Aqib Talib; “That’s When It Started For Me”.

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There is this inner voice within a professional athlete. A strength. A drive that continuously pushes them to work tirelessly past the point of exhaustion. Hustling, training, pushing their physical threshold until they have nothing else to give. Then somehow finding even more to give. These are the characteristics of a professional athlete.

There is also the “exposure” factor. Most would do well to remember that players coming into the NFL are for the most part still young boys. They were probably the best athletes on their respective teams growing up. From little league thru the present day,  they have traveled, trained, and no doubt toiled like men, but on the inside, they are still boys that have so much still to discover. So many experiences to still have. Just arriving at the NFL level does not mean they have fully matured as a player or a person.

2008 Buccaneer first rounder Aqib Talib alluded to the maturity factor yesterday on ESPN’s Sports Center. Talib stated;

“It was just the main thing is you go to New England it was that Sunday night game, a Monday night.  You were (sic) always on that main stage so you wanted to be on your “A” game that much more.  So that’s when that film study restarted.  You go to Dunkin Donuts and the fans know you and things like that.  That’s when everything started for me.”

Talib would be suspended by the NFL on October 13th, 2012 for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances for allegedly taking an Adderall pill without a prescription.  Traded to the New England Patriots along with a 2013 seventh-round pick, for New England’s 2013 fourth-round pick which the Buccaneers used to select Will Gholston, Talib has gone on now to finish twelve quite remarkable seasons in the NFL.

We all have an inner voice. We all learn important lessons in life that we use to continue to grow and develop into the productive citizens we hope to become. It is the same for our favorite athletes as it is for us all. We must find a way to start the engine, find that voice, and get it started.

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