Terrell Owens: Reported Near Overdose Reveals Perils of Life and Recovery in NFL

Beyond the glitz and glamor of life on the field in the NFL, well outside the view of millions of rabid fans, are the often tragic trials and tribulations faced off the field by wounded stars like Terrell Owens.

According to TMZ, Owens was transported by ambulance from a Los Angeles apartment to a hospital on Thursday night. Emergency personnel allegedly responded to a call concerning a possible overdose of prescription painkillers.

Owens has since been released from the hospital, though concerns remain about his physical and emotional well-being, with this being only his most recent bout with a pill bottle. T.O. was hospitalized back in 2006 when he reportedly ingested 35 Vicodin pills in an attempt to take his own life. At a subsequent news conference, Owens denied that he'd attempted suicide and insisted that he had simply suffered a bad reaction to the painkillers.

Regardless of Owens' intentions in either case, his latest mishap with prescription medications sheds a blinding light on the challenges faced by NFL football players both during and after their careers. Seldom do we, as fans, ever truly consider the wear and tear through which professional football players—nay, all professional athletes—put their bodies for our entertainment.

When we hear about sprains, ligament tears and broken bones, we tend to think not about the intense pain that these people go through and the often harmful and addictive medications they ingest to get through it, but rather about how long they'll be sidelined for and what that means for our favorite teams. We laud those who return to the field of competition against doctors' orders or ahead of schedule as "gamers," for their grit and toughness, and we deride those who don't for being "weak" and lacking leadership.

Without any regard for what the real-life consequences, both short- and long-term, of those decisions actually entail.

We once championed Terrell Owens when, as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, he suffered a broken leg midseason but, through hard work and some rather unconventional healing procedures, returned in time to play in the Super Bowl. On the other end, we as fans criticized Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler back in January, when he neglected to return to action during the NFC Championship Game with a sprained ligament in his knee, to put himself in harm's way while hobbling around on one leg.

Now, you may "poo poo" this sympathetic notion and point instead to the seemingly absurd salaries that these guys make as reason enough not to concern yourself with their health. That's why they get paid the "big bucks"—to put on themselves the sort of physical and emotional pressure that we at home wouldn't have even half the fortitude to endure for a week, much less months or even years.

But rarely do we, as fans, consider the human toll exacted by the hits and injuries that our favorite pro athletes endure, year in and year out. A report by CNN last month revealed that the average life expectancy of an NFL player is between 53 and 59 years—well below the 78.7 years that the average American is expected to live these days—with 65 percent of retirees leaving the game with permanent injuries and 20 percent suffering from clinical depression.

Like so many of his peers, T.O. will undoubtedly suffer from the residual effects of his playing days when he calls it quits, seeing as how he seems to already be struggling to come to grips with what the game has done to his body.

Owens is in the midst of recovering from surgery to repair a torn ACL, yet another gruesome injury about which the average sports fan understands little. Those painkillers he nearly OD'd on, more likely than not, were in his system to quell the physical anguish he's endured while rehabbing from this latest setback.

At 37 years of age, Owens is putting himself through hell once again, certainly to satisfy his own ego, but also to please those of us who love the game of football and enjoy watching him play.

The sort of hell, the sort of pain, that, like so many NFL veterans before him and so many who will follow, he'll have to pay for not in dollars, but in years and in quality of life.