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Two things come to mind when former Tennessee Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck thinks of former teammate Chris Johnson, who announced during an interview June 29 with Michael Strahan on "Good Morning America" that he has been battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) for a year.
The first is former linebacker Tim Shaw, one of Hasselbeck's best friends from his time with the Titans and a man who was diagnosed in August 2014 with the same fatal neurodegenerative disorder (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease), which attacks neurons in the brain and spinal cord.
The second is a photo Hasselbeck keeps on his phone, one of him and fellow quarterback Rusty Smith bear-hugging Johnson and receiver Nate Washington on the Titans sideline.
So when Hasselbeck heard the news, he was shaken, taken aback by the sight of the former running back, once one of the fastest players in the league, sitting in a chair across from Strahan and communicating through a speech-generating device he controls with his eyes.
"You can't talk about Chris Johnson without talking about Tim Shaw," Hasselbeck told The Tennessean on June 30, a day after he learned, along with most of the rest of the world, about Johnson's condition. "We were all teammates together my first year (with the Titans).
"When I saw that piece . . . it really shakes you because he was kind of like a Superman figure on that team, in a different way than Tim Shaw, but yet still Superman. Tim Shaw is kind of like a superhero. Chris Johnson is like a Superman."
Hasselbeck spent two of his 18 NFL seasons with the Titans.
Who was mostly responsible for bringing Hasselbeck, then a 35-year-old free agent, to Tennessee?
The man they called "CJ2K."
"The superstar of our team was Chris Johnson, 'CJ2K,' " Hasselbeck said. "He's a major, major reason I signed in Tennessee.
"How I kind of got recruited there was, 'Hey, we've got the most explosive player in the game in our backfield. We need you to be the point guard at the line of scrimmage, get us into the right play and let CJ2K do his thing.'
"He was a larger-than-life player in the whole league, not just for the Tennessee Titans."
A three-time Pro Bowl selection, Johnson led the NFL in rushing in 2009 with 2,006 yards for a league-best average of 125.4 yards per game.
Hasselbeck said he reached out to Johnson via text and social media.
"He came out yesterday, which is a pretty hard thing to do," Hasselbeck said. "I'm sure everyone's doing the same thing right now."
Hasselbeck said he remembers getting a call from Shaw after he was diagnosed.
"Never in a million years would I have guessed what it was," Hasselbeck said.
He said he isn't convinced football had much to do with either of their diagnoses.
"What I care mostly about is finding a cure," Hasselbeck said. "If someway, somehow sports helps us get closer to figuring out why . . . I've got friends whose mothers have passed away from ALS, or living with ALS. They clearly did not play football."
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at [email protected] and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What former Titans QB Matt Hasselbeck said about Chris Johnson, ALS
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The first is former linebacker Tim Shaw, one of Hasselbeck's best friends from his time with the Titans and a man who was diagnosed in August 2014 with the same fatal neurodegenerative disorder (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease), which attacks neurons in the brain and spinal cord.
The second is a photo Hasselbeck keeps on his phone, one of him and fellow quarterback Rusty Smith bear-hugging Johnson and receiver Nate Washington on the Titans sideline.
So when Hasselbeck heard the news, he was shaken, taken aback by the sight of the former running back, once one of the fastest players in the league, sitting in a chair across from Strahan and communicating through a speech-generating device he controls with his eyes.
"You can't talk about Chris Johnson without talking about Tim Shaw," Hasselbeck told The Tennessean on June 30, a day after he learned, along with most of the rest of the world, about Johnson's condition. "We were all teammates together my first year (with the Titans).
"When I saw that piece . . . it really shakes you because he was kind of like a Superman figure on that team, in a different way than Tim Shaw, but yet still Superman. Tim Shaw is kind of like a superhero. Chris Johnson is like a Superman."
Chris Johnson 'a larger-than-life player'
Hasselbeck spent two of his 18 NFL seasons with the Titans.
Who was mostly responsible for bringing Hasselbeck, then a 35-year-old free agent, to Tennessee?
The man they called "CJ2K."
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"The superstar of our team was Chris Johnson, 'CJ2K,' " Hasselbeck said. "He's a major, major reason I signed in Tennessee.
"How I kind of got recruited there was, 'Hey, we've got the most explosive player in the game in our backfield. We need you to be the point guard at the line of scrimmage, get us into the right play and let CJ2K do his thing.'
"He was a larger-than-life player in the whole league, not just for the Tennessee Titans."
A three-time Pro Bowl selection, Johnson led the NFL in rushing in 2009 with 2,006 yards for a league-best average of 125.4 yards per game.
'Never in a million years'
Hasselbeck said he reached out to Johnson via text and social media.
"He came out yesterday, which is a pretty hard thing to do," Hasselbeck said. "I'm sure everyone's doing the same thing right now."
Hasselbeck said he remembers getting a call from Shaw after he was diagnosed.
"Never in a million years would I have guessed what it was," Hasselbeck said.
He said he isn't convinced football had much to do with either of their diagnoses.
"What I care mostly about is finding a cure," Hasselbeck said. "If someway, somehow sports helps us get closer to figuring out why . . . I've got friends whose mothers have passed away from ALS, or living with ALS. They clearly did not play football."
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at [email protected] and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What former Titans QB Matt Hasselbeck said about Chris Johnson, ALS
Continue reading...
