From the outside, the life of an NFL player is as glamorous as it gets. Being paid millions for a six-month commitment and immense popularity, is almost everyone’s dream. However, the drawbacks are equally tough to handle. Apart from the game being highly physical in nature, the constant barrage of criticism and memes that players endure not only affects the players themselves but also their parents. Julian Edelman‘s father talked about the same in the latest edition of “Games With Names” podcast.
Advertisement
In the Father’s Day-themed episode, Julian’s father, Frank Edelman, revealed that as his son cemented his place in the NFL world, seeing him become a target by the media and the opposition players was tough. Every hit or every criticism that Julian endured after a poor performance felt personal to his family.
“You obviously always want to win… but when it’s your own child and the media and everybody’s watching and they start criticizing your child or if your child gets nicked up or if your child fails or makes a mistake, it hurts,” Frank said.
This also resulted in Julian’s family avoiding inviting friends over to their house during Julian’s games. The former Patriots player’s father reminisced that what was a celebratory gathering during Julian’s games became a private affair over time due to the immense anxiety the family used to feel during Julian’s matches.
Every hit the former WR took on his body put his family in anguish, and this was too much for his loved ones to show in the vicinity of friends and others.
“It first started out as a party, everybody was coming over and you’re having a good time… and then you know once Jules would get dinged up, it’s like okay you guys all got to go out, go, see you later, bye. So, that was like game one, and then, as he grew up in the professional level, we stopped having friends over because it’s just complete anguish you know,” Frank continued.
For a long time, Edelman’s parents thought that their incessant anguish and anxiety was an idiosyncrasy unique to them. However, it all changed when they attended their first New England Patriots game.
Julian’s Father Reveals How He Found Out That This Was a Common Problem Among Other Parents
Frank also recalled during his chat on the podcast that attending his first-ever Patriots game had a surprisingly calming effect on him and his wife. He revealed that during the said game, they were seated in the parents’ section, where they observed fellow parents and realized that every single mom and dad out there was equally grumpy and anxious, ultimately making them finally feel somewhat normal.
“I thought we were weird until I went to my first game in New England, they put us in where the parent section is and I was with my oldest son Jason and Mom… We thought we were weird cuz me and my wife would not sit together, she’d sit over there cuz we’d just fight and so when we got in the stands, [we realized] everybody was the same every parent,” Julian’s father added.
While the media often highlights the dark effects of being an NFL player on their health, not many talk about the ill effects that the incessant attention has on the players’ parents. Safe to say, for every million an NFL player earns, there is immense sacrifice in proportion by the player and his family.
