The First Kid I Hit In College Football

Today on my walk with the dog, I got to thinking about some old football memories. Probably sparked by having a conversation about youth football this morning with my local breakfast lady.
When I was young I was a very talented football player. Had a lot of scholarship offers from big schools & ended up being the highest rated recruit of my class at the university of Colorado. For some reason, the memory flowing through my head today was about my first day of contact in college.

Most schools bring freshmen in early for pre season camp to build some class bonds & give the kids an opportunity to get accustomed to their environment before having to compete with upperclassmen. We got pads on pretty quickly, one of the first practices of the camp, & 1/2 way through we got the opportunity to do some 1 on 1 run blocking drills.

The guy across from me was named Gabe Oderberg, he was another scholarship freshmen, about the same exact size (6-5ish, 280ish), I was an offensive tackle & he was a defensive lineman. The drill was just basically to see who could drive the other guy off his spot, basically what happens on a lot of running plays between lineman.

I think Gabe must have been assuming we were playing at slow practice speed or just wasn’t ready for the contact, but I was able to stand him up, hip toss him (slightly illegal) & drive him into the ground for a very satisfying dominant block. The coaches loved it, my adrenaline was obviously sky high from the first little battle of the day, but Gabe had the wind knocked out of him & was slow to get up, which I saw as a sign of weakness back then. It wasn’t a particularly violent or brutal play, nothing special, just a small practice win.

So then I started to think about the rest of Gabe’s career. He ended playing a lot more football than I did. I actually quit twice, once right after that first freshmen camp, & then rejoined after the first season & played for a year and a 1/2. 2 spring practices & one full season where I got to play in quite a few games as a back up O tackle on both sides.

Gabe played his whole college career that he could I’m pretty sure. He was plagued by back injuries as far as I can remember. We actually became decent friends, we were the only two Jewish kids on the football team, he was much more religious, I just had the blood, but we had good laughs over it.

So I’m on my walk, thinking about Gabe wondering how he is doing now. I never used Facebook or kept in touch with many of my football teammates after I quit so had no idea, but suspected that I was going to be saddened by my findings. Because I knew how many surgeries & pills he was given to keep him able to play. & because I knew how much trauma his body & brain had endured.

My friend Gabe & that first kid I hit in college football killed himself back in 2004 & I never even heard about it. That is him, number 57, photoed with the rest of the defensive lineman in the fall of ‘99.

Now, I don’t think my first college hit killed Gabe, but it certainly didn’t help. Seems like every time I look up guys I played football with there is a suicide or overdose death pretty quickly into my search. Was no surprise to see Gabe fell too, but fuck way too young, was 24 at the time maybe.

They don’t air these kinds of stories in the news about football. It’s all pro football propaganda & corporate programming. The kids who play college & professional football are lied to from a very early age. They are encouraged to endure brain damage in the name of character building as children, crippling their ability to properly assess risk & greatly increasing their odds of engaging in addictive impulsive behaviors.

Here is a list of some more symptoms you get as the better football player you become:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/traumatic-brain-injury/symptoms-causes/syc-20378557

I’m tired of seeing young kids continue to be lied to about football. It hasn’t changed, I coached at my old high school a few years ago. Made me sick. It’s not just concussions & cte, subconcussive blows damage the brain & can likely cause all the symptoms listed above & will eventually guaranteed.

If you want to see a documentary on Gabe Oderberg it is here

I just started watching it while writing this, crazy to see those old faces & memories. & here is a pretty great picture that my memory of Gabe would really approve

That is him, with Dan Graham & Marcus Houston, two of his good friends, Jewish kids always want to be a little black 😊

I for one am very thankful I quit playing football early & often, once in 6th grade after a day, once in 8th grade after a few days, & twice in college. My nervous system knew it was bullshit, should’ve listened earlier.

I’m also very thankful if you made it this far, & for the ability to express myself to you. Please take my words to head & heart. I only want to protect others people children from brain damage for profit & entertainment & make society healthier as a whole. Mass brain damage within the population is no good.

RIP Gabe Oderberg, you were too smart for that game too & we both knew it 🙏