Rondale Moore passed away yesterday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Moore was a wide receiver who was a second-round draft pick for the Arizona Cardinals out of Purdue University. He was currently on the Minnesota Vikings but missed the last two seasons with injuries. He had a severe knee injury last preseason.This was his last post on social media. “Stitched up the last eight months, but it changed nothin', I don't feel no better....ain't posted on none of my pages while I settle this little vendetta.” It appears as if he was depressed over what seems like his career was over, or at least he was feeling it was over at the moment. I love sports. I have teams I like and the rest I don’t, but sometimes we forget the human element behind all of it. It really looks like his injury situation weighed on him and made him spiral to a place where he just couldn’t pull himself out of it. I just wish he could have gotten the help and support he needed before things got to that final moment yesterday. We watch games, debate stats, and talk about players as if that's all they are, just players. It’s easy to label someone as soft or injury-prone when all we see is the box score or the injury report. But the reality is we have no idea what they are dealing with behind the scenes, the pain, the rehab, the pressure, and in this case the extreme fear that everything you worked your whole life for is being taken away from you. It’s a reminder that sports is just sports. We get emotionally invested, and I certainly do for sure, and that’s part of what makes being a fan fun, but at the end of the day it’s still just a game. In the big picture, a person’s health and well-being will always matter more than wins, losses, or fantasy points. These athletes are human beings first, and we should always keep that perspective before we judge or ridicule them.
