I had to look it up. He thinks he can come back with the Steelers. Here's what he said:
"And I'm gonna be honest with myself, I got to go out there and be like, I'm going to put my foot in the ground. Do I feel it? Am I hurting? Can I go out there and really play again? And bro, I'm telling you all right now when I go out there and train in March and if I hit April and I make this decision to come back to play in the NFL again, mark my words down -- I will be better than I ever was."
In a way I'm pulling for him. I like long-shot stories, comeback stories. Seriously I have my doubts. I think he's beyond long shot range, and sounds delusional. In a way I pity him and hope he gets whatever help he needs.
His pro boxing career was so-so; 1 win, 1 loss in a reported three fights (where is record of a third?) wearing flambouyant pink skirt-like trunks with long fringe, a quich and heavy right hand, decent stance and jab, but otherwise clumsy and vulnerable enough in the one fight I watched (which he won) to get severely clobbered by good opponent. Maybe his expectations and estimate of his own abilities overreached his actual performance. Back to football.
Maybe he could lower his sights and try the CFL or the newly merged spring league. Ricky Proehl is now coaching the St/Louis Battlehawks in that league.
And seriously, what's wrong with coaching? Eric Weddle, who rejoined the rams for the Super Bowl run, is coaching high school football and loving it - not just teaching football skills, but life lessons to the young men he mentors. What positive life lessons LaVeon Bell could teach young men at this point I'm not sure. He's still young at 32; he's not too old to have a personal epiphany, reset his personal compass, and achieve something within his grasp that would be of service to others. He appears to me to be self-centered and directionless, not exactly unusual for his generation. If so, he needs something menaingful to do.
Could Bell swallow his pride, and maybe find himself, and would coaching give him such a role?
