Is this the same guy who played football here? FWIW, I've always thought spoken word stuff was idiotic.
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Marcus Lattimore the poet
- Thread starter 18IsTheMan
- Start date
To each his own. He turned out to be a........ different kinda dude.
Would be interesting to talk to Marcus. Based on a number of things he's written and said since leaving, he seems to feel like he was forced into some kind of template or mold that was not really him while he was here. He refers to racial dynamics but also to religious ones a few times when looking back. I think he feels like he was used to promote the interests of others? Maybe the pressure to live up to an unattainable image? Seems like a smart guy who is hurting and unpacking a lot of things.
It’s called life…..it’s tough…..wear a helmet.
I’m a beloved football star, people love me and look out for me, I am famous and school is paid for. Rough stuff.
I bet he never paid for a meal while here. He had a nasty injury that could have happened anywhere at any time. That part makes me sad for him.
Any issues he has probably go deeper than his time here. If he hated football he could have quit at any moment
I’m a beloved football star, people love me and look out for me, I am famous and school is paid for. Rough stuff.
I bet he never paid for a meal while here. He had a nasty injury that could have happened anywhere at any time. That part makes me sad for him.
Any issues he has probably go deeper than his time here. If he hated football he could have quit at any moment
Yeah, I’m not really sure I got some of his complaints. I suppose he just felt pressure from somewhere to be something other than who he was, but that’s not the fans fault he felt that way. He seemed to make it sound like a burden that he was loved and adored and supported by essentially the entire state. Even after he was no longer able to play fans still loved him, so it’s not like we only liked him while he was playing football.
I guess maybe the crux of it is South Carolina is an overall conservative state and he probably wasn’t a conservative dude at his core and realized his personal take on a lot of things wouldn’t fit with the state.
But the notion of him being somehow oppressed and persecuted while he was here doesn’t ring with me. And the racial stuff about somehow feeling compelled to be white. I don’t get that at all. It’s not like he went to some new England town where there’s hardly any African-Americans. You have Black people all over the state.
Just let him be. Don't try to figure him out.
Made me think about Ricky Williams. It felt like fans appreciated Marcus Lattimore's athletic talents and admired the man they thought he was. I don't know Lattimore but always thought he was a high-character guy. Maybe be he is, may he isn't. I hope he finds peace for himself and with others.
....or you just disagree with it. Kids like Marcus get pulled into a world that they are not comfortable just because they can tote a football or bounce a basketball. They get pushed and pulled into all sorts of directions. Some go with the flow. Some say I am not comfortable with this or I don't really like the direction that I am being pushed. I think this period of reflection is what Marcus is going through right now. He will be fine.
Just a statement of fact. Feelings are subjective. The way I feel about something may not, in fact, reflect that thing accurately.
Personally, I think Marcus is struggling to find his place in a world without football, which certainly understanding for someone who was seemingly destined for football greatness. Would he be this jaded about things if he had gone onto a successful football career? I'm just not sure I understand his apparent resentment towards a sport that treated him well and a fan base that loved and adored him, even after his career was over, so it's not the fans loved him only as long as he was a good football player. It seems he became uncomfortable (well, not seems, it was own words) with the notion that fans loved him as Marcus the football player but didn't know him as a person. I can understand compartmentalizing it, but would he have preferred fans to just not care about him anymore? Maybe.
And, of course, yes, everyone's entitled to their own opinions and all that other boilerplate blah blah blah.
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