Self-Gratification, NFL Style
Dexter Manly, has two Super Bowl rings, and amassed over 100 sacks during his career-heard voices. They were voices calling him into personal and instant gratification as a star. Clothes, meals, cars and drugs took over his life. In 91 he was banned from the NFL. His career ended after two years in the CFL but he "continued to live as if he was still a player. He carried his expired NFL Players Association card for identification. Questioned about his profession, he’d reply: "football player." The drugs continued and in 2002 he served 2 years of a four-year prison sentence for cocaine possession. In an interview with The New York Times, Manley said, "I’m still living that dream. Football gave me personality. Once it was over, I had nothing to live for."
Source: Jeff Pearlman, "After the Ball," Psychology Today (May/June 2004, p. 72
From a sermon by Charles Wilkerson, Being Safe in an Unsafe World, 10/21/2009