On Wednesday, Joe Burrow seemed to be the embodiment of Jerry Seinfeld’s deliberately dark attitude about birthdays.
Burrow, who turned 29 today, seemed to be dejected throughout much of his weekly press conference.
Initially, he thanked reporters and left after answering a couple of questions and a lull emerged. He returned to take more questions. And that’s when it got very interesting.
“If I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing it,” Burrow said at one point. “You know, I’ve been through a lot. And if it’s not fun, what am I doing it for?”
He then was asked whether it’s currently difficult to have fun.
“Yes, certainly,” he said.
He was asked when it changed from being fun.
“I’m not sure there was a singular moment or time,” Burrow said. “It’s just reflection. Reflection on a lot of things that I’ve done and been through in my career, I think. You know, I’ve been through more than most, and it’s certainly not easy on the brain or the body, so I’m just trying to have fun doing it again.”
Burrow later was told that he seems to have something on his mind, and that he seems to be frustrated.
“There’s just a lot of things going on right now,” Burrow said. “A lot of things going on right now.”
Football related or personally?
“All of the above,” Burrow said.
The Bengals obviously should be concerned about all of the above. It’s hardly a stretch, based on his words from Wednesday, to wonder whether he’s thinking about walking away from the game, or perhaps whether he’s thinking about trying to join a new team.
Maybe it’s just a temporary thing. Or maybe he’s doing some soul searching about his past journey, and his future path. Regardless, he said what he said on Wednesday. It was stunning to hear the words being spoken, and it’s even more jarring to see them reduced to writing.
