Parallel Lives

In reading this week's ESPN, I got to the last page of the magazine and read Rick Reilly's Life of Reilly column. This week's piece was on perennial Pro-Bowl safety John Lynch.

Lynch is a 15 year NFL veteran who had played in 9 Pro-Bowls including the last four years with the Denver Broncos. He was an integral part of one of the leading secondaries in the league. He shows up to training camp this year and is told he will have to split time. He questions management on it and is then given his release. He then signs a 1 year contract with the New England Patriots, plays one pre-season game (where he leads the team in tackles with 8) and again gets released. A Pro-Bowl safety still (seemingly) at the top of his game was jobless.

The article spoke in detail how John didn't know what to do with himself. He had to pay for a cellphone for the first time in his life. He had to schedule his own transportation. He was driving his wife crazy. He had been to his daughters dance classes and recitals. His sons soccer matches. Most of all he missed playing the game he loved, and he wasn't sure why he wasn't playing football anymore.

All of this got me thinking about myself. In late April of this past year, after a near 15 year career in publishing, I was laid off from my role as Creative Director. No biggie I thought to myself. Someone with my pedigree shouldn't have too much of a hard time finding a new job. Even though times were tough in the publishing industry and the economy was tanking, I was sure I would land somewhere very quickly. I went on countless interviews, sent out resumes to all kinds of contacts and former colleagues... all to no avail.

Once my website went up, I saw an upswing in freelance clients. Enough so that I had visions of grandeur in being able to make a full go at it as a freelancer and contract designer. As much as I liked making my own schedule and working from home I felt like something was missing. I missed getting up and going to work. I missed feeling like I was contributing to something a large number of people would see. Most of all, I missed magazines. I had spent all of my adult life working on magazines, and for the first time in 14 years I wasn't involved in publishing. Slowly but surely doors started to open for me and I was able to dive back into the world I knew. I did a few weeks at the first publishing company I ever worked for. Designed some other odds and ends, and then, finally, a long term freelance gig at a publishing company became available for me. It's definitely not a role at the level I had before, but it is a role I am enjoying. It's refreshing and reinvigorating to be back at a publishing company working on magazines.

I feel like I totally understand where John Lynch was coming from. I couldn't understand why I wasn't working. While I enjoyed spending time with my wife and daughter, I'm sure I was driving them crazy. Most of all I missed what I had been doing before. I love magazines. It's all I've known for a long time. Here's hoping that John lands a role somewhere. I'm sure like me, he misses the game, but most of all can still be a star on the field.

This year the Broncos defense has been a mess since the release of John Lynch. He was their field general. Without him the defensive unit has been one of the worst in the NFL. Maybe the veteran safety they released was a larger part of the unit than they thought.