Seeing the name Olin Kreutz likely brings forward memories of a bruising NFL offensive lineman with the Chicago Bears, where he spent thirteen seasons anchoring the offensive line (1998-2010).
But now, a handful of years removed from his final year in the league (2011), Kreutz is trying to pass along the lessons the game taught him to youth football players, and he had some interesting perspective on how outsiders view the game of football that he shared with Windy City Gridiron.
For starters, Kreutz believes that the word "toughness" is being used wrong by people today, and he goes on to provide an intriguing opinion on why kids are are quitting sports like football and wrestling.
Here's the full quote, via Windy City Gridiron:
“People use the word ‘toughness’ the wrong way nowadays,” he says. “Toughness is getting up at six in the morning and going to school. That’s toughness. The game will teach you that. You have to do bear crawls."
"In football, I tell the kids this: do you know why people don’t play football anymore? It’s not because it’s dangerous. It’s not all the things people say. Kids want out of football because it’s hard. It’s hard. Football’s hard. Wrestling’s hard. These are the sports that are dying. There’s no other reason except for it’s hard. These are hard sports to do.”
Head here to read the full piece, including a whole lot more on how he's being considered one of the game's unique caregivers moving forward.