#51
Dick Butkus was a legend. There is no way to oversell how tough he was a football player. A legend in Chicago as arguably the best middle linebacker ever for a franchise that has had a long list of greats at that position.
I expect, though, some internet arguments to crop up about who is better than Butkus, even in Bears history. Singletary, Urlacher, Lawrence Taylor, Ray Lewis. You’ll hear those names when this argument happens, as I am sure it will. When grown men actively participate DAILY on social media in the argument of LeBron vs Jordan, I am sure someone will decide the argument for and against Butkus will need to be had.
Frankly, it is a stupid argument. I will concede today’s athletes are bigger, stronger, and faster than those of decades past. That’s why speed records, strength records, and all other kinds of records continue to fall. Today’s athletes have great benefits that men of the old leagues didn’t have like medical technology and treatment. Better methods to train, practice, and get stronger. They are healthier, as a population, in the way they eat, sleep, and treat their bodies. Film study, facilities, and travel methods all lend to better performance. Today’s athletes are better athletes.
Mickey Mantle was a drunk. That’s documented. Many baseball players of the 1970s were using “uppers” on road trips so on long road trips they could keep sharp in the batter’s box. Bill Walton famously took LSD before some NBA games. Openly smoking in professional locker rooms, even at halftime, was not uncommon. Gordie Howe played professional hockey for 32 seasons combined in the NHL and WHA without a HELMET.
Personal lives were different, too. Modern athletes have entourages that move with and around them. They have agents and managers and social media managers and handlers to watch over their personal lives. They live in mansions and have dozens of cars in their driveway. They don’t worry about money, unless they are stupid enough to waste it. Often enough, the “old guys” actually had to have a job in the off season to pay the bills. They sold cars, some worked on the farm or ranch. Some of them were cabinet makers and shoe salesmen. Babe Ruth and Joe Dimaggio were anomalies.
There is very little in common between athletes of today and athletes of fifty to sixty years ago. The one thing I think separates them more than anything is toughness. I know, I sound like a really old man. But, I’ve watched enough sports in my life to see the decline across all sports. People talk about load management in the NBA, which means guys take a night off to rest instead of playing to earn the massive amount of money they are being paid. Pitchers in MLB are heralded as heroes when they go a complete nine innings. If you think that is impressive, check out some stats from guys like Bob Gibson and Nolan Ryan. Go back and really look at Gordie Howe and Cal Ripken Jr. if you want to talk about the toughness associated with longevity. And if you want to see some physical toughness, check out Ronnie Lott and his finger. Yeah, not a lot of modern athletes doing that.
While physical toughness is easy to talk about, the mental toughness of those old-school athletes is what we really need to pay attention to. They played hurt. They sacrificed their bodies to keep playing. They lived hard and played harder. While that is a testament to their physical toughness, anyone who has ever been really hurt and kept going knows it is much more mental than physical. It takes a lot more mental drive than physical to get up and keep going when quitting is the easy answer.
Dick Butkus played a relatively short career; only eight seasons. He was injured in some way for almost his entire career, laboring through multiple knee injuries and, likely, a high and unknown number of concussions. He played in Chicago, against Green Bay and Minnesota and Detroit, dealing with the blistering cold. No gloves. No long sleeves. No heaters on the sidelines. No domes. And he was always hurt. But, he went out every time he was even close to physically able and he played hard every down. That takes mental toughness.
While we pay a lot of attention to mental health, and I am personally a huge advocate for it, mental toughness seems to be pushed to the side in favor of mental health. We like to use the word “resilience” but even that waters down the sentiment behind mental toughness. There is nothing wrong with being tough. There is nothing wrong with “sucking it up” and “rubbing some dirt on it” and continuing to move forward. That is required IN LIFE in many cases, let alone in sport. The men that played in the days of Dick Butkus seemed to have that in spades but I honestly cannot say the same about modern athletes.
I am sure there will be plenty of “What about so-and-so?'“ and “This player is as tough as they come” and even people who will miss the point completely by saying “Players like Butkus couldn’t play in today’s league”. Go back up and read again, because I said that. Bigger, stronger, faster. That’s today’s athlete. I would argue the vast majority of modern athletes couldn’t play in the old leagues either. And it is actually more that they WOULDN’T than they COULDN’T.
Just as you couldn’t expect a Hall of Fame Bob Cousy to play in today’s NBA with the size and speed and athleticism of the modern athlete, you couldn’t expect LeBron to play in the 1950s, taking long bus trips, handling his own luggage, sleeping in a hotel with a roommate, and playing every single game for $229k a season. By the way, that is what Cousy made in 1954 and ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION. He couldn’t and wouldn’t do it.
Thank God for men like Dick Butkus and the players of his era. They showed us what mental toughness was as a player and a person. I wish we had more of that in modern sport.
Rest in Peace #51.