<![CDATA[As a youngster and throughout life, I’ve heard an infinite amount of people preach and echo that sentiment. You can’t put a price on wisdom, and wisdom is attained primarily via experience … something elders can’t help but have. Colt Lyerla could use a little wisdom right now, and had he listened to his elders he might be worrying more about how he’d be investing his money, rather than if and when he’ll be making any at all.
Andre Agassi once said, “Image is everything.” In that case, the former Hillsboro High School standout and Oregon tight end has little going forward in a sport he seemed preordained to play since his youth. His measurables are off the charts. His athleticism rivals the best at his position. And the combination of the two under normal circumstances would rate him amongst the best in this year’s draft class. But as I sit here today, the first or second round talent – per draft expert Todd McShay – hopelessly awaits a free agent opportunity that is long overdue in a process nearing the end.
Lyerla’s issues should be familiar to you by now: Troubling family situation since youth, accountability and discipline issues at Oregon, and a drug problem culminating with him being found nose-deep in cocaine by the Eugene Police days after being dismissed … errrr … leaving the Oregon football program. Since then, he’s stayed relatively free from the negative spotlight responsible for his present-day plight, but the damage seems to have been done, and I’m beginning to wonder if there are means to fix what he owes no one but himself for being broken. And it’s sad.
Yes, I know it’s unpopular to feel for someone who’s spent the better part of their adult life playing Russian Roulette with talent most would die for. But it’s less-than-humane not to recognize and feel for a person throwing away, which most will spend the bulk of their lives failing to get; a life easier lived.
So while the humane side of me feels sorry for Mr. Lyerla, the pragmatic side of me says, meh! He should’ve listened to his teachers and administrators in high school. He should’ve listened to his coaches in college. And yes, he should’ve even listened to the media who for years had been trying to shake and warn him of the road his actions were leading him down. But he didn’t, and due to such I can only imagine the level of fear and regret he must be wrapped in, while he waits and watches the future he assumed was his, circle the drain with every passing day.
Talent will take you a long ways, but in spite of the leeway it most definitely affords you, its value fails to exceed an unacceptable level of negative currency whose limit is set by the market. Professional athletes’ walk a thick line opposed to the fine one you or I traverse, but no line seems thick enough to contain the number of transgressions responsible for Colt’s fall from grace. And maybe that’s his disconnect? Maybe he just didn’t believe? Rather than heed the warnings of impending doom based on his repeated behavior, he poo-pooed the notion of no gold at the end of his rainbow, and that ultimately – in spite of his behavioral issues – his talent couldn’t be denied.
Now reality is hitting home.
Wisdom is invaluable. It’s commonly known that young people often “have all the answers,” and due to such will make their share of mistakes. But as an adult, you hope that the mistakes of the young people you know and care about won’t be of the major kind, but rather trivial ones resulting in teachable moments. Colt Lyerla is learning a hard lesson as we speak, and unfortunately one that could deny him the gifts his talent would normally produce. It didn’t have to be this way and I wish him well in his attempt to play in the NFL, but things could’ve been different; if only he had listened.]]>
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