I am now offering a new consulting services where I teach young football players how to get recruited by a major football college and how to get recruited into the NFL. For more information, please see college football recruiting.

Cheating in the NFL

By Martin Chase

Who would have thought it would come to this? What has professional sports come to with cheating? NBA, MLB, and Hockey have been caught cheating and now the NFL is joining the rest of the professional sports leagues as a sport that cheats.

As a former NFL player, I would always hear the saying, “If you're not cheating, you're not trying.” Pretty sad isn’t it? Well, I think the Patriots took that statement to heart and that is why they got caught. Unfortunately, cheating is much more common in the NFL than fans realize.

When I played in the NFL, there were many teams that I played against that by ”magic” seemed to know what our plays were. There were teams that I played against where I would ask myself, “How on earth do they know what plays we are running?”

You should know that cheating runs rampant in the NFL and it is not just the Patriots that are cheating. Yes, they got caught because they made their cheating too obvious. But make no mistake about it, it is a fact that all NFL teams cheat to some extent.

In my NFL career I was taught that a team has to do whatever it can do to get an advantage over the competition, and that cheating is considered okay as long as you don’t get caught. It is just a part of the game. But in my heart I knew that cheating was wrong. As professional athletes and professional sports teams, we are supposed to be setting a good example of the highest level of sports. But we are not setting a good example. We are not playing fair. Maybe you can say cheating is fair because everybody is doing it but I think it is wrong. I believe in fair competition and what is happening in professional sports with cheating is a disgrace.

Another huge problem caused by pro teams cheating is that it teaches our children that cheating is ok—as long as you don’t get caught. As pro athletes and sports teams, we need to set an example and teach kids that cheating is wrong.

Cheating is a black and white issue and there should be no grey areas. You cannot say cheating is okay for some things but wrong for other things. Cheating is always wrong and it cannot be tolerated. Cheating has a snowball effect. Kids learn that if they don’t get caught, cheating is okay. So, after cheating a few times on small things and not getting caught, they move up to cheating on bigger things. That is when the real problems start as children and young adults do not understand the consequences for their actions, and by cheating they are being a dishonorable human being. If you cannot be trusted to play fair, you should not be allowed to play.

I feel that teams that cheat need to be punished and punished severely. Besides being fined and penalized with losing draft choices. Your team should automatically lose the game too. Coaches caught cheating should be suspended without pay for the season, or even fired. There has to be a system in place where the consequences of cheating are so severe that teams will not risk getting caught. It is sad that it has to come to this but cheating cannot be tolerated.

***************

Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who now owns a popular NFL Merchandise website at http://www.mcsportsfan.com.

The NFL and Domestic Violence
by Martin Chase

Violence is a trait of many NFL players. Let’s face it, football is a violent sport and it encourages violent behavior. Unfortunately, what football does not do is teach players how to behave non-violently to problems off the field, particularly when it comes to relationship problems.

This violent behavior begins when boys start playing football as children. The boys are taught to behave tough and aggressive by their coaches, teammates, and even their parents. Boys are taught to use their body and strength to tackle competing players. Making a good “hit” is encouraged. This positively reinforces boys to behave aggressively. The boys are taught to be strong, to be unafraid, and to be a man. The name of the game is to be tough, dominant and show no weaknesses.

Unfortunately, the boys playing football are not taught that this behavior is acceptable only on the field. As boys who play football reach adolescence and adulthood, they have learned how to use aggressive and dominant behavior to win. It is this behavior that can lead to domestic violence against women.

Football never teaches players how to commutate with a woman. Is this the fault of football coaches or should parents take responsibility? The correct answer is that both should take responsibility. If you are going to reward a child for behaving violently while playing football, you must teach that child how to control their behavior when not playing football. I believe that from childhood all the way through the NFL, football players must be taught how to control aggressive and violent behavior. They need to be taught that violence off the field is unacceptable, especially towards women.

The divorce rate among NFL players is very high. Players bring the violence and aggressive energy they have on the field home. After practice or a game, a player’s adrenaline is flowing and they may have a lot of extra energy. If the player was in a big game that his team lost, this can increase the likelihood of violence at home. When you take the environment of football where problems between players are sometimes solved in scuffles and pushing each other around, this behavior becomes second nature to players. In football, if somebody gets in your face, you push them away. However, there is a huge difference between pushing a strong 275 lb player out of your face and pushing a 130 lb woman out of your face. What seems like nothing between players can be deadly when used toward a woman, and much of the time, it is done as a reflex from years of being physical with other players. That is why it is so important that from childhood on, football players are taught how to control their behavior off the field.

The NFL does have programs to teach players how to behave off the field. The problem is that by the time a player reaches the NFL, it is almost too late to teach behavior control. By this time the player has spent more than have of his life being taught to be physical and aggressive. This behavior is now so deeply embedded in the player’s mind that it is very difficult to change. That is why it is so important that football coaches and parents teach these young boys how to behave off the field and to be gentle with women.

If you are a parent reading this article, please talk to your son about violence and that violent behavior towards other people, especially women is wrong. Yes, physical and aggressive behavior is ok on the football field with other players, but that is the only place it is acceptable. Off the field, players must be taught to control their aggressive behavior and use their mind to solve problems, not their body.

Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who now owns http://www.mcsportsfan.com, a popular NFL jerseys and nfl merchandise website.

NFL PLAYERS AND MONEY
By Martin Chase

One of the questions people always ask me about being an NFL player is, “what is it like making so much money at such a young age?”

I have to say that it is very difficult to go from being young and having no money to being young and a millionaire because you do not know how to be financially responsible. It’s just like winning the lottery, and as you know from reading about lottery winners, most lottery winners go broke within 10 years after winning the lottery. Well, it is not that much different with professional sports players. The reason for this is most professional athletes, and lottery winners, were never taught money management skills. Going from being broke one day to being a millionaire the next day is a huge change in your life, mostly because once you have money, everybody wants you to give it to them, and most of the time you do.

I came from a single family home without a father, which is something many professional NFL players have in common. I am also African American and my family did not have a lot of money, which is also very common among NFL players. Because of this, I was never taught how to manage money responsibly and plan for my future. I went from being broke one day to being drafted into the NFL and becoming a millionaire.

A huge problem with being young and having a lot of money is the pressure by just about everybody including fellow players to spend a lot of money very quickly. When you are rich, everybody wants your money, especially your family and friends. My mother, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, etc. all wanted to borrow money from me. And of course I gave it to them. Then, you have girlfriends and wives who want you to buy them lots of expensive presents like cars, jewelry and clothes because you are rich and they want to show off to their friends. You also have charities, investors, and businesspeople all asking for your money—and you end up giving it to them.

But possibly the worst of all is the other players because when it comes to money it is the blind leading the blind. We all spend our money as if it will never run out because we are uneducated in financial responsibility. For example, for you to be cool and respected by the other players, you have to keep up with them. So, if one player buys a new SUV, you want to buy one too. I mean, you can’t be an NFL player and drive a normal car like a Honda Civic. You have to drive an expensive Hummer, Cadillac Escapade, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, etc.

You also have to have a huge expensive house. All the other players do and if you just live in an average house, they look down at you. So, we spend a fortune buying huge houses for ourselves and for our parents that we do not need. And of course there is the jewelry. We spend so much money on jewelry it is insane. It is nothing for a player to spend $100,000 a year or more buying jewelry, and that is just for us. That does not include all the jewelry we buy for our family, wives, and girlfriends. It is all extremely irresponsible. But, when you have so many people putting pressure on you every day to buy things and keep up with the other NFL players, it becomes much easier to say yes than to say no, even as you are watching all of your money disappear.

Another problem is as a wealthy NFL player, you are expected to flip the bill for everything. Whenever you go out to restaurant, you are the person who pays for everybody. And, when you go out with other players or your buddies, it is always to a fancy club where we go to the VIP section and spend thousands of dollars on fancy champagne and drinks—for everybody. I have known players who have spent over $25,000 in one night at a club. And then they go and do it over and over so they can be the “big man.”

Another problem NFL players have is women who are after us for our money and our status. And many of these women are gold diggers. If we were not rich athletes these beautiful women would probably not look twice at us. But now that we are rich and well known, women chase us constantly. This almost always leads to us marrying a woman we shouldn’t marry and then getting divorced after a couple of years and losing a large percentage of our money in the divorce. I made this mistake myself and it cost me dearly and still costs me.

In close, being a wealthy athlete is much more difficult than people think because there is so much pressure on us to spend our money as quickly as possible. Money magnifies problems, it does not eliminate them as most people think it does.

*********************

If you want authentic nfl jerseys and merchandise at the best prices, check out my nfl shop at mcsportsfan.com.

Martin Chase, #92

Life in an NFL Locker Room

My name is Martin Chase and as a former NFL player, I spent a lot of my time in the locker room. As many people wonder what goes on inside an NFL locker room, here is a quick look.

As an NFL player, the locker room is our home away from home. This is where the team members become a family. This is where we bond and learn about each other’s different cultures, personalities, and view on life.

On an NFL team, there are people from many different walks of life. People are from different races, different parts of the country, they grew up with different values, different religions, and different cultures. Being able to get to know these people and learn about their life is one of the things I enjoyed most about the NFL. It was such a great learning experience to interact with so many different people.

So what do NFL players talk about in the locker room? We talk about the same thing everybody else does. We talk a lot about our wives, girlfriends, families, children, movies, music, our problems, and of course, a lot of joking around and talking smack. On every team there are a couple of guys who love to play pranks and keep everyone guessing as to what is coming next. It is a lot of fun.

Another fun thing to do is haze the rookies. Giving rookies a hard time is always fun and it helps build camaraderie. How do we haze rookies? Well, we like to get several team members together and go out for dinner with a rookie and then make him pay the bill. We also like to make rookies carry our equipment. To really embarrass rookies, we’ll make them get up in front of everybody and sing or dance. Sometimes we will give them a horrible haircut by shaving parts of their head. Sometimes we’ll shave off their eyebrows too. Embarrassing rookies is always good fun.

What is inside the locker room? The locker room is setup just like home to help players relax. There are couches, big screen TV's, video games, and an attached cafeteria.

The locker room is also a place where we come together as a team to support each other, like when we lose a game or a player gets hurt or in trouble. The locker room is where a team’s chemistry is created and it is that chemistry that makes a team great when they walk out onto the field.

If you want authentic nfl jerseys and merchandise at the best prices, check out my nfl shop at mcsportsfan.com.

Martin Chase, #92

Moms and the NFL

My name is Cecil Martin Chase and I am a retired NFL player. One very important aspect of becoming an NFL player that is often forgotten is the importance of an athlete’s mom. I am the first to admit that if it was not for my mom, my dreams of becoming an NFL player would never have come true. In this article, I want to thank my mom for all that she has done for me.

When I was growing up, my mom was the one who always made my snacks for football practice. She is the one who bought my shoes and my football helmets. She is the one who made sure I was on time for football practice. If it wasn’t for my mom, I don't know were I would be in life today.

Let me tell you a little about my mom. She was a woman who came from big family of 12 brothers and sisters. She got married at the sweet age of 19 and two years later they had a wonderful son—me. As I grew older there was a strain in my mother’s relationship with my father, so they split up. As with all women, this was a very trying time for my mom. She was very hurt and confused and did not know how she would manage without her husband. But, like most mothers, she found inner strength that I did not know she had.

My mom pulled herself together and there was no turning back. She worked many hours to provide for us and to pay the bills. I wanted to start playing football at this time and even though we had very little money, she never said no to me. In fact, she supported me 100% and provided great encouragement to me. She was always there for me and motivating me to play the best I can. She would also make time to take me to practice and she always made sure I arrived on time.

My mom is the hardest working woman I know. Her never give up work ethic and positive attitude is what instilled my drive to never give up on my dreams and to work hard to achieve them. So, I want to take a moment to thank my amazing mom and all the wonderful moms out there that are supporting their kids and encouraging their children to follow their dreams and never give up.

Thanks mom. I love you.

Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who now owns
http://www.mcsportsfan.com, a popular NFL Merchandise website.

The Importance of being a leader in Sports

By Martin Chase, retired NFL player

During my NFL career, I learned that leadership is a trait that all athletes have deep inside of them. Unfortunately, I found that most players do not know how to apply their leadership skills. It is the inability to apply leadership that sets the regular NFL players apart from the true greats such as LaDainian Tomlinson, Marvin Harrison, Peyton Manning, and Brett Favre. These fine players are all strong leaders. It is their powerful leadership skills that inspire their teammates to come together as a team and play at the best of their ability - even when they are losing.

Sports leaders are able not only to lead people in the right direction but to also give them confidence. A leader makes his teammates believe deep in their hearts that if you follow me, we will win. This requires a lot of responsibility and charisma on the part of the leader, but it’s also what separates good players from the Hall of Fame players.

As a young athlete, if you want to make it first to college sports and then to professional sports, you must develop your leadership skills. It is the strength of your leadership skills that will help separate you from the competition. College and Pro teams want leaders. Leaders win games.

As a young athlete, if you want to someday make it to the pros, you must work on developing your leadership skills everyday. You need to learn how to motivate people and make them believe in you. To build your leadership skills, here are some tasks you should do.

1. Be on-time for your classes at school and work hard to get good grades. This shows your teachers that you are eager to learn and to work hard. It also shows your coaches that you are eager to learn and work hard. So, always show respect for your teachers and coaches and they in-turn will show respect for you. This is the first step for becoming a leader. You must show others that they can trust and respect you.

2. Be a leader in everything you do. At school, help your classmates learn. Lead them to going to class on-time and working hard to get good grades. Help your community. And, help your teammates improve their skills on and off the field. The sooner you take the role of being a leader who makes smart decisions, the sooner people will see that you are a leader and they will follow you. Also, when people who have power see that you are a strong leader, they will give you special opportunities that other people and players will not get.

3. Show leadership by example in your sport. Work at learning your skills and the strategies of the game harder than anybody else on your team. One trait the true sports leaders all have in common is they are always the first to arrive at the sports facility in the morning and the last to leave at night. They become the best players and the strongest leaders by working twice as hard as everybody else. If you choose to work twice as hard as everybody else, you will receive deep respect from both your teammates and from your coaches. And, you will become a master of your sport.

4. Being a leader is even more important during the bad times than the good times. A true leader remains confident and motives his team members even when they are losing. It is during bad times that a leader’s true colors will shine and he will do everything he can to help his team be confident and driven to win.

Finally, understand that leadership is not something that is given to you. Leadership is something that you give to others.


Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who has played with the Giants, the Saints, the Redskins, the Ravens, and the Jaguars. Martin now owns and manages a popular
sports memorabilia website - http://www.mcsportsfan.com.