Beast Mode Turned Off: Marshawn Lynch Retires

Kliq

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 31, 2013
22,670
I never cared for Lynch, a surly malcontent who was capable of ripping off some impressive runs. The less of him in my life the better.
 

Jungleland

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 2, 2009
2,351

Doesn't get much better than that. And always interesting when guys walk away with something (probably) left in the tank. Wonder if Seattle didn't want him back and he didn't want the hassle of a new team.
 

bigq

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
11,084
Yeah. His Conan appearance with Gronk was great.
That was hands down the funniest bit I've seen involving Lynch and my favorite part of the lead up to last year's SB. Thank goodness he was stopped at the 1 yard line last year or I might not be able to have any fond memories of him.
 

Leather

given himself a skunk spot
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
28,451
He'll be 30, coming back from injury, won a SB already, obviously dislikes certain elements of being an NFL player (media). Seems like retiring is a perfectly reasonable thing for him to do. If he did come back, the next couple of years would probably be the hardest of his career, including the possibility of breaking in with a new team, besides.
 

TheRooster

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 3, 2001
2,483
Maybe he's done a comparison of the benefits of playing a few more years to the risks to his health. I expect more and more (although still a small minority) NFL players will get out early when their finances allow it.
 

dcmissle

Deflatigator
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Aug 4, 2005
28,269
Maybe he's done a comparison of the benefits of playing a few more years to the risks to his health. I expect more and more (although still a small minority) NFL players will get out early when their finances allow it.
He reportedly has Gronked it, living entirely off endorsements and saving all of his NFL earnings.

https://beta.finance.yahoo.com/news/marshawn-lynch-reportedly-hasnt-spent-152823197.html

I hope this is true, it is awesome if this is true, and I wish him the best.
 

Leather

given himself a skunk spot
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
28,451
Maybe he saw the SoSH thread on how much he would need to retire and realized he was there.
 

CHAOS

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 17, 2001
767
colchester, VT
Maybe he's done a comparison of the benefits of playing a few more years to the risks to his health. I expect more and more (although still a small minority) NFL players will get out early when their finances allow it.

Watching all of the former Super Bowl MVPs walk in with physical limitations was hard to watch. He has nothing left to prove, good for him, for saving his money, and walking away at the right time
 

kenneycb

Hates Goose Island Beer; Loves Backdoor Play
SoSH Member
Dec 2, 2006
16,090
Tuukka's refugee camp
He was hilarious when he first came into the league. His interviews in Buffalo were awesome.
He had a great one with Kenny Mayne talking about how he loved Dave and Busters or TGI Fridays or whatever shitty restaurant Willis McGahee name dropped while trashing Buffalo on his way out of town.
 

wibi

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
11,836
He reportedly has Gronked it, living entirely off endorsements and saving all of his NFL earnings.

https://beta.finance.yahoo.com/news/marshawn-lynch-reportedly-hasnt-spent-152823197.html

I hope this is true, it is awesome if this is true, and I wish him the best.
Wouldnt technically Gronk have Lynch'd it since Lynch was in the league three years before Gronk? Lynch was also the main guy in Seattle helping players manager their 401k investments having setup Beast Mode Capital Funds (http://www.complex.com/sports/2015/10/marshawn-lynch-helping-seahawks-players-401k-plans)
 

dcmissle

Deflatigator
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Aug 4, 2005
28,269
Wouldnt technically Gronk have Lynch'd it since Lynch was in the league three years before Gronk? Lynch was also the main guy in Seattle helping players manager their 401k investments having setup Beast Mode Capital Funds (http://www.complex.com/sports/2015/10/marshawn-lynch-helping-seahawks-players-401k-plans)
Absolutely. But people here wouldn't know that, and as we know the world revolves around us. There was some awareness here of Gronk's frugality and intelligence, which is why I phrased it that way.

Lynch has been ahead of the curve and nobody's fool for a very long time. I'm really pleased for him.
 

AlNipper49

Huge Member
Dope
SoSH Member
Apr 3, 2001
44,852
Mtigawi
Lynch is just a shy dude. I like him a lot. He was in that aquarium show Tanked and he couldn't have been a nicer guy, albeit a little weird.
 

NortheasternPJ

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 16, 2004
19,271
Lynch is just a shy dude. I like him a lot. He was in that aquarium show Tanked and he couldn't have been a nicer guy, albeit a little weird.
ESPN (i know i know) did a great piece on him a couple years ago about his upbringing, how he spends a ton of time in the poor area he grew up in and talked about what happened in Buffalo. I wasn't a big Lynch fan before then, but you're right. He's just a shy good guy.
 

amarshal2

Member
SoSH Member
Oct 25, 2005
4,913
Why? Fuck the NFL.
Yeah, fuck the NFL.

But it's douchey to take attention away from the teams in the game. Same reason Horse Face had enough class not to retire during the post game. The story should be about his teammates as much as possible and not him.
 

johnmd20

mad dog
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 30, 2003
61,996
New York City
People went house on Arod for opting out during the World Series. This is no different. It was a douchey move, but that doesn't make Lynch a douche. I thought his antics at the Super Bowl with the media the past few years were kind of lousy because that is his job but he does seem like a good dude. Just a shy one.
 

DourDoerr

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Oct 15, 2004
2,937
Berkeley, CA
As more players go this route - retiring early - I wonder if it'll have any impact on HOF voting. Up until now and as it should be, there's been a necessity of having had a long career of sustained excellence over shorter careers of very high peaks. With guys like Calvin Johnson and Lynch retiring early, it might change the way voters consider players with more of an emphasis on peak which would allow players in who cut it short to avoid long term health problems.
 

Marciano490

Urological Expert
SoSH Member
Nov 4, 2007
62,312
Yeah, fuck the NFL.

But it's douchey to take attention away from the teams in the game. Same reason Horse Face had enough class not to retire during the post game. The story should be about his teammates as much as possible and not him.
Take attention away? It's not like people can't focus on the SB, acknowledge for two minutes that Lynch is retiring, and then go back to it. It's a football game, not the survival of the human race. Competing thoughts can pass consciousness.
 

DourDoerr

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Oct 15, 2004
2,937
Berkeley, CA
I believe Lynch was the first of a long run of excellent running backs here at Cal, many of which went on to good NFL careers. Forsett, Vereen and Anderson being the latest examples.

I'm not a big college football fan, but I thought a couple of years ago that the current Cal NFL alumni were pretty much unmatched at offensive skill positions. I think it went Aaron Rodgers at qb (which pretty much guarantees Cal would be at the top), Keenan Allen and DeSean Jackson at WR's, Tony Gonzalez at TE, and Lynch and Vereen at RB. And none of the Cal teams won anything over those years - not even a Rose Bowl appearance (although they were cheated out of a Rose Bowl in 2004 when Mack Brown appealed to voters in the coaches' poll and the rankings were then ginned up and Texas undeservedly got the bid instead).
 

Grin&MartyBarret

Member
SoSH Member
Oct 2, 2007
4,932
East Village, NYC
Yeah, fuck the NFL.

But it's douchey to take attention away from the teams in the game. Same reason Horse Face had enough class not to retire during the post game. The story should be about his teammates as much as possible and not him.
My guess is he wanted his announcement to fly under the radar so he could avoid the publicity. And it seems like it worked.
 
Last edited:

lexrageorge

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2007
18,096
Yeah, I didn't know Lynch was under any obligation to time his retirement announcement around the league's schedule. Seriously, if that's the worst thing Lynch has done in his life, that probably makes a better person than at least half of the league's players. He paid his dues to the league; once he made up his mind, he can do whatever the hell he wants when he wants, IMO.
 

DourDoerr

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Oct 15, 2004
2,937
Berkeley, CA
Take attention away? It's not like people can't focus on the SB, acknowledge for two minutes that Lynch is retiring, and then go back to it. It's a football game, not the survival of the human race. Competing thoughts can pass consciousness.
And you could argue that by announcing when he did, Lynch pretty much guaranteed his "announcement" would be far down the sports ticker. Fitting for a shy guy to get the news out when it would be given shorter shrift.

Edit: Was writing this when I had to step away for a bit. Didn't mean to step on G&MB's toes.
 

mauf

Anderson Cooper × Mr. Rogers
Moderator
SoSH Member
People went house on Arod for opting out during the World Series. This is no different. It was a douchey move, but that doesn't make Lynch a douche. I thought his antics at the Super Bowl with the media the past few years were kind of lousy because that is his job but he does seem like a good dude. Just a shy one.
The NFL doesn't have the same tradition of a news blackout around their signature event that MLB does. Hell, the Conmissioner gives an annual speech three days before the big game that has almost nothing to do with the game itself. We've been talking all week about Calvin Johnson, various coaching hires, and so on. Lynch's retirement just happens to be the ancillary story that got the most play this year. (Also, his agent didn't make the announcement during the 4th quarter of the game.)
 

singaporesoxfan

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 21, 2004
11,882
Washington, DC
I believe Lynch was the first of a long run of excellent running backs here at Cal, many of which went on to good NFL careers. Forsett, Vereen and Anderson being the latest examples.

I'm not a big college football fan, but I thought a couple of years ago that the current Cal NFL alumni were pretty much unmatched at offensive skill positions. I think it went Aaron Rodgers at qb (which pretty much guarantees Cal would be at the top), Keenan Allen and DeSean Jackson at WR's, Tony Gonzalez at TE, and Lynch and Vereen at RB. And none of the Cal teams won anything over those years - not even a Rose Bowl appearance (although they were cheated out of a Rose Bowl in 2004 when Mack Brown appealed to voters in the coaches' poll and the rankings were then ginned up and Texas undeservedly got the bid instead).
More recently, LSU's RB mill has been pretty good too, with Jeremy Hill, Alfred Blue, Spencer Ware, and Stevan Ridley, plus a WR corps of ODB, Jarvis Landry, and Brandon LaFell. Though at QB there's only Matt Flynn and Zach Mettenberger as LSU alumi.
 

mauidano

Mai Tais for everyone!
SoSH Member
Aug 21, 2006
35,626
Maui
So until he files paperwork with the League it don't mean shit. He marches to the beat of his own drummer as we all know. This isn't his first brush with "retirement".
 

glennhoffmania

meat puppet
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 25, 2005
8,411,590
NY
The NFL doesn't have the same tradition of a news blackout around their signature event that MLB does. Hell, the Conmissioner gives an annual speech three days before the big game that has almost nothing to do with the game itself. We've been talking all week about Calvin Johnson, various coaching hires, and so on. Lynch's retirement just happens to be the ancillary story that got the most play this year. (Also, his agent didn't make the announcement during the 4th quarter of the game.)
All good points. Also isn't announcing retirement a little different than announcing that you're opting out of your $252m contract so that you can sign an even bigger one?