer wreck his knees, hip, shoulder, or whatever and then stick us taxpayers with the bill
Yeah, because *normal* football players never wreck their knees, hip, shoulder or whatever.
And *normal* football players don’t grow old and have their hips/knees replaced via Medicare.
PS JVW… what makes you believe that Medicare is a welfare-style program?
Darleen (187edc) — 8/26/2007 @ 8:23 amWhy yes Mr. Flynt, you CAN get a Hell Yeah from me !
Michael Llaneza (fa55e7) — 8/26/2007 @ 9:29 amI was just in Alpine recently and uh…wow, I’m not sure what I’d say if my husband wanted to move there for any reason, let alone to play college football.
(writing from the great metropolis of Del Rio…)
MamaAJ (788539) — 8/26/2007 @ 9:35 amPS JVW… what makes you believe that Medicare is a welfare-style program?
Come now, Darleen, would you really have us believe that the average citizen only derives benefits from Medicare entirely equivalent to what they have paid in to it? The whole problem with our senior entitlement system (Medicare & Social Security) in this country is that it is a pyramid scheme where the average citizen is going to expect to get a lot more out of the pot than they put in to it.
And while it is true that lots of other football players ruin parts of their bodies while playing, I would put my money on a 20-year-old knee holding up a lot better than a 59-year-old knee.
JVW (6a3590) — 8/26/2007 @ 10:05 amJVW
would you really have us believe that the average citizen only derives benefits from Medicare entirely equivalent to what they have paid in to it?
I don’t know, JVW, why don’t you cite us some stats? However, at least you admit that people ARE paying into a medical insurance system. So as long as their claims don’t exceed their accumulated buyin, how does it become a welfare “entitlement” bene taking money from your pocket?
Good lord, such bitterness against people who haven’t dropped dead according to your timetable on “usefulness”.
Darleen (187edc) — 8/26/2007 @ 10:39 amWhat makes me think Medicare is a welfare style program?
The tax statement on my weekly earnings statement.
The fact that medical care is not mentioned as a legislative power in the US Constitution.
Medicare is inefficient, illegal, unconstitutional, and unnecessary,
Don Meaker (999e4b) — 8/26/2007 @ 10:41 amInsurance is voluntary. Welfare uses coerced money. Not really much different than robbery, if you think about it.
Don Meaker (999e4b) — 8/26/2007 @ 10:42 amDon
Insurance is voluntary. Welfare uses coerced money.
So businesses that require their employees to sign on to one of their medical insurance programs are engaging in welfare?
Do you feel the same way about unemployment insurance and worker’s comp?
Darleen (187edc) — 8/26/2007 @ 11:05 am“Watch this old geezer wreck his knees, hip, shoulder, or whatever and then stick us taxpayers with the bill.”
Geez, what a ageist dick.
I’m 53, hold a sixth degree black belt, two fourth degrees, and several other indicators and awards of physical capability. The only person that has ever taken me in sparring was 56 at the time.
It’s easy for you to sit there on your presumably young ass and criticize, but ‘geezers’ (I hate that term) that are still in good physical condition are actually a good thing vis-a-vis medicare. They will probably consume fewer services than impotent assholes like you will when your time comes.
Praxis7 (3d6c14) — 8/26/2007 @ 2:01 pmEasy, there, grandmaster. You know you are the exception, which is why you are (rightfully) bragging. Anyway, nothing fills me with less sympathy than some 45 year-old former NFL player who needs a hip and knee replacement, and is complaining about the lack of insurance! Everybody knows how the human body reacts to the wear-and-tear of competitive football, and the stories all end the same way.
This is a nice feel-good story, like the 55 year-old police cadets, or 42 year-old army privates, but this guy is like the mountain-climber who gets lost, and the rest of us taxpayers pick up the tab for his ego-trip.
TimesDisliker (1b68f1) — 8/26/2007 @ 3:02 pmbut this guy is like the mountain-climber who gets lost, and the rest of us taxpayers pick up the tab for his ego-trip.
How so?
I am seeing ageism..that somehow “geezers” should know “their place” and should limit themselves to some thrill-packed games of bingo OR just have the common decency to die before they get anywhere near collecting on all the forced premiums they’ve paid into whatever do-gooder government scheme that’s come down the pike the last 50 years and depriving them of income they could have put into their own retirement investments.
Sheesh, sounds like someone resentful that his grandparents might spend “the inheritance” before he can get it.
Darleen (187edc) — 8/26/2007 @ 4:47 pmI don’t know Mike Flynt but I know a linebacker that played with him on Permian’s 1965 state championship team. He is one tough guy and, frankly, I’m more worried about the opposing players that Mike Flynt will be hitting than I am about Mike Flynt.
DRJ (bfe07e) — 8/26/2007 @ 4:52 pmI’m 53, hold a sixth degree black belt, two fourth degrees, and several other indicators and awards of physical capability. The only person that has ever taken me in sparring was 56 at the time.
. . . presumably young ass and criticize, . . . impotent assholes like you . . .
Woah there Chuck Norris, let’s not go too far in to the name calling; I can compete with the best of them in that venue. I admit that my “geezers” comment was out-of-line and am sorry I used that term. The crux of my argument stands, however. More than once I have seen a rec league superstar in the latter half of his life try to hang with the younger crowd and do significant damage to himself. I think that if it happens here, this fellow should have the decency to pick up the tab himself and not saddle the school or taxpayer with his medical costs. I repeat my assertion that he should be made to purchase supplementary insurance for the season.
The part of this that bothers me is the whole “let’s try to recapture our lost youth” aspect. According to the story, this guy played (presumably) three years of college football before being kicked off the team his senior year, so it is not like he is some military veteran who never got his chance to play on the big stage. It does not say why he was kicked off the team, but I would assume it was for a valid reason. Is it fair that he now takes the spot of some young man who also wants to play football? The article fails to mention if this guy has a legitimate chance to play, or if this is just some sort of publicity stunt.
When I was a kid the parks and rec department in my hometown had to cancel the youth baseball league one summer due to lack of funding, but they still somehow managed to find the money to sponsor an adult softball league that same summer. Since then I have always been predisposed to look warily upon the athletic ambitions of adult boomers.
JVW (6a3590) — 8/27/2007 @ 8:11 amJVW,
If Flynt gets on the field, I guaran-damn-tee you that there wasn’t a snot nosed kid that could play better than Flynt could.
Now, JVW, just sit back and enjoy your pabulum while the adults show you how life is lived.
PCD (2566fe) — 8/27/2007 @ 10:16 amOK PCD, it may be tough to follow Sul Ross State University this fall, but I will scour the web to try to find results. Are you forecasting that Flynt will be named All-Conference, or even be named a starter on his team? From your comment about “if Flynt gets on the field” I am led to believe that you think he will be some superstar. If I had to bet on it I would say that this is a publicity stunt designed to sell tickets and get the university some exposure, and that Mr. Flynt will appear in a very limited number of plays this season.
And thanks for the comment about enjoying my pabulum. Let me reciprocate by expressing my hope that your prunes and Geritol go down well.
JVW (6a3590) — 8/27/2007 @ 3:15 pmDarleen, how NOT so?
Darleen, college is for getting an education. Football is extracurricular. Especially at Division III level. Whatever life lessons Flynt had to learn one hopes would have happened in his first three seasons, and then getting kicked off the team. This story is just fun and frivolous, nothing more; kind of like a guy who climbs a mountain “because it’s there.” Playing “the ageist card” doesn’t really apply here; save it for those seeking employment, or housing, or something of consequence. Anything but Division III football.:-)
TimesDisliker (f297fe) — 8/27/2007 @ 4:26 pmHere’s a link to a radio station that will carry some Sul Ross football games this season. The first game is September 1.
DRJ (bfe07e) — 8/29/2007 @ 2:50 pmTimesDisliker:
I agree in theory but I don’t think you realize how important football is to many Texans. It is a character-building part of our existence and almost a religion. I understand Mike Flynt’s need to bring closure to this part of his life and to give back to the Sul Ross football program what he feels he failed to give 40 years ago – his senior leadership, his experience, and his best effort.
DRJ (bfe07e) — 8/29/2007 @ 2:59 pm[…] Patterico's Pontifications » Football: It's not a Kid's Game – Mike Flynt was drinking beer and swapping stories with some old football buddies a few months ago when he brought up the biggest regret of his life: Getting kicked off the college team before his senior year. So, one of his … […]
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