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American Morning

Is NFL Practice Too Demanding?

Aired August 01, 2001 - 10:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: This is a troubling story that we've been following this morning. 27-year-old Minnesota Vikings tackle Korey Stringer died this morning from heat stroke. Stringer weighed in at 335 pounds and he fell ill during pre-season practice yesterday. The temperatures there in Mankato, Minnesota were near 100, but the Vikings have a training camp there. But practice has been canceled today and the team is remembering a friend and colleague.

Trev Alberts is joining us again. He played in the NFL for some three years and he now helps us out as an analyst for CNN Sports Illustrated, and now this morning here at CNN.

I've got to ask you, I mean what is the first thought that runs through your mind as a former player when you hear a story like this?

TREV ALBERTS, CNN SPORTS ILLUSTRATED CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean it's just tragedy. But, you know, I mean I remember those days. I remember two days and feeling that feeling of just you couldn't go anymore, but realizing that to make the team, to feed your family you had to find a way to fight through it. And you just assume that that's what you go through to be a good football player. And it's so hard to understand, when, you know, am I crossing the line or not crossing the line? When you have coaches telling you come on, you've got to be a man, fight through it. You have trainers telling you things like hey, some of the other guys are looking pretty good, Leon, you might want to step it up.

I mean that stuff happens and, you know. As a young player -- Korey Stringer's 27 years old -- I mean, you don't know when to stop.

HARRIS: Let me ask you this, as a former player, imagine that you are playing right now. You're on the roster with the Vikings. You hear a story like this this morning. When you show up for practice this morning, which ends up being canceled, what do you say to the coach? What do you say to the trainer?

ALBERTS: I say one thing to them and I say I'm not going to listen to you much anymore. I'm going to listen to myself. I know my body better than any other trainer. I remember trainers all the time, guys would go in, ankles being turned, little things like that. You get a shot. You move on, they say you're fine.

Trainers in the National Football League are paid to get guys on the field. The only reason they have a job is to make sure they get the players on the field. And listen, they're kind of the go between, Leon. I mean, if players are making $5 million a year, the owner wants that player to play. He's got a lot of money invested in him. The trainer has to get him on the field so he doesn't lose his job.

And so I think as a player, I say to myself and my teammates, forget it. It's my body. It's my life and I'll make the decision now when I know I can't go anymore.

HARRIS: All right, so something like this happens. What then does the team ownership, the team coaching staff and the league do in the wake of an incident like this?

ALBERTS: I think first and foremost it's the league. The National Football League, I think, has to step up and make some parameters that all teams can follow, because I don't think you can trust individual teams to make those adjustments. I mean each team is trying to win the Super Bowl. That's the whole idea of playing football. So the NFL needs to come in and mandate it.

This was the second practice. Was it really necessary the second practice in training camp to be in full pads, 111 degree heat index out there? I mean why not let your body get acclimated just a little bit, maybe run around in shorts and helmets. Does it have to be full pads the second day?

I think the NCAA in college has done a pretty good job in spring football, limiting it to 15 practices. The National Football League now will step in. I guarantee you, Paul Teg -- they will step in. Something will change. Something will happen, because it has to.

HARRIS: But, you know, if this hadn't happened, you know, and they had gone ahead and, say, won a championship this year and the word gets out that it all started because they were in pads the second day in practice, don't you think every team in the league would be doing the same thing next year?

ALBERTS: You know, I'll never forget those days. As a rookie you go in the first day and all of a sudden you're in those full pads and everybody's saying hey, listen, we're going to be in the Super Bowl and work begins right there. It's in July. And so, you know, it's amazing that this kind of thing happens. But I think the reality is this. Something has to happen and something will happen. I'm telling you, the players and the players' union, Gene Upshaw, the head of that players' union, will step in now because this is a tragedy that should not have happened.

This guy started every game at right tackle. He was one of the better conditioned athletes in the NFL.

HARRIS: Let me pick your brain for one last question now. The mentality that the players have is that they sometimes understand they've got to push themselves that hard. That starts back when, in high school?

ALBERTS: Yes.

HARRIS: So I mean how do you change something like that?

ALBERTS: I think that's the issue. I remember in high school, Leon, and our high school coach said listen, we're going to make you guys men, no water today. I mean, remember those days?

HARRIS: I remember those days.

ALBERTS: They said no water, but nobody was dying back then. And I think part of it, too, was the players weren't that well conditioned. Players didn't lift weights like they do now. I mean, offensive linemen back then weighed 265. They're 350 pounds now. These are huge human beings going against each other. Then with all that weight, you have to understand now, when you have a helmet on, shoulder pads and all those pads, that adds about 25 pounds. So imagine 375 pounds in 111 degree heat, it's uncalled for. It's not necessary.

The other thing is you don't need to wear full pads, Leon. These guys in the NFL, if they can't hit they wouldn't have made it to the NFL. They know how to hit. Why can't you run your plays without the full pads every practice?

HARRIS: Yes, well, that's easy for us to say from this distance. But let's hope there's a silver lining somewhere in this story.

ALBERTS: Yes.

HARRIS: Trev Alberts, thanks much for the insight. Appreciate it.

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