Breaking the stigma of mental illness in sports
Skip Bayless, perhaps the most hated media personality in all of sports, recently made some remarks about Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott that most people considered over-thetop insensitive — even for Bayless.
In an interview with Graham Bensinger a couple of weeks ago, Prescott revealed that he had sought help in the offseason for anxiety and depression brought on by the death of his older brother, Jace, and the coronavirus pandemic.
“When you have thoughts that you’ve never had, I think that’s more so than anything a chance to realize it and recognize it, to be vulnerable about it,” Prescott said. “I think being open about it and not holding those feelings in was one of the better things for me.”
But not according to Bayless. “I don’t have sympathy for him going public with, ‘I got depressed. I suffered depression early in COVID to the point where I couldn’t even go work out,'” Bayless said. “Look, he’s the quarterback of ‘America’s Team’… If you reveal publicly any little weakness, it can affect your team’s ability to believe in you in the toughest spots, and it definitely could encourage others on the other side to come after you.”
Prescott, who shouldn’t have had to defend himself, responded to Bayless’ remarks, telling reporters, “Before I can lead, I got to make sure my mind’s in the right place to do that, and lead people to where they want to be. I think it’s important to be vulnerable, to be genuine, to be transparent. I think that goes a long way when you’re a leader and when your voice is being heard by so many, and you can inspire.”
Even Bayless’ own network, FOX Sports, chastised him, issuing a statement that said in part, “We do not agree with Skip Bayless’ opinion on Undisputed this morning. We have addressed the significance of this matter with Skip and how his insensitive comments were received by people internally at FOX Sports and our audience.”
Some NFL players jumped to Prescott’s defense, including Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who told reporters, “I think it’s great. I saw what Dak said and I applaud him. I think it’s phenomenal, him speaking out, because that’s true courage and that’s true strength. It’s not a weakness at all.”
Immediately after Dallas defeated Atlanta last week, Falcons tight end Hayden Hurst caught up with Prescott on the field and commended him for his remarks. The exchange was captured on the Falcons’ mic’d-up video from the game.
“I’ve got a lot of respect
for what you did,” Hurst told him. “Came out and talked about — me and my mom have a foundation about suicide prevention. Respect the hell outta you for talking about it, man.”
UNLV professor Brad Donohue noted that “football players are less likely to pursue mental health programs than athletes in other sports and one of the greatest reasons for this is perceived stigma.”
Former NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall told USA Today earlier this year, “If you would have asked me eight years ago what does mental health mean to me, I would have said mental toughness. As football players, we are taught to never show weakness, to never give an opponent an edge. To open up when something hurts, in our culture, is deviant. But when you really sit down and think about it, connecting with those emotions is the real strength.”
Shortly after he retired in 1997, Heisman Trophy winner and NFL star running back Herschel Walker was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, also known as multiple personality disorder,
He told Jim Thompson
of the Athens (Ga.) BannerHerald that he was particularly surprised by his friends in the NFL, some of whom he’d helped through their own personal crises, who didn’t want to have anything to do with him after he started talking about his illness.
“DID is not ‘Sybil’ or ‘Three Faces of Eve,’ Walker told ESPN. “DID is just an illness that people are dealing with.”
Legendary Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who won four Super Bowls, has been open about his attention deficit disorder and his struggles with depression.
“I thought maybe I could help people with awareness, help men get the strength and courage,” Bradshaw told the Chicago Tribune. “I have run into people who have made fun of me, some of my colleagues. I’ve had people try to make light of it. Depression is not something you make light of. It’s serious.”
In an interview with psychiatrist Alan Axelson, Bradshaw said, “I just didn’t want anybody to know all of the things about me that I didn’t want you to know, basically. I just didn’t want to be your hero and then
all of a sudden, you know, your hero has got flaws. That had something to do with it. I didn’t want to tell anybody the bad things about me.”
In a study on NFL players and mental health published in the Journal of Clinical Sports Psychology, one player said, “The reason it’s so lonely is we put those walls up… and nobody can know that I’m feeling concerned about my performance, that I’m insecure about this or that because football, in a sense, is ultimate meritocracy and such a manly thing that you just you always feel like you gotta be on, you know?”
Kudos to Prescott, Walker, Bradshaw and others who are breaking down the stigma of mental illness in sports.
As Sarah Fielding wrote in Talkspace, “The normalization of mental illness won’t happen overnight, but major platforms — like the NFL — can help push progress forward. The sooner the stigma around mental illness is broken down the better — for professional athletes and all of us.”