The Akers’ Controversy Shows Us There Are Things More Important Than Football

I was on 610-WIP this morning and Angelo Cataldi confronted me with the story that I haven’t written an article about on GCobb.com.  Of course that story concerns David Akers and his young daughter, Halley, who had a cancerous cyst found in her left ovary just before the Eagles played the Green Bay Packers in the first round of the NFC playoffs.

Not long after the game, she had the cyst removed and she is doing well right now.  Halley will have blood tests every month to make sure the cancer doesn’t return, and even if it doesn’t, she’s probably going to need to have her other ovary removed.

Akers missed a couple of field goals in that 5-point playoff game loss to the Packers and it’s reasonable to believe that Halley’s health challenges played a part in those field goal misses.

After the game, Eagles head coach Andy Reid, who normally protects his players to a fault, made some critical comments about Akers’ missed field goals.  Reid was criticized  for making those comments, but that was before fans learned of the health problems that Akers’ daughter was having.

They also learned of Reid’s knowledge of the entire situation when he made the derogatory comments about the kicker’s play.

Most of the Eagles fans learned about the entire situation, when Ashley Fox of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote a touching article about the entire ordeal.  It’s difficult for anybody to read it without crying.  You can’t help but feel for David and his family.

One thing that has always come through about David Akers over the years concerns his heart.  Akers has a big heart and it’s exhibited in his play on the field.  You hear it when you talk to him in the locker room and you see it by the way David carries himself as a father and husband. You can’t say that about everybody.

Akers is a tremendous competitor.  He’s a fighter.  That’s why the other players love him.  The main part of his job isn’t tackling but every player on the team knows that Akers is willing to do it.  It was similar to way we all felt about Buddy Ryan.  Tackling or punishing the quarterback wasn’t Buddy’s job, but the thing that rallied all the players on the team for him, was the fact that we knew he was just as willing as all of us to get out there and fight.

During the interviews in the locker room, Akers has always been the first to come to the defense of his teammates or his coaches.  He never put on any masks.  If you asked him a question, he would give you a thoughtful answer.  If he didn’t play well or missed a big kick, he was the first to admit it.

I stood there and listened to Akers whisper into the microphone in the locker room after that Green Bay loss.  I knew he had a problem at home, but I also learned that day that he had previously turned down a contract offer from the Eagles.

I wrote about the situation and remembered hoping that my revealing the fact that Akers had turned down the contract offer from the Birds wouldn’t cause any more problems for him.  Still I had to report it, it’s my job.

Over the years, Andy Reid has impressed me by the way he has resisted the temptation of criticizing his players after tough losses when they made mistakes.  I would sit there with admiration for him as he took the blame for his players.

Reid made a mistake by not sticking to that habit after the loss to the Packers, but I can’t blast him for that, because he has stood strong in countless  news conferences and taken the arrows for his team.  The Eagles head coach has been criticized a great deal for refusing to verbally go after his players after games.

It’s very difficult for me to go after Reid in this situation.  If he could go back and change his comments after that playoff loss, he probably would.

I also know about Andy Reid the person and the way he cares about his players.  In addition, I  know about some of the things Andy Reid does to help people in need in this area.  The Andy Reid I know is a good person.  He’s a caring person, but his job requires making tough decisions that means cutting players and saying good-bye to coaches and players who helped him get the job he has.

As for all of the talk that Akers missed those field goals because of his daughter’s health problems, I wouldn’t be so quick to make that statement.

I remember being out in the parking lot before the game talking to some tailgaters, when I got hit in the head by a falling tent.  The wind was blowing fiercely, so I tweeted to many Eagles fans that the wind was going to play a role in the game.  I was thinking about David Akers and how the wind would affect him.

That wind is tough to deal with and Akers has always had trouble with it.  It was blowing as bad as I’ve ever seen it, so David had a lot of things on his mind that afternoon and the wind was one of them.  I’m sure he was thinking about his daughter, but that wind was on his mind as well.

As for Akers having to deal with his daughter’s health challenges that day against the Green Bay Packers, it was a very tough situation, but we all have people in our lives who are going through these types of challenges in their lives.  I know about David’s habit of visiting Children’s Hospital Of Philadelphia and spending time with the ailing youngsters.

I’ve had to spend quite a bit of time in the hospital over the last year and I’m amazed that so many people are hurting and dealing with illness.  It’s like another world.  We all need to be thankful for our health and the time we have to enjoy our lives.

This situation with David and Halley sheds light on the importance of our loved ones compared to the playoff game or the Super Bowl.  One of the keys to living a good life is being able to keep things in perspective.  Sometimes all of us put too much of an importance on these games.  There are other things which are far more important.

We can’t spend a decade blasting Andy Reid for not going after his players after losses, then when he does we climb all over him.  We have all made the same mistake.

I’ve been around the NFL for more than 30 years and many, many times, I’ve seen players have to put the fact that their mother or father, or sisters or brothers, or children were battling serious illnesses, to the side and go out and perform on the football field.

Unfortunately, it’s a part of the job.  There have been numerous times when I had to criticize the play of a player, whom I knew had a relative who was dealing with a serious health issue.  Unfortunately, it’s part of the game, but it also means that we need to care about the people who are playing the game.

These guys aren’t robots, they’re people.  Despite how much we want to see our team win, we must remember that these guys shouldn’t be treated like animals or robots.

I pray that little Halley continues to enjoy good health.