When last season ended and Ben Roethlisberger said he might not be back, people rolled their eyes.
Conventional wisdom said this just more false drama from Ben.
Roethlisberger has revisited that theme as the Steelers opened training camp, saying that he won't commit beyond the upcoming season.
Stop the eye rolling and take him seriously this time.
A lot of players are probably thinking about the future after last week's release of a frightening medical research study that again linked football to long-term brain damage.
The methodology may have been skewed, but there's no question that playing football takes a grim toll beyond the obvious orthopedic problems.
Just last week, Baltimore Ravens lineman John Urschel, a 4.0 Penn State graduate, told the Baltimore Ravens he was done at age 26. Instead, he'll pursue a PhD in mathematics at M.I.T. He's grateful for the monetary stake football has provided him, but he isn't going to push his luck and risk serious injury.
"Right now, I spend most of my time thinking about discrete Schrödinger operators, high-dimensional data compression, algebraic multigrid and Voronoi diagrams," he said on his M.I.T. web page.
That's a little more complex than picking up the safety blitz.
The New York Times reported that Urschel told a teammate he was "unnerved" when he discovered a concussion affected his ability to solve math problems.
So instead of studying the Steelers, Urschel is designing his course load for the fall semester.
Several players have chosen to leave pro football at a young age. It's possible to make some major money in a short period of time, which eases that transition. The smart players took advantage of a free college education and prepared for a life that didn't include football.
We'll never know how Mike Webster's life might have been different had he not played an additional two seasons for Kansas City after the 15 he spent with the Steelers. The certainty is the unhappy bottom line -- Webster died at age 50, his hopelessly scrambled brain preventing him from having any quality of life after he was done with football.
The NFL limits contact in practices and the league has established some procedures for seriously dealing with head injuries. We've come a long way from the days of the press box announcement that, "Lynn Swann had his bell rung. His return to the game is questionable."
At 35, Roethlisberger is in the fourth quarter of his career. He has a wife, three small children and piles of money in the bank. He has two Super Bowl rings. His place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is secure.
What's left to play for? The competition is the lure, but is that worth the considerable risk? Roethlisberger has already compiled a troublesome concussion history.
His offensive line protects him ferociously. He's learned to unload the ball and avoid contact. But the NFL is still a vicious environment, and a quarterback is always one hit or one awkward fall away from concussion protocol.
Enjoy this season. It really could be Roethlisberger's last.
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--RIDE IN STYLE
Some people are upset over the flamboyant entrance a couple of players made to Steelers training camp.
The grumps took it as further evidence that the players are out of control under Mike Tomlin.
Antonio Brown showed up in a chauffeur-driven vintage Rolls Royce. James Harrison was behind the wheel of a fire truck that had its siren wailing.
Lighten up. They added some life to a mundane day of waiting for players to arrive. They also entertained their teammates.
And, yes, Harrison has the commercial license necessary to drive a truck.
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--RADIO WAVES
Don't miss ESPN's "30 for 30" show on Mike and the Mad Dog, the former WFAN radio duo who ruled New York sports talk for almost 20 years.
When revenue-generating egomaniacs are involved, radio management people do as much babysitting as coaches and managers do.
(John Mehno can be reached at: johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com)
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