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.

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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.